Professor John Vernon Lord , Professor of Illustration
University of Brighton

Research Questions:

What am I doing?

I am currently working on a long-term project to produce An Illustrated Anthology of Aesop's Fables and their illustrators. I have secured a publishing contract with a publisher. The book will involve the selection and editing of around 700-800 fables and 300 illustrations covering the past 500 years. There will be three introductory essays including an historical review and a critical discussion on the subject of fables and fable illustration. The book will be indexed with biographies of the illustrators who are featured and it will include some content analysis on the moral themes of the fables.

How do I define it as Research?

The current project that I am working on subscribes to customary dictionary definitions of research 'collecting information on a subject' and 'a systematic investigation to establish facts'. It also corresponds to one of the current academic definitions of research as an 'original investigation undertaken to gain knowledge and understanding.'

Not all my research activities, however, involve me in such things as these definitions above may suggest. When I am practising illustration as opposed to writing about the subject (as a reviewing and investigative critic of someone else's work) ? there are, I believe, distinctive mental activities going on. When I am practising as an illustrator I aspire to another current academic definition which relates to 'the invention and generation of ideas, images, performance and artefacts, including design, where these lead to new or substantially improved insights.'

How did I get started?

I started research by being a practising illustrator. So far as the present project is concerned as long ago as 1985 I embarked upon editing and illustrating my own book of Aesop's Fables with a brief historical introduction about the origin of fables. Jonathan Cape published this in 1989 and the book became the overall winner of the 1990 W.H. Smith Illustration Award. I became so absorbed in the subject of fables and their illustrations that producing this book spurred me on to work on the anthology. Much of the work that I have been doing recently has been tracing English translations of fables from a range of Greek and Latin authors and looking at fable illustrations from Caxton's edition of 1484 up to the present time.

Who am I working/collaborating with?

I am not formally collaborating with anyone though I have commissioned a distinguished British folklorist to write an essay for the Anthology. At Brighton, where I have been working for many years, all that we do seems to involve some kind of collaboration. Close colleagues know what I'm doing and I know what they're doing. BA and MA students and MPhil/PhD researchers know too. It is important that we are able to share our thoughts about each other's preoccupations. The sharing of information is crucial and in my experience the better the scholar the more they are willing to share. Research is not about building walls of secrecy. In the art and design field the very nature of what we do is about showing it to others. In areas, that are outside my normal field of activity, such as 'content analysis', I am consulting an expert colleague in the university who is the Head of the Information Technology Research Unit at Brighton.

Are there any outcomes already in the public domain?

Selected research outcomes since 1994. I have illustrated three books that have all been published. I have had three papers published in conferences that took place in London and Barcelona. I have exhibited my work in a number of exhibitions in the UK during the past six years including such venues as: The Victoria and Albert Museum, The Barbican Centre, London, and The Fine Art Society Gallery, London.

A list of selected research outcomes (back to 1994)

Books
I have illustrated three books since 1994 which have been published as follows:

1. British Myths and Legends, edited and introduced by Richard Barber with 18 illustrations by JVL, The Folio Society, 1998.
2. The Squirrel and the Crow, by Wendy Cope, with illustrations by JVL, 'Prospero Poets' series for the Clarion Press, 1994.
3. King Arthur and his Knights, by Henry Gilbert with 30 illustrations and 22 decorative motifs by JVL, Macmillan, 1994. ISBN 0 - 333 - 60015 - 0.

Published conference papers
Keynote address - 'Illustration and Visual Communication; Some aspects of what an illustrator has to think about when creating children's picture books', a commissioned paper given at the Fourth Symposium Premi

Internacional Catalònia d'Il.lustració, held on the 21st and 22nd January 1997 at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona. The paper is published in four languages in Premi Internacional Catalònia d'Il.lustració by

Enciclopèdia Catalana, Generelitat de Catalunya Departament de Cultura, Barcelona, 1997. ISBN 84-8256-305X, pp 163-170 (English translation).

'Teaching Illustration', a paper given at a Children's Book Seminar, hosted by The Association of Illustrators and held at Swedenborg House, London on 24th September 1998. An abridged extract of the paper has been published in three parts in the magazine - Illustrator (February - April 1999).

'A Sandwich, Nonsense, Fables, Myths and Legends' a paper given at the 1a Setmana de la Il.lustració a Barcelona Catalunya, hosted by the Associacó Professional d'Il.lustradors de Catalunya at the Museu d'Història de Catalunya, Barcelona on 26th November 1998. (the transcript of the paper to be translated shortly as 'Un entrepà, bajanades i faules').

Exhibitions
I have exhibited my work in a number of exhibitions in the UK during the past six years including such venues as: The Victoria and Albert Museum, The Barbican Centre, London, and The Fine Art Society Gallery, London.

Who knows about my work and how did they find out?

The following is the evidence that I have of people knowing about my work, and, presumably by the same token, how they found out about it. In connection with my current project on illustrated fables I am in touch with the world's leading fable scholars through the normal channels of correspondence, particularly by means of e-mail. As a children's book author and illustrator my work has been published world-wide and translated into several languages. These publications have been extensively reviewed in the national press in this country and abroad. Two of my books (originated, edited and illustrated by me) have won prizes, one of them the overall W.H. Smith Illustration Prize in 1990. My illustrations have been exhibited world-wide and biographical entries are included in a number of 'Who's Who' publications and Dictionaries in this country and abroad. Recently an illustrated article was published in Creative Review about my notebooks and journals. I have given many lectures about my work throughout the UK and abroad. Last year I gave a 'Millennium Lecture' to an audience of 350 people at the University of Brighton entitled 'Illustrating Aesop.' I have often been called upon to be a judge on national and international selection panel's for illustration prizes and awards. I have also been involved in a number of BBC broadcasts about my own publications and exhibitions, and concerning the subject of art and design education.

The following is evidence that I have of people knowing my work:

As a children's book author and illustrator my work has been published world-wide and translated into several languages. One book of mine - The Giant Jam Sandwich has been in print since Jonathan Cape first published it in 1970. This book has even been the subject of an MA dissertation in an American University! My books have been extensively reviewed in the national press in this country and abroad.

Two books (originated, edited and illustrated) by me were awarded national prizes for their illustration and design layout. These were The Nonsense Verse of Edward Lear, published by Cape in 1984, which won the Redwood Burn Award and Aesop's Fables, published by Cape in 1989, which won the overall W.H. Smith Illustration Prize in 1990.

My work has also been exhibited world-wide and biographical entries about me and my work are included in a number of 'Who's Who' publications in this country and abroad, for example (in the UK): Dictionary of British Book Illustrators; The Twentieth Century, Brigid Peppin and Lucy Micklethwait, John Murray, 1983; and The Dictionary of 20th Century British Book Illustrators, Alan Horne, Antique Collectors? Club, 1994.Recently an illustrated article was written about an aspect of my work in 'Mind for Detail' - discussing my notebooks and journals in an interview with Patrick Burgoyne, published in Creative Review, Centaur Communications Ltd, June1997.

I suppose someone knows about my work because I am called upon to participate as a judge in national and international competitions related to the subject of illustration. In recent years these have included:

• Judge on the Selection Panel for the Macmillan Prize for a Children's Book, 1994-1996.
• British judge on the 1996 International Selection Committee for the Bologna Children's Book Fair (Fiction and Non Fiction); (Fiera del Libro per Ragazzi, Bologna) - the 30th anniversary.
• British judge on the International Jury for the 7th International Children's Book Illustration Prize, Barcelona, 1997 (VII Premi Internacional Catalònia d'Il.lustració).
• Judge on the Selection Panel for the 24th Annual and Exhibition, entitled Images for the Association of llustrators 1999.

I have also been involved in a number of interviews which have been broadcast by the BBC. These have ranged from reviewing other people's work (i.e. the Edward Lear exhibition at the Royal Academy), discussions about my own publications or exhibitions, and concerning the subject of art and design education.

What support am I offered by my institution?

In the past year the University of Brighton contracted me to do 60% research and 40% teaching and general administration. During the years I have worked at Brighton (29 years as a full-timer) I have been given two six-months periods of study leave to help launch me on the planning of two books which involved editorial planning, introductory essays, indexes, designing, and the drawing of 440 illustrations.

The Faculty of Arts and Architecture at Brighton oversees the research work in the Faculty through its Faculty Research Strategy Committee. This Committee not only monitors what is going on but also gives support in advising colleagues about funding opportunities and seeking ways of supporting them through its own modest internal research support fund. In recognition of this aspiration, in October 1998, the Faculty established a Centre for Research and Development with a new Head and a Research Development Officer.

What is the relationship between research and teaching in my institution?

The University has a positive and enlightened view of research in the Faculty of Arts and Architecture at Brighton but not at the expense of teaching. It promotes both aspects of our work (teaching and research) in a balanced way. If we are given time to carry out research the Faculty expects results in the form of public domain outcomes.

As far as my own area of work is concerned my on-going research has always been fed back into the course I teach on. In recent years this includes mostly the MA course in Sequential Design/Illustration but I have also discussed my research work with students on the BA (Hons) courses in Graphic Design and Illustration. This normally applies to all staff. Lectures or seminars are offered to MA students on subjects that are directly connected with our research. Staff also attend these sessions and much feedback, advice and support often results from the discussions that arise. In my experience research and teaching are one. It wouldn't make sense otherwise.

What support do I give others?

I think this question has partly been answered in the question above about whom I am working or collaborating with.

As a one-time Head of School or Department during various periods of my career at Brighton I have promoted and initiated research opportunities and assisted staff to develop their own fields of research. In the 1970s I set up a research base in the area of illustration and visual perception. We appointed a number of research assistants and hosted two conferences in the 1980s with the main aim of stimulating research in the subject of illustration. At the time it was a way of getting to know what was being done in the field and to encourage research and to support it by mutual collaboration. Over the years I have supervised a number of MPhil/PhD researchers.

I have always tried to give positive advice and encouragement to colleagues in areas of research and it has been my good fortune to receive the same from them.

When I was Head of the Department of Visual Communication at Brighton in the 1970/80s I set up a research base in the area of illustration and visual perception. We appointed a number of research assistants and hosted two conferences in 1981 and 1984 entitled 'Research in Illustration'. The main aim of these conferences was to stimulate research in the subject. It was a way of getting to know what was being done in the field and to encourage research and to support it by mutual collaboration.

Early research at Brighton included MPhil and PhD research with the following titles: 'An Analysis of the Elements Affecting the Comprehensibility of Illustrations Intended as Supportive of Text'; Children's Responses to Illustration'; 'An Experimental and Theoretical Study of the Cognitive Processes Governing the Effects of Didactic Illustration; 'Visual Literacy: a Study of the Relationship of Children and Pictorial Images'.

In recent years I have been involved in the supervision of wide-ranging PhD research topics with titles such as: 'Apprehending Movement of the Human Figure through the Medium of Drawing, with Comments on its Possible Relationship to Computer Mediated Interaction'; 'The Lost Arts of Islamic Calligraphy: Sources of Decline, Suggestions for Renewal'; 'A Critical Analysis of Images of Unease and Anxiety in American Advertisements of Cigarettes; 1945-1964'.