Sketch for the cartoon "Hedgehog in the fog" with an autograph by the artist Yuri Norstein

Sketch "Hedgehog and Horse in the fog" in 1999 for the animated film "Hedgehog in the fog". The artist is Francesca Yarbusova. Paper, offset lithography. The autograph is dated May 20, 2022.

Yuri Norstein is a Soviet and Russian director of animated films and an animation artist. He created most of the works while working at the Soyuzmultfilm studio. The author of such famous cartoons as "The Hedgehog in the Fog", "The Tale of Fairy Tales", "The Fox and the Hare" and many others.

Francesca Yarbusova is a Soviet and Russian production designer of animated films, the wife of director Yuri Norstein. Laureate of the USSR State Prize and the Prize of the President of the Russian Federation.

"Hedgehog in the Fog" is a Soviet animated film directed by Yuri Norstein in 1975 at the Soyuzmultfilm studio. The work is based on the fairy tale story of the same name by Sergei Kozlov, which was significantly revised during the writing of the script. The main character, like the whole film, was drawn by the cartoonist Francesca Yarbusova, the director's wife. The musical background was created by the composer Mikhail Meerovich. Actors Maria Vinogradova (Hedgehog), Vyacheslav Nevinny (Little Bear), Alexey Batalov (author's text behind the scenes) were involved in the dubbing.

The image of the Hedgehog was created the longest. Norstein recalled that the search for the image of the hero continued, even when the scenery had already been created and filming had begun. The director's main complaint was that the artist Francesca Yarbusova (the director of the cartoon and Norstein's wife) turned out "not hedgehogs, but hedgehogs." In order to achieve a childish manner of drawing, Francesca drew the hero with her left hand.

The researchers note that the style of the film was influenced by the cultural traditions of different countries and peoples (including theater and Oriental painting, works by Paul Klee, Andrei Rublev, Yuri Vasnetsov). The tape contains references to some works of cinema. The film won prizes at international film festivals in Tehran, Gijon, Chicago, Melbourne and others. In 1979, the creators of the film Norstein, Zhukovsky and Yarbusova became laureates of the USSR State Prize in Literature, Art and architecture "for animated films "The Fox and the Hare" (1973), "The Heron and the Crane" (1974), "Hedgehog in the Fog" (1975)". In 2003, at the International Animation Festival "Laputa" in Japan, according to a survey of 140 film critics and animators from different countries, "Hedgehog in the Fog" was recognized as the best cartoon of all time.