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  • Märchenbilder – Bildermärchen. Illustrationen zu Grimms Märchen 1819 - 1945. Über einen vergessenen Bereich deutscher Kunst
  • Jutta Reusch
GERMANY Regina Freyberger Märchenbilder - Bildermärchen. Illustrationen zu Grimms Märchen 1819 - 1945. Über einen vergessenen Bereich deutscher Kunst [Pictures of fairytales - fairytales in pictures. Illustrations of Grimms' fairytales 1819-1945. A forgotten domain of German Art] (Series: Artificium; 31) Oberhausen: Athena 2009 670pp ISBN 978389896350372.00

The illustrated "Children's and Household Tales" of the Brothers Grimm had a profound impact on the cultural and intellectual history of German-speaking Europe. Despite their defining role, however, they failed to attract the attention of art historians. Thanks to Regina Freyberger's convincing in-depth study based on her doctoral dissertation this gap is now closed. As the title suggests, Freyberger focuses not only on stylistic, but also on narratological aspects of fairytale illustrations. She describes the images as autonomous "texts" that transcend their merely illustrative function to constitute meaning of their own or even to become art for art's sake. Drawing on numerous examples by George Cruikshank, Ludwig Emil Grimm, Franz von Pocci, Otto Speckter, Ludwig Richter, Moritz von Schwind, Eugen Napoleon Neureuther, and many others, Freyberger analyzes the narrative structures and strategies of fairytale illustration. She demonstrates how different types of pictures such as monoscenic or synoptic frames, image cycles or arabesques can produce a variety of tones and atmospheres, resulting in horrid, idyllic, folkloristic, or childlike imagery. With her "iconography of key scenes," Freyberger demonstrates how specific motifs have established themselves as emblems of individual fairytales and how they continue to influence the reception of these tales to the present day. She also situates the "fairytales in pictures" within the context of the history of books and printing, taking into consideration publishers' marketing strategies as well as larger socio-political trends. This large-format book with numerous reproductions both in black-and-white and in full color is lovingly designed down to the endpapers and constitutes in itself an engaging example of cogent book illustration. Thoroughly researched, the volume is completed by an index of proper names and titles as well as a bio-bibliographical catalogue of all relevant artists and works. [End Page 60]

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