Wednesday 2 October 2013

GRIMM TALES by Philip Pullman (Germany)

'Cat and Mouse' paper, clay, paint, 20cm tall

One of my most recent projects has been the creation of 50 small sculptures to illustrate a selection of Grimm's fairy tales re-written by Philip Pullman, the well-known British author of the His Dark Materials trilogy.  Published this month by Aladin Verlag, Grimms Märchen is only available as a German language edition for the moment (the original English language editions of Grimm Tales by Philip Pullman remain unillustrated). You can find out a little more about this project on my website.

7 comments:

  1. my best compliments for these works ! EW

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  2. I don't know if it's okay to ask questions here, but did you work personally, ie have conversations, with Phillip Pullman for this project.

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  3. No, although I have met him once (an extremely pleasant and intelligent guy). It's quite common that writers and illustrators don't communicate with each other so directly actually, but are mediated by an editor. But in this way we did have a brief exchange about how to approach imagery. Originally, the book was not really going to be illustrated, but I encouraged the publisher to let me have a go at it, and fortunately they liked my early experiments.

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  4. I am stunned by these sculptures. I have collected books and art relating to folklore and fairy tales and mythology for four decades now and I have never seen anything as wonderful as this. I don't suppose you are also selling the sculptures? Part of me hopes not, as I think all of them belong in a collection together. But the fairy tale collector in me wishes she could buy every single one. I am most stunned. Honestly, I would buy the entire series if it were possible to do so. LOVE them so very very much.

    Cindy Kennedy (malinablue@aol.com)

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  5. p.s. If ever you do decide to sell this series of sculptures, consider me, I beg you. I have had a passion for fairy tales my entire life and have been collecting for almost that long. I love these so much I almost want to cry.

    cindy

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  6. It would be so incredibly wonderful if you could reproduce these as a limited edition series or something. I would buy the whole set in a heartbeat. I can't stop looking at them and I can't wait for my book to arrive from Germany.

    cindy

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  7. Hi Cindy, if they are ever exhibited, commercially or otherwise, I'll let you know - thanks for the enthusiasm! They were great fun to make. I'm currently working on expanding the series, to include 60 images, and seeking publication in english-speaking territories (since the original publishers of Pullman's Grimm Tales in the UK and US decided not to use these illustrations). In the meantime, the German edition is a very nice one, good reproduction and design, and you probably know all the stories already too I'm guessing. I'll let you know if I ever get around to making these into prints or some other accessible form.

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