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The Singing Bones: Inspired by Grimms' Fairy Tales
A unique and alluring art book showcasing Shaun Tan's extraordinary sculptures based on the timeless and compelling fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm.
In this beautifully presented volume, the essence of seventy-five fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm is wonderfully evoked by Shaun Tan's extraordinary sculptures.
Nameless princes, wicked stepsisters, greedy kings, honourable peasants and ruthless witches, tales of love, betrayal, adventure and magical transformation: all inspiration for this stunning gallery of sculptural works. Introduced by Grimm Tales author Philip Pullman and leading fairy tale scholar Jack Zipes, The Singing Bones breathes new life into some of the world's most beloved fairy tales.
In this beautifully presented volume, the essence of seventy-five fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm is wonderfully evoked by Shaun Tan's extraordinary sculptures.
Nameless princes, wicked stepsisters, greedy kings, honourable peasants and ruthless witches, tales of love, betrayal, adventure and magical transformation: all inspiration for this stunning gallery of sculptural works. Introduced by Grimm Tales author Philip Pullman and leading fairy tale scholar Jack Zipes, The Singing Bones breathes new life into some of the world's most beloved fairy tales.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2015
36 people are currently reading
4546 people want to read
About the author
Shaun Tan
70 books2,598 followersShaun Tan (born 1974) is the illustrator and author of award-winning children's books. After freelancing for some years from a studio at Mt. Lawley, Tan relocated to Melbourne, Victoria, in 2007. Tan was the Illustrator in Residence at the University of Melbourne's Department of Language Literacy and Arts Education for two weeks through an annual Fellowship offered by the May Gibbs Children’s Literature Trust. 2009 World Fantasy Award for Best Artist. In 2011, he won his first Oscar in the category Best Short Animated Film for his work The Lost Thing.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 462 reviews
October 29, 2016
An absolutely stunning book of art. It's a hard book to categorize and my shelving is somewhat misleading. It's neither graphic novel nor fairy tale retelling, exactly, though it does contain both graphics and fairy tales. Shaun Tan has crafted 75 beautiful sculptures to represent 75 Brothers Grimm fairy tales, with little snippets from each fairy tale on the adjacent page. Each sculpture is quite simple, but thoughtful and perfectly atmospheric. I must admit that I don't check out that many books of art - so I don't know what to expect from this world - but to me at least, this was unlike anything I've ever seen.
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July 12, 2018
THE WHITE SNAKE
i have never said this before, and it goes against all my readers' advisory training, but anyone who gives this book fewer than 5 stars is just flat-out wrong.
it is an absolutely stunning book.
FOUNDLING
apparently, not only can shaun tan draw and paint real good, but he is equally skilled at three-dimensional art and here he has created 75 sculptures ranging in size from 2 1/4 - 16 inches, illustrating various grimm's tales, reminding us how very dark they were in their original, undisneyfied, form, and also how very few of them we actually know.
THE MOON
i mean, seriously - HE JUST SAT DOWN ONE DAY AND MADE THIS:
THE LITTLE SHROUD
in addition, tan also photographed and digitally edited all the pieces appearing in the book himself, which is just showing off at that point.
THE BOY WHO LEFT HOME TO FIND OUT ABOUT FEAR
the sculptures are perfect - haunting, evocative, textured, suggestive, occasionally unfinished or raggedy-looking, but they all embody a tone or mood so perfectly compatible with the dark weirdness of the tales.
FITCHER'S BIRD
the detail in some of these is remarkable
THE OLD MAN AND HIS GRANDSON
SIMELEI MOUNTAIN
excerpts taken from this specific edition of the tales: The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm accompany each sculpture on the recto, and the book supplies a summary of each tale in its backmatter, so you can see what you've been missing. i know i am not the only person who, after reading this, is determined to familiarize myself with some of the more obscure grimm tales. if anyone has suggestions for the best collection, i'm all ears. otherwise, i'm just gonna buy this pretty one:
from neil gaiman's introduction:
There is a tactile quality to the Shaun Tan sculptures. They feel primal, as if they were made in a long-ago age of the world, when the stories were first being shaped, and that perhaps the sculptures came first.
and
Shaun Tan makes me want to hold these tales close, to rub them with my fingers, to feel the cracks and the creases and the edges of them. He makes me want to pick them up, inspect them from unusual angles, feel the heft and the weight of them. He makes me wonder what damage I could do with them, how badly I could hurt someone if I hit them with a story.
These pictures make me want to put the stories in my mouth, knowing that I will eventually have to spit them out again, reluctantly, in words.
THE FOX AND THE CAT
all of these things are true for me, too, and additionally, i want to find a picture that shows all of the sculptures at once, on a bunch of shelves or something, just to appreciate the scope of his accomplishment. but internet has not provided this visual for me. yet. the closest i could find is this:
which is more frustrating than anything..
all these review-pictures were taken by me from the book with my little camera, and are much more impressive and detailed in the actual book, with its tricky-to-photograph glossy paper. (or in any professional-type photos that can easily be found online. use your googler.)
here's one, for those of you who don't google well:
there's also a cool step-by-step description of process here.
just one-hundred percent impressive in every way. this book is a treasure.
THE RIDDLE
shaun tan, you are great at all things.
and if you are ever moving home and cannot fit all these sculptures in your cardboard boxes, i will take them off your hands.
come to my blog!
i have never said this before, and it goes against all my readers' advisory training, but anyone who gives this book fewer than 5 stars is just flat-out wrong.
it is an absolutely stunning book.
FOUNDLING
apparently, not only can shaun tan draw and paint real good, but he is equally skilled at three-dimensional art and here he has created 75 sculptures ranging in size from 2 1/4 - 16 inches, illustrating various grimm's tales, reminding us how very dark they were in their original, undisneyfied, form, and also how very few of them we actually know.
THE MOON
i mean, seriously - HE JUST SAT DOWN ONE DAY AND MADE THIS:
THE LITTLE SHROUD
in addition, tan also photographed and digitally edited all the pieces appearing in the book himself, which is just showing off at that point.
THE BOY WHO LEFT HOME TO FIND OUT ABOUT FEAR
the sculptures are perfect - haunting, evocative, textured, suggestive, occasionally unfinished or raggedy-looking, but they all embody a tone or mood so perfectly compatible with the dark weirdness of the tales.
FITCHER'S BIRD
the detail in some of these is remarkable
THE OLD MAN AND HIS GRANDSON
SIMELEI MOUNTAIN
excerpts taken from this specific edition of the tales: The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm accompany each sculpture on the recto, and the book supplies a summary of each tale in its backmatter, so you can see what you've been missing. i know i am not the only person who, after reading this, is determined to familiarize myself with some of the more obscure grimm tales. if anyone has suggestions for the best collection, i'm all ears. otherwise, i'm just gonna buy this pretty one:
from neil gaiman's introduction:
There is a tactile quality to the Shaun Tan sculptures. They feel primal, as if they were made in a long-ago age of the world, when the stories were first being shaped, and that perhaps the sculptures came first.
and
Shaun Tan makes me want to hold these tales close, to rub them with my fingers, to feel the cracks and the creases and the edges of them. He makes me want to pick them up, inspect them from unusual angles, feel the heft and the weight of them. He makes me wonder what damage I could do with them, how badly I could hurt someone if I hit them with a story.
These pictures make me want to put the stories in my mouth, knowing that I will eventually have to spit them out again, reluctantly, in words.
THE FOX AND THE CAT
all of these things are true for me, too, and additionally, i want to find a picture that shows all of the sculptures at once, on a bunch of shelves or something, just to appreciate the scope of his accomplishment. but internet has not provided this visual for me. yet. the closest i could find is this:
which is more frustrating than anything..
all these review-pictures were taken by me from the book with my little camera, and are much more impressive and detailed in the actual book, with its tricky-to-photograph glossy paper. (or in any professional-type photos that can easily be found online. use your googler.)
here's one, for those of you who don't google well:
there's also a cool step-by-step description of process here.
just one-hundred percent impressive in every way. this book is a treasure.
THE RIDDLE
shaun tan, you are great at all things.
and if you are ever moving home and cannot fit all these sculptures in your cardboard boxes, i will take them off your hands.
come to my blog!
February 28, 2021
So different from
The Arrival
but just as enchanting.
If in The Arrival Shaun Tan delights us with his haunting wordless tale through his illustrations, here we get to know Grimm' stories through his sculptures. Each of them is accompanied by a fragment from the story it represents; beautiful, minimalist, poignant sculptures, narrating the stories just by looking at them.
If the reader is not familliar with Grimm's tales, at the end, each of them is summarized in a few sentences. But I would wholeheartedly recommend to read the originals, as well. They are extraordinary.
Neil Gaiman's foreword is also superbly written. The edition has glossy, thick pages and a gorgeous velvety dusk jacket. It is a wonderful, exquisite book from all points of view.
To get a look at the sculptures and more about the ideea behind the book, there is a dedicated page to it on the author's website.
I somehow associate Shaun Tan with Ken Liu: both their creations have a smooth and vivid feeling about them which hypnotize and completely captivate the reader, one through words, the other through his visual art; I just love their works.
If in The Arrival Shaun Tan delights us with his haunting wordless tale through his illustrations, here we get to know Grimm' stories through his sculptures. Each of them is accompanied by a fragment from the story it represents; beautiful, minimalist, poignant sculptures, narrating the stories just by looking at them.
If the reader is not familliar with Grimm's tales, at the end, each of them is summarized in a few sentences. But I would wholeheartedly recommend to read the originals, as well. They are extraordinary.
Neil Gaiman's foreword is also superbly written. The edition has glossy, thick pages and a gorgeous velvety dusk jacket. It is a wonderful, exquisite book from all points of view.
To get a look at the sculptures and more about the ideea behind the book, there is a dedicated page to it on the author's website.
I somehow associate Shaun Tan with Ken Liu: both their creations have a smooth and vivid feeling about them which hypnotize and completely captivate the reader, one through words, the other through his visual art; I just love their works.
October 21, 2016
Shaun Tan is a real artist, and this is a gorgeous book of art. A little hard to explain what it is exactly, definitely not a graphic novel, as it is described in many places. Rather it's an album of Tan's miniature clay and papier-mâché statues accompanied and inspired by 75 of Brothers Grimm fairy tales. I am not sure Tan can take any credit for the fragments of the tales he uses (did he interpret or rework them in any way? I have no idea), but his work is absolutely beautiful. Very often the pairs of fairy tale pieces and statues create perfectly contained art pieces, invoking a certain fully formed mood that requires no further explanation. But sometimes you want to reach out to find out more about the stories. Luckily, there are recaps of all fairy tales at the end of this tome. And oh boy, a bunch of them are a weird mess I didn't fully comprehend.
December 19, 2019
I am a huge Shaun Tan fan, but this book was not my favorite. It did not speak to me as a reader. I like quirky and I like art-ish things and I like fairytale stories and I thought I would love this and I didn't.
This is 74 fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm. This is like a 'drop needle test' in collage when I was a music major. It was required to know a piece of music so well, that the test was the professor would put on a piece of music and drop the needle on the record player in a random spot and you had to identify the work from whatever period we were studying. Shaun takes 2-3 paragraphs from the story and that is all there is. He has made a statue from that passage and then it's on to the next story.
In the back of the book is a synopsis of each story of about 4-5 lines. It's not about the story, it's about the sculpture. The sculpture is nice, it's ok, but it's didn't blow me away. It was creative. I guess I expect a little more than this from Shaun and his work, but this is what he need to put out there, so there it is.
I'm glad to see people enjoyed it, but this wasn't for me. I am excited to read different Shaun Tan book. Who knows what I'll find there?
This is 74 fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm. This is like a 'drop needle test' in collage when I was a music major. It was required to know a piece of music so well, that the test was the professor would put on a piece of music and drop the needle on the record player in a random spot and you had to identify the work from whatever period we were studying. Shaun takes 2-3 paragraphs from the story and that is all there is. He has made a statue from that passage and then it's on to the next story.
In the back of the book is a synopsis of each story of about 4-5 lines. It's not about the story, it's about the sculpture. The sculpture is nice, it's ok, but it's didn't blow me away. It was creative. I guess I expect a little more than this from Shaun and his work, but this is what he need to put out there, so there it is.
I'm glad to see people enjoyed it, but this wasn't for me. I am excited to read different Shaun Tan book. Who knows what I'll find there?
August 27, 2017
Ever since picking up The Little Red Tree in a Melbourne bookstore I have loved the illustrative style of Shaun Tan. His sepia toned book on immigration The Arrival I think is a masterpiece. So when this book appeared with Tan's distinctive take on illustrating the Grimm fairy tales there was no way I was leaving it in the bookshop.
So many great illustrators have been associated with the Grimm folk tales - Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, Walter Crane and more recently Daniela Drescher and Andrea Dezso. These earthy stories really do lend themselves to varied artistic interpretations. What sets The Singing Bones apart is that rather than detailed two dimensional drawings these are simple photographs of three dimensional sculptures.
Tan explains his work ..
I was much inspired by Inuit stone carving and pre-Columbian clay figurines. These exhibit a wonderful blend of whimsy and seriousness, and a well-considered marriage of earthy material - stone and clay .... infused with weightless and magical ideas
I agree with Phillip Pullman in his foreword to this book -
These little figures of clay, with their simplified features, their single attributes, are perfect realisations of the strangeness of the characters they represent .
This is a beautiful collection of 75 mini sculptures and for full enjoyment it is worthwhile to get a copy of the Complete Grimm's fairy tales to read alongside. There were actually 15 or so stories I didn't have in my companion edition but handily this book has a short synopsis of all the tales in the back of the book as well as a nice introduction to Grimm history by Jack Zipes.
Illustrated book of the year and 5 stars ;)
( Edited to add - This also makes reference to only my second "Trudy" that I have come across in literature. The first was in Ian McEwan's Nutshell and now I discover an evil witch namesake who turns a girl into a block of firewood ! )
So many great illustrators have been associated with the Grimm folk tales - Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, Walter Crane and more recently Daniela Drescher and Andrea Dezso. These earthy stories really do lend themselves to varied artistic interpretations. What sets The Singing Bones apart is that rather than detailed two dimensional drawings these are simple photographs of three dimensional sculptures.
Tan explains his work ..
I was much inspired by Inuit stone carving and pre-Columbian clay figurines. These exhibit a wonderful blend of whimsy and seriousness, and a well-considered marriage of earthy material - stone and clay .... infused with weightless and magical ideas
I agree with Phillip Pullman in his foreword to this book -
These little figures of clay, with their simplified features, their single attributes, are perfect realisations of the strangeness of the characters they represent .
This is a beautiful collection of 75 mini sculptures and for full enjoyment it is worthwhile to get a copy of the Complete Grimm's fairy tales to read alongside. There were actually 15 or so stories I didn't have in my companion edition but handily this book has a short synopsis of all the tales in the back of the book as well as a nice introduction to Grimm history by Jack Zipes.
Illustrated book of the year and 5 stars ;)
( Edited to add - This also makes reference to only my second "Trudy" that I have come across in literature. The first was in Ian McEwan's Nutshell and now I discover an evil witch namesake who turns a girl into a block of firewood ! )
November 11, 2015
My View:
What a beautiful collection!
Shaun Tan has captured the essence and emotions of the Grimms’ Fairy Tales with his deceivingly simple yet evocative sculptures. The works are eloquent and are beautifully paired with edited extracts from The Complete Fairy Tales translated, introduced and annotated by Jack Zipes (Vintage Books, 1987); these sculptures and extracts are truly memorable and have succeeded in replacing any childhood images I had of the tales.
So many emotions fill these pages; the sculptures are pared back, raw and often confronting, others are charming and delightful. I particularly loved the sculptures that are paired with these extracts, The Thumbling, The Stolen Pennies and Faithful Johannes. I think Faithful Johannes is my favourite - the emotions etched on Johannes face are sublime and powerful, so little says so much, the other two I selected are just so simple and yet so beautiful! But don’t be confused by my selection of beautiful, evocative sculptures, Tan also captures the essence of evil just as magnificently with brooding haunting images - I choose to ignore these – they are truly fearful.
A beautiful collection that anyone will be proud to have on their bookshelf or coffee table.
What a beautiful collection!
Shaun Tan has captured the essence and emotions of the Grimms’ Fairy Tales with his deceivingly simple yet evocative sculptures. The works are eloquent and are beautifully paired with edited extracts from The Complete Fairy Tales translated, introduced and annotated by Jack Zipes (Vintage Books, 1987); these sculptures and extracts are truly memorable and have succeeded in replacing any childhood images I had of the tales.
So many emotions fill these pages; the sculptures are pared back, raw and often confronting, others are charming and delightful. I particularly loved the sculptures that are paired with these extracts, The Thumbling, The Stolen Pennies and Faithful Johannes. I think Faithful Johannes is my favourite - the emotions etched on Johannes face are sublime and powerful, so little says so much, the other two I selected are just so simple and yet so beautiful! But don’t be confused by my selection of beautiful, evocative sculptures, Tan also captures the essence of evil just as magnificently with brooding haunting images - I choose to ignore these – they are truly fearful.
A beautiful collection that anyone will be proud to have on their bookshelf or coffee table.
May 11, 2021
This was a fun one to read however I have to say not an easy one to rate- you see there have been many "re-telling" or "re-imaging" of the Grim brothers work however the unique and slightly disturbing* approach of of Shaun Tan more than off set any reservations
You see the artist and story teller here explores a more physical and tactile means of expressing himself and I have to say they are incredible - so much so that I would love to own several of them.
The fact that the passages used as inspiration are not the most obvious ones or the most famous - the result of which is that you have to stop and think and that I think increases the impact.
* you could swap disturbing for shocking just as easily - but it is meant in terms of how striking the images are and not their content. The way in which the passages have been interpreted are not always what you would expect.
You see the artist and story teller here explores a more physical and tactile means of expressing himself and I have to say they are incredible - so much so that I would love to own several of them.
The fact that the passages used as inspiration are not the most obvious ones or the most famous - the result of which is that you have to stop and think and that I think increases the impact.
* you could swap disturbing for shocking just as easily - but it is meant in terms of how striking the images are and not their content. The way in which the passages have been interpreted are not always what you would expect.
August 11, 2022
Labai patiko Shauno Tano grimiški kūriniai. Visa knyga suformatuota kaip parodos katalogas: dešinėje - skulptūrėlės (kartais vos kelių cm dydžio) nuotrauka, kairėje - ją įkvėpusios Grimų pasakos ištrauka. Iš viso tokių skultūrų ir jų "lentelių" - 75.
Be to, kad skulptūros - labai liūdnos ir kraupiai gražios, pasakų fragmentai irgi lygiai tokie - niekada skaitydama nemačiau, kiek daug juose mirčių, užmušimų, nusivylimų ir apgavysčių. Atrodo, lyg tie giedantys kaulai iš pavadinimo ir to paties pavadinimo pasakos prašosi būti pastebėti.
Labai gražu, kad Tanas neiliustruoja visos pasakos, tik kažkurį įstringantį momentą - pvz, pasaka apie giedantį kaulą, kai brolis užmuša brolį, bet paskui būna išaiškinamas, parodyta brolžudystės elemente:
O Pelenė - sykiu ir "auksas pelenuose spindi", bet vis dar varge, dar ne toj laimingoj pabaigoj, ir iš skulptūros dar nematai, ar ji ją suras.
Gal tai, kad labai retai kur jis rodo tą išrišantį ir moralizuojantį pasakos galą, ir daro jas tokias liūdnas. Juk vis dėlto "pasakiška" pasakose ir yra ta jų pabaiga, o visi išeities taškai, vargai ir išbandymai - visai ne.
Be to, kad skulptūros - labai liūdnos ir kraupiai gražios, pasakų fragmentai irgi lygiai tokie - niekada skaitydama nemačiau, kiek daug juose mirčių, užmušimų, nusivylimų ir apgavysčių. Atrodo, lyg tie giedantys kaulai iš pavadinimo ir to paties pavadinimo pasakos prašosi būti pastebėti.
Labai gražu, kad Tanas neiliustruoja visos pasakos, tik kažkurį įstringantį momentą - pvz, pasaka apie giedantį kaulą, kai brolis užmuša brolį, bet paskui būna išaiškinamas, parodyta brolžudystės elemente:
O Pelenė - sykiu ir "auksas pelenuose spindi", bet vis dar varge, dar ne toj laimingoj pabaigoj, ir iš skulptūros dar nematai, ar ji ją suras.
Gal tai, kad labai retai kur jis rodo tą išrišantį ir moralizuojantį pasakos galą, ir daro jas tokias liūdnas. Juk vis dėlto "pasakiška" pasakose ir yra ta jų pabaiga, o visi išeities taškai, vargai ir išbandymai - visai ne.
May 20, 2025
Shaun Tan, il creatore del silent book L'approdo, qui si cimenta nel creare delle sculture che rimandino alle fiabe dei fratelli Grimm.
Qui ne sono raccolte oltre 70 di fiabe ed altrettante sculture. Una per ogni fiaba. Il libro è strutturato con uno stralcio della fiaba ed a fianco la scultura di riferimento ed infine in appendice, un riassunto delle fiabe.
Peccato, ma si è rivelata una mezza delusione. Se da una parte le sculture sono, spesso, evocative, dall'altra vi è una strutturazione dell'opera, che mi ha sempre più allontanato e mi ha quasi spento la magia di lettura. Mi sarebbe piaciuto che le fiabe fossero esposte per intero e che magari di sculture ce ne fossero di più per ogni fiaba, così da ricreare più intimamente la storia e soprattutto la magia che una fiaba dovrebbe infondere nel lettore.
Qui ne sono raccolte oltre 70 di fiabe ed altrettante sculture. Una per ogni fiaba. Il libro è strutturato con uno stralcio della fiaba ed a fianco la scultura di riferimento ed infine in appendice, un riassunto delle fiabe.
Peccato, ma si è rivelata una mezza delusione. Se da una parte le sculture sono, spesso, evocative, dall'altra vi è una strutturazione dell'opera, che mi ha sempre più allontanato e mi ha quasi spento la magia di lettura. Mi sarebbe piaciuto che le fiabe fossero esposte per intero e che magari di sculture ce ne fossero di più per ogni fiaba, così da ricreare più intimamente la storia e soprattutto la magia che una fiaba dovrebbe infondere nel lettore.
September 3, 2016
This book is STUNNING which is exactly what I would expect from Shaun Tan, author of The Arrival, one of my all-time favourite ever graphic novels. This is more of an art book than an actual story, but it's so whimsical and creepy in all the right ways and it ties very strongly to The Grimm Fairy Tales. What Tan has attempted within the pages of this book is to condense each of the Grimm tales down to its rawest and most primitive form. Using sculpture as a medium and various materials he has managed to create some visceral, raw and honest pieces which real give a sense of every tale, whether you know them already of not.
I adored this, I read it in one evening, and I know it's one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. I would say this is totally age-appropriate for kids and adults, and it's hauntingly beautiful besides. I'd strongly recommend picking it up asap :) 4.5*s overall!
I adored this, I read it in one evening, and I know it's one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. I would say this is totally age-appropriate for kids and adults, and it's hauntingly beautiful besides. I'd strongly recommend picking it up asap :) 4.5*s overall!
August 27, 2017
What do you get when you put Shaun Tan's artistic bend and have him interpret Grimm's fairytales? A whole lot of fun! I was raised on the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perreault, so I absolutely enjoyed the darkness of the tales. Although I do have to say that the Rapunzel representation, looked like a phallus with golden hair. Other than it was a great read.
July 17, 2022
Read: July 2022/Edited 7/8/22 (added additional images from ST's blog)
Foundling, 2012, photograph, digital. Sculpture: paper, clay, paint, wire, plum twigs. About 30cm tall.
More goodness from Shaun Tan. Rather than paintings and drawings, this time it’s photos of sculptures, inspired by the European folktales collected by the Brothers Grimm. On the page opposite each photo is a brief description of the scene that the sculpture represents, and at the end of the book is a summary of the story. I’d forgotten how grim (pun alert!) these old tales can get. Lots of folks get their heads lopped off, or are burned alive, gobbled up by witches, possessed by demons, and so on. Good thing for your little ones at bedtime (unless you are of a sadistic bent, and who I am to judge?) there are just as many Grimm stories where folks marry the prince/princess, inherit the kingdom and live happily forever after. But many go in unexpected directions. One story like that is “The Turnip.”
A poor farmer grows a gigantic turnip. He figures it isn’t worth much, why not give to the King? What the hell, maybe he’ll like it. Turns out the King loves it, awards the poor farmer with land, livestock, and gold. The farmer’s rich brother catches wind of this, gives the king his own gold and horses, seeking a reward even bigger than his brother’s. So what does the King give him? The turnip!
The main reason to come here though, by far, is for Tan’s artwork. While inspired by European tales, many of these sculptures also show the clear influence on Tan of the pre-Columbian art of Mexico and Canada. While a few are subtly (and appropriately) horrific, for me, they are more often playful and/or surreal. For after all, “There’s a strong sense in every story collected by the Brothers Grimm that the separation between waking and dreaming worlds is actually quite thin ... These tales remain intriguing not least because they are a little disturbing and hard to explain.”
Farmerkin, 2012, photograph, digital. Sculpture: paper, clay, paint, wax. About 15cm tall.
Rumpelstiltskin, 2012, photograph, digital. Sculpture: paper, clay, paint, wax. About 15cm tall.
The sculptures are made from papier-mache and clay “painted with acrylics, oxidized metal power, wax, and shoe polish … which are generally about the size and weight of an orange.” The photos were “sparingly illuminated as so many museum objects are, as if a flashlight beam has passed momentarily over some odd objects resting in the dark galleries of our collective subconscious.”
Remember “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair”? Here, Rapunzel’s body becomes the tower she is imprisoned in.
For other samples see Tan’s blog: https://www.shauntan.net/suburbia-book
Bonus Feature! :
Here Tan describes (and provides photos) the step-by-step process of making these sculptures, beginning with wire and papier mache, adding clay, and so on.
http://thebirdking.blogspot.com/2015/...
An excerpt:
Here's my basic structure for one figure, made of papier mache and wire. I usually start by bending a strong wire into a rough shape, then squeezing pulp around it. I make the pulp by ripping a newspaper into strips, soaking it in a bucket of water until broken down, then straining it. I then mix it with a tapioca- or potato-flour glue (a little flour in a saucepan of water, gradually heated until viscous and clear). My dad used this technique a lot as a child in Malaysia and the resulting form, once dried in the sun, is extremely hard, durable and very light (I used to make a lot of masks with him as a kid). It can also be cut with a knife. The 'lumpiness' of these shapes are quite suggestive and this process typically introduces a lot of accidental forms, often a good thing.
Foundling, 2012, photograph, digital. Sculpture: paper, clay, paint, wire, plum twigs. About 30cm tall.
More goodness from Shaun Tan. Rather than paintings and drawings, this time it’s photos of sculptures, inspired by the European folktales collected by the Brothers Grimm. On the page opposite each photo is a brief description of the scene that the sculpture represents, and at the end of the book is a summary of the story. I’d forgotten how grim (pun alert!) these old tales can get. Lots of folks get their heads lopped off, or are burned alive, gobbled up by witches, possessed by demons, and so on. Good thing for your little ones at bedtime (unless you are of a sadistic bent, and who I am to judge?) there are just as many Grimm stories where folks marry the prince/princess, inherit the kingdom and live happily forever after. But many go in unexpected directions. One story like that is “The Turnip.”
A poor farmer grows a gigantic turnip. He figures it isn’t worth much, why not give to the King? What the hell, maybe he’ll like it. Turns out the King loves it, awards the poor farmer with land, livestock, and gold. The farmer’s rich brother catches wind of this, gives the king his own gold and horses, seeking a reward even bigger than his brother’s. So what does the King give him? The turnip!
The main reason to come here though, by far, is for Tan’s artwork. While inspired by European tales, many of these sculptures also show the clear influence on Tan of the pre-Columbian art of Mexico and Canada. While a few are subtly (and appropriately) horrific, for me, they are more often playful and/or surreal. For after all, “There’s a strong sense in every story collected by the Brothers Grimm that the separation between waking and dreaming worlds is actually quite thin ... These tales remain intriguing not least because they are a little disturbing and hard to explain.”
Farmerkin, 2012, photograph, digital. Sculpture: paper, clay, paint, wax. About 15cm tall.
Rumpelstiltskin, 2012, photograph, digital. Sculpture: paper, clay, paint, wax. About 15cm tall.
The sculptures are made from papier-mache and clay “painted with acrylics, oxidized metal power, wax, and shoe polish … which are generally about the size and weight of an orange.” The photos were “sparingly illuminated as so many museum objects are, as if a flashlight beam has passed momentarily over some odd objects resting in the dark galleries of our collective subconscious.”
Remember “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair”? Here, Rapunzel’s body becomes the tower she is imprisoned in.
For other samples see Tan’s blog: https://www.shauntan.net/suburbia-book
Bonus Feature! :
Here Tan describes (and provides photos) the step-by-step process of making these sculptures, beginning with wire and papier mache, adding clay, and so on.
http://thebirdking.blogspot.com/2015/...
An excerpt:
Here's my basic structure for one figure, made of papier mache and wire. I usually start by bending a strong wire into a rough shape, then squeezing pulp around it. I make the pulp by ripping a newspaper into strips, soaking it in a bucket of water until broken down, then straining it. I then mix it with a tapioca- or potato-flour glue (a little flour in a saucepan of water, gradually heated until viscous and clear). My dad used this technique a lot as a child in Malaysia and the resulting form, once dried in the sun, is extremely hard, durable and very light (I used to make a lot of masks with him as a kid). It can also be cut with a knife. The 'lumpiness' of these shapes are quite suggestive and this process typically introduces a lot of accidental forms, often a good thing.
February 22, 2019
INCREDIBLE!
So, I took my time reading this book but I'm really glad that I did. I rationed myself on a couple of tales a day to ensure that I fully took in the beauty of each one, and I can honestly say that I have been richly rewarded. Not only is The Singing Bones by Shaun Tan a fully compelling and engaging read, but his accompanying artwork is mind-blowing!
Some of my favourite sculptures include Hansel and Gretel, The White Snake, The Fisherman and His Wife, Foundling, Mother Trudy, All Fur, The Little Shroud, Mother Holle, Simelei Mountain, Fitcher's Bird, The Blacksmith and the Devil, The Moon and Thumbling.
Tan takes a small section from each of the Grimm's fairy tales (these sections often focus on wickedness, greed, corruption and death) and creates a sculpture based on it. The Singing Bones is a truly unique masterpiece and it shall take pride of place on my bookcase. I can't wait to share it with everyone I know!!
So, I took my time reading this book but I'm really glad that I did. I rationed myself on a couple of tales a day to ensure that I fully took in the beauty of each one, and I can honestly say that I have been richly rewarded. Not only is The Singing Bones by Shaun Tan a fully compelling and engaging read, but his accompanying artwork is mind-blowing!
Some of my favourite sculptures include Hansel and Gretel, The White Snake, The Fisherman and His Wife, Foundling, Mother Trudy, All Fur, The Little Shroud, Mother Holle, Simelei Mountain, Fitcher's Bird, The Blacksmith and the Devil, The Moon and Thumbling.
Tan takes a small section from each of the Grimm's fairy tales (these sections often focus on wickedness, greed, corruption and death) and creates a sculpture based on it. The Singing Bones is a truly unique masterpiece and it shall take pride of place on my bookcase. I can't wait to share it with everyone I know!!
March 7, 2020
This anthology of combined visual & story snippet retellings of the Brothers Grimm's tales contains seventy-five selected fairy tales retold in the form of sculptures (one per tale), and two forewords by Neil Gaiman and Jack Zipes respectively.
Even someone who's not a fan of sculpture as an art, like me, could appreciate the creativity and beauty of Shaun Tan's sculptures. This is the first time I see a retelling series that's done in sculpture, and whilst I was expecting this to be entirely visual, I can see why the author felt the need to include little bits (some intact, some rewritten) from the original tale to accompany the picture of each sculpture, because unless you're familiar with all of the fairy tales, you're not likely to know which sculpture depicts what tale. And even if you do know your Grimms inside and out, Tan's sculptures work as Rorschach ink blots, so you might end up seeing different things in each even after being told what tale it represents.
Even someone who's not a fan of sculpture as an art, like me, could appreciate the creativity and beauty of Shaun Tan's sculptures. This is the first time I see a retelling series that's done in sculpture, and whilst I was expecting this to be entirely visual, I can see why the author felt the need to include little bits (some intact, some rewritten) from the original tale to accompany the picture of each sculpture, because unless you're familiar with all of the fairy tales, you're not likely to know which sculpture depicts what tale. And even if you do know your Grimms inside and out, Tan's sculptures work as Rorschach ink blots, so you might end up seeing different things in each even after being told what tale it represents.
November 30, 2015
This book is absolutely STUNNING. The sculptures that Shaun Tan's created, alongside the stories they come from, are so strange and wonderful, and they match perfectly.
Full review to come!!
_________________________________________
If you like a) illustrations, b) fairytales and c) sculptures, this is definitely the book for you.
Shaun Tan is a bloody legend, basically. I requested this one from Allen and Unwin, and the absolutely GORGEOUS book turned up in my mail. I almost screamed, people, it was that good.
And I haven’t done a list review in a while, so let’s go with one of those.
1. THE ILLUSTRATIONS
They are actually illustrations OF sculptures, but the way they’ve been photographed make them absolutely stunning. There are colourful illustrations and darker ones, but they all have such character. If you’ve read any of Shaun Tan’s other picture books, you’ll recognise his very UNIQUE style.
(It’s absolutely creeptastic)
2. GRIMM’S FAIRYTALES
I think the best part about The Singing Bones is that, sure, it’s got all your regular boring fairytales, but it’s also got different ones that only the most HARD-CORE Grimm’s fairytale lovers would know of.
For example:
Mother Holle
Simelei Mountain (in the picture above)
Godfather Death
The Boy Who Left Home To Find Out About Fear
PLUS it’s got a foreword by Philip Pullman, aka author of The Northern Lights, aka one of my favourite authors on EARTH.
So it takes the Grimm’s fairytales, puts an an even creepier spin on them, and makes strange and wonderful sculptures out of them. I was absolutely captivated by Shaun Tan’s interpretation of these fairytales.
On the other page of each of the sculptures are small excerpts from the stories themselves. Only a few sentences, usually, but they contribute to the incredible, magical atmosphere of the book.
At the end there’s a glossary with small summaries of each of the stories, which I’m sure I’ll find really useful when I write retellings myself!
3. SCULPTURES
Honestly, sometimes I wish instead of being a writer I was an artist, because oh my GOODNESS are these sculptures beautiful. They’re so intricate and detailed and you can tell that every single one required immense planning and thought. Shaun Tan is an artistic and storytelling genius.
Because, you know, pictures do tell a thousand words, and anyone who turns their nose up at picture books is clearly a sad human being.
This is one book that I’ll probably read over again just because I think there’s SO much more to get out of it that I wouldn’t have picked up the first time.
Definitely a book to treasure. *strokes it*
Full review to come!!
_________________________________________
If you like a) illustrations, b) fairytales and c) sculptures, this is definitely the book for you.
Shaun Tan is a bloody legend, basically. I requested this one from Allen and Unwin, and the absolutely GORGEOUS book turned up in my mail. I almost screamed, people, it was that good.
And I haven’t done a list review in a while, so let’s go with one of those.
1. THE ILLUSTRATIONS
They are actually illustrations OF sculptures, but the way they’ve been photographed make them absolutely stunning. There are colourful illustrations and darker ones, but they all have such character. If you’ve read any of Shaun Tan’s other picture books, you’ll recognise his very UNIQUE style.
(It’s absolutely creeptastic)
2. GRIMM’S FAIRYTALES
I think the best part about The Singing Bones is that, sure, it’s got all your regular boring fairytales, but it’s also got different ones that only the most HARD-CORE Grimm’s fairytale lovers would know of.
For example:
Mother Holle
Simelei Mountain (in the picture above)
Godfather Death
The Boy Who Left Home To Find Out About Fear
PLUS it’s got a foreword by Philip Pullman, aka author of The Northern Lights, aka one of my favourite authors on EARTH.
So it takes the Grimm’s fairytales, puts an an even creepier spin on them, and makes strange and wonderful sculptures out of them. I was absolutely captivated by Shaun Tan’s interpretation of these fairytales.
On the other page of each of the sculptures are small excerpts from the stories themselves. Only a few sentences, usually, but they contribute to the incredible, magical atmosphere of the book.
At the end there’s a glossary with small summaries of each of the stories, which I’m sure I’ll find really useful when I write retellings myself!
3. SCULPTURES
Honestly, sometimes I wish instead of being a writer I was an artist, because oh my GOODNESS are these sculptures beautiful. They’re so intricate and detailed and you can tell that every single one required immense planning and thought. Shaun Tan is an artistic and storytelling genius.
Because, you know, pictures do tell a thousand words, and anyone who turns their nose up at picture books is clearly a sad human being.
This is one book that I’ll probably read over again just because I think there’s SO much more to get out of it that I wouldn’t have picked up the first time.
Definitely a book to treasure. *strokes it*
August 19, 2017
If this image is intriguing to you, you need to read this.
The Singing Bones is a book of art inspired by fairy tales. Some are literal interpretations. Some are eerie, yet convey the vibe of the story. But all are interesting and beautiful.
I knew some of the stories, but a few were unknown to me. I especially loved the choices Shaun Tan made of quotes. I especially loved the the Juniper Tree (31), Bearskin (46), One Eye Two Eyes Three Eyes (56).
The art was always interesting, but of course I had plenty of favorites. My favorite art pieces were for Briar Rose (32), All Fur (40), Bearskin (46), the Little Shroud (50) and the Stolen Pennies (51), Fitcher's Bird (64), the Nixie in the Pond (68), the Moon (74).
Anyway, if you're into art, you definitely should pick this up. It's a brief read, taking me only about an hour, but it's absolutely worth it.
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May 16, 2016
Powerful and Amazing!
February 6, 2017
Part fairy tale collection. Part art exhibit. Altogether a beautiful and haunting work.
November 21, 2016
This book is a collection of photographs of small sculptures inspired by tales from the Brothers Grimm. Shaun Tan shows that he is as wonderful an artist in this medium as he is an illustrator. I was enchanted by the art work, but frustrated because I realized I am not familiar with the vast majority of the Grimm tales -- each facing page includes an excerpt from the referenced tale, but not enough to give you the whole story, so I felt I lacked the key to appreciate the book fully.
February 28, 2024
The Singing Bones is a unique book that defies classification. Not quite a graphic novel, not quite a non-fiction book, nor quite a book of fiction- it is all and yet none of these categories.
Shaun Tan the author and illustrator of the wordless graphic novel The Arrival, puts his considerable artistic talents towards creating clay works of art to evoke Grimms’ Fairy Tales. As Neil Gaiman says in the foreword, the sculptures “imply, they do not delineate” the stories shown.
Tan showcases seventy-five snippets of fairy tales with accompanying art. The sculpture doesn’t tell the story, it hints at its essence. There are no sculptures of beautiful maidens to conjure up your memory of Cinderella or Snow White, instead the art gallery captures the idea of Grimms’ stories in abstract form.
In addition to the many tales, the book is elevated due to its further extras. Neil Gaiman writes a fond foreword to the book, and Jack Zipes writes an informational introduction to the history of the Grimm brothers and how the tales were collected. Once you are done enjoying the fairy tale vignettes, the author writes an afterword to explain his inspiration for this project. While many of the tales told in the story are familiar, an annotated index is included that has a concise summary of the tales, as some are more obscure. The less-known tales were to me the best to study, for you can see if what the sculpture hinted at is what you would imagine the tale to be.
So if you love singular collector pieces and fairy tales, try this book, as these museum-quality works of art will please both art lovers and fairy tale enthusiasts.
This review can also be found on my blog: https://graphicnovelty2.com/2017/01/1...
Shaun Tan the author and illustrator of the wordless graphic novel The Arrival, puts his considerable artistic talents towards creating clay works of art to evoke Grimms’ Fairy Tales. As Neil Gaiman says in the foreword, the sculptures “imply, they do not delineate” the stories shown.
Tan showcases seventy-five snippets of fairy tales with accompanying art. The sculpture doesn’t tell the story, it hints at its essence. There are no sculptures of beautiful maidens to conjure up your memory of Cinderella or Snow White, instead the art gallery captures the idea of Grimms’ stories in abstract form.
In addition to the many tales, the book is elevated due to its further extras. Neil Gaiman writes a fond foreword to the book, and Jack Zipes writes an informational introduction to the history of the Grimm brothers and how the tales were collected. Once you are done enjoying the fairy tale vignettes, the author writes an afterword to explain his inspiration for this project. While many of the tales told in the story are familiar, an annotated index is included that has a concise summary of the tales, as some are more obscure. The less-known tales were to me the best to study, for you can see if what the sculpture hinted at is what you would imagine the tale to be.
So if you love singular collector pieces and fairy tales, try this book, as these museum-quality works of art will please both art lovers and fairy tale enthusiasts.
This review can also be found on my blog: https://graphicnovelty2.com/2017/01/1...
February 2, 2017
A foreword by Neil Gaiman, a history of the Grimm brothers (who were librarians to boot!), a series of creations by Shaun Tan of The Arrival fame with an excerpt from the real Grimm's tales, and a closing chapter about the tales. Um, OBSESSED.
They are rich, dark, creepy, magical, puzzling, and more.
It immediately went into the hands of my Horror Fiction and Film teacher who is a Gaiman fan and clearly has a horse in this race. I can't wait to hear what he thinks tomorrow.
As for me, the images are arresting and beautiful, painful and sweet. It makes you year to read the originals and pay homage to these two men who worked tirelessly to preserve their German heritage.
Super love.
They are rich, dark, creepy, magical, puzzling, and more.
It immediately went into the hands of my Horror Fiction and Film teacher who is a Gaiman fan and clearly has a horse in this race. I can't wait to hear what he thinks tomorrow.
As for me, the images are arresting and beautiful, painful and sweet. It makes you year to read the originals and pay homage to these two men who worked tirelessly to preserve their German heritage.
Super love.
November 25, 2018
Did you see how many tags I just clicked to try to categorize this strangely beautiful book?
Each photograph of each sculpture created by Shaun Tan is a visual poem, and paired with an incredible spare pared-down snippet of one trippy Grimm's tale the words and art combine to make something that feels both incomplete and yet also clearly fully unto itself.
I've had varying enjoyment of works of Neil Gaiman, but, man, can he write an introduction. I also loved Jack Zipes speedy but thorough and super fascinating history of the Grimm brothers....who were librarians by the way!!
I found this book in the library classified as a teen graphic novel - but honestly, I don't know where it belongs. Maybe just by itself, or on a shelf with other unclassifiable oddities.
Each photograph of each sculpture created by Shaun Tan is a visual poem, and paired with an incredible spare pared-down snippet of one trippy Grimm's tale the words and art combine to make something that feels both incomplete and yet also clearly fully unto itself.
I've had varying enjoyment of works of Neil Gaiman, but, man, can he write an introduction. I also loved Jack Zipes speedy but thorough and super fascinating history of the Grimm brothers....who were librarians by the way!!
I found this book in the library classified as a teen graphic novel - but honestly, I don't know where it belongs. Maybe just by itself, or on a shelf with other unclassifiable oddities.
December 26, 2016
This book is like a museum production. Heavy, glossy pages. Gorgeous, minimalist sculptures inspired by Inuit & pre-Columbian artwork. And Grimm fairy tales edited to their barest words -- really just a few lines. Each story has a single, facing-page layout: the story stripped down to its most basic form facing one artwork that depicts the essence of the story. Seventy-five stories total.
A stunning piece.
A stunning piece.
November 15, 2015
It's not often that an artist can bring a new and completely fresh vibe to fairytales, but Shaun Tan has achieved it wonderfully. This is a collection of sculptures that reimagine and represent the Grimm's fairytales so well that you find it hard to believe there was ever any other way. Absolutely stunning.
October 18, 2015
Amazing! Absolutely inspired interpretations of fairy tales in sculpture form. More detailed review to come (hopefully).
March 31, 2019
Well this is a thing of pure beauty.
March 29, 2024
Grimms' fairy tale art like you've never seen before. Now that I've read multiple books by Tan, I can spot his signature in these simple yet interpretive clay sculptures. e.g. the four Bremen Town Musicians heads stacked as they scare off the intruder.
The book layout has beauty, by placing a paragraph from one (of 75 included) of the Grimms' Fairy Tales on the left page, and letting the entire right page be a high quality photo of the sculpture. I maybe knew 40% of the Grimms tales referenced. You could see how the sculpture matched to the short piece of the story. I wished for more of the actual tale!
There is a Foreward section by Neil Gaiman who expounds on the magnificence of Tan's art, for a few pages. Then a single chapter on the history of the Grimms' Fairy Tales, first published in 1812/1815. I found this quite informative. This chapter is written by Jack Zipes, who has a few publications of his own on Grimms' Fairy Tales:
The Brothers Grimm: From Enchanted Forests to the Modern World by Jack D. Zipes
Grimm Legacies: The Magic Spell of the Grimms' Folk and Fairy Tales by Jack D. Zipes
The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales by Jack D. Zipes
Grimm brothers gathered these stories and bound them with no pictures when they started. Once illustrations started to be drawn, sales took off. They were originally tales for adults/families, but have come to be marketed more toward children. It might be good for parents to pre-read any tale before using these as often the morale of the story involves the perpetrator getting their head cut off, or eyes eaten by birds, or stomach cut open to release the kid goats, etc.
I was delighted to find brief summaries of all 75 tales. I spent just as much time in this section as I did in the entire front of the book. For this reason, I really wish these summaries had been put individually on the pages were the paragraph/art were in the heart of the book. These was always ample room under the paragraph on the left page of each tale's two-page-layout to fit this summary.
If you KNOW every single one of these Grimms' tales, then moving the summary to the heart of the book's individual story/art would have been artistically less pleasing, I suppose you could say. But I think most people don't know all these tales.
I also didn't really like the tile of the book. "The Singing Bones" comes from the Grimms' tale called "The Singing Bone". I'm not sure that this is popular enough among the Grimms' tales to evoke people in book stores exclaiming: "Oh look, a Grimms' Fairy Tale art book", as this book cover has a skull on the front cover, with a red funky-looking fox-type creature on its head. (The skull is from the "Godfather Death" tale; the fox looks to be a slight variation on the fox in "The Golden Bird" tale)
Art: 5*
Artistic layout of book: 5*
My wish that the 75 story summaries were with the individual paragraphs/art: -0.5 stars
Cover art choice: hmmm
The darkness of the cover art (skull, strange fox) is both a plus and minus. Minus: looks a little scary. Plus: well, all these Grimms' Tales tend to have a dark-side as good crushes bad. I wouldn't really sort this into the kids' section in a library - this is an adult book.
I now want to explore all the varieties of the many editions of Grimms' Fairy Tales to see how the illustrations have changed over the last 200+ years.
The book layout has beauty, by placing a paragraph from one (of 75 included) of the Grimms' Fairy Tales on the left page, and letting the entire right page be a high quality photo of the sculpture. I maybe knew 40% of the Grimms tales referenced. You could see how the sculpture matched to the short piece of the story. I wished for more of the actual tale!
There is a Foreward section by Neil Gaiman who expounds on the magnificence of Tan's art, for a few pages. Then a single chapter on the history of the Grimms' Fairy Tales, first published in 1812/1815. I found this quite informative. This chapter is written by Jack Zipes, who has a few publications of his own on Grimms' Fairy Tales:
The Brothers Grimm: From Enchanted Forests to the Modern World by Jack D. Zipes
Grimm Legacies: The Magic Spell of the Grimms' Folk and Fairy Tales by Jack D. Zipes
The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales by Jack D. Zipes
Grimm brothers gathered these stories and bound them with no pictures when they started. Once illustrations started to be drawn, sales took off. They were originally tales for adults/families, but have come to be marketed more toward children. It might be good for parents to pre-read any tale before using these as often the morale of the story involves the perpetrator getting their head cut off, or eyes eaten by birds, or stomach cut open to release the kid goats, etc.
I was delighted to find brief summaries of all 75 tales. I spent just as much time in this section as I did in the entire front of the book. For this reason, I really wish these summaries had been put individually on the pages were the paragraph/art were in the heart of the book. These was always ample room under the paragraph on the left page of each tale's two-page-layout to fit this summary.
If you KNOW every single one of these Grimms' tales, then moving the summary to the heart of the book's individual story/art would have been artistically less pleasing, I suppose you could say. But I think most people don't know all these tales.
I also didn't really like the tile of the book. "The Singing Bones" comes from the Grimms' tale called "The Singing Bone". I'm not sure that this is popular enough among the Grimms' tales to evoke people in book stores exclaiming: "Oh look, a Grimms' Fairy Tale art book", as this book cover has a skull on the front cover, with a red funky-looking fox-type creature on its head. (The skull is from the "Godfather Death" tale; the fox looks to be a slight variation on the fox in "The Golden Bird" tale)
Art: 5*
Artistic layout of book: 5*
My wish that the 75 story summaries were with the individual paragraphs/art: -0.5 stars
Cover art choice: hmmm
The darkness of the cover art (skull, strange fox) is both a plus and minus. Minus: looks a little scary. Plus: well, all these Grimms' Tales tend to have a dark-side as good crushes bad. I wouldn't really sort this into the kids' section in a library - this is an adult book.
I now want to explore all the varieties of the many editions of Grimms' Fairy Tales to see how the illustrations have changed over the last 200+ years.
February 6, 2017
As an art book, The Singing Bones is simply incredible. Tan's sculptures are mystical, imaginative, evocative, primal... in other words, they capture the spirit of the original Grimms' fairy tales perfectly:
HANSEL AND GRETEL
LITTLE RED CAP
RAPUNZEL
CINDERELLA
SNOW WHITE
If you are interested, check out Tan's process in creating one of the sculptures for this book.
However, I should warn you that The Singing Bones does not really lend itself to be read from cover to cover and is best enjoyed at a pace of a few pages per day. What is more, if you are not familiar with most of the fairy tales in this book (I wasn't), you will have to constantly refer to the brief summaries of these tales at the back of the book, because to really understand and appreciate the cleverness of the sculptures, you HAVE to know the tales they are based on. You see, the problem is that although each of the 75 Tan's sculpture photographs are accompanied by a title and a paragraph from a certain Grimms' fairy tale that inspired the sculpture, the provided paragraphs sometimes are kind of useless if you do not know the tale because they are not always directly related to the scene depicted by the sculpture.
HANSEL AND GRETEL
LITTLE RED CAP
RAPUNZEL
CINDERELLA
SNOW WHITE
If you are interested, check out Tan's process in creating one of the sculptures for this book.
However, I should warn you that The Singing Bones does not really lend itself to be read from cover to cover and is best enjoyed at a pace of a few pages per day. What is more, if you are not familiar with most of the fairy tales in this book (I wasn't), you will have to constantly refer to the brief summaries of these tales at the back of the book, because to really understand and appreciate the cleverness of the sculptures, you HAVE to know the tales they are based on. You see, the problem is that although each of the 75 Tan's sculpture photographs are accompanied by a title and a paragraph from a certain Grimms' fairy tale that inspired the sculpture, the provided paragraphs sometimes are kind of useless if you do not know the tale because they are not always directly related to the scene depicted by the sculpture.
November 12, 2016
First sentence: There are stories, honed by the retelling, simplified by the people who recorded them and transmitted them, old stories, with the edges rubbed off them, like the pebbles on a beach, each story the perfect size and heft to send skimming over the water, or to use to strike an enemy. Folktalkes are like jokes: If they had a beginning, it is lost to us.
Premise/plot: The Singing Bones is a collection of photographs and one-page 'retellings' of Grimm fairy tales or folk tales. The photographs are of sculptures made by Shaun Tan. Gaiman, who wrote the introduction, probably says it better than I ever could: "They [the sculptures] feel primal, as if they were made in a long-ago age of the world, when the stories were first being shaped, and that perhaps the sculptures came first."
There are dozens of photographs. They do take center stage in this book. The words being almost like a brief but necessary interruption. The text does not summarize the fairy tale. The text is definitely on the literary side. The reader has to work to make connections and "see" the bigger story that both photograph and text tell.
My thoughts: I didn't actually love this one personally. But. Just because I don't love, love, love something doesn't mean that I don't recognize ART when I see it. This is a weighty 'literary' book that is definitely interesting and quirky. I think those who love it will really LOVE it.
This quote by Neil Gaiman was fabulous:
Premise/plot: The Singing Bones is a collection of photographs and one-page 'retellings' of Grimm fairy tales or folk tales. The photographs are of sculptures made by Shaun Tan. Gaiman, who wrote the introduction, probably says it better than I ever could: "They [the sculptures] feel primal, as if they were made in a long-ago age of the world, when the stories were first being shaped, and that perhaps the sculptures came first."
There are dozens of photographs. They do take center stage in this book. The words being almost like a brief but necessary interruption. The text does not summarize the fairy tale. The text is definitely on the literary side. The reader has to work to make connections and "see" the bigger story that both photograph and text tell.
My thoughts: I didn't actually love this one personally. But. Just because I don't love, love, love something doesn't mean that I don't recognize ART when I see it. This is a weighty 'literary' book that is definitely interesting and quirky. I think those who love it will really LOVE it.
This quote by Neil Gaiman was fabulous:
People need stories. It's one of the things that make us who we are. We crave stories, because they make us more than ourselves, they give us escape and they give us knowledge. They entertain us and they change us, as they have changed and entertained us for thousands of years.
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