Monday, March 10, 2014

March Giveaway: The Golden Age of Folk and Fairy Tales



I have a copy of The Golden Age of Folk and Fairy Tales: From the Brothers Grimm to Andrew Lang edited by Jack Zipes to giveaway at the end of this month. As we all know, I hate to just collect names and pick one for a giveaway. I like to ask for more. And these days I need help generating content for this blog. So two birds, one rock. Yay SurLaLune!

I finally decided on what you can do for a chance to enter to win the copy of the book. Inspired by the Golden Age title as well as March being Youth Art Month, I am asking you to share your favorite fairy tale illustration--it can be from the Golden Age of Illustration (which is what inspired the theme) or any other time.

Here's what you do:

Either reply to this post with your entry or email me with your submission. Your entry should include:

1) A link to the image of your favorite fairy tale illustration. No attached files, please. I am not going to download email attachments. Personal policy there.

2) Three (3!) sentences about why you like the illustration.

3) I will be sharing entries as posts on this blog so you can also share a link to your own blog if you are looking for some self-promotion opportunities. At least let me know how you would like to be identified in the post I will publish with your entry.

Submissions will be accepted through 11:59 PM PST, Monday, March 24, 2014. That gives you two weeks to submit.

I will announce the winner on Monday, March 31, 2014. International submissions are accepted. I'll ship internationally because I am nice that way. The book has been donated by the publisher, but I'll handle the shipping on my own.

The usual types of disclaimers apply. Now I am eager to see what your favorite illustrations are!

15 comments:

  1. http://www.web-books.com/Classics/ON/B0/B322/07MB322.html

    you have to go down the page to the 3 picture (though I do love all of them) this is my favorite. she is Polychrome the rainbows daughter from the land of Oz by Baum. we meet her for the first time in the 4th book "the road to OZ" I love her because she is always dancing in a swirling cloud of color and light and like all John R. Neill's illustrations there is a sense of fun, movement and lightness.

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  2. http://www.shadowscapes.com/image.php?lineid=4&bid=732

    I've always loved the ballad of Tam Lin, and this painting by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law captures the strange, haunting mood of the story better than any of the other illustrations I've seen. I especially love the tree creatures clinging to Tam Lin's arms.

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  4. http://megankearney.storenvy.com/products/3603106-beauty-and-the-beast

    I adore this illustration of Beauty and the Beast. The way Beast's cape and Beauty's hair flow into the forest scene in the centre is fantastic. It's shows the bond between the two of them without completely eluding to romantic tones.

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  5. http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/edward-burne-jones/the-wedding-of-psyche-1895

    I really like this rendition of the Tale of Cupid and Psyche. Burne-Jones makes you feel as though the wedding procession is actually walking physically past you. The shadows give it a feel of grimness that contrasts nicely with what the viewer knows will happen later on.

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  6. http://adelaida.deviantart.com/art/Snow-White-and-Rose-Red-146294834?q=favby%3Aglowworm56%2F12743344&qo=272

    Snow white and Rose Red is a lesser known fairy tale that features a sweet friendship between the two sisters and a bear. I feel that this illustration shows this bond beautifully. Also, that is one patient bear letting them comb and brush his fur and place a bow on him.

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  7. http://theoddmentemporium.tumblr.com/post/19252541498/the-art-of-errol-le-cain

    This is the cover picture for Thorn Rose (Sleeping Beauty)by British artist Errol LeCain. The fairies going to the princess's christening might be pretty and delicate, but they're not the kind of beings you mess with. The black, intertwining trees and the wicked fairy watching indicates that all that will not necessarily be well.

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  8. http://galleryblog.courtauld.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Walter-Crane-Beauty-and-the-Beast-490px.jpg
    (from this link: http://galleryblog.courtauld.ac.uk/2013/09/12/walter-crane/)

    I actually did my undergrad thesis on "Beauty and the Beast," and one of my chapters was on illustrations and the nineteenth-century picture book. Crane's illustrations are definitely some of the better known ones with regard to this tale, and so I think anyone interested in "Beauty and the Beast" illustrations should be familiar with his work. Even more than that, though, I love how simple this illustration seems upfront, but that it has tons of layered meanings that have been analyzed over the years, such as where Beauty's gaze falls, where the Beast's gaze falls, and the subtle (but many) allusions made to the animal kingdom and Greek mythology.

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  9. I love so many fairy tale illustrations that I can't claim one as a true, singular favorite, but I can choose one that is a star in the fairy tale illustration firmament.

    http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/illustrations/pussboots/doreboots1.html

    I love Gustave Dore's Puss in Boots because of the intricate line work and all of the active angles. I love how Puss is central, gallant, charming, and whimsical, while the miller's son is lost in the background appearing a baffled buffoon. I adore the particular details of Puss's flamboyant boots, as well as the bird skull necklace and the snacks attached to his absurdly wide belt, which must be ridiculously short to fit around his feline torso.

    Thanks for the giveaway opportunity!

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  10. What a challenge to narrow down to only one favorite...but one that definitely sticks in my mind is from Errol le Cain's Cinderella illustrations: http://c300221.r21.cf1.rackcdn.com/errol-le-cain-cinderella-1362889150_b.jpg

    All the clocks are suspended in the air so eerily, all pointing to midnight. And at first glance I had thought the women on the bottom were dancers from the ball, but I love how they show Cinderella's de-transformation back to her rags.

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  11. http://goo.gl/sp9a4V

    Paul Hey, "Little Brother and Little Sister"

    I first came across Hey's work in one of Maria Tatar's Annotated fairy tale books. I am drawn to his style of capturing raw emotion and stressing moments in the tales that seem less important. I love the moment he captures here from "Little Brother and Little Sister," because even though the sister's despair over her brother's transformation is brief, this image conveys its importance as well as the siblings' bond.

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  12. http://www.flickr.com/photos/29933297@N05/3880646865/

    This illustration by Artuš Scheiner is titled "Fairy Tales Of Božena Němcová" and if you look that name you'll discover that this woman published some books on Czech tales. I haven't read any of her books and I know there are a lot of fairytales with swans in them, but to me this illustration reminds me of "The Six Swans", one of my favorite tales as the siblings relation is really important in it and to me. My parents are divorced and I have three brothers, I live with the oldest, the second doesn't speak to me and the youngest is an angel to whom I'm really close.

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  13. I love the classic illustrations that Ivan Bilibin did for the Baba Yaga/Vasalisa story : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vasilisa.jpg I even tried to recreate them as photographs a few years ago. What fun : http://sweetleafnotes.blogspot.com/2012/10/vasalisa-and-flaming-skull.html

    To give credit to a "modern" illustrator of the story, I love what Ruth Brown did with Baba Yaga and the Wise Doll : http://tinyurl.com/qya34qm (Amazon). The girl on the cover looks like me as a kid --- maybe that's part of why I so identify with this story? That and how can you argue with toads wearing jeweled vests?

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  14. http://www.pbs.org/art21/images/kiki-smith/rapture-2001?slideshow=1

    Rapture, by Kiki Smith.

    Kiki Smith is one of my favorite contemporary fairy tale artists. I was able to see this particular sculpture, Rapture, at the Frist Center when it came to Nashville a couple years ago. What I like about this sculpture is that it doesn't just capture the moment where Red is taken from the wolf's stomach, but re-imagines it where Red has agency, and the experience is something beyond traumatizing into something religious/a rapturous resurrection, perhaps into womanhood.

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