Panoptic refers to ‘showing or seeing the whole at one view’. Panoptic narrative art is often a bird’s eye view. The ‘camera’ is above. This is the art world’s equivalent of an all-seeing (omniscient) narrator.
The first to do is bring the ‘camera’ right up into the sky. The viewer now has a bird’s eye view of the setting.
But there’s more to it than that. It is an advanced compositional skill to incorporate mountains, deserts, forests and cities into a single scene.
Below is a collection of examples, with various ideas for composition.
Southwind, Johann Sadeler (I), after Maerten de Vos, 1560 – 1600. National Parks – detail from cover of 1958 AAA Travel brochureRobert Falcucci (1900-1989) 1931 Poster Art Rallye de Monte-CarloJ.R.R. Tolkein, illustration of Hobbiton for his book The Hobbit 1937from the Tenngren Tell It Again Book, Gustaf Tenngren
Stanislav Kovalev – Finist Yasny SokolBy Peter Kľúčik for unpublished edition of The Hobbit
Harry Clarke Cinderella illustration for The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault, first published in this format in 1922
By Peter Kľúčik for unpublished edition of The HobbitBuzzati, Dino, The Bears’ famous Invasion of Sicily, 1947Jaro Hess Poster of The Land of Make Believe 1933
Daily life in Egyptian communities by Mahrous AbdouWheat harvesting, 1984- by Ashour MeselhiTrouble for Trumpets by Peter Cross
by Ilonka Karasz (1896-1981) 1957
by Charles Elmer Martin aka CEM (1910-1995) 1946
1940s illustrations by Helen Sewell for Books of Knowledge Thanksgiving Day‘Steinberg’s Panoramas’ 2.11.1938Gustaf Tenggren (1896 – 1970) Snow White and the Seven Dwarves poster 1937Things of Summer, Kathryn Jackson; illustration by Richard Scarry from The New Golden Almanac, 1952
Header illustration: Luis Helguera, Routes of the Flying Clipper Ships Pan Am, 1941
