Author Archives: Andrea Immel

How to Dress the Emperor in His New Clothes

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This is a delicate issue for any illustrator of Hans Christian Andersen’s sly tale, now so deeply embedded in the culture that it often passes as an anonymous folk classic.  To what extent should young readers be protected from the sight of the emperor’s nakedness?  But if they are shielded from any peep at the vain ruler’s embarrassing condition, can the story make an indelible impression?

Here are four radically solutions to the problem.

From Ardizzone’s Hans Andersen: Fourteen Classic Tales (1978) Cotsen 37999.

Edward Ardizzone drew him fully clothed in long woolly underwear, a full-bottomed wig, and bare feet at the head of a very long procession. It is hard to think of another outfit that undercuts royal majesty more ridiculously and also very conveniently spares the illustrator from answering awkward questions from the publisher.

Des Kaisers neue Kleider. Illustrated by Karl Lagerfeld (1992) Cotsen 19998.

Karl Lagerfeld, the celebrated fashion designer and longtime creative director of Chanel (aka “Kaiser Karl”) dressed his emperor in transparent underthings that cruelly expose his aging, stout body.  He could hardly be more repellent undressed.  The elderly Lagerfeld himself flamboyantly concealed the ravages of the years with outsized sunglasses, high starched collars, and fingerless gloves, topped by a mane of snow white hair.

Andersen Kalendar. Illustrated by Heinrich Lefler and Joseph Urban (1910). Cotsen 951.

Frequent collaborators Heinrich Lefler and Joseph Urban had their cake and ate it too in their sumptuous color illustration.  The splendidly dressed courtiers and attendants in the foreground nearly conceal their royal master, whose profile dominated by an outsized chin and Adam’s apple is at the dead center of the plate.  His straight black hair streaked with gray is covered by an enormous gold and scarlet imperial helm.  That is all he has on.  The ghostly pale shoulders and torso of the foolish old man beguiled by the trappings of his office, are thrown into relief by the robust young men surrounding him.

The Emperor’s New Clothes. Illustrated by Angela Barrett (1997) Cotsen 34676.

Angela Barrett breaks with tradition by representing the emperor as a young dandy.  Head held high, he marches down the street, with just a bit of bare chest showing.  He and his attendants may be engulfed by the tittering crowd, six or seven spectators deep, but almost nothing is left to the imagination because suspended overhead is an oval portrait of the striding monarch taken from behind.  Is the tall, slim man in elegant slippers a closet exhibitionist, or is he making the best of the situation in which he has landed by forging ahead instead of fleeing?

Each of the artist’s solutions to illustrating the emperor’s humiliation is so satisfying that it is difficult to say if one if better than the other three.  Why choose?

Pettson and Findus Make a Snow Lantern (Snölytka in Swedish)

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Over Christmas I discovered Findus and the Christmas Tomte, a story in Sven Nordqvist’s picture book series about the old Swedish bachelor farmer Pettson and his remarkable cat in the green striped pants, Findus (author-illustrator shown left).  The Swedish title, Tomtemaskinin [Tomtemachine], is a more accurate and funny precis of the events which unfold after Findus discovers that Christmas Eve the tomte delivers presents to children (his regular job is watching over a home).  Pettson worries that the tomte won’t come because Findus is a cat, not a boy, and decides that the only way to keep him from being disappointed is to build a mechanical tomte.

In chapter one, Findus asks Pettson to tell the tomte about them so he’ll know to visit.  Pettson tries to head Findus off at the pass by saying it’s hard to reach the gnome, especially if he doesn’t want to be found. When Findus won’t give up, Pettson suggests that Findus build a snow lantern and put a list of presents he’d like in the snowball on the very top.  When it’s dark, they will light the candle, let it burn all night, and check in the morning to see if Findus’s snow ball is gone.  No guarantees he’ll come, Pettson warns.  The tomte came..I didn’t quite believe that snow lanterns were real until I found how-to-to-do videos on line…  If you are snowed in on Monday, it might be a good way to pass the time.

A nice flat surface in view of a window, a good pair of gloves, powdery snow, and one or more LED tealights are all you need to build one.  Make a good supply of well-packed snowballs any size you like.  The more you make, the taller the lantern.  Arrange the snowballs apart into a circle, leaving some inches between them.   Now place more rows on top of the foundation, each one a little smaller than the last.  Leave enough room at the top to put your arm in to light the tealights when darkness falls.  Enjoy the wonderful glow.