Left: Grimm. New York: Summer Garden Editions, 2012 (Cotsen 154500). Right: Sketches for the book Grimm. [New York City]: Mikhail Magaril, [2012] (Cotsen 154503)
Above are two recent acquisitions. The larger of the two, in its brown cloth silk-screened slip case, stamped title piece, and twine ties, is the artist’s book
Grimm, created by Mikhail Magaril and Victor Bogorad (New York: Summer Garden Editions, 2012). The work consists of twelve pasted together 23 x 14.5 inch folio leaves (in this way each full-page spread is in fact one large single sheet). Nine of these are solely devoted to a different Grimm tale or theme. Every page is Illustrated throughout by Magaril’s iconic ink blots, printed in letterpress, and silk screened in both black and brown; the work is truly unique (it is actually the first of only ten copies).
We are fortunate to have this very haunting, and very Russian, interpretation of the Grimm fairy tales and their more nefarious aspects. As the artists explain in the book’s afterword, this work is a reflection upon the artists’ childhood experiences of the Grimm world, which they read, and the real world in the USSR, which they lived: “Life there [the USSR] had much in common with the world of Grimm fairy tales. . . The nightmarish regime badly affected the psyche of children and caused the impressionable young minds to see something sinister in every ink blot” (folio page 11). As you can see for yourself, the book is a truly harrowing and fantastical homage to the Brothers Grimm.
Cover (Cotsen 154500)
Endpapers
Title page, spread 1
Spread 2
Der Kleine Däumling (The Little Thumbling), spread 3
The Brother’s Grimm have been included interacting with the fairy tales themselves throughout the work.
Silkscreened image and text of Frau Trude (Mother Trude) notice the brothers again, spread 4
Spread 5
Spread 8
Hansel und Gretel, spread 10
Close up juxtaposition of the two sets of siblings found above.
Jovial portraits of the artists, Bogorad and Magaril respectively, spread 11
Authors’ signatures and copy number, spread 12
The small black cloth box with linen ties (you thought I forgot didn’t you?) is a related treasure to the already prized first item. The title and key to the contents is supplied by the henna inked calligraphic top card:
Sketches for the book Grimm by Mikhail Magaril (Cotsen 154503)
Once opened, one is greeted by a grand total of 87 (15 x 10.5 cm) unnumbered deckle edged cards. Though 27 cards are blank, the remaining 60 cards include a vast array of draft illustrations for Grimm by Magaril. The illustrations, executed exclusively in blue and black ink, have been cut out and pasted onto the decorative cards. Below is a small sampling, notice that some of the proofs were not featured in the final product:
Examples, two of which feature two cards bound together.
This large collection of small cards grants us unique access into the creation of the book Grimm. By viewing these proofs, we are offered a little window with which to view the draft processes and production choices of a very talented contemporary artist: Mikhail Magaril.
Not quite the final illustration
For more work by Magaril held at Princeton, check out this blog post by our colleague Julie Mellby, the curator of Graphic Arts: Mikhail Magaril
