Fragile Beasts Coloring Book (COOPER HEWITT)

Discover hidden monsters, serpents and other beasts in this coloring book based on historical prints

Discover hidden monsters and awaken serpents, chimeras, dragons and gargoyles in this coloring book inspired by grotesque ornament prints from the 16th and 17th centuries. Animals become alternately ferocious or docile 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 murals inspired Renaissance artists and designers, who disseminated their grotesque motifs through drawings, prints and patterns in architecture, metalwork, textiles and ceramics. Suddenly, fantastical creatures began to appear in sinuous designs for locks, ewers, rings, tapestries, stained glass and more. Alternately fearsome and playful, graceful and rigid, these 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. Now, never before published in this form, they are redrawn by designer Magali An Berthon in the pages of a coloring book.