This Bachelor’s thesis arose from the wish to explore my local folklore heritage, which had been stirring up my imagination for many years. The illustrations that accompany these stories are one of the things that make them even more interesting. Literary illustrations are not only visual companions of the text but they carry their own narrative meaning.
In this thesis I therefore first explore illustrations, more specifically illustrations in picture books and other children’s books, and also about the aspects and functions of illustrations and the attributes that make an illustration good. Because I am interested in stories and folk tales I also research the attributes of narrative illustrations.
Through the historic overview of Slovene illustrations, I point out the contributions of Slovene artists who illustrated folklore. These were Jože Ciuha, Maksim Gaspari and Ive Šubic, and through the analysis of their illustrations I also explore how artistic elements intertwine with the context of the stories they illustrate.
In the next part of the thesis I focus on the cultural heritage of folklore in the Kozjansko and Obsotelje regions. More precisely I’m interested in stories with fabled creatures. I wished to incorporate my own ideas about some of the fabled creatures from the tales, so the artistic and practical part of my thesis consists of five illustrations: the dragon, the white lady, the pagan girls, the witch and the devil. The graphic prints in the technique of linocut, which illustrate the aforementioned folklore characters, are also brought together in a handmade and hand bound book.
|
