Copyright: Public Domain
This is a sketchbook with designs for Snow White and Rose Red, made by Hans Thoma sometime before 1924. The book’s brown paper cover is unassuming, almost ordinary. But this very quality speaks volumes about Thoma's artistic practice. Sketchbooks are, by definition, working objects. They are the substrate of intellectual labour, of testing ideas. This one offers an intimate glimpse into Thoma’s creative process, revealing the artist's engagement with a beloved fairy tale. The cover bears the marks of use and handling, evidence of its role as a tool for Thoma's imagination. The quick notations hint at figures and compositions, capturing fleeting thoughts and inspirations. Thoma’s choice of a humble sketchbook underscores the value he placed on direct, unfiltered expression, as opposed to the formal constraints of the academy. By embracing the materiality of everyday life, Thoma blurred the lines between high art and craft, elevating the ordinary to the realm of artistic significance.
Comments
Hans Thoma mainly drew representations of the fairy tale “Snow White and Rose Red” in this sketchbook, probably after the version by the Brothers Grimm. He later tore two of these scenes out of the block along the perforation line; today they are enclosed as loose sheets. The sketchbook, which is otherwise barely used, contains only three further sketches of sagas and legends: a Nordic scene, which has yet to be identified, a representation of Odin, the Germanic father of the gods, and a Virgin Mary surrounded by birds. It is unknown whether the designs were created in preparation for (book) illustrations. They are neither signed nor dated, not even inscribed. – The same applies to the two loose sheets with studies of plants and trees from another sketchbook.For a full sketchbook description, please see “Research”.
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