A compact, intelligent, and enthusiastic survey, with gaps.
Western art history becomes a joyful journey in this information-packed comic.
This second volume of History of Western Art in Comicsbegins where the first left off and follows the development of artistic movements in the context of social and cultural shifts through the late 20th century. Readers meet up again with the knowledgeable grandfather driving his grandchildren across Europe as they embark on a deep dive into the Renaissance, the Baroque period, and the Enlightenment, then tour the seminal works and artists of impressionism, expressionism, cubism, Dadaism, and more. The book begins with a helpful review of key questions and themes and is punctuated by snippets of interesting facts and funny asides to break up the often dense material. Readers are also introduced to artistic terminology—such as tenebrismor gestural painting—in the context of individual, influential pieces. Occasional large panels focus on specific, seminal moments and works, such as the Mona Lisa, the vault at the Sistine Chapel, and the Palace of Versailles, to name a few. Periodic reviews of the overall timeline let readers catch their breath and consider context. These story anchors are key for young readers. The book concludes with a visual glossary of important works, all by White, male Europeans, who also make up most of the book’s characters, both fictional and historical, though White, male Americans join the mix in the 20th century. Louise Bourgeois and Jean-Michel Basquiat are the sole exceptions.
A compact, intelligent, and enthusiastic survey, with gaps. (index) (Graphic nonfiction. 10-12)Pub Date: Nov. 30, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4647-6
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
An introduction to ancient Egypt and the Pharaohs buried in the Valley of the Kings. The authors begin with how archaeologist Howard Carter found the tomb of King Tut, then move back 3,000 years to the time of Thutmosis I, who built the first tomb in the Valley of the Kings. Finally they describe the building of the tomb of a later Pharaoh, Ramses II. The backward-forward narration is not always easy to follow, and the authors attribute emotions to the Pharaohs without citation. For example, “Thutmosis III was furious [with Hatshepsut]. He was especially annoyed that she planned to be buried in KV 20, the tomb of her father.” Since both these people lived 3,500 years ago, speculation on who was furious or annoyed should be used with extreme caution. And the tangled intrigue of Egyptian royalty is not easily sorted out in so brief a work. Throughout, though, there are spectacular photographs of ancient Egyptian artifacts, monuments, tomb paintings, jewels, and death masks that will appeal to young viewers. The photographs of the exposed mummies of Ramses II, King Tut, and Seti I are compelling. More useful for the hauntingly beautiful photos than the text. (brief bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-7922-7223-4
Page Count: 64
Publisher: National Geographic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Bial (A Handful of Dirt, p. 299, etc.) conjures up ghostly images of the Wild West with atmospheric photos of weathered clapboard and a tally of evocative names: Tombstone, Deadwood, Goldfield, Progress, Calamity Jane, Wild Bill Hickock, the OK Corral. Tracing the life cycle of the estimated 30,000 ghost towns (nearly 1300 in Utah alone), he captures some echo of their bustling, rough-and-tumble past with passages from contemporary observers like Mark Twain: “If a man wanted a fight on his hands without any annoying delay, all he had to do was appear in public in a white shirt or stove-pipe hat, and he would be accommodated.” Among shots of run-down mining works, dusty, deserted streets, and dark eaves silhouetted against evening skies, Bial intersperses 19th-century photos and prints for contrast, plus an occasional portrait of a grizzled modern resident. He suggests another sort of resident too: “At night that plaintive hoo-hoo may be an owl nesting in a nearby saguaro cactus—or the moaning of a restless ghost up in the graveyard.” Children seeking a sense of this partly mythic time and place in American history, or just a delicious shiver, will linger over his tribute. (bibliography) (Nonfiction. 9-11)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-618-06557-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2001
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