Books on Folk Art - Folk Art
Russian Gifts

'Easter Eggs: Russian Souvenir' Book $37.95 Author: L. N. Solovieva. Hardcover: 96 pages. This is a truly superb book that contains a both lot of valuable historical, and practical information. The book is fabulously illustrated with photographs of various kinds of Russian decorative eggs, containing plenty of examples of masterpieces produced by the modern-day Russian Easter egg artists. A 'must have' for every true collector of Russian decorative eggs! Ships: within 5-7 business days.

'Russian Matrjoshka' Book $42.95 Gorgeous 108 pages 'Russian Matrjoshka' book by Elena Filippova with full-color studio-shot prints of exclusive matryoshka nesting dolls by contemporary Russian matryoshka artists. History of matryoshka nesting dolls included. Published in 2005 in Moscow, Russia. Print: 1000 books. Size: 20 x 30 cm (8 x 12 inches). Imported from Moscow. Ships: within 5-7 business days.

'The Littlest Matryoshka' Book $26.95 Author: Corine Demas Bliss. Hardcover: 32 pages. Reading level: Ages 4-8. Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 9.3 x 0.3 inches. From 'Publishers Weekly': 'With illustrations quaint enough for Christmas cards, an author's note that explains the history of nesting dolls, and a story reminiscent of The Tin Soldier, Bliss's (Matthew's Meadow) picture book will especially please collectors of Russian matryoshkas. The story begins 'in a small shop in a snowy village in Russia,' where Nikolai the doll maker, a Geppetto-like wood carver, fashions a set of six nesting dolls. He tells them, 'You are six sisters,' and names each one. Anna, the largest doll, watches as they travel to America, where they are lined up on a shelf, and the smallest doll, Nina, is accidentally knocked to the floor and kicked outside into the snow. After a plow scoops up Nina and a snow truck dumps her outside of town, the shopkeeper sells the remaining matroyoshkas to a girl, Jessie, for half-price. Nina rides a river of melting snow to a stream, is picked up by a heron, found by a squirrel, tumbles down a rain pipe and is eventually found by Jessie and her cat, who reunite the six sisters. 'How they rejoiced to be together again!' as 'Anna smiled the smile that had been painted on by Nikolai the doll maker in Russia, so long ago.' Brown's (Tough Boris) paintings are sweetly old-fashioned, the images perceived as if behind a scrim of fantasy. They suit the nostalgic mood of the narrative. What this story lacks in originality, it makes up for in neatnessAthe elements fit together as cozily as the dolls nesting one inside the other. Ages 4-8.' [Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.]

'The Magic Nesting Doll' Book $28.49 Author: Jacqueline K. Ogburn. Hardcover: 32 pages. Reading level: Ages 4-8. Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 9.3 x 0.5 inches. From 'Publishers Weekly': 'Opulent oil paintings, as lushly colored and intricately detailed as a Russian lacquer box, set the stage for this original folktale. As Katya's grandmother lies dying, she bequeaths Katya a magic matryoshka, or Russian nesting doll, and tells her that she may open it three times in an hour of need. The girl sets out to make her way in the world and soon arrives in a city under a wicked spell: 'It is always winter without thaw, night without moon, and dark without dawn,' an innkeeper explains. Worse, the handsome young Tsarevitch has been turned into living ice. With the help of her nesting doll, which releases first a bear, then a wolf and finally a firebird, Katya is able to break the enchantment, give the conniving Grand Vizier a taste of his own frosty medicine, and find true love. Ogburn's (The Jukebox Man) assured storytelling memorably joins together classic fairy-tale elements with Slavic imagery; her tale reads like one already tested by time. Long (The Mightiest Heart) weaves a kind of visual magic in a series of darkly lavish scenes. Her paintings simultaneously recall ornate tapestries, Russian icon art and the romantic elegance of Trina Schart Hyman. All ages.' [Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.]

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