Country Folks

Vyaceslav Legkobit

This time of year always finds me in the mood for some 

good old fashioned folk-inspired art from Russia and Eastern Europe.

I would be very happy to live in the same village as all these lively creatures!

Russian figurine, thanks to Made with Love by Hannah (check out her blog 

fully of lovely hand-crafted, folk-inspired clothing, art and tutorials)

Yuri Vasnetsov, Russian folk song, via HannaRivka

Russian Folk Tales, author unknown, thanks to normanack 

Vladimir Golozubov, Two Roosters, thanks to Kievljanka

Yevgeny Charushin

Josef Lada, thanks to 50 Watts 

Solomea Loboda, linocut from Ukrainian folk Rhymes, thanks to polny shkaf

another lovely book from HannaRivka

 L'udovita Fullu, Varila Mysicka Kasicku, 1966 ( a lucky vintage bookstore find)

Rumen Skorchev, Bulgarian Folk Tales, 1979, 

and N. Trepenok, Sharp-toothed Mouse and Rich Sparrow, 

thanks to Book Graphics

Feodor Rojankovsky, The three bears, 1967 

L'Animal dans la Décoration

The color of autumn leaves reminds me of this beautiful folio created by M. P. Verneuil at the height

 of the Art Nouveau's ornamental frenzy. Verneuil was one of the most talented pupils in Eugène Grasset's

 Parisian atelier, and executed many designs under his direction for the 1896 portfolio

La Plante et ses Applications Ornementales. One year later he produced his own series 

of 60 lithographic plates containing hundreds of decorative depictions of animals 

and dedicated it to Grasset, whose realistic, detailed and romantic style clearly inspired him. 

 

Thanks to the New York Public Library for the gorgeous scans.

À la carte

Alexander Rodchenko, photo from Animaux à mimer, 1926

When I was a child, I spent countless magical hours making worlds out of paper...

paper dolls, playing cards, collage paper, postcards, stickers, I loved them all!

Even today, I am still very attracted to beautiful paper toys.

In this collection you'll find a few great vintage zoos

and some irresistible new entries.

 Reconstruction of Cut-outs for Noah's Ark, Madrid, 1932

from the exhibition Toys of the Avant-Garde, via Mondoblogo

 Victorine Leblond, Animaux domestiques articulés: Découpage et montage sans collage, 1941

Elephant animal paper cut-out toy from Billiken magazine, 1966, 

thanks to Il favoloso mondo di carta di Totò

Attilio, Lo zoo di carta. I used to have this as a kid!

 Shigeo Fukuda's flying paper animals

Junzo Terada's Magical Menagerie

ABC Punch Out Animals from Japan, thanks to Ribambelles & Ribambins

Alice Melvin's Cut Out and Make Menagerie

Forest Friends and The Yolk Folk by Mibo

Jungling by milimbo

Depero Deco

In the fall of 1919 the eclectic futurist artist Fortunato Depero (1892-1960) founded the Casa d'Arte Futurista,

a studio-workshop in Rovereto where with the help of his newlywed wife Rosetta he designed and produced

a vast quantity of toys, decorative objects, graphic designs, tapestries and furniture. 

The decorative tapestries and cloth-marquetries were designed by Depero 

and then put together by Rosetta and a group of women workers under her direction.

Fortunato and Rosetta during their first two-year sojourn in New York. 

She is holding the famous Bolted Book.

 Chiocce con pulcini, relief, 1913-15 

 Complesso di uccelli tropicali, sketch, 1918

 Orsi

Topi, intreccio a croce, 1920

 Scimmia, 1920

Serpentello, 1923

Pellicano paradiso, 1923

Macaco

 Quattro serpenti, 1925

In 1925 Depero took part with a personal room in the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs

 et Industriels Modernes in Paris, a very important exhibit of industrial and decorative arts

 which introduced the Art Deco movement to the world.

Pesci

Drago

Gallo, 1937

Birds, decorative frieze, 1952-53

In his later years, Depero revisited many themes from his previous works.

In 1957 he founded his own museum in Rovereto, the Casa Museo Depero, 

which after a long restoration finally reopened to the public in 2009. 

You can find a wealth of photos from the museum at designboom.