Grimm Stuff: Folktales and Fairy Stories

Grimm Tales is an exhibition exploring the work of folk tale and fairy story illustrators, from the late 19th century to the contemporary.

Early fairy stories were not written for children - their narratives were often violent or bawdy. However, since the 18th century, tales by Madame d'Aulnoy and Charles Perrault have been part of the childhood experience of generations of children and by the Victorian era the genre was primarily considered a children's entertainment.

This book-based exhibition, drawn from the Dorothy Neal White and National Children's Collections of the National Library of New Zealand, showcases the work of notable illustrators of fairy stories from the Victorian era to today.

The exhibition also explores some folk tales from around the world, and the 'flower fairy' phenomenon.

Grimm Stuff: folktales and fairy stories accompanies the exhibition Cautionary Tales: the satirical engravings of William Hogarth.

The exhibition opens at the National Library Gallery on Friday 8 August and continues until 8 November 2008.