A Painter’s Stories for Children

By Natasha van Bentum

Tsep the Beetle, Eagle in a Golden Cage, Magic Weaver, Talented Sponge and The Boy & The Monarch are just some of the characters who spring to life through the rich imagination of international artist and James Bay resident Henri van Bentum in his just-released e-book, Apologues: Stories for All Ages.

Artist Has Never Used a Computer

Henri is the first to admit that he has never used a computer in his entire life, but he welcomes the ability of electronic or e-books to reach a wide audience. In fact his e-book's dedication is "to the Human Family." Henri is pleased that there were no trees cut down for its production.

What are Apologues?

Apologues are fables that often have animals or insects as characters. Their origins can be traced to Europe and beyond, to Babylonia and Persia. And how did a painter with a career spanning six decades and whose work is represented in collections around the world come to write fables?

An Eventful Boyhood in the Countryside of Europe

"Stories and fables came to me at an early age>" says Henri, born 1929. "Mother read to us the classics at bedtime including de la Fontaine, Aesop, Brothers Grimm and Andersen. Father was a great storyteller, such as Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, and my grandfather told me folk tales and legends."

Henri's boyhood in the deep countryside of the Lowlands, with no electricity or running water, left him with a rich tapestry of vibrant childhood impressions: travelling circuses performed nearby, colourful carnivals took place in town, while gypsies came by to sharpen scissors and knives, and fix cooking pots. Getting to school meant a two-hour walk each way, passing through fields and estates with swan lakes and peacocks.

Extensive Travels to Exotic Countries Left a Deep Impression

Henri adds, "These early experiences left a deep impression during an eventful childhood. Extensive travels, often to remote cultures renowned for their traditions of oral storytelling, became distilled in a blending of 'outer and inner journeys,' which in turn gave birth to these Apologues".

The images in Apologues: Stories for All Ages are selections from van Bentum's Organiverse, a series of 100 spheres 8.5 cm. in diameter, painted in pointillism, dot by dot. Organiverse was created in 1972 while Henri and his wife Natasha lived in Morocco, and then on the island of Madeira. Not long ago an edition of Organiverse: Starry Night was created.

Images from both editions are represented in the e-book. A selection of Organiverse: Starry Night paintings were recently featured in NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory exhibit called Coloring Space, juxtaposing van Bentum's paintings with images from space. Astronaut Chris Hadfield called the exhibit "a lovely fusion of discovery between art and science."

Apologues: Stories for All Ages can be purchased at Victoria based e-publisher Pegasus Press on its website.