Why The Bear Has No Tail: And other Russian Fairy-Tales, Retold and Illustrated by Elena Polenova

In the 1880s, the artist, designer and illustrator Elena Polenova (1850-98) began illustrating her native Russian fairy tales. She worked from the recently published tales of Aleksandr Afanasev, as well as local variations that she noted down during her travels around Russian villages. In the mid-1890s, Polenova became acquainted with an English art journalist called Netta Peacock, who agreed to translate several of the tales into English. The original illustrations which Polenova created for the English edition—which was never published—and the accompanying translation are in a private collection that has only recently come to light. This publication, supported by the Polenovo Museum Reserve in Tula, Russia, draws on this hitherto untold chapter in Polenova’s life, combining the creative talents of the Russian artist and English journalist.