So-Called Black Fairy Tales

Ester Krumbachová took fairy tales that were standard for whole generations and radically rewrote and updated them into so-called “black fairy tales”. By alternating between unusually frequent magic and prosaic situations, she disrupted the distinction between the real and the magical. In the quick jump from fairy tale to reality, everyday life ends up seeming more magical than magic itself. In Krumbachová’s fairy tales, everything seems possible; they are commanded by a pervasive transformative force; stories play out so quickly that they are close to collapsing right from the start; and characters fluidly step into different identities and step out of them once more. Everything takes place in a world that is also metamorphic. The idea of changing identities even resonated in Ester Krumbachová’s clothing. Her style was quite eccentric for her time and place, and she was open to wild combinations that left their mark on both her texts and her costume designs for film and theater.