The 'Mr. Bear series was written by the female author; Chizuko Kuratomi and always illustrated by Kozo Kakimoto (1915-1998). They are magical kind stories about an awkward, large, shy bear and his friendship with some rabbits.
I cannot believe that I have not featured the work of Kozo Kakimoto on this blog. It is certainly time to correct this as I have had several of his illustrated 'Mr. Bear' books for almost 20 years and they are part of my most prized collection of children's illustration.
These illustrations are from 'Mr. Bear goes to sea' published in 1967, Kozo has wonderful use of space in his spreads and colour path through the book as well as delightful texture and fantastic detail.
The bottom spread is probably my favorite! I have this and a few others of their books, but hope to find more!
ReplyDelete