Bill Peckmann &Books &Illustration 14 Feb 2012 07:01 am
Die Vogelhochzeit – Fritz Baumgarten
- Back in May, 2010 I posted art from a German children’s book, Zwitschi. The book was loaned by Bill Peckmann and featured a group of birds in a beautiful little story. The drawings were gentle, humorus and exquisite. Since then I’ve meant to post another book by the author, Fritz Baumgarten. This also comes from Bill Peckmann’s collection, and I have to thank him for introducing me to the work of Mr. Baumgarten.
Again it features a cast of little birds operating out of a tree. The watercolors are delicate and I think you’ll enjoy seeing the book which dates back to 1900. It’s built on a famous German song written in the 18th Century.
Book’s cover
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
Here’s a translation of the lyrics into English,
- The Bird Wedding
A bird wanted to get married
In the green forest.
Vider-alla-la, vider-alla-la,
Vider-alla-la-la-la.
The blackbird was the groom,
The thrush was the bride.
The geese and the ducks
Were the musicians.
The eagle owl, the eagle owl,
Brings the bride her bridal shoe.
The cuckoo shrieks, the cuckoo shrieks,
It brings the bride her bridal dress.
The sparrow, the sparrow,
Brings the bride her ring.
The dove, the dove,
Brings the bride her headdress.
The lark, the lark,
Leads the bride to the church.
The black grouse, the black grouse,
Was the sacristan and the vicar.
The small bird, the small bird,
Brings the bride the dishes.
The peacock, with his colorful tail,
Dances with the bride the first dance.
Mrs. Shoescraper, Mrs. Shoescraper*,
Gives everybody a goodbye kiss.
The bride’s mother was the owl,
Takes her leave with hootings.
The eagle owl, the eagle owl,
Closes the window shutters.
The rooster horns “Good night!”
Now, the bedroom will be closed.
The bird wedding is now over,
All the birds fly home.
on 14 Feb 2012 at 7:10 am 1.Stephen Macquignon said …
Great book thank you for posting the artwork.
plate #12 is the little bird cooking eggs?
on 14 Feb 2012 at 12:03 pm 2.Bill said …
A perfect post for Valentine’s Day!
on 14 Feb 2012 at 12:56 pm 3.Michael said …
Many thanks, of course, to you, Bill. I’ve held onto this book for quite a while. Those drawings are really beautiful.
on 14 Feb 2012 at 5:31 pm 4.Anik said …
Charming drawings! Nice to see this more gentle way to anthropomorphize that still allows to enjoy the natural appeal of the animals as opposed to the clownish features commonly used today.
on 14 Feb 2012 at 7:03 pm 5.The Gee said …
These are pretty cool.
“a gentle way to antropomorphizeâ€
I’ve long intended to draw as many heads of cartoon rabbits as I can think of. I’d do it to show just how different the approaches can be and how it would directly affect the tone and sensibility of the character, and the tone of the context for the character, the character’s world.
The reason why was there was an artist which Stephen Worth featured on the former Animation Archive blog who did very elaborate caricatures of animals doing human things and it just looked WEIRD! CREEPY! and other things deserving of capital letters. It was somewhere in between Baumgarten’s approach and a long way from Richard Scarry. Any, yet it was still kind scary looking.
(The chart I have been meaning to make would be similar to what Scott McCloud used in “Understanding Comics†to show abstract to “realism†using a graphic line. Original on my part, right?)
Unlike that stuff from Archive Blog, Baumgarten’s renderings are very natural, very organic and nothing too awkward looking. Pardon me for phrasing this sloppily, the logic of Baumgarten’s work is more appealing.
That written, at the risk of just laying out psuedo-intellectual jibber jabber this day, I need to make some quips:
In Number 4, do you think he’s getting his coif feathered? If so, that bird’s ahead of his time.
And is Number 17 a post- midnite Cinderella era transport? A mouse mobile? The Orignal Batmobile? Or, a Batbuggy?