This Magpie Family Card shows 6 magpies bringing a promise of gold to the receipient of this utterly enchanting Russian Folk Art Card.
Here’s the nursery rhyme…
One for sorrow,
Two for joy,
Three for a girl,
Four for a boy,
Five for silver,
Six for gold,
Seven for a secret never to be told.
Kapelki Arts
Created by Yuri Vasnetsov and supplied to Abrahams Store by his grand daughter, these are our selection of these utterly chaming cards. Russian through and through they bring to life old Russian fairly tales. As you would expect from us, they are full of colour and joy.
Yuri Vasnetsov
1900-1973
Yuri was born to the family of a priest in the old Russian town of Vyatka. Fascinated by traditional clay toys and folk culture, he started painting and drawing from an early age. After leaving Vyatka School for Boys, he moved to Petrograd (now St Petersburg) to study at the Academy of Arts. Yuri adored his wife and two daughters. He was a painter, graphic artist and stage designer. However he is most famous as an illustrator, conjuring images where animals wear beautiful clothes and have their own identities. Vasnetsov’s quirky and striking images take us away from modern reality to a wonderful and colourful world of fairy tale.
Contrasing Times
It seems amazing that such lovely works of art could have been created during a time of great turmoil and oppression. The innocence depitcted stands in stark contrast to the events of the time. The Russian Revolution, Civil War and Stalin’s purges that saw 10s of millions killed in war, murdered or starved to death all took place in his lifetime. And then there were the horrors of German invasion in 1941-44, which left another nearly 18 million inhabitants dead.
As well as this magpie family card, see other Kapelki Arts cards available at Abrahams Store, here.
See other cards and notebooks available from Abrahams Store, here.
