Omslag til "Den ny Eventyrbog" 1847 - 1873

This is F. Hendriksen’s book cover for “The New Book of Fairy Tales.” Hendriksen was working at a time in the late 19th century when artists across Europe grappled with the social and spiritual shifts brought on by industrialization. Here, a weary giant is rendered with the fine lines of the printmaker's art. His rough hands and feet, shackled by chains, seem to emerge from the dark depths of the illustration. A winged figure hovers above and below the giant, offering a stark contrast to the giant’s earthbound plight. The tension between the ethereal and the corporeal suggests a deeper struggle: is it between the constraints of the material world and the boundless realm of imagination? Hendriksen offers us a vision of how stories can both confine and liberate us, hinting at the dual power of narratives to shape our perceptions and realities.