The Metamorphosis of Mr. Samsa

Last of the autumn leaves

Winter solstice is fast approaching. After weeks of undressing, the nettle tree in front of my window is finally almost bare, only a few green leaves still hanging to one of the lower branches. It''s a good time to go on a leaf hunt and give new life to these drying beauties. You can look for inspiration in the beastly creations from the children's book Leaves by Iranian author Mehdi Mo'eeni. The volume was awarded first prize at the 1985 Bologna book fair.

Monday Matticchio

Sunday Safari – In the Peaceable Kingdom

Lion and fish illustration by Irina Troitskaya

Illustration by Toshiyuki Fukuda

Stuffed lions from Takiyaje, aka Lubov Nalogina

Illustration by Tatsushi Hara, thanks to Stickers and Stuff

Movie poster by Jaroslav Zelenka, 1955, from Terry Posters

Afrika lion by Lisa Larson at Gustavsberg studio, 1968,

from hi+lomodern (sorry - I just saw it's already sold!)

Spacer Iwa, book cover by Miroslaw Tokarczyk, 1973

thanks to tralaloskop's precious archives, and to Kickcan and Conkers for the tip

The Happy Lion by Roger Duvoisin used to be one of my daughters' favorite books

Illustration from Brian Wildsmith's ABC, 1962,

from hunkamunka's Vintage Children's Books set on flickr

Leones by Violeta Lópiz

Anonimous Czech movie poster, 1970, from Terry Posters

Poster from the Save series by Kazumasa Nagai, 2001

and finally, from Un lion à Paris by Beatrice Alemagna, the illustration that inspired this post,

together with the beautiful article about this and other meek lions in Le figure dei libri.

A Sparrow in the Soviet Storm

Vera Mikhailovna Ermolayeva (1893-1937) was a Russian painter, printmaker and illustrator. Her legs had been paralyzed since childhood, and she walked with the aid of crutches. After studying painting and archeology, in 1918 she established the artist collective Segodnya (Today), which published children's books illustrated with linocuts and popular prints in the traditional lubok style.

Cock, illustration for Petukh by Natan Vengrov, linocut with watercolor additions, 1918

Cover and illustration for Myshata by Natan Vengrov, linocut with watercolor additions, 1918

In 1919 Ermolayeva moved to Vitebsk to replace Chagall as the rector of the Institute of Practical Arts. She appointed Kazimir Malevich as head of the painting department, and with some of the school's students they formed the UNOVIS group. During this period she was strongly influenced by Malevich's ideas, and created Suprematist designs for stage sets and wall paintings. In the early twenties Ermolayeva moved to Leningrad, where she worked at the Institute of Artistic Culture and the Art History Institute. In this period, she moved away from abstraction and started developing her personal style of figurative painting.

Illustration for the fairy-tale book Zaichik (Bunny), linocut, 1923

From 1923, she contributed to the first children's magazines Vorobey, Novy Robinzon and Chizh and Ezh, and in 1925 she started illustrating children's books for the state publishing house Gosizdat. These works reflect not only Ermolayeva's artistic skills and mastering of different techniques, but her strong sense of humor and joie de vivre. She published approximately twenty books with texts by leading poets like Daniil Kharms, Nikolay Zabolotsky, Alexander Vvedensky and others.

Illustration for Top-top-top by Nikolai Aseyev, 1925

Illustration for Krasnosheika by Nikolai Aseyev, 1927

Cover and illustration for Martyshka i Ochki (The monkey and the spectacles) by I.A.Krylov, 1929

Sketch for the cover of Kot Pamfil (Pamphil the Cat), watercolor on paper, 1928 (unpublished)

Cover and sketch for Rybaki (Fishermen) by Aleksander Vvedenskij, gouache on paper, 1930

In 1928 Ermolayeva went on a trip to the White Sea, and recorded her impressions in a series of gouaches.

These works inspired Kharms and Vvedensij, and both wrote books based on them.

Cover and illustrations for her own Sobachki (Little dogs), 1929

Cover and double spread for Ivan Ivanovich Samovar by Daniil Kharms,1929

Illustration for Reineke Fox (Reynard the fox) by Johann Goethe, 1930 (unpublished)

Regrettably, like many other members of the Russian avant-gardes, Ermolayeva became a victim of the Stalinist purges and her life had a tragic ending. In 1934 she was arrested with a group of other artists, possibly because of her satirical illustrations for Reineke Fox, or her brother's involvement with the Mansheviks. She was condemned to 5 years in a prison camp in Kazakhstan, from which she never returned. Some sources say that she was executed by shooting in 1937.

On a personal note, while I always love researching the lives behind the artworks, I found Ermolayeva's story particularly interesting and moving. I now deeply admire this brave and independent woman and sensitive artist, who in spite of her physical impairment took a very active role in times of great changes, and was crushed by her fatal collision with the dark currents of history. I am not aware of current editions of her children's books, but found two illustrated volumes about her work, both in Russian: Vera Ermolayeva by A.Zainchkovskaya, 2009, and the exhibition catalogue Vera Ermolayeva, 1893-1937, published in 2008.
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De Bestiarium Naturis

Andrea Pedrazzini is an Italian poet and visual artist working in Milan, best known for his illustrations and vignettes published in magazines and newspapers. In 2000 he began the personal artistic project De Bestiarium Naturis, which he planned as a modern bestiary composed of 999 original ink and mixed media drawings representing fantastic animals. More than 700 creatures have been completed to date. Following are some of the refined and patiently crafted artworks that Pedrazzini has exposed in galleries or published in his artist books and blog. Hopefully he will be able to publish the entire magnum opus in book form once it is finished.

Above are a few plates from Pedrazzini's Bestiario degli animali autunnali,

published in 2000 and now a freely downloadable e-book

It was difficult to pick just a few images from this delightful banquet of visual puns and ironic inventions. Pedrazzini's intelligent and critical eye seems to have conceived this strange collection of creatures as an intimate exploration of the deep awkwardness of human nature. His mutating menagerie has been grafted with disproportionate and seemingly redundant appendages and accessories, and looks hardly fit for survival in the wild. Perhaps, the obviously precarious yet strangely reassuring presence of these evolutionary misfits and their questioning gaze are what make them so endearing...

Cocorico and Kikeriki

As it often happens, a series of serendipitous coincidences has led me

to discover this lovely addendum to Sunday's Roosterfest.

It seems that the fantastic Graphis magazine had a thing for roosters too...

Graphis 28, Special Swiss issue, cover by Hans Hartmann, 1949

Graphis 28, cover by Joseph Binder, 1950

Graphis 56, cover by Picasso, 1954

Graphis 72, cover by Celestino Piatti, 1957

Graphis 97, cover by Hoot von Zitzewitz, 1961

Graphis 110, cover by Walter Greider, 1963

You can buy the PDFs of these beauties and other past issues at the Graphis website, or go for the originals at the fantastic Modernism 101 bookstore on ebay. This shop is a real collector's heaven and it makes me wish I had a lot more money in my pockets...