An irresistible introduction to the world of fine art for kids 5 and up.
Intrigued by an art print in her childhood bedroom, a young Dixon (I Love Being a Girl, 2014, etc.) spent hours wondering about the stories behind the pictures: “My curiosity was piqued, not only about the little girl that Renoir painted, but by the creative process.” Encouraging her young readers “to dream and to marvel and to appreciate not only the act of creativity but a new way of seeing the world,” Dixon presents 30 painters and engaging samples of their work. With artists arranged in birth order, the format—the artist’s biographical information and portrait with a short essay appear on a single page, followed by three paintings identified by title, date, size and current location—works well to present a range, from the old masters (da Vinci leads off, followed by Titian and Rembrandt) through modern artists (Munch, Modigliani and Klee) and with less familiar names along the way (Corot, Alman-Tadema, Czech artist Mucha). The high-quality illustrations are interesting and varied. Along with the anticipated Mona Lisa and Girl with a Pearl Earring are less commonly viewed gems, almost all celebrating the feminine, although the occasional boy or still life can be found. The art selections alone are noteworthy, but the essays bring the book to life; brief but intriguing, each offers personal detail, definition, and odd and humanizing details. For example, the rule breaker Courbet used big canvases for painting common lives, and Manet painted a few strokes on a Morisot work without her permission. Most of the essays pose straightforward questions or refer to other artists in the book and encourage readers to see the relationships among painters, paintings and audience. But there is nothing dry about this presentation—young readers are encouraged to wonder about and just plain enjoy the works. Minor discrepancies (a Gonzales piece is referred to as both Nanny and Baby and Nanny and Child) do not detract.
An engaging, interactive guide to museum-quality visual art.
Pub Date: May 19, 2014
ISBN: 978-1627320139
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Bellagio Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A sumptuous, nostalgic ode to a disappearing landscape
An oversized album compiled in response to the recent omission by the Oxford Junior Dictionary of many natural-science words, including several common European bird, plant, and animal species, in favor of more current technological terms.
In his introduction, Macfarlane laments this loss, announcing his intention to create “a spellbook for conjuring back these lost words.” Each lost word is afforded three double-page spreads. First, the letters of each lost word are sprinkled randomly among other letters and an impressionistic sketch in a visual puzzle. This is followed by an acrostic poem or riddle describing essential qualities of the object, accompanied by a close-up view. A two-page spread depicting the object in context follows. Morris’ strong, dynamic watercolors are a pleasure to look at, accurate in every detail, vibrant and full of life. The book is beautifully produced and executed, but anyone looking for definitions of the “lost words” will be disappointed. The acrostic poems are subjective, sophisticated impressions of the birds and animals depicted, redolent with alliteration and wordplay, perhaps more appropriate for creative writing prompts than for science exploration. This book is firmly rooted in the English countryside, celebrating such words as “conker,” “bramble,” and “starling” (invasive in North America), but many will cross over for North American readers. A free “Explorer’s Guide” is available online.
A sumptuous, nostalgic ode to a disappearing landscape . (Picture book/poetry. 10-adult)Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4870-0538-2
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Anansi Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
A zesty, energetic history, not only of a building, but of more than a century of American culture.
A revealing biography of the fabled Manhattan hotel, in which generations of artists and writers found a haven.
Turn-of-the century New York did not lack either hotels or apartment buildings, writes Tippins (February House: The Story of W. H. Auden, Carson McCullers, Jane and Paul Bowles, Benjamin Britten, and Gypsy Rose Lee, Under One Roof In Wartime America, 2005). But the Chelsea Hotel, from its very inception, was different. Architect Philip Hubert intended the elegantly designed Chelsea Association Building to reflect the utopian ideals of Charles Fourier, offering every amenity conducive to cooperative living: public spaces and gardens, a dining room, artists’ studios, and 80 apartments suitable for an economically diverse population of single workers, young couples, small families and wealthy residents who otherwise might choose to live in a private brownstone. Hubert especially wanted to attract creative types and made sure the building’s walls were extra thick so that each apartment was quiet enough for concentration. William Dean Howells, Edgar Lee Masters and artist John Sloan were early residents. Their friends (Mark Twain, for one) greeted one another in eight-foot-wide hallways intended for conversations. In its early years, the Chelsea quickly became legendary. By the 1930s, though, financial straits resulted in a “down-at-heel, bohemian atmosphere.” Later, with hard-drinking residents like Dylan Thomas and Brendan Behan, the ambience could be raucous. Arthur Miller scorned his free-wheeling, drug-taking, boozy neighbors, admitting, though, that the “great advantage” to living there “was that no one gave a damn what anyone else chose to do sexually.” No one passed judgment on creativity, either. But the art was not what made the Chelsea famous; its residents did. Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, Andy Warhol, Janis Joplin, Leonard Cohen, Robert Mapplethorpe, Phil Ochs and Sid Vicious are only a few of the figures populating this entertaining book.
A zesty, energetic history, not only of a building, but of more than a century of American culture.Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-618-72634-9
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2013
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