#287 of 1001 · May 14, 2021

Rapunzel refracts through an altogether different lens in the eclectic vision of Dorothée Duntze. While the wondrous garden and the mother’s craving for leafy greens already accords the Grimms’ tale a strong horticultural theme, the design of the characters and environment here foregrounds flora’s influence on the plot. The mother’s skirt and petticoats resemble a the petals of a pink flower; Rapunzel’s dress, bulbous and green, gives off the appearance of a brussels sprout; the witch’s voluminous gown—shot through with veins, covered with snail and slugs, sporting an ever-present puddle with a frog on a lily pad—recalls a head of cabbage. Strangeness abounds: the wall of the witch’s garden seems to be capped with a row of giant human teeth, the tower takes the form of a monumentally tall circus tent, and at the top Rapunzel reclines on a large pear and sleeps on an enormous, puffy snail. #rapunzel #garden #witch #tower #hair #prince #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbook #beautifulbooks #beautifulbookcovers #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks