This is a light-hearted and one-of-a-kind exhibition on the unique reading experience of human beings. In history, pictures and texts alternately dominated the layout of our reading. It was not due to literacy issues, but the ineffable charm and the interpretive efficiency of illustrations for general readers. Picture books are where hand-drawing has a monopoly, in which text is only supplementary. Therefore, illustrations are indispensable for a fascinating reading experience, which is still the case in the information age.

　　The fundamental difference between hand-drawn illustrations and photographs is that illustrations are not a precise mapping of the reality, but the creation of the painter’s imagination. Excellent illustrations are mind-boggling, showing you the editor’s ingenious intentions in a blink. Therefore, each illustration has an attribute that transcends reality, endowed with a dashing imagination that breaks readers’ thoughts free from reality. For fairy tales, hand-drawn illustrations are even more indispensable, because they often create imageries that are too vivid and unique to forget in a lifetime, and a spatial landscape where no real-world experience can be referred, and is therefore free and romantic, with expanded possibilities.

　　The 180 works shown in this exhibition are the collection of the Maîtres de l’Imaginaire Foundation and the works of its chairman, Etienne Delessert, including the works of 41 illustrators from Switzerland, France, Britain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Lithuania and the United States. There are not only illustrations for story books, but also for classic fairy tales and original stories. Some works illustrate stories familiar to Chinese readers, such as Aesop’s Fables, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, and Andersen’s Fairy Tales. They will shine in our art museum, bringing the audience into the fantastic world created by these artists and writers. I believe that they will revive the faded and subconscious dreams of the majority of viewers, and show them the dazzling illusion of weightlessness in reality. Finally, I would like to thank the organizers and all parties who have devoted themselves to this exhibition.

　　Su Dan

　　Vice Director of Tsinghua University Art Museum

　　Tsinghua Campus, Beijing, November 2020