FAMILY PICTURES

by Carmen Lomas Garza ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 1990

Lomas Garza, a widely exhibited Chicano artist, chooses a primitive style for these visual reminiscences of her childhood in Kingsville, Texas, near the Mexican border. Backgrounds are stylized, perspectives flattened, figures rather wooden but carefully incorporated into the decorative ordering of her designs. These paintings vividly evoke the Mexican-American community, including several activities that will be unfamiliar to children in other regions (e.g., picking nopal cactus). A couple of scenes are earthy--Grandmother killing a chicken; Grandfather with a bloodstained apron and a newly skinned rabbit--but the dominant theme is the warm security of life in this extended Chicano family. Lomas Garza described the subjects of her paintings to Harriet Rohmer, who has adapted her comments as text; the parallel Spanish version given on each page is by Rosalma Zubizarreta. An authentic glimpse of Hispanic culture in the Southwest; a beautiful book distinguished by the clean, crisp style and bright, harmonious colors of its art.

Pub Date: July 1, 1990

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Children's Book Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1990

Categories: CHILDREN'S