Painting WonderHow Pauline Baynes Illustrated the Worlds of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien
Review posted May 22, 2025.
Waxwing Books, 2025. 44 pages.
Review written May 20, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review
Painting Wonder is a picture book biography of Pauline Baynes, the illustrator who gave us the iconic illustrations in The Chronicles of Narnia. This book told me she also illustrated Tolkien's books. I didn't think I'd seen those editions - and then last night I was reading my reviews from my 2003 Sonderbooks Stand-outs (as part of my #Sonderbooks25 celebration), and came across this line in the review of Smith of Wooton Major and Farmer Giles of Ham: "I like the drawings, by the same person who illustrated the original editions of The Chronicles of Narnia."
I was happy to learn more about that person, Pauline Baynes, by reading this book.
Pauline was born in India to British parents, but was sent to boarding school in England when she was five years old. The book shows how she found refuge from gray skies and bullies in the pages of books full of adventure. She eventually went to art school, but her art career was interrupted by World War II. During the war, she used her art skills to make maps for the navy - which turned out to be perfect preparation for making maps of fantasy worlds.
The book talks about how she submitted her art to publishers, but then had a long wait.
More years go by,
as she's busy with teaching art
and caring for family
and making new friends
and waiting
and drawing
and waiting.But all at once,
the slow years of waiting end.A famous author,
J. R. R. Tolkien,
sees her pictures in a pile.He wants her to draw dragons
and knights and gnarled trees
for his new book, and she does.
It was probably Tolkien who gave her name to C. S. Lewis - which resulted in her wonderful illustrations for all seven Narnia books.
That's the basic story in these pages, but it's told poetically, and with illustrations reminiscent of Pauline's own. Four pages of back matter fill in the details. I love this window into the life of an illustrator whose art I truly love.