Poet Alfred Lord Tennyson called Ecclesiastes, the 21st book in the Old Testament, the greatest ancient or modern piece of poetry. His timeless words have been the anthem of generations of readers. Award-winning book illustrators Leo and Diane Dillon selected several verses from Ecclesiastes - 3:1-8 and 1:4 - for a picture book Publisher's Weekly calls ". . . an enlightening volume (that) exudes a quiet elegance readers will not soon forget."
The book of Ecclesiastes in the King James version of the Bible is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Koheleth, a word meaning "one who convenes an assembly.""To Every Thing There Is a Season" is an assembly, one of nationalities mingled together with a tellurian message. These words contain some of the deepest problems facing man: death, loss, sorrow, hate and killing. But they are also the counterparts of these: life, happiness, love and peace. The art expands that meaning in stunning illustrations - some of these artists' best work.
Because the verses represent what encompasses the emotions and feelings of all people, the Dillons have chosen to portray 16 different cultures in religious ceremonies, weddings, funerals and celebrations of life and death throughout time and throughout the world. "No matter what our experience," the artists write, "we always return to the idea that there is a time and a purpose to our lives and to the world around us."
That is the thrust of "To Every Thing There is a Season."
The cover art is like a Dillon trademark - five human figures subtly placed in the care of an animated tree depicting the seasons.
The first painting, "To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven," is reminiscent of the ancient illuminated manuscripts from the Book of Kells with intricate and balanced terrestrial patterns. There are symbols of the four seasons surrounded by motion that depicts the cycles of life itself.
Subsequent art is like a walk through a multicultural museum - 14 two-page spreads demonstrating diverse ethnic groups through a broad spectrum of styles and mediums.
For example, "a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing" is shown with friends and family greeting each other but then stoically attending to purchases in a place of business. The Dillons selected the art style of 17th and early 18th century A.D. Ethiopia as found in Lake Tana and Gonder. These paintings were completed with gouache on three-ply Bristol board.
On other panels, replicas of Egyptian wall murals from around 2000-1000 B.C. are painted in acrylics. Chinese art techniques from approximately the same time period are composed on silk. There are traditional Australian bark paintings and Japanese wood block prints in ink and watercolor. Silhouettes from shadow plays in Thailand contrast nicely with mural scenes from the ceremonies of the Kuana Pueblos of the 14th century A.D.
A walk through this display of paintings is breathtaking, but it takes a second study for the reader to discover the finite details in clothing, architecture and personal emotion that fabricates each single story based on the time period and the locale of the event. To illustrate "a time to weep and a time to laugh" the Dillons used the typical style of art from India in the 16th and 17th centuries.
They depict a man with a scruffy dog leaving his family surrounded by famine and drought. Later, he returns to his much older but happier family and lush fields in obvious wealth.
The artists have included succinct notes explaining their portrayal in this way, "From prehistoric timesthrough the present, the need to express the human spirit artistically has persisted. Much of what we know about ancient cultures is gathered through the study of architecture, sculpture, painting and artifacts. We have been inspired by art in its many forms and, with this book, respectfully pay homage to it and to those things all people have in common."
"To Every Thing There is a Season" is the 40th title the Dillons have worked on together representing 40 years of marriage and artistic collaboration. They have won two Caldecott Medals (for "Ashanti to Zulu" and "Why Mosquitos Buzz in People's Ears") four New York Times Best Illustrated Awards, four Boston Globe/Horn Book Awards, two Coretta Scott King Awards and the Society of Illustrators Gold Medal. Both have received honorary doctorates from Parsons School of Design.
The Dillons have mastered a unique creative process that beautifully blends their artistic talents into what they call the result of the "third artist."