Forest of Things - Monika Beisner

Forest of Things by Monika Beisner, conversations with Robert Bush / ISBN 9781399901147 / 184-page paperback with dust jacket, 8 x 11 inches, illustrated throughout / published by silver rerum/Hoop Editions (UK)

A wonderful collection by this legendary illustrator and artist, from her early works like "The Thumbtown Toad" to her series of paintings on the classics.

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Forest of Things is a book about books with pictures by renowned artist and illustrator Monika Beisner, born in Hamburg in 1942, living in London, and published worldwide. It is rich in engaging conversations about a life dedicated to art, literature and friendship. An encounter with fantastic toys, sugar people, a heavenly zoo, riddles, fabulous beasts, charms and spells, hidden cats, a topsy turvy world, flying and speaking trees, and more… A visual journey through Dante's Divina Commedia, from Inferno to Paradiso in 100 illuminations. A transformation of selected tales from Ovid's Metamorphoses into vivid narrative images. A series of paintings inspired by Gilgamesh, the oldest poem in the world, recounting mankind's eternal struggle with the fear of death. Historical and modern perspectives, reality and dream, imagination and precise observation all combine to create a visual language of great power and originality If you enter the Forest of Things you might discover that reality is not what it seems…

Monika Beisner is a German illustrator and artist. She studied painting in Braunschweig and Berlin, and continued her studies in New York and London. She is best known for her children’s books The Heavenly Zoo and Fabulous Beasts, and has also illustrated Dante’s Divine Comedy and Ovid’s Metamorphoses. She lives in London; Ratzeburg, Germany; and on Gozo, Malta.