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THE YELLOW HOUSE

Name: THE YELLOW HOUSE
Author: Susan Goldman Rubin
ISBN: 0-8109-4588-6

VINCENT VAN GOGH AND PAUL GAUGUIN SIDE BY SIDE

by Susan Goldman Rubin & illustrated by Jos. A. Smith ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 30, 2001

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Post-Impressionists Van Gogh and Gauguin were two prodigiously talented painters whose short-lived collaboration (less than three full months in the late fall of 1888) was both astonishingly productive and fraught with conflict. Each artist had a highly individual vision, a powerful personality, and vastly different aesthetics. Rubin (There Goes the Neighborhood, p. 871, etc.) and Smith (Circus Train, not reviewed, etc.) have collaborated on this informed and engaging survey that’s well-timed to complement a show on the unique “Studio of the South” at the Art Institute of Chicago this fall. Vincent moved to Arles in the spring of 1888 and set up his studio in a sun-yellow house. He wanted another painter to join him in Provence and asked his brother Theo to convince Paul Gauguin to come to Arles. They were an artistic odd couple. Vincent was messy and impulsive. He worked plein aire and favored a quick, direct method of painting. He loaded his brushes with paint—some right out of the tube. Gauguin favored preliminary studies and careful, slow, detailed rendering. He preferred to work and rework his canvases in the studio. Artistic and personality differences coupled with Van Gogh’s increasing mental instability doomed the partnership. That notwithstanding, both painters work was infused with new vitality and greater power. This well-conceived introduction includes nearly a dozen fascinating pairings by Van Gogh and Gauguin, paintings of the same or similar subjects: Madame Ginoux, portraits of their own rush-seated chairs, landscapes. Smith’s own well-crafted watercolor paintings add welcome harmony to the painters’ dissonant relationship and make the book into a comprehensible, enjoyable whole. (author’s note, artist’s note, bibliography, art credits, brief biographies) (Nonfiction. 8-11)

Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2001

ISBN: 0-8109-4588-6

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Abrams

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001

Categories:

CHILDREN'S BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WOMEN WHO BUILT HOLLYWOOD
by Susan Goldman Rubin

- BOOK REVIEW
MARY SEACOLE
by Susan Goldman Rubin ; illustrated by Richie Pope

- BOOK REVIEW
SING AND SHOUT
by Susan Goldman Rubin

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ROBERT FULTON

FROM SUBMARINE TO STEAMBOAT

by Steven Kroll ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 15, 1999

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From Kroll (Lewis and Clark, 1994, etc.), a handsomely illustrated biography that introduces a fascinating historical figure and will make readers yearn for more information. The facts are covered, including Fulton’s stints as sign painter, air-gun inventor, and apprentice jeweler; Kroll states clearly which details cannot be pinned down, and the probable order of events and incidents. The text is informative and lively, although in places the transitions are abrupt, e.g., one of the only references to Fulton’s personal life—“Meanwhile, on January 7, 1808, Fulton had married Harriet Livingston. She bore him four children”—quickly reverts to details on the building of boats. Warm gold-toned paintings convey a sense of times past and complement the text. Especially appealing are the depictions of the steamships. A welcome volume. (chronology) (Picture book/biography. 6-10)

Pub Date: March 15, 1999

ISBN: 0-8234-1433-7

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Holiday House

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1999

Categories:

CHILDREN'S BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE HAND-ME-DOWN DOLL
by Steven Kroll & illustrated by Dan Andreasen

- BOOK REVIEW
NINA IN THAT MAKES ME MAD
by Steven Kroll & illustrated by Hilary Knight

- BOOK REVIEW
SUPER-DRAGON
by Steven Kroll & illustrated by Douglas Holgate

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ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL

by Elizabeth MacLeod ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1999

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In what has, for no discernable reason, become a rush to publish biographies of Bell, this emerges as the least formal, most approachable of the pack. MacLeod (I Heard a Little Baa, 1998) takes the great inventor, familiarly dubbed “AGB,” from Edinburgh to Ontario, on to Boston, and finally to his estate in Nova Scotia, giving his public and private lives equal attention, capturing his vast range of interest from aeronautics to audiology, and bringing his familiar exploits to life. A stubby caricature of Bell guides readers through full but not overcrowded collages of family photos, manuscript pages, simple diagrams, period advertisements, and newspaper illustrations. This is just a glimpse of the man, of course, and those who want to take a longer look can start with either the web sites listed at the back, or move on to Tom L. Matthews’s Always Inventing (p. 69). (index) (Biography. 8-10)