Discover hidden monsters and transform serpents, chimeras, dragons and gargoyles into otherworldly beings in this coloring book inspired by grotesque ornament prints from the 16th and 17th centuries. Animals become alternately fearsome or playful as you color in these delicate designs from the imaginative minds of artists working in the Age of Exploration.
The late-15th-century discovery of ancient Roman ruins was deeply influential to artists and designers, who disseminated their grotesque motifs, through drawings, prints and patterns in architecture, metalwork, textiles and ceramics. Suddenly, creatures, fearsome or playful, graceful or rigid, appeared in sinuous designs for locks, ewers, rings, tapestries, stained glass and more. These intimately scaled works, often measuring just a few inches, are at times erotically charged and at others moralizing.
In June 2016, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum mounts the exhibition "Fragile Beasts," highlighting rarely seen grotesque works on paper from the museum's permanent collection, as well as several books from the Smithsonian Design Library's rare book collection. Now, never before published in this form, they are redrawn by designer Magali An Berthon in the pages of a coloring book.