Have a Bite!

The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast, 1860 ca. 

After a rather long break, the Animalarium is back on his mission 
to feed its viewers with tasty bits of eye candy. 
Take a seat and enjoy the feast! 

The Animal's Ball, 1917

Yuri Vasnetsov, The Magpie, 1938

Hans Fischer, The Traveling Musicians, 1944

Heinrich Strub, Sumse Sumsebrumm, 1946

Elisabeth Brozowska, The Animal's Party, 1962

Garth Williams, The Turret, 1963

Karla Kuskin, The Walk the Mouse Girls Took, 1967 

Mai Miturich, Cockerel, 1968

Donald Chaffin, Fantastic Mr. Fox, 1970

Antoni Boratyński, Nie płacz, Koziołku, 1973 

Zdzisław Witwicki, O Wróbelku Elemelku, 1982 

Maria Mikhalskaya

Dan Bob Thompson

Martyna Zoltasek

Aiko Fukawa

Delphine Durand

Mister Gatto, In viaggio con papà

Foxy Tricks

Yuri Vasnetsov

A couple of years ago I dedicated a post to the fox character in Russian tales. Since then,
 the theme has continued to hold my interest, and I've gathered more images and information.
 As mentioned before, a large number of Russian and Ukrainian folk tales feature forest animals
 such as the fox, the wolf, the bear, and various birds. Domestic animals including the cat, 
the dog, and the rooster also appear, usually in secondary roles in combination with the wild ones. 
All of these characters mix human abilities and habits with animal instincts and behavior. 

Evgenii Rachev, The Cat and the Fox

In this rich genre of stories, animal features are strictly typecast, and the sex of each character

 is based on its masculine or feminine noun. Among the males, we find the greedy and stupid wolf,

the clumsy and slow-witted bear,the cowardly and quick hare, the lazy opportunistic cat, and the boastful rooster.

The main female characters are the sneaky and crafty fox, and the cunning, obstinate goat. 

 Trickstery is one of the fondamental narrrative elements of these stories, and in many of them

 the fox plays the role of the sly, calculating animal who vanquishes the stronger ones and fools all the others. 

Natalia Trepenok, The Fox and the Goat, from Russian Folk Tales

This gallery includes illustrations for some of the most popular Russian and Ukrainian tales, 

and lastly a Siberian one. A few, like The Fox and the Crane and The Fox and the Goat, 

are also found in Aesop. I've also added links to the stories' text when possible.

 Other fox tales include The Fox Midwife, The Fox and the Bear, Sister Fox, 

The Fox and the Thrush, The Fox Confessor, and more.

Natalia Trepenok, Sister Fox and Brother Wolf, from Russian Folk Tales 

Marianna Belyaeva, Sister Fox and Brother Wolf (The Fox and the Wolf), 

from a collection of Russian folktales by Alexei Tolstoy, 1988, thanks to ban galbasi

Evgenii Rachev, Cockerel The Golden Comb, 1954

Francheska Yarbusova, The Fox and the Hare

Watch the wonderful animated version made by Yarbusova with her husband Yuri Norstein here.

Natalia Trepenok, The Fox and the Hare, from Russian Folk Tales 

Igor and Ksenia Ershov, The Cat, the Rooster, and the Fox

Alexander Alexeieff, Russian Fairy Tales, 1945, thanks to 50 Watts

Lev Tokmakov, The Fox and the Jug, from Russian Fairy Tales about Animals, 1973

Vladimir Menshikov, The Fox and the Crab (also known as The Race), thanks to normanack

Veniemin Losin, The Fox and the Crane, 1977

Georgiy and Alexander Traugot, The Fox and the Crane 

Tatyana Kolyusheva, Kolobok

Petr Kirillov Gulin and Nadezha Kirillova, Rabbit and Fox. Ukrainian folk song, 1972

Adele Gilewicz, Ban Kotsy (Ukrainian version of The Cat and the Fox), 1971

Gennady Pavlishin, The Raven, Karas, the Bear and the Fox, 1968

A great thanks for the iconography to HannaRivka and her flickr set, 

to Book Graphics, polny_shkaf and other Russian LiveJournals and websites. 
And thank you Mark Kats for all the much appreciated clarifications!

Country Folks

Vyaceslav Legkobit

This time of year always finds me in the mood for some 

good old fashioned folk-inspired art from Russia and Eastern Europe.

I would be very happy to live in the same village as all these lively creatures!

Russian figurine, thanks to Made with Love by Hannah (check out her blog 

fully of lovely hand-crafted, folk-inspired clothing, art and tutorials)

Yuri Vasnetsov, Russian folk song, via HannaRivka

Russian Folk Tales, author unknown, thanks to normanack 

Vladimir Golozubov, Two Roosters, thanks to Kievljanka

Yevgeny Charushin

Josef Lada, thanks to 50 Watts 

Solomea Loboda, linocut from Ukrainian folk Rhymes, thanks to polny shkaf

another lovely book from HannaRivka

 L'udovita Fullu, Varila Mysicka Kasicku, 1966 ( a lucky vintage bookstore find)

Rumen Skorchev, Bulgarian Folk Tales, 1979, 

and N. Trepenok, Sharp-toothed Mouse and Rich Sparrow, 

thanks to Book Graphics

Feodor Rojankovsky, The three bears, 1967 

Fox and Hare

I recently received a comment on my post about Yuri Vasnetsov by David from Australia, 

suggesting that I look up Yuri Norstein's films. I had already featured Hedgehog in the fog, 

a lyrical masterpiece and one of my all time favorite animations, but thanks to David 

I discovered the charming The Fox and the Hare, Norstein's 1973 debut as a film director. 

Illustrations from Yuri Vasnetsov's Ladushki, 

Progress Publishers, 1971, thanks to flamenconut on flickr

Three illustrations from Yuri Vasnetsov's Dancing Perch: Folk Songs and Ditties, 

compiled by N. Kolpakova, Progress Publishers, 1974, thanks to SamsMyth on flickr 

This animated short is based on a Russian folk tale and, as David noticed, it shares 

a very similar feel with Vasnetsov's folk art inspired illustrations. Besided being lovingly 

drawn and animated, I particularly enjoy the inclusion of classic folk motifs like borders 

and flowers, and although I don't understand Russian, the voiceover sounds wonderful!