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A Grimm Kind of Morning

h1 November 26th, 2013 by jules


From “The Brave Little Tailor”:
“So saying, he took a rope and an axe with him, went out into the forest,
and told the men who were escorting him to stay behind.
He didn’t have to search for long before the unicorn appeared,
racing straight towards the tailor as if to impale him on its horn.”

Since I wrote here last week at Kirkus about a new collection of fairy tales from The Brothers Grimm, illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger and published by Minedition—it’s called Tales from the Brothers Grimm, and it’s beautiful—I’ve got some art from it today.

But I’ve got another treat.

Also from Minedition this December will be The Brothers Grimm’s Hansel and Gretel, illustrated by Sybille Schenker and adapted by Martin West. Now, to read about it, you can go here to Kirkus‘ starred review. (Yes, I’m kickin’ it over to them, ’cause I have a giant stack of work giving me the skunk eye.) They call it nothing less than “gorgeous” and “sumptuous.” It really is both things, more of a coffee-table book than one you want to give, say, a toddler — given things like its thick cover stitching, die cuts, and vellum pages. The stark, black silhouettes throughout the book set a splendidly eerie tone, and the highly-patterned color illustrations that appear (not pictured below) are striking. Below is some art from that book, too.

Enjoy.


From “The Frog King or Iron Henry”:
“If the weather was very hot, the king’s daughter used to go out into the forest and sit on the rim of the well — and if she was bored she took a golden ball that was her favorite plaything with her, threw it up into the air and caught it again.”


From “The Frog King or Iron Henry”:
“Then the king said, ‘If you made a promise, you must keep it, so go and open the door to him.’ She went and opened the door, and the frog hopped in
and followed her back to her chair.”


From “The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids”:
“Once upon a time there was an old nanny-goat who had seven young kids, and she loved them dearly, just as any mother loves her children. One day, when she wanted to go into the forest and look for food, she called all seven to her and said, ‘Dear children, I’m going into the forest, so you must be on your guard against the wolf. …'”


From “The Brave Little Tailor”:
“Now he strode bravely along the road, and as he was light on his feet and agile he did not feel tired. The road led to a mountain, and when he had reached the highest peak of it he found a mighty giant sitting there, looking around at his ease.”


From “Hans My Hedgehog”:
“…[T]he next morning they rose joyfully, ate and drank, and now their wedding was really celebrated. The old king handed the kingdom over to Hans my Hedgehog.”



 

* * *


“Once upon a time, near a great forest,
lived a poor woodcutter with his two children, Hansel and Gretel,
and their stepmother.”
(Click to enlarge spread)


“Evening fell and deepened, but no one came for the poor children.
They awoke to the darkest night.”
(Click to enlarge spread)


“Gretel began to cry bitterly, but it was no good.”
(Click to enlarge spread)


“With her dim eyes, the old witch thought it was Hansel’s finger.
She was amazed that he didn’t grow fat at all.”
(Click to enlarge spread)


“She hobbled forward and as she stuck her head in the oven,
Gretel gave her a hard push and slammed the iron door.”
(Click to enlarge spread)

* * * * * * *

TALES FROM THE BROTHERS GRIMM. Illustrations copyright © 2012 by Lisbeth Zwerger. North American edition published 2013 by Michael Neugebauer Publishing Ltd. Hong Kong. Illustrations used with permission of publisher.

HANSEL AND GRETEL. English edition published 2011 by Michael Neugebauer Publishing Ltd., Hong Kong. Illustrations copyright © 2011 by Sybille Schenker. Illustrations used with permission of publisher.





9 comments to “A Grimm Kind of Morning”

  1. Beautiful dream visions. Thanks for sharing.

         by elisa kleven November 26th, 2013 at 12:15 pm

  2. Lovely art from *both* of these Minedition illustrators!

    Anything Zwerger or fairy tale, you can always count me in Jules. Did you know that Lisbeth has an even newer book coming out in February? It’s “Leonce and Lena,” by Jurg Amann and published by NorthSouth. Yay!

         by Susan Sorrell Hill November 26th, 2013 at 1:35 pm

  3. Love this. The art is brilliant. Oh how I wish I were an illustrator. Thank you for posting! 🙂

         by Robyn Campbell (@authorswrite) November 26th, 2013 at 3:51 pm

  4. Ooh, Susan! Didn’t know that.

    Thanks!

         by jules November 26th, 2013 at 7:12 pm

  5. This is so beautiful, I can’t wait to see it in person. That frog is just killing me.

         by ailikate November 27th, 2013 at 9:50 am

  6. I LOVE water color art. This book looks beautiful. Lisbeth Zwerger’s art is so lovely, dreamy while on the verge of realistic – hard to describe for an art inarticulate like me.
    Thanks very much!
    Hope you are over your skunk eye!
    Happy Thanksgiving!

         by Allison November 29th, 2013 at 11:37 am

  7. Wow! Pretty gorgeous!

         by Stacey November 30th, 2013 at 4:30 pm

  8. One of my favourite illustrators of all time. And then there are the brothers Grimm… ahh… the brothers Grimm…

         by Jennifer January 3rd, 2014 at 5:00 pm

  9. […] I also mentioned Schenker’s Hansel and Gretel (2011), and I’ve got art from that here at […]

         by Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast » Blog Archive » 7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #463: FeaturingAndrea Dezsö, Jonas Lauströer, & Sybille Schenker December 27th, 2015 at 12:01 am

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