The Beginning of Fairy Tale Painting and Aspects of Marketing Strategies in Germany's Art Scene

Found this wonderful article about fairy tale illustration in 19th century Germany through the Child Illustration blog. The article is Moritz von Schwind's Cinderella (1852–1854): The Beginning of Fairy Tale Painting and Aspects of Marketing Strategies in Germany's Art Scene by Regina Freyberger

First few paragraphs to whet your interest before you click through to read it all:

When artists in nineteenth-century Germany no longer had the economic security of working permanently either for the Church or the Crown, and thus had to face the challenges of the open art market, they had to invent marketing strategies in order to stand out above the keen competition at art exhibitions. They also had to satisfy the demands of the new buying class—the culturally interested and wealthy bourgeoisie. While the artists tried to fulfill their artistic ideals first, and were anxious not to commit themselves to short-lived fads or to commercial art, these challenges greatly affected their paintings, both in the choice of their subjects and in their execution. All the more interesting are the different means of promotion the artists devised to create a market for paintings truest to their artistic goals.

Moritz von Schwind's (1804–1871, fig. 1) marketing of his painting Cinderella (Aschenbrödel, 1852–1854, fig. 2),1 was particularly resourceful and ranged from the choice of an unconventional topic for a painting to its presentation at a most recognized exhibition. But, the painting's subject, fairy tales,2 were also one of Schwind's major artistic interests throughout his life. He was convinced that German folk tales should not be "despised"3 so readily. And so fairy tale motifs, such as in the Phantom in the Forest (Die Erscheinung im Walde), or in preliminary sketches for his fairy tale paintings Cinderella and The Seven Ravens (Die Sieben Raben), date back to the beginnings of his art career in the early 1820s, when fairy tales were just being rediscovered in Germany.4 Even when Schwind finally started work on the painting of Cinderella in 1852, fairy tales were not yet considered at all suitable for the highest of the painting genres, and generally had been limited to the graphic arts and book illustrations. Hence, his selecting so exceptional a motif was as risky as it was ambitious. It guaranteed that he would stand out from his competitors in the open art market and therefore attract the attention of the critics as well as potential buyers. Moreover, if the viewing public accepted German fairy tales as a subject of history paintings, he would be able to increase his work on fairy tales, definitely a favorite painting subject of his. But on the other hand, if his painting failed to win acceptance at exhibition, Schwind would have gained nothing but bad press, uncovered expenses, and the certainty that there was no market for his fairy tale paintings.5 Consequently, Schwind would not be able to successfully combine his own artistic goals with the demands of the open art market, and, so, he sought to assure the success of his first fairy tale painting, Cinderella, by additional marketing strategies.

Below is Cinderella by Josef Burda, 1880.

This one below  is for Snow White and Rose Red by  Edward Jakob von Steinle (1868) and no studies of it were provided in the article. Lovely though...

The notes to the article state:

This is an abridged version of a chapter of my doctoral thesis on illustrations and paintings of the Kinder- und Hausmärchen of the Brothers Grimm in Germany from 1819 to 1945, to be completed at the Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, in October 2007. I would like to thank Professor Frank Büttner and Professor Andrea Gottdang, along with the anonymous reviewer at Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide, Petra ten-Doesschate Chu, and Robert Alvin Adler for their helpful suggestions. I wish to extend my thanks to Dr. Hanna Dose, Deutsches Märchen- und Wesersagenmuseum Bad Oeynhausen, for allowing me to research the vast collection of xylographic reproductions on fairy tale paintings in the nineteenth century. —All translations are those of the author.

Snow White and Rose Red from Emma Chichester Clark

  

I am updating this because I added a few more illustrations and captions for them all. So here we go...

The McElderry Book of Grimms' Fairy Tales by Saviour Pirotta (Adapter), Emma Chichester Clark (Illustrator) is not a new book, but I recently discovered many of the illustrations from it in an online exhibition so I thought I would share on this hot, summery day.

Here are some illustrations for Snow White and Rose Red:

SNIP, SNIP – SHE CUT OFF A GOOD PORTION OF THE DWARF'S BEARD

IT WAS A DWARF WITH HIS LONG BEARD TRAPPED UNDER THE TREE TRUNK

DON'T JUST STAND THERE, WATCHING ME DROWN!

'ARE YOU MAD?' HOWLED THE DWARF

THE BEAR CAME IN AND SAT BY THE FIRE

THE GIRLS' MOTHER CAME TO LIVE WITH THEM IN THE PALACE AND SHE BROUGHT HER TWO ROSE TREES WITH HER

Tender Morsels Wins World Fantasy Award

I wrote about Tender Morsels three months ago in my post about the Nominees for the 2009 World Fantasy Awards. Now the award has been announced and Tender Morsels is the winner. It is actually the joint winner with Jeffrey Ford's The Shadow Year.

You can read more about it here: Controversial teenage novel wins World Fantasy awardMargo Lanagan's Tender Morsels, described as 'sordid wretchedness' in the Daily Mail, takes joint prize with Jeffrey Ford's The Shadow Year. Here's an excerpt from the great article:

She was inspired to write Tender Morsels, she said, "when something down in my guts responded to the way the Grimm brothers had changed Caroline Stahl's story when they rewrote it". "I was annoyed with the moral message they forced the story to carry," she said. "Although my novel doesn't necessarily offer any more hope for the women characters than theirs does, at least it's less adamant than Snow White and Rose Red that the women's oppression is a good and necessary thing."

A book, she believes, is "perhaps the safest, the least confronting form" in which to explore tough stories, as it is much easier to decide to put down or take up an uncomfortable tale in a book, than it is to reject one on television or in a cinema. "If a young person (or an adult) is not ready, or not 'in the mood', for a particular story, or they need to pause in the reading, or even stop altogether, with a book they can pause, or stop, and no one else need see, know or comment," she said.

There's a full list of nominees and winners on Locus Mag and you can learn more about the 2009 World Fantasy Convention and Awards on their site.

Fairy Tale Sisterhood

In Why sisters can't escape the Cinderella curse, columnist Leah McLaren discusses sister relationships, pulling material from Cinderella, Deborah Tannen's You Were Always Mom's Favourite! Sisters in Conversation Throughout Their Lives and well-known sister pairs in pop culture. There isn't much about Cinderella, but the article reminded me of my own searches for strong sibling pairs in fairy tales over the years. My searches have been mostly unfruitful.

In many fairy tales, folklore and myths, the most successful pairings are of siblings of opposite genders, think Hansel and Gretel, Brother and Sister and others. There has even been a collection, The Barefoot Book of Brother and Sister Tales by Mary Hoffman, of positive brother and sister pairing tales which is now out-of-print.

On the other hand, when siblings of the same gender are presented, they are most often rivals. One of the few exceptions is Snow White and Rose Red which is more of literary origin than oral with very few variants. Most often we are given the good and bad girls like in Diamonds and Toads or the plucky third child (male or female) who triumphs--sometimes saving the lives of the other siblings--despite lack of support or esteem from the family. There aren't collections of positive sisters tales or brothers tales, by the way. Not that I've ever discovered. If I ever find enough to warrant a collection, I just compile one myself!

I credit some of Snow White and Rose Red's popularity to its rare celebration of sisterhood. Sisters embrace it. Mothers embrace it. I'm still surprised at the picture book version, Rose Red and the Bear Prince, which eliminates one of the most endearing elements of the tale--the sister! It tried to be feminist but for me failed in neglecting the power of sisterhood that is inherent in the tale.

Of course, there is also Twelve Dancing Princesses, but they are even less developed and are operating under a curse in some versions. A true sisterhood isn't really visible. Their limited interaction can even be rather hostile, such as when the youngest sister is ridiculed for sensing something isn't right.

Some of this stereotyping and story development comes from the demands of abbreviated storytelling, quick constructs are necessary to bring about opposition and conflict. However, it doesn't promote family harmony very well. And why are opposite gender pairs still portrayed so well overall while same genders are almost always rivals? How well do these constructs mirror reality?

I'm eight years older than my only sister and we've become friends as adults, but the age gap didn't lend itself towards too much outright rivalry over the years. Still, we share a bond that does not include our brother, one that is important to me.

And here's some modern thoughts on sister relationships from the article that inspired the post in the first place. From the article:

In her new book You Were Always Mom's Favourite! Sisters in Conversation Throughout Their Lives, U.S. linguist Deborah Tannen looks at all aspects of sisterly communication, from the reverent to the rivalrous, and the effect it has on female sibs throughout their lives. Sisterhood is one of the closest human relations, she writes, but also one of the most fraught – marred as it so often is by the trap of Cinderella-style competition.

“Women's closeness often has to do with confidences, where as for men it's more often about doing things together,” she told me over the phone from her office in Washington, D.C. “Because many sisters tend to talk more often and for longer periods of time and about more personal topics than most brothers, you've got more opportunity to connect but also to say the wrong thing and step on toes. It's possible that, because sister relations are more complicated and fraught, it may make it harder to work together.”

So that's food for today's thoughts...

Nominees for the 2009 World Fantasy Awards

The nominees for the 2009 World Fantasy Awards have been announced. Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan is a nominee for best novel. The rest of the nominees are listed here. Congratulations to all the nominees although I'm not listing them here beyond Lanagan since her work is most pertinent to this blog. Others are quite close, such as Neil Gaiman's Odd and the Frost Giants, which was inspired by Norse mythology and nominated for best novella.

Tender Morsels is a dark retelling of Snow White and Rose Red and has already garnered nominations and awards this past year. Retellings of this tale are rare and this is perhaps the darkest to date. There has been debate over its suitability for teens with the graphic content, so be warned of such. However, the story is resonating with many with its themes of abuse and survival.

The book also joins a short list of fairy tale retellings that unabashedly deal with abuse, especially in women's lives. The long out-of-print The Armless Maiden edited by Terri Windling and still in-print Deerskin by Robin McKinley are among the best. Short stories by several authors have also appeared in other Datlow & Windling collections and those by individual authors, too. The Rose and the Beast by Francesca Lia Block may also appeal to fans of this subgenre.