Query about Swans/Shells

[Kristi Groberg]

Dear Colleagues:

I am working on an article on women from folklore and a few symbolic 
shells in the ouevre of Mikhail Vrubel'.  The women are mostly 
paintings of his wife, who sang the roles of Volkhova in 
Rimsky-Korsakov's "Sadko" and Tsarevna Lebed in his "Tale of Tsar 
Saltan," but also images of rusalki and naiads.  The shells are 
drawings, watercolors, preliminary cartoons and watercolors for 
majolica plates on the theme "Sadko," the plates themselves, some 
other paintings that are experiments in capturing irridescence, and 
one shell in particular appears in one of his Vrubel's late 
Self-Portraits.  I can relate all of these images to Russkii stil and 
the recovery of folkloric themes, symbols, and patterns in that 
period.  However, aside from the very basics I am more familiar with 
Decadent & Symbolist art than I am with symbols from folklore.

To get to my point, I would be most grateful for direction about 
women who turn into swans, female water creatures with transformative 
powers, underwater princesses,
and shells (seashells, not walnut shells) in Slavic folklore.  I've 
gathered quite a bit of information over the years, but I know that 
there are a lot of folklorists on this list.  Any information or 
points of view will be helpful.  I will, of course, honor the sources 
and acknowledge you in my published work.

Kris Groberg, Ph.D.
324D Division of Fine Arts
NDSU Downtown Campus
650 Northern Pacific Avenue
Fargo, ND  58102
701.231.8359
kristi.groberg at ndsu.edu
http://www.ndsu.edu/finearts/visual_arts/faculty/groberg/shtml



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