Lacombe's Brushes Transform Madame Butterfly Into A Fairy Tale

One of my favorite contemporary fairy tale illustrators is the prolific French artist Benjamin Lacombe, one of the reasons being that in his artistic hands, almost every subject becomes imbued with the essence of fairy tale.

A few years back he created a(nother) visually stunning book based on the story of Madame Butterfly. While this story, best known via its operatic form, is not a fairy tale, through his eyes, the main character took on other worldly aspects and the illustrations were richly filled with fairy tale motifs.

The book has recently been re-published with some new, additional art and an entirely new - and very magical - presentation. Though the tragedy of her story remains intact, the motifs of butterflies - and all they represent - suggest new ways to consider her story.

Butterflies as symbols of soul, silence, rebirth, beauty, fragility and breath are woven throughout the book, making the images tell a story all their own.

The best way to show you the uniqueness of this edition, however, is in the trailer just released a week and a half ago. Take a look:

What you may have seen a glimpse of in the trailer, is the fact that the book unfolds into a gorgeous fresco. That is, an incredible 10 meter long fresco!

The special - and limited - edition was published in France by Albin Michel. To date, I haven't seen any indication that an English version will be created and made available. (What a great excuse to brush up on my French!)

Sigh. One day I will own a Lacombe fairy tale of my very own.

And if I'm REALLY lucky he will sign it for me...

You can see more of Benjamin Lacombe's beautiful art from this book and many others on his Facebook page HERE, on his blog HERE and at his official website HERE.