The Peasant and the Devil

    (Fantagraphics, 1998)
™ and ©1998 Seattle Art Museum

Co-published by the Seattle Art Museum, this book by Simon Grennan and Christopher Sperandio was commissioned to coincide with a 1998-1999 exhibition of the work of photographer Cindy Sherman. It retells a few classic folk tales, using Sherman’s photographs as inspiration. Instead of illustrating the stories to fit their time periods, however, the characters and the backdrops are meant to appear as modern, with the “actors” in minimal costume. The horns of the devil in the title story, for example, are obviously part of his headdress, and other mythical characters are also normal humans wearing obvious masks to fit their “roles.” Although these tales are derived from some of the oldest European fairy tales, they may seem simplistic and even cliché to contemporary readers. It is difficult to believe, for instance, that the Devil could be outwitted as easily, and as simply, as he is here.
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Cover Price: $0.00
1 copy available for $19.95 		Caitlan Masley, Graham Worden, Tim Pickstone