Above: Francesca Yarbusova illustration for The Fox and the Hare
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Above: the cover of The Fox and the Hare
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All of Yuri Norstein’s animated films have been designed by his wife and collaborator, Francesca Yarbusova, and two of those films, Hedgehog in the Fog (author: Sergey Kozlov) and The Fox and the Hare (author: Vladimir Dal) are available as illustrated books.
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Above: Francesca Yarbusova illustration for The Fox and the Hare
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The books are not collections of stills from the films, but are freshly illustrated by Yarbusova. As such the images work beautifully because they’re designed for the proportions of the pages, and cleverly telescope sequences from the films into single illustrations of great charm. For Hedgehog in the Fog Yarbusova has produced a soft-edged graininess in the drawings not so far from the atmosphere-drenched shimmer of light and mist in the film, while for The Fox and the Hare her drawings are sharper yet still rewardingly painterly.
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My own copies are in Russian, not because I speak the language, but because I love the look of it on the pages. Plus it makes me think of the soundtracks for the two films, which I’ve always admired.
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Above and below: Francesca Yarbusova illustrations for Hedgehog in the Fog
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Norstein is an animator of genius, but the look of his films cannot be separated from the design contributions made by Yabusova. It’s good to see her artwork foregrounded in these books, and good too to have a different way of enjoying the stories that made such wonderful animations.
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Above: the cover of Hedgehog in the Fog
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Oh! I immediately think of others who would love these… I took a couple of years of Russian from a White Russian who loved the class so that she never made us do much work! Probably equal to about six months of hard work! Alas.
There’s a subtitled version of Hedgehog in the Fog on Vimeo:
http://vimeo.com/9240644
Marvellous! And Bravo for mentioning that Norstein’s wife is responsible for this beautiful artwork, it does often get overlooked.
I didn’t know about the books! Oh no… bookfinder.com here I come!
I must admit to watching The Fox and the Hare and The Overcoat (guilt-ridden, because I am v. busy right now) plus the video from Chicago, and I think they are absolutely wonderful. I can see why your chest heaved with emotion when you 1st came upon his work. They are so charming, and it made me feel good for the rest of the day having discovered an unknown (to me) artist. Thanks once again, dear friend, for letting me glimpse another world.