Pauline Baynes created the original illustrations for C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia books. Her black-and-white drawings and color illustrations became closely associated with the first editions of the series.
Baynes was born in Brighton in 1922 and studied at the Slade School of Fine Art. She began illustrating professionally after working with J.R.R. Tolkien, and Tolkien recommended her to Lewis when illustrations were needed for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Baynes illustrated all seven Narnia books. Her work helped establish visual ideas for characters, creatures, clothing, and settings, although the books remain literary works rather than illustrated picture books. Later editions have also used other artists and designs.
Readers sometimes confuse Baynes with modern film concept artists because the Narnia stories have received several screen adaptations. Baynes’s illustrations belong to the original book-publishing history, not to the later movie productions.