Franco Matticchio

Bath Time

Bobby Bear's Annual, 1949, thanks to Tania Covo

May Byron, Cecil Aldin’s merry party, 1913

M. Belyaeva, The wolf and the goat, thanks to Ban Galbasi

 Leonard Weisgard, The clean pig, 1952

Franciszka Themerson, 1946, via Garaż ilustracji książkowych, thanks to ela

Jean de Brunhoff, Babar, 1931

James Marshall, George and Martha, 1997

 Elisabeth Brozowska, Isidore L'Hippopotame, 1969, thanks to illustration s'il vous plaît

Raymond Savignac, 1949

Alain Grée, thanks to mimi the minx

swig

WildLifePrints

puikeprent

Gahan Wilson, 2004


Follow this link to see who else is in the bathtub...

Manga

La manga, this profusion of images, this avalanche of drawings, this orgy of pencil lines, 

these fifteen notebooks where sketches are crowded like silkworm eggs on a sheet of paper, 

a work that is without equal among painters of the Occident! 

La manga, these thousands of feverous reproductions of what is on the ground, in the sky, under the water, 

these magic instantaneous reproductions of movement, of the stirring life of humanity

 and bestiality, in short, this sort of delirium on paper from this great crazy man of over there!

Edmond de Goncourt, Hokusai, l'Art japonais au XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1895

Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), one of the greatest Japanese artists, was 

a master draftsman, painter and printer. While some of his works are still very popular

 (everyone's familiar with at least his great wave from the Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji series), 

not many are aware of the immense quantity and variety of his creative output. 

During 70 years of prolific artistic career, Hokusai produced thousands of paintings, drawings, 

woodblock prints, illustrated books and manuals. Among them is Manga, an encyclopedic collection

 of sketches of various subjects including landscapes, flora and fauna, animals, everyday life and the supernatural.

 Around 4000 drawings were block-printed in three colors (black, gray and pale flesh) on more

 than 800 pages for a total of 15 volumes, the first of which was published in 1814 to immediate acclaim. 

While the term Manga today is generally used to refer to Japanese comics and cartoons, here it roughly means "sketch". 

Apparently it was Hokusai's pupils who asked him to put together this collection to serve as a drawing manual,

 but he went beyond the didactic format to freely explore some of his favorite themes and subjects.

 One of them was the natural world, which he portrayed with freshness, elegance of lines and realistic precision.

The following group of prints features animals in fantastic scenes inspired by myths,legends and allegories.

This last image illustrates the parable of the blind men and the elephant.

Franco Matticchio

Happy Hippos

Atsushi Hara

Nikita Charushin, My first zoology book, 1984, thanks to Book Graphics

Rainey Bennet, The secret hiding place, 1960, thanks to Matt Hinrichs

Roger Duvoisin, Veronica, 1961, thanks to Capa Dura em Cingapura

  Ethel and Leonard Kessler, Are You Square?, 1966, thanks to hunkamunka

Abner Graboff, 1961, thanks to Eric Sturdevant

Renate Müller, 1970s

twoems

Andrew Mockett, thanks to the art room plant

Madeleine Floyd

Katherine Evans, Junior True Book of African Animals, 1958, thanks to joy of a toy

Elisabeth Brozowska, Isidore L'Hippopotame, 1969, thanks to Illustration s'il vous plaît

Clement Hurd, Monkey in the Jungle, 1968, thanks to art.crazed

Dominique Pouchain

Sergio Ruffolo

Philippe Baudelocque

Jun Takabatake, Quien soy,thanks to Col.lecionàrum