picture stories

warja honegger lavater was born in switzerland in 1913. she worked in design before moving to new york in the early 60's. at that time, she created a number of accordion books that told stories through pictures. the first page usually has a "key" where abstract shapes are named as stand ins for people, places, things. it looks like she then painted one long huge panel, from right to left, telling the story by repeating shapes in a kind of narrative. i love the idea that somehow abstract drawing/painting could be created similar in process to telling a bedtime story.

the images here are from william tell, published in 1966. the single pages are only 3.5" x 4.75", the images below are two page spreads. the whole book opened flat is 4.75" x 76".