Jan Toorop – The Song of Time

This story begins on an island. Very far from here. Photographs were black and white then. And the shadow plays told mysterious tales, about princes and princesses, good and evil. Eleven year old Jan is sent to Holland on a tall ship. It is a farewell for ever, to his country and to his family. Jan has to go to school. But what he wants to do most is draw… Painter Jan Toorop was born in Indonesia. His family lived on a small island, near the jungle. Life was magical, something he missed in The Netherlands. But in Europe he found fellow spirits in the art worlds of Belgium, France and England. His symbolist work was a great inspiration to Klimt and other Vienna artists.
As a child, Kitty Crowther holidayed in the Dutch province of Zeeland, where Toorop painted some of his most beautiful paintings. The lines and colours in Toorop’s work inspired her to draw this magical picture book about a soulful artist and his guardian angels. Kitty Crowther is the winner of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2010.