Fairytales

FairytalesX5 is an exhibition of paintings by Janet Goodchild-Cuffley. It follows her successful Women of History - Portrayals, shown during 1998, and continues the artist's passionate and intelligent engagement with historical narrative.

Taking five archetypal fairy tales - Cinderella, Beauty & the Beast, The Yellow Dwarf, The Fairy and The Little Mermaid, Goodchild-Cuffley creates images that recall the colour plates of books of fairy tales remembered from her childhood.

"I give you for gift"
Oil, 90 x 122 cm
$3000

from The Fairy, 1695,
by Charles Perrault
...a story of thwarted maternal affection

"These Insults to Fairys shall not be allow'd"
Oil, 90 x 122 cm
SOLD

from The Yellow Dwarf, 1699,
by Catherine D'Alnoy
...the exception to happily ever after

"I know well enough what you're after"
Oil, 90 x 122 cm
$3000

from The Little Mermaid, 1837,
by Hans Christian Andersen
...a story of wanting what cannot be had

"...still retain your reason"
Oil, 90 x 122 cm
$3000

from Beauty and the Beast, 1756,
by Madame Leprince de Beaumont
...a story of sisterly deception

"...a cloak of stuff spun from Kingfisher feathers"
Oil, 90 x 122 cm
SOLD

from Ye Xian, c. 800 CE,
by Li Shih-Yuan
...the Chinese origins of Cinderella

Click on the thumbnails to view the paintings.