A Woman's Work

Beatrix Potter

Dear followers, I apologize once again for the recent lack of posts,

but this semester I taught one more course that usual, and soon realized

that I had to give up some of my leisurely activities, including blogging, 

to be able to stay on track keep focused. My lessons ended yesterday, 

and I am really looking forward to almost a full month of vacation.

Of course, now there's plenty to do around the house...

Fritz Baumgarten, Das Hochzeitsfest im Wiesengrund

Hilda Boswell

B. Twardowski (?), 1925

Boris Kalaushin, 1958

Evgenii Rachev

Anatoli Michailovich Eliseev, Story of the stupid mouse

Feodor Rojankovsky, Frog Went a-Courtin', 1955

Barbara Cooney, The Crows of Pearblossom, 1967

Bernard Waber, An Anteater Named Arthur, 1967

Yusuke Yonezu

Svjetlan Junakovic

Marjolein Bastin

Peter Gut

Agata Dudek, The Crows of Pearblossom

Alberto Montt

Ladybugs

Tetsuo Ikeda

The days are getting colder and shorter... 

a final Summer post to remember the Summer past

Charley Harper

Leonard Kessler, 1957

Akitaka Ito

Nancy Fouts, thanks to Junkculture

Christopher Wormell

Rose Sanderson

Louis Müller, Die Märchen vom Marienkäferlein, 1943, thanks to micky the pixel

Amy Ruppel

Winifred and Cecil Lubell, The Tall Grass Zoo, 1960, thanks to gingerherring

Norito Shinmura for Muji

Ed Emberley, Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home,1967

Bibu

Laura Hughes

Ana Valero Rello

Monday Matticchio

Petit Monde Sauvage

Grasshopper pull toy, painted wood, France, 1930s 

I love the website of the French cultural institution Les Arts Decoratifs! 

Besides organizing beautiful and unusual exhibitions (remember Les Lalanne?), 

its online documentation is generous in quantity and high in quality.

These photos showcase some of the toys featured in the 2010 exhibition

Petites et Grosses Bêtes, dedicated to animal representations in the world of toys.

Pig, France, late 19th century 

Bulldog, Paris, 1912

Celluloid frog, Petitcollin toy company, France, 1920–30

Elephant, France, 1930–40  

Ladybug (I had this one as a child) and snail tin friction toys, 

Ernst Paul Lehmann toy company, Germany, 1950–60s

Cat with ball pull toy, France, around 1950

White mouse mechanical toy, Köhler, Germany, around 1955 

Bunny by Helen Diemer, Switzerland, 1959 

Owl, CEJI-Lang toy company, France, 1976 

Squirrels, Starlux toy company, France, 1985

Yorkshire, Aux Nations toy company, France, 1983

Bear by Susan Tantlinger, France, 1988

The Animal Rainbow

Some of you might remember that last March Sebastiano and I 

brought a few projects to the Bologna Book Fair in hopes to find publishers 

who would help us translate them into printed works.

I am delighted to say that one of these dreams has become reality: 

L'Arc-en-ciel des Animaux has just been published in France by Milan Jeunesse.

Although our previous series Rencontre les Animaux was already introduced to France 

by Odile Jacob, this was the first time that we worked directly for a French publisher,

and the experience has been a very positive one, which we hope to repeat. 

For this book my role was that of the organizer: I proposed the rainbow idea,

did some research to find suitable creatures, and used my french to communicate 

with the publisher. But all the beauty and creativity comes from Sebastiano. 

After working with bold, bright, saturated palettes of pop primary colors 

in Impara con gli Animali, he is continuing to experiment with a more naturalistic, 

but still very graphic style of illustration. 

And for the first time he made a book full of white backgrounds! 

The 39 animals (three for each color) are showcased on 64 pages in a large, 22 x 30 cm.

 hardcover volume. Our editor, the very charming and efficient Héléne Perignon 

was very happy with the results, and so are we. 

And till Sunday, you have a chance to win one of Sebastiano's brand new 2011

limited edition cat calendars on Moderncat... 

Aren't the endpapers great?