Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Flying Around


 Oscar Rabe Hanson, 1926

Just back from a brief but wonderful trip to Barcelona,
I am getting ready to leave for a few days in Paris...
I love to travel, but wish I had my own wings 
instead of flying with Ryanair

 Battetti, 1930s

Lucien Boucher, 1948, thanks to Paul Malon

Charley Harper, 1951


Two 1950s posters for Braniff

Jacques Dubois, 1956

Jean Colin, 1958

Thanks to Sandi Vincent

via the Simmonds Collection

Pablo Picasso, 1963

Georges Mathieu, 1968

Wiktor Górka, 1968

Raymond Savignac

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Bear with Me



This May the Animalarium has been invaded by bears. The inspiration was a trip to Bern, the Swiss city
 whose heraldic symbol is a black bear. A good excuse to explore my fascination with the ways
 our ancient and powerful symbolic connection with bears resurfaces from our unconscious 
time and time again, in so many different contexts and interpreted by various artists' sensitivities.
Enjoy this hodgepodge collection and bear hugs to everyone!

Joan Walsh AnglundCowboy and his friend, 1961


Emma Carlow


Jutta Bauer


Nikolaus Heidelbach


Pirkko-Liisa Surojegin

René HausmanSaki et l'Ours, 1965


Marion DuvalAnouchka et l'ours 





















Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Tatiana Mavrina



My ongoing survey of great Russian illustrators continues with the bold and colorful works of Tatiana Mavrina, 
prolific artist who painted, worked in theatre and animation, and illustrated over 200 books. 
Mavrina was born in Nizhny Novgorod in 1902, and studied at the Higher State Art and Craft Institute 
Vkhutemas from 1921 to 1929. She became a member of the Thirteen movement, but began to develop
 a vivid, free and highly decorative personal style which combined influences from Lubok
 and other traditional forms of Russian folk art with the French painting tradition. 

Forty White-sided, 1957

My grandmother goat, 1962

Many of Mavrina's children's books illustrate Russian folk tales and Aleksandr Pushkin's
 fairy tales such as The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Heroes (1949) 
Ruslan and Ludmila (1960), There Stands (1961) and The Tale of the Golden Cockerel



Fabulous Beasts, 1965




Mavrina collected old icons and folk art. She didn't address her illustrations specifically  to children,
 and her books were often published as gift editions. In her original picture books, such as Fabulous Beasts (1965)
 and Fairy-Tale ABC (1969), the text plays a secondary role to the humorous and brightly colored pictures.  


  Gingerbread baked into the clutches of a cat is not given, 1967
(dear Russian readers, please help me with a better translation)



Fairytale Alphabet, 1969



Lukomorie, 1970

Birds at Sea, 1976

In 1976 Mavrina became the only Soviet artist to be awarded the Andersen Prize 
for her contribution to the illustration of children’s books.



SInce Mavrina died in 1996, the public's interest in her work has been steadily increasing.
 One can find her works in major Russian museums including the Tretyakov Gallery, the State Russian Museum,
and the State Museum of Fine Arts. And if you are in Moscow, you can visit her exhibition  
at Petrosvky Passage which runs until June 3rd.





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