House of Baba Yaga II

Tapestry with back glass picture, 1972

Technique: Bildteppich
Size: 34 x 32

CID: 212261
Collection: Dethleffs/Riedle

Frame Glass RS signed-dated-titled

The Movable House of Baba Jaga

In 1967, Arist Dethleffs and his wife and daughter had planned their 9,000 km trip in the Globetrotter caravan through the USSR. The three met on their travel preparations on a Russian-Georgian fairy tale: it was about the fairytale fairy Baba Yaga.

She had built a house in the jungle. In addition to many good and bad stories, she was known for finding the right path even in the jungle. So she was the Russian-Georgian patron saint for the difficult expedition of Dethleffs.

But the story would not have been a fairy tale if he had missed the punch line to the caravan pioneers: Because: the little house of Baba Jaga was movable like a caravan.

However, the storytellers many centuries ago knew neither the engine of the car nor car tires. The house of Baba Jaga had to move itself: it did not drive. It was not a self-propelled motorhome.

It still moved by itself - on "chicken legs". That sounds quirky to Dethleffs. But why should not the Russian fairy tale have been credible many hundred years ago?

The enigmatic pointe of the fairy tale was taken up by Ursula Dethleffs: she had painted fabulous back glass paintings since 1941. She combined her structures with the elements of her tapestries: under the title "House of Baba Jaga", three powerful, independent works of art were created in 1972.

VMS no. 212021: The house of Baba Jaga I

VMS no. 212260: The house of Baba Jaga II - exhibited in Stuttgart and Metzingen

VMS no. 212261: The House of Baba Jaga III

Publisher: Bernd Riedle August 2018