“The book illustration probably is not something absolutely necessary in a man’s life, but it brings an infinite pleasure and is intimately intertwined with the other art – literature, which is absolutely necessary in a man’s life, so that it should remain one of the most precious things that the rational creativity of the human being should aspire.”
William Morris (23 March 1834 — 3 October 1896)
My name is Liliana Jigau. I originate from Chisinau (Republic of Moldova, ex- USSR country). I am a painter and a freelance illustrator. Since childhood, I have been surrounded by books, colors, paint brushes and paper.
I graduated from The Faculty of Arts, where I studied book illustration, graphics and painting. Later, I defended my PhD thesis at the Faculty of Philology, University of Bucharest, Universal and Comparative Literature Department, specialization - Iconology, thesis topic: “The Book Illustration as a Form of Literary Text Recounting”.
Texts and illustrations are indispensable elements, because the latter is part of a book’s décor,that is why I like the words and the image. The illustrator is the one who makes sail between phrases and ideas, between mythology and contemporary history, illusions and inner visions, miracles and reality, figures and allegories. The peace and the intimacy of the books assist me in expressing myself through different means and techniques.
My author books „bookart”, illustrations, watercolor paintings, paintings on canvas, on walls, author post cards/ unique, my calligraphic works, arts in general constitutes the force and the inspiration of my artistic experience, my passion and my world…
- “My original works are designed on high-quality paper and with professional pigments.”
- “The paper is very responsive. Following every gesture on the paper by a paint brush, a pencil or nib left… there is a sign…”
“First of all, the thesis paper written by Mrs. Liliana Jigau is prominent through the amount of research that has been done to explore all the iconological and eucharistic implications involved in the relation between literary text and the visual image. She commences her research in a sensible way, by exploring the predecessors of modern and modernist poets, for whom the visual image is not only a source of inspiration, but also a means of expression. Her approach is founded on a reliable review of the theoretical assumptions in what concerns the hermeneutical connotations and the structure of the imagery.
As well as this, she showed understanding of the main methods of interpretation of the forms and the functions of the language, and a consistent effort to analyze the meanings in relation with the thesis’s topic.
Most of all, we should appreciate the fact that Mrs. Jigau has the merit of directing her efforts towards an objective study, meaning that all of her research was done based on specific cases (as a convincing proof – the immense selection of illustration that accompanies the text).
Given the above stated facts, the present thesis paper is, undoubtedly, one of the most valuable research papers dedicated to this topic that has ever been conducted under the guidance of Comparative Literature Department of the Faculty of Philology in Bucharest University.”
6 September 2001
Scientific Coordinator, Prof. Dan Grigorescu, Bucharest University