Images of the imagination 2008

From 19 October 2008 to 21 December 2008

XXVI International Exhibition of Childrens Illustration Saturday 18 October sees the opening of the XXVI edition of Images of the Imagination, an international event which focuses on the language of childrens illustration. 39 authors will be presented and their works examined one by one, thus giving an insight into their individual merits and also tracing the artistic continuity between them. More than 300 original works are on display, taking us on a fantastic voyage through fables, myths and the legends and traditions of each country, all narrated through the art of illustration. In order to give a true flavour of the beauty of childrens publications, all books published by the participants will also be on display (some of which are otherwise not to be found in Italy). The exhibition thus provides a means of discovering and evaluating the production in this field at an international level.

The exhibition has travelled widely and metà with great success, in Venice, Madrid, Aix-en-Provence, Genoa, the Pompidou Centre Paris, Ljubljana, Bratislava, Lugano, Lisbon, Salzburg, Seville, the Vienna Kunsthaus, Essen, Istanbul, Stuttgart, Naples, Monza, Siena, Rome, Verona, Vicenza, Florence and Munich. It is accompanied by a series of didactic activities for youngsters, affirming and promoting the cultural importance and pedagogical value of illustrated books: an introduction to the world of books; a display of panels explaining the various stages of book illustration, passing to the original design considered as an artwork; an investigation of the language of art, its techniques and methods, and ways of reading artworks to discover their hidden secrets and meanings.

In addition the exhibition is divided into two sections: the first dedicated to a guest of honour, who this year will be the German Ivan Gantschev, and the second dedicated to the theme Songs of the Ice: Fairy Tales of the Arctic.

Entrance free