A Children's Book Picasso Might Have Liked?

Maybe.  In a round-about-way.  If you read my last post, I ended it by mentioning a book, Nina's Treasures, illustrated by Stefan Czerneki. Noted at the end of the book is this interesting tidbit: "Many of the colors and patterns in this book are adapted from the work of Maria Primachenko, a peasant woman from Kiev whose brilliant folk art was praised by Pablo Picasso."

This comment led me to do some further investigation about Maria's artwork, and to show you more of Czerneki's artwork from Nina's Treasures.  But first the folkart of Maria Primachenko...

"Dumplings on the Shelf", Maria Primachenko [1979] - source

Maria Primachenko (born 1908) was a peasant woman from the Kievan village of Bolotnya. She spent all her life there, taken ill with polio as a child.  This painful disease very much influenced her life. By reports of her relatives, Maria grew into а thoughtful and considerate person, having compassion for nature and every living thing.

Her interest in art began, by her own words, like this: "Once, as a young girl, I was tending a gaggle of geese. When I got with them to a sandy beach, on the bank of the river, after crossing a field dotted with wild flowers, I began to draw real and imaginary flowers with a stick on the sand… Later, I decided to paint the walls of my house using natural pigments. After that I’ve never stopped drawing and painting."

"At the Well", Maria Primachenko [1969] - source

Indeed, her unique art shows a successful blend of natural talent, an overwhelming desire to create beauty and a sensitive perception of reality. The complex world of her images springs both from her own imagination and from the entire system and content of Ukrainian folk poetry.

"Green Elephant", Maria Primachenko [1936] - source

Though Primachenko never studied art, her pictorial flair for bringing to life ideas, feelings and impressions gradually ripened into true mastery. Exhibitions of her works have proved tremendously popular in Moscow, Poland, Bulgaria, France and Canada. (source for bio information here.)

"Fairy Bird - Peacock", Maria Primachenko [1936] - source

Picasso once said after visiting a Primachenko exhibition in Paris, "I bow down before the artistic miracle of this brilliant Ukrainian."  

Which brings me back to the book that I highlighted yesterday (with the note about Picasso at the end).  The illustrator, Stefan Czernecki, was very influenced by Maria Primachenko (as you will see!)...

Stefan Czernecki was born in Germany, but is of Ukrainian descent.  He co-authored Nina's Treasures with Timothy Rhodes.

All summer long Katerina tended her flowers...She gathered the seeds from the flowers and put them in the cupboard, where they would be safe until spring planting.

Katerina hung her warm feather comforter out to air.  The next morning it began to snow. Winter had come.

The oven glowed all evening, and at midnight she delivered a big basket of baked goods to the neighbors.

The winter was longer and colder than any that Katerina could remember...Finally Katerina had little food for herself and none for Nina...then she remembered.  She reached into the cupboard and pulled out a large sack...soon Nina was fat again, but she still did not lay eggs.

In the village it was time to celebrate the spring festival...Katerina could not go, for she had nothing to take - no food and no flowers...the next morning Katerina was awakened by Nina's cackling and clucking...

There in the nest were the most beautiful eggs...

Today, before each spring festival, the grandmothers in Zelena work late into the night turning the most ordinary eggs into the most extraordinary treasures.

I'm leaving the Ukraine and heading into Russia with my next few posts...see you there!

GIVEAWAY from Audrey Eclectic

I'm so happy to introduce you to my Mystery Guest today:  "Audrey Eclectic" folk-artist and fellow blogger, Heather Sleightholm.  She has partnered with me for my December Giveaway (more about that in a minute).

Let's hear it for social networking!
Through someone's Scandinavian Pinterest Board, I discovered Heather's beautiful artwork and, eventually, her thoughtful, meandering blog and lovely Etsy shop, both named Audrey Eclectic (after her young daughter, Audrey).

Audrey Eclectic, "God Jul Sisters"

After several conversations on Facebook and visiting each other's blogs, we gleefully discovered that we share many similar interests - Russia, iconography, all things Swedish (especially Tomte and St. Lucia), and books (especially those by Tasha Tudor and Jane Austen), to name a few.

Audrey Eclectic, "St. Lucia"

Before I tell you about our Giveaway, I thought I'd ask Heather some questions...

source

What were some of your favorite children's books, growing up; and what are a couple of your daughter's favorites now? 
Growing up I really loved books about ‘old timey days.’ The American Girl Dolls books were favorites of mine (I had Kirsten, which is probably where my love of Sweden comes from!) and I also loved the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. My daughter is a book lover as well, and I can’t wait for her to start reading on her own! Right now her taste in books is really wide-ranging—she loves books by Lane Smith (John, Paul, George and Ben and Grandpa Green) as well as fairytales like Cinderella and she also likes the book The Tomten by Astrid Lindgren.

[Note to my readers, Lane Smith's books and illustrations are great - visit his website here.  Not to be missed: Princess Hyacinth, The Surprising Tale of a Girl Who Floated]

When did you realize that you loved to draw/paint? Why folk art?
Drawing and painting has always been a part of me. I can’t remember not doing it! I drew all over furniture as a child, painted rocks as ‘paper weights’ to sell in my mom’s garage sales, and took art classes all through school and college. To me, making art is my ‘happy place.’ It’s almost like a source of meditation. My mind becomes quiet and calm when I’m painting or drawing. My focus on folk art came about gradually as I tried different types of painting. When I first started selling pieces here and there as an adult, they were actually watercolor paintings. Then I started getting more into collage and mixed media, so I moved more into acrylic paints. As mixed media became more prevalent though, I decided I wanted to move onto something that was more unique to me, and decided to move toward acrylic painting without the collage element, and the style that came most natural to me was a more folksy, naïve art style. I really enjoy Americana and European folk art, specifically Scandinavian folk art, so that is another draw to Sweden for me! So it’s been a bit of an evolution, and I hope that I keep trying new things and improving, although I think what I’m doing now (folk art) suits my personality and skills the best!

Audrey Eclectic "God Jul Tomtes"

Are you Swedish?
As far as I know I am NOT Swedish. Can you believe that!? Well, surely there’s some Swede in there somewhere—I’ve done a lot of research on ancestry.com and haven’t been able to find the actual point in which a family member got on a boat and came to America--- seems we’ve been here since about the beginning! My maiden name was Van Winkle, which is Dutch in origin. There’s also a healthy strain of English and a bit of German in my background. My married name is Sleightholm--- which comes out of North Yorkshire, UK (there’s a Sleightholme Moor there). However, some of my family research into that side of the family leads me to believe that “Sleightholm” (which sounds Scandinavian, doesn’t it?) might have been a name created by Viking settlers in Britain. So perhaps…in a very round about way hundreds of years ago….there’s a dash of Scandinavian in my background!

So - on to the Giveaway.  Heather will send a lucky someone this beautiful set of 6 (six) "God Jul" postcards and envelopes.  

All you need to do to enter the Giveaway is to leave a comment here, or "like" or comment on the link to this post on my Good Books Facebook Page.  
My December Giveaway ends tomorrow, December 1st, at 11:00 a.m. (PST).  Winner will be chosen randomly and announced at noon (PST), Saturday, December 1, 2012. Giveaway over 12/1/12
And remember: you can visit the Audrey Eclectic Etsy Shop to see more of Heather's art - including her unique prints, calendars, and dolls.  Isn't her artwork stunning??  What's your favorite?