German magic fairy tales illustrated by Alexander Zick

The collection includes twenty-six German fairy tales told by various authors: the Brothers Grimm, Ludwig Bechstein, Johann Peter Goebel, Clemens Brentano, Richard von Volkmann-Leander, Wilhelm Hauf and Giambattista Basile. The plots of many of them are familiar to Russian readers, other tales are less known. All tales in the collection are illustrated with magnificent color drawings by the recognized master of book illustration - German artist Alexander Zick. German folk tales are an integral part of European culture. The Brave Tailor, Hansel and Gretel, The Bremen Musicians, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella - the characters of these fairy tales are known and loved by children and adults in many countries of the world. Other characters and fairy tales in this collection are less known, but they are interesting. The pearls of folk art were painstakingly collected and recorded by people of different views, beliefs and professions. These are German linguists brothers Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm, German writer Ludwig Bechstein, writers and teachers Johann Peter Goebel and Clemens Brentano, military doctor and writer Richard von Volkman-Leander, famous German storyteller Wilhelm Hauf, Neapolitan poet and writer Giambattista Basile - the first in the history of European literature to compile a two-volume folklore collection "Fairy Tale of Fairy Tales" (1634, 1636). The special charm and uniqueness of this collection is given by color drawings of the recognized master of book illustration - German artist Alexander Zick (1845-1907). The future painter was born in the ancient German city of Koblenz. Fate itself commanded him to take up painting, because his father, grandfather, great-grandfather and even great-great-grandfather were artists. The founder of this creative dynasty was the master of fresco painting Johann Zick. On the ceiling of St. Martin's Church in Biberach an der Ries you can see the figure of a barefooted middle-aged man in a rolled-up shirt and knee-length leather pants. Alexander Zick must have seen this self-portrait of his famous ancestor. When Alexander was nineteen, he followed the example of his great-grandfather and traveled to Paris, where he began studying in the studio of the famous French artist Cabanel. That was a classic "academic" - wrote large canvases on ancient and biblical subjects such as "The Birth of Venus" or "Christ before the judges". Alexander Zik fully mastered this strong academic basis of painting. However, along with the classical canvases at the famous Paris exhibitions of the time had already exhibited completely different works (such as the scandalous painting by Édouard Manet "Breakfast on the Grass"), and Alexander Zik keenly felt the freshness of this first wave of impressionism. Returning to Germany in 1870, he painted classical paintings of historical subjects for a time, but eventually broke with academism and turned to illustration. In this field he gained well-deserved fame. Alexander Zik was a stranger to publicity. About his personal life almost nothing is known. The artist died on November 10, 1907 in Berlin, leaving the world a lot of drawings - lively, colorful, performed at the highest professional level.