Animal Acrobatics

Alice Potter, Harry on Ball

Dorothy Lathrop, The Fairy Circus, 1931

Alice and Martin Provensen, The Golden Circus, 1950

Jerzy Flisak, movie poster, 1965

Carlos Marchiori, Sally Go Round the Sun, 1969, 

via my vintage book collection (in blog form)

Bill Charmatz, The Cat's Whiskers, 1969

William Pène du Bois, Bear Circus, 1971

Bill Peet

The 1975 Childcraft Anual, thanks to Flamenconut

Nicole Claveloux, Animaux étranges, 1993

Ian Falconer, Olivia saves the Circus

Ofra Amit

Kevin Sloan

Julian de Narvaez

Gonçalo Viana

Spider

Yusuke Yonezu

Jennifer Davis

Chamo

Séverin Millet

Teletrips to Wonderland

As promised, I'm back with more work by the great Nicole Claveloux.

La main verte, 1978

I first met Claveloux while visiting Paris as a teenager in one of the numerous used

 comic books I had bought at a bouquiniste close to the Boulevard Saint Germain.

The story was called The Green Hand, and I was deeply struck by its surreal,

humorously dark atmosphere and vivid color palette. At the time I didn't know 

that Claveloux was also the illustrator of many innovative, oniric and 

psychedelic children's books, as I only discovered many years later.

Le Voyage extravagant de Hugo Brisefer, text by François Ruy-Vidal, 1968

thanks to Arthur van Kruining

After studying at the Beaux-Arts of Saint-Etienne, Claveloux moved to Paris in 1966 and found work

 as a magazine illustrator. The young educator, writer and publisher François Ruy-Vidal discovered her images 

in Marie-France and introduced her to his associate, the avant-garde American publisher Harlin Quist.

They asked Claveloux to illustrate a text by Ruy-Vidal, The Secret Journey of Hugo the Brat.

The book was published by Quist in France, Germany and the US.

Alala, les télémorphoses, text by Guy Monréal, Harlin Quist, 1970

Claveloux went on to illustrate many more books for Quist, including La Forêt des lilas, The teletrips of Alala,

Hop là [...], Le Chat de Simulombula, L'Oiseau qui radote, The Bright Red Porcupine and Gare à Grabote.

From 1968 to 1973 she teamed with Bernard Bonhomme to produce illustrations for ads, 

theater posters, record covers and children's books.

Alala, the main character of this fantastic tale which takes place in a futuristic setting, is a rebellious

 little girl who has the power to enter the television set and change the course of the programs. 

 The fact that Alala's father is a black prince and her mother is white shocked the American public,

and Quist claimed that the book cost him 88% of his audience.

Gertrude et la Sirène, text by Richard Hughes, Harlin Quist, 1971, thanks to Ang Wyman

Gertrude is a wooden doll who endures in silence the abuses of a little girl so that she can sleep 

every night in her cozy bed. One day a mermaid enters their lives, and after many adventures

 and troubles Gertrude eventually leaves and discovers her freedom. This book was followed by 

L'Enfant de Gertrude, in which the abusive relationship between the child and the doll is reversed. 

These two rather dark and haunting stories focus on the desires, frustrations and cruelties of chilhood,

while the ending gives hope of a real encounter between the two protagonists.

Les Aventures d'Alice au pays des merveilles, Grasset, 1974

This edition of Lewis Carroll's classic is another masterpiece of psychedelic imagery.

thanks to Alicenations for its post on this book

To date, Claveloux has illustrated a hundred books for numerous French publishers 

including Éditions des Femme, Gallimard Jeunesse and Bayard Hachette Jeunesse. 

She also paints and illustrates erotic books.

Little women grow up

This large format illustrated version of Andersen's Thumbelina was published in 1978.

It was created by Nicole Claveloux, a French artist that I am planning to feature again soon

on Animalarium. I love this book for its unusual structure, which alternates pages of text

with spreads packed with sequences of small illustrations that can be visually read in  

a variety of ways.

The illustrations are beautiful and funny, and the abundance of details on each spread

is very appealing to children and visually oriented adults like me.

But I love this version also for its feminist ending, in which Thumbelina refuses to marry the King of Flowers

choosing instead a life of freedom and travels in the company of her swallow friend.

Click on the photos to view them at full size!

Sunday Safari - Crocodiles' Smiles

Roger Duvoisin cover for The Crocodile in the Tree, thanks to Emma's blog

André François cover for Crocodile tears

 thanks to Moonflygirl's huge Vintage Children's Book Illustrations flickr set

 Robert Barry, illustration from Just Pepper, 1958,

 thanks to Rilla Alexander's beautiful Books I love flickr collection

Viktor Pivoravov, thanks to A Journey Round my Skull

 

Lane Smith

Herbert Leupin

Simona Mulazzani

 Meg Hunt

Marcello Minale, illustration from Creatures great and small 

thanks to Hazel Terry's great Classics of Childrens Illustration flickr set

John Alcorn,,illustration from La petite famille 

thanks to art.crazed's lovely Badly behaved flickr set

Sebastiano Ranchetti, Black Croc

Pablo Amargo, spread from El rIo que se secaba los jueves 

Pierre Pinsard, illustration from Petites contes negres pour les enfants des blancs, 1929