Jan Pieńkowski (1936-2022)

 

Jan Pieńkowski (1936-2022)

We gave this book to our youngest daughter the year she was five. Her birthday is four days after Christmas.

Jan Pieńkowski was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1936. In 1939, while sheltering in an air raid shelter during a bombing raid in the Second World War, a Polish revolutionary showed him how to make paper cut-outs.

Cut-outs can be made with scissors or knives and the technique, known in China as Jianzhi, has its roots in that country. A single sheet of paper is cut into intricate designs, like the following paper cut celebrating the Year of the Dog.

It is also used in Mexico, where it is known as Papel Picado, when tissue paper is used to make decorations for festivals like Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead)

Paper cutting was also used to create silhouettes. It was popular in the 18^th century before the advent of photography. Skilled professional practitioners could produce a silhouette in as little as six minutes. The result was sometimes called ‘the poor man’s portrait.’ The French artist, Auguste Edouart (1789-1861) made thousands of silhouettes of well-known people, including Victor Hugo and John Quincy Adams.

It is the silhouette form that was used by Pieńkowski in his illustrations for children’s books. He provided the graphics for Helen Nicoll’s ‘Meg and Mog’ series, and created pop-up books, like ‘Haunted House’ and ‘Robot.’ He was also extremely interested in stage design.

The beauty of his ‘Christmas’ illustrations is in their clarity. They illustrate the words of the Nativity, as related in the King James version of the gospels of Luke and Matthew.

'In the days of Herod the King, the angel Gabriel as sent from God . . . toa virgin . . . '

 The bright star (angel) is shown descending from the heavens.

The angel Gabriel tells Mary of her fate. I love the way she is shown as a young woman hanging out the washing.

Away in a manger . . .

The angel Gabriel tells the shepherds of the baby's birth.

The wise men from the east ask where the new king might be found. 

Herod is mightily troubled.   

The wise men bring gifts to the baby.

The wise men depart, instead of reporting to Herod.
    

'Herod, the king, in his raging,
Charged he hath this day
His men of might in his own sight
All young children to slay.'        

The massacre of the innocents.

Mary and Joseph escape.

After Herod's death, Mary and Joseph return to Nazareth with the baby. 

Jan Pieńkowski created another masterpiece in ‘Easter.’                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

End of term

 

End of term

                            Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The schools in this area break up for Christmas soon. Weary teachers and pasty-faced children stagger towards the final day of term, the work gradually tailing off as the holiday beckons. Everyone is under the weather, coughing and sneezing, all reserves of energy almost depleted. Lists have been checked a multitude of times to ensure that each child has made a Christmas card, a calendar, a tree or table decoration, a hat to wear at school Christmas lunch - no-one must be left out. Costumes for the play have been gathered and named.

In a primary school, particularly among the younger children, Christmas has been ‘done’ a hundred times by the end of term. Many rehearsals of Nativity plays have led to the final performances, when angels and kings, shepherds and animals, and of course, Mary and Joseph, are transformed by the donning of costumes.

 The angels are never quite sure whether they're angels or fairies but love the glittery, scratchy tinsel headdresses. The angel Gabriel may be wearing neat wings or enormous appendages which threaten to weigh him down or lift him aloft in a strong wind. The shepherds wear dressing gowns and their striped or checked tea towel headdresses have a tendency to slip off. The kings have elaborate cardboard crowns and carry brightly wrapped ‘gifts’ while the animals have a variety of masks to show what they are.

Excitement builds as the moment for performance arrives. Little children worry in case their mums or grandparents aren’t in the audience. Some cry, others suck their thumbs, all are over-excited, nerves as tight as harp strings. The teachers try to keep their charges calm and then the opening music plays.

Audience and performers' eyes seek each other out and exchange small waves of recognition. The age-old story is told  and children sing the familiar carols with enthusiasm. The magic gradually overwhelms, adult eyes glistening unexpectedly as the innocence of the children adds poignancy to their performance. 'Away in a manger' lisped by little children moves even the hardest hearts.

                            Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

 The teachers, who have coached and cajoled their children and at times despaired that they would ever be ready, see the little boys and girls as if for the first time as they give their shining best. 

 Everyone is a star and the final applause is heartfelt and prolonged. 

Children exclaim that they loved doing it and want to do it all over again. Teachers praise them and give silent thanks that everything went off without a hitch. Everyone goes home singing or humming with their proud parents.

There’s nothing quite like a Christmas celebration in a primary school.                                                                                                             

Sometimes children, especially very young ones, display an excess of enthusiasm. I challenge you to get through this clip without giggling.                                                                                                                                                               .

Six Word Saturday

The clocks go back this weekend . . .
. . . then it will feel really autumnal - a reminder that the year is turning and after the harvest festivals in schools and churches there will be an onward rush to Christmas. The shops have been touting Christmas goods for months and the charity catalogues are coming in thick and fast.
It's half-term in the coming week and after that in primary schools up and down the country the children will be practising Christmas carols and concerts, miniature Marys and Josephs will be chosen and angels will be nagged into holding their 'wings' aloft, shepherds' tea-towel headdresses will refuse to stay in place and kings/wise men will trip over their cloaks while their crowns slip down over their eyes. No matter how hackneyed it may all seem, nor how many times the Nativity has been acted out, when the lights catch the tinsel and silver on the angels' heads and the 'precious gifts' and the children sing 'Away in a manger' the audience and teachers alike will catch their breath and swallow hard while their eyes mist over, caught up once more in the essential innocence and trust of small children. Do I miss this? Of course I do!
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