Once Upon a Time There Was a Wolf

One of the coolest things about working at a major university is the sheer amount of interesting stuff that is going on all the time. There are exhibits and events and speakers and performances, and it is easy to miss so much of it. One gets so busy, you know.

Ever the curious sort, I like to poke my nose into things all over campus. I go into buildings I've never been in before, just to see what is inside; I act like I own the place! On my bus riding days, especially if it's cold or putting down some kind of weather, I often end up spending a few minutes in Pattee Library between buses.

There is an exhibit in the Special Collections room on the first floor that I am really enjoying. It's called "What Big Eyes You Have, Looking at the Wolf in Fairy Tales." I discovered it in mid-January, and took lots of pictures. It was scheduled to run through May, but has been extended through August 26. If you're local, and you love children's books and illustrations, or wolves in general, I recommend you go and see it!

I enjoyed looking at all of the pictures within the books, of course. But the thing that really caught my eye was a wall-size blow-up of an illustration of Little Red Riding Hood and her wolf. So on this visit, I decided that a picture of this special illustration needed to make it onto Blip. :-)

This is the description that accompanied this image: 
"The Grimms included stories that originated in the French tradition of tales first published by Charles Perrault in 1697. Here imagined by the Irish artist Harry Clarke, a stylish Red Riding Hood is stopped by a grey wolf with penetrating green eyes against a lush, magical forest." The book: The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault, illustrated by Harry Clarke, with an introduction by Thomas Bodkin. New York: Dodge Publishing Co., 1922.

So above you may see Little Red and her wolf. Specifically, what do I love about this image? I love the look on the wolf's face. :-) You just know that if he speaks, he'll have something pithy to say!

And I adore Little Red's cute red shoes (remind you of the Wicked Witch of the West?), stripey socks, and frilly bloomers. The perfect fringes of her red shawl, the patterns in her skirt. Little Red, what do you have in that picnic basket?

I think that's an umbrella Red is holding in her left hand; if the wolf misbehaves, perhaps she might give him a little whap with it. But for now, they are at peace, though it may be an uneasy peace. I do sense a general wariness between the two.

Do you see the details in the vegetation at the bottom, the sparkles in the near trees, the far trees lit like lamps by an unseen source of golden light? And what ever are those two tiny stick-dudes with clubs or spears doing in the far right? What the heck, stick-dudes?

You can see why I found so much to admire in this image, so here is their fairy tale, in all its glory. Once upon a time, there was a girl named Little Red Riding Hood. And once upon a time there was a wolf with green eyes. And they walked together in an enchanted woods. And it was all beautiful.

I would have used the famous song about Little Red Riding Hood for this Blip, but I already used that recently in my Pathway Into a Dream posting. In fact, you may find two versions of that song there. For this Blip, the soundtrack is Eddie Vedder's song The Wolf, from the Into the Wild soundtrack.