One can with good reason be skeptical of literary commissioned works. How free is the author, what guidelines are behind it? The National Museum probably feared no slaughter when they asked Anna Fiske to make a picture book for children for the opening of the new museum. The museum gets well out of it. The museum tour guide Ylva does the same, an enthusiastically illustrated person who is no stranger to the strangest questions and comments from the strange visitors. A day at the museum Already the front page shows the much talked about slate facade behind the old Vestbanen in Oslo, the one that evil tongues think resembles the front of a prison. On the first page is the museum’s minimalist logo. And the very first word in the book is the National Museum. “You have to go to the bathroom first”, writes Fiske and immediately takes the child’s perspective. Good! “Museum” is a cross between non-fiction and fiction. We meet a group the size of a school class, who are going to visit the National Museum. But this gang is something in itself. Here is a crocodile with pants and a skeleton with a handbag, an orange in a wheelchair and a talking banana. They all talk, all the time – that’s so the guide barely speaks. Fish with a diving mask For my adult head, the start almost threatens with a mental rejection. There are so many crooked and weird characters! How inventive can one be, when the framework is a defined museum visit to a specific, existing museum? But limiting frameworks exist to be broken, see that is part of the illustrator Anna Fiske’s philosophy of life. In her still childish head, a Christmas tree can roll around on wheels, a wandering fish can have a diving mask and water tank on its back. Representation is a quality in children’s books. In Anna Fiske’s ultra-generous personal gallery, there is room for everyone. What is art? There is also room for all kinds of questions and comments, laid out in speech bubbles from the figures that abound over the book pages. HISTORICAL: Baldisholteppe is named after Baldishol church on Nes in Hedmark, where it was found when the church was demolished in 1879. Carbon dating dates the origin in the period 1040–1190. Illustration: Anna Fiske / Cappelen Damm After countless school visits, Fiske knows his audience and knows that children often associate freely and contribute to the conversation with their own experiences in encounters with text and pictures. The comments can spring from the art, but just as often they can be about something quite different. Guided tour Ylva keeps both calm and thread, and guides the gang safely through the museum and art history. The first stop in the museum shows a head sculpture from Greek antiquity. Then the journey continues via Chinese ming porcelain to Norwegian medieval tissue. Illustration: Anna Fiske / Cappelen Damm Ylva informs about the works of art. She tells how the museum is built up, what occupational groups are there, what art can be and what it can do, for example, initiate thoughts and associations in those who view it. Recreating classics Fishing recreates “Brudeferd i Hardanger” by Tidemann og Gude, “Sommernatt” by Kitty Kielland and Theodor Kittelsen’s “Nøkken”. Aase Texmon Rygh’s twisted sculptures are included, and Munch’s “Scream” immediately triggers emotional associations in museum visitors. MUNCH À LA FISKE: Swipe on for the children’s reflections. Anna Fiske also provides overview photos of the building’s architecture – visitors even admire the view of the city from the roof terrace. She touches closely on individual objects, such as reindeer shells, applied art or a video installation. I like the mix of the concrete works and the reactions of the motley assembly that looks at them. I also note, to my delight, that female artists are well represented. It should just be missing, but it is not a matter of course. Bruksbok – og forundringsbok It is almost 30 years since Lars Elling and Bjørn Sortland came with their award-winning children’s book «Red, blue and a little yellow». There, little Oda snuck through art history by simply crawling into the works of art. I do not remember seeing anything like it in the meantime – so it’s high time for a new child – friendly work of art about art. In contrast to Elling and Sortland’s book, «Museum» can be experienced as a bit impersonal, since the book has no main character. Because even though Fiske’s gang consists of clear and distinctive individuals, they are part of a lot. And a lot of it can be difficult to relate to. THINK AND FEEL YOURSELF: The book has also become a work the National Museum can be proud of. Illustration: Anna Fiske / Cappelen Damm But that is the price Anna Fiske must pay for her democratic attitude. Then she also sticks to a fact-oriented, albeit creative, communication, as we have seen in several of her non-fiction books, such as “How to make a baby?” and “What is it like to be an adult?” . But the museum itself is the main character: It’s a box with the weird in it. If you open the lid, the strangest things can pop up. The combination of knowledge and free fabrications makes the book a fine use book. It does not postulate one correct understanding of art, but invites readers to think and feel for themselves. And what is better than that? news reviewer Photo: Cappelen Damm Title: Museum Author: Anna Fiske Illustrator: Anna Fiske Genre: Children’s book Target group: 6-9 years Publisher: Cappelen Damm Published: Spring 2022
ttn-69
«Museum» by Anna Fiske – Reviews and recommendations
