Natalie Frank


Tales of the Brothers Grimm

2015


For Tales of the Brothers Grimm, thirty-six celebrated and lesser-known of the unsanitized fairy tales collected by the illustrious brothers were carefully chosen by artist Natalie Frank, re-interpreted in seventy-five gouache and chalk pastel drawings, and cast in a Surrealist dreamscape. This will be the largest collection of Grimm's Fairy Tales ever illustrated by a fine artist. Each of the tales opens with a hand-drawn title page, is framed by a unique border, and small drawings punctuate each story, all in the tradition of classic fairy tale editions. In Tales of the Brothers Grimm, Frank draws special attention to the roles of women in the original form of these fairy tales: these were stories told and collected by women and Frank's drawings, for the first time, recast these characters as complex Feminist protagonists. The foremost Grimm scholar, Jack Zipes, introduces the book and contextualizes these stories and drawings within a history of the Brothers Grimm, its illustrations, and the tradition of the fairy tale. A complex and unique world of the imagination emerges from the pairing of these tales with Frank’s drawings, assembled by the celebrated designer, Marian Bantjes. Additional texts include a conversation between the artist and director Julie Taymor, as well as essays by Feminist art historian Linda Nochlin and curator Claire Gilman.

Tales of the Brothers Grimm can be purchased here.