Tatiana Mavrina

My ongoing survey of great Russian illustrators continues with the bold and colorful works of Tatiana Mavrina, 

a 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

For Miles and Miles Away, 1970

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.

Domestic Comforts

Valeria Perrone

Nice to be able to spend a cozy day at home while it's freezing outside...

Arnold Lobel, Owl at Home, thanks to my vintage book collection (in blog form) 

Frank Adams

Joanna Wright

Catherine Zarip

 Matthias Seifarth

 Tom Tirabosco

 Timothy C. Raglin

Métier Illustrateur

William Steig, Silvester and the Magic Pebble

Manon Gauthier 

 Bojana Dimitrovski

Magyar Magic

First lovely days of Spring-like weather in Firenze, while I am finally emerging from an intense period of 

super-busy work schedule. Let's celebrate with some great Eastern European folk-inspired art, 

a subject that I love and that has been absent too long on Animalarium! 

The Hungarian artist Jozsef Domján was born in Budapest in 1907, the oldest of 12 children 

in a poor family, which he supported by working in a machine foundry when still a teenager. 

Being unemployed during the Depression, he toured Italy, France, Switzerland, Austria and Germany

by foot, supporting himself by working odd jobs and selling his sketches, and decided to become an artist. 

After his return to Hungary he won a scholarship to study at the Budapest Academy of Arts,

and six years later became a member of the faculty. 

Domján was very interested in woodcuts, and developed a unique colorful style that soon gained

 him international fame and important prizes. Unfortunately in 1945 a bomb destroyed his studio 

and many of his artworks, and the violent repression of the 1956 Hungarian upraising led him

 to leave his homeland and  emigrate with his family to Switzerland. A year later 

they moved to the United States, and eventually settled in New York.

 The inspiration for Domján's intricate woodcuts is clearly rooted in Hungarian folk art 

and in his love of nature. His complex technique used overprinted layers of oil colors,

sometimes as many as 21, and eight different wood-blocks for each image

to obtain a deep, vibrant color range and rich three dimensional texture.

 In 1970 disaster struck again, and Domján's studio and home were destroyed by a fire, along with

2 million dollars worth of artworks. Rather than getting discouraged, the artist elected the phoenix

 as his emblem and artistic subject, and declared "I can die or live, I choose to live,

 to create, to rise like the phoenix bird from the ashes once more."

Now recognized as one of the most important color woodcut artists of 

the 20th century, his production also includes a wealth of black and white 

woodcut prints, oil paintings and Aubusson tapestries. 

He also illustrated 40 books, which I'd love to take a look at! Domján died at 85. 

 His works are on permanent display at the Domján Museum in Sarospatak, 

Hungary, and are part of numerous major public and private collections.

For more art inspired by the great Magyar folk tradition, check out

my previous posts about János Kass and Károli Reich.

Birds & Beasts

Mark Hearld is a York-based artist and designer known for his prints and collages 
inspired by his love for the beauty of the British countryside and its wildlife.

I have been a fan of Mark's work for a while, and would love to be able to visit 

 Birds and Beasts, his ongoing exhibition at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. 

 (love his lettering, by the way)

Hearld studied illustration at Glasgow College of Art and natural history illustration 

at the Royal College of Art. Now a successful and prolific artist, he exhibits around the UK, 
and receives design commissions ranging from movie sets to fabrics and ceramics. 

"The briefest glance around Mark Hearld’s York flat tells you that this is the home 

of an artist, an animal lover and, clearly, a hoarder". (BBC Homes and Antiques, 2010)

I appreciate all these qualities, and also love the fact that Mark somehow reminds me

of many other quintessentially British things and people I love...

This was a very productive year for Hearld: among other projects, he illustrated the children's book
 A First Book of Nature, his first wallpaper Harvest Hare received the Elle Decoration British Design Award, 
and Merrell published his first monograph, the gorgeous Work Book.

Harvest Hare

This latest show features collages in hand-painted frames, 
wooden animals decorated by hand, ceramics, limited edition lithographs, 

linocuts, and a collection of found objects.

Hearld always works closely with skilled craftsmen to realise his ideas, 

and for this event he has collaborated with a Stoke-based mould maker 

to produce a series of limited edition ceramic hares.

Photos courtesy of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and St.Jude.

Birds and Beasts runs until the 17th of February, 

if you make it there let me know how it was!