detail of Jewel by Kiki Smith
FAIRY TALES IN
CONTEMPORARY
VISUAL ART
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These contemporary visual artists have engaged with fairy tale motifs in their artwork throughout their careers.
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→ LEONORA CARRINGTON
Carrington was a Mexican surrealist painter working in the 1930s onward. Her artwork features vibrant colors, magical realism imagery, many animal and animal-esque creatures, and an exploration of female sexuality.
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→ KARA WALKER
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Walker is an American artist who explores race, gender, violence, and folk themes through caricatured silhouette paper cutouts and striking large-scale sculpture. Her silhouettes and sculptures adapt White-European-centric traditions as powerful commentary on institutions of racism and slavery.
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→ KIKI SMITH
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Smith is an American visual artist working in a wide range of mediums, perhaps most well known for her sculptures and prints. Her artwork is bodily, crawling with creatures, and often explores myth and fairy tale themes in relation to women's autonomy.
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→ MIWA YANAGI
Yanagi is a Japanese artist who photographs crafted dramatic scenes of her own making, often exploring female gender and age expectations. Her series Fairy Tale photographs tense surrealist scenes using fairy tale props.
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→ HAYAO MIYAZAKI
Miyazaki is a Japanese animator and anime director best known for his work founding and creating movies for Studio Ghibli, the beloved source of films like Kiki's Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, and My Neighbor Totoro. His movies incorporate Japanese folktales with childhood approaches to wonder.
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→ LISBETH ZWERGER
Zwerger is an Austrian illustrator reknowned for her watercolor and drawn renditions of classic fables, fairy tales, and fantasy stories—such as Little Red Riding Hood, Alice in Wonderland, and The Wizard of Oz—for children's picture books.
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ADDITIONAL ARTISTS TO KNOW
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Jacques Demy / Dina Goldstein / Trenon Doyle Hancock / Walter Martin & Paloma Muñoz / Frank Moore / Kay Nielsen / Polixeni Papapetrou / Claire Prussian / Maurice Sendak / Judith Schaechter / Cindy Sherman / Sharon Singer / Carrie Mae Weems / Saya Woolfalk
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from Little Red Cap was Met By a Wolf by Lisbeth Zwerger
Figuras fantásticas a caballo by Leonora Carrington
Still from My Neighbor Totoro, directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Untitled by Kara Walker
Snow White by Miwa Yanagi
Pool of Tears 2 (after Lewis Carroll) by Kiki Smith
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A selection of online resources for locating fairy tales in contemporary visual art:
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→ INTO THE FOREST DARK, Twitter
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This is one of many social media accounts dedicated to simply sharing good art. This one specializes in sharing art with fantastical elements, particularly art inspired by fairy tales, folktales, fantasy, and myth.
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→ #FOLKLORETHURSDAY, Twitter and Instagram
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Every Thursday on Twitter and Instagram, folks can tag folklore-relevant posts #FolkLoreThursday and they'll be reposted to this account. The focus is on folklore, so there's a bit of sorting you'll need to do, but it's a good regular source of folk art. There's also a spinoff of this hashtag called →#FairyTaleTuesday, but it hasn't gained many followers yet so there is less material shared, though hopefully this will catch on similarly.
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→ DIRECTORY OF ILLUSTRATION
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This is a directory of contemporary illustrators where you can search by an artist's name, but also by topic of individual illustration. "Fairy tale" returns numerous results. Also try searching "Fantasy," as this is one of the subject tags the artists can use to identify their work.
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→ "THE MOST BEAUTIFUL ILLUSTRATIONS FROM 200 YEARS OF BROTHERS GRIMM FAIRY TALES," from Brain Pickings
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Brain Pickings is a website of fantastic art and creative writing recommendations by Maria Popova. Popova often shares picture books, and those occasionally include fairy tale picture books, so you can browse the full website for some of those. More particularly, this is a post she made about the history of artwork for the Brothers Grimm fairy tales. Obviously not all of these artists are contemporary, but several are, and it's a good starting point into the world of fairy tale art.
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→ MIRROR MIRRORED: 28 ARTISTS INSPIRED BY GRIMM'S FAIRY TALES
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The accompanying website for the book of the same name, Mirror Mirrored features artwork (and quick links to the websites) of artists inspired to re-imagine depictions of the classic Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales.
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Tips for locating resources specifically featuring contemporary fairy tale visual art.
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→ See "General Search Strategies" for additional tips on finding fairy tale resources.
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1. SUBJECT HEADINGS
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Library of Congress subject headings potentially relevant for locating contemporary fairy tales in visual art:
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Fairy tales in art
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Fairy tales in motion pictures
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Fairy tales on television
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Fairy tales--Illustrations
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Fairy tales--Film adaptations
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Fairy tales--Television adaptations
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Fantasy in art
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​​Note that there are many ​geography and culture specific variants of the "folk art" headings available
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Folklore in art
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Magic in art
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Magic realism (Art)
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Magic realism (Art)--United States
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Monsters in art
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Myth in art
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Myth in motion pictures
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Princes in art
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Princesses in art
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Surrealism--Exhibitions
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Surrealism in motion pictures
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Yōkai (Japanese folklore) in art
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2. SPECIFY DEPARTMENT
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If searching through a university library system's catalog, you can often specify by library. Filter your search to only show results from the university's art library.
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3. USE ART SCHOOLS' LIBRARY CATALOGS
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Studios and design schools, like the Rhode Island School of Design and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, have (surprise) libraries with more art books than most public libraries or universities. While you may not be able to access these physical libraries' holdings, you absolutely can browse their catalog and use their library's art-focused search abilities. Then, request the resources you find at your own local library or bookstore.
→ Rhode Island School of Design's Fleet Library Catalog Search
→ Art Institute of Chicago Library Catalog Search
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4. BEWARE AGE BIAS
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Despite being targeted towards adults until the 19th century, contemporary fairy tales are often categorized as a children's genre. Be aware of this when searching for fairy tale art.
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You may need to venture into the children's section of the library / bookstore to find collections of fairy tale art. Also keep in mind that children's picture books are a great way to learn of fairy tale illustrators.
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Recommendations of books featuring fairy tales in contemporary visual art.
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Click a title to learn more about it. Descriptions are from the books' back cover copy.