A Few Children's Books on Famous Artists

Three series of books have provided us with much information about famous artists and their art, and hours of exploration, in a fun and easy-to-read way:

Getting To Know The World's Greatest Artists series of books by Mike Venezia

Anholt's Artists set of books by Laurence Anholt that offer stories about famous artists

Come Look With Me series of interactive art books from Lickle Publishing

We've been reading these set of books for the last several months, just one at a time, spread out enough as we intersperse it with other picture books and chapter books.

I am taking a very casual approach, mostly to educate myself, and, in the process, spark some interest in Ana (and Og). No rush. We try to make it fun by doing an art project in the style of the artist. There are wonderful online resource that help with such art projects for kids.

Art world is indeed strange and I cannot hope to understand it all. But, I've always wondered about the term "world famous" - how come only some get to be known all over the world? Why isn't Raja Ravi Varma more widely recognized outside of India? Is he still considered 'world  famous'? His oil paintings are certainly gorgeous and he was quite an influential artist of his time.

The very first artist we 'studied' was Georgia O'Keeffe. And, Ana made a hand-written biography book about Georgia.

Picasso (Getting to know the world's greatest artists)
by Mike Venezia

I like Mike Venezia's books. They are direct in offering facts but not in a tedious way. They showcase the artist's famous painting with an anecdote or back-story about that painting. This alone might not have held the 6 yo's attention for long, but, the funny cartoonish interludes certainly do.

When describing Picasso's Blue Period, the cartoon shows people looking at a blue painting exclaiming, "Why is the guitar blue? Guitars aren't usually blue!", "Why is he blue? People aren't blue!" and so on, along with, "It's wonderful! no one has ever painted like this!", "It's the work of a genius", and "It's the work of a nut".

The text explains, "Some people thought Picasso's blue paintings were great. Others (including Picasso's father) thought they were just too strange. This meant his paintings were controversial."

With a page like that, it is easy for the young reader to remember something about Picasso's Blue Period.

Venezia's books are a quick read, can be done in installments or in one go. And, can be re-read any number of times if handy on the bookshelf, thus sealing the knowledge.

Other Getting to know the World's Greatest Artists books by Venezia we've enjoyed so far:

Georges Seurat , Van Gogh, Georgia O'Keeffe, Paul Klee, Matisse.

Mike Venezia also has written a few other Getting To Know... series of books - Great Composers, U.S. Presidents, Scientists & Inventors.

[Getting to know Mike Venezia]

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Anholt's Artists are in picture book format with gorgeous illustrations and gentle narration. Each book is developed around a real event in the artist's life, wherein the artist is not necessarily the central character. Notes at the back of the book explain the context of the book.

For example in Cezanne and the Apple Boy, the story is about the artist Paul Cezanne's namesake son (who later became a successful art dealer) and we learn that the story takes place in 1886, when young Paul visited his artist father in Gardanne near Aix-en-Provence.

Each of the books we've read in this series so far offers a simple episodic story involving the artist, with art work in the style of the artist we are reading about: The Magical Garden of Claude Monet, Cezanne and the Apple Boy, Picasso and the girl with the Ponytail.

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Come Look With Me series of books present a full page copy of the art work on the left side, with the typical artist, title, medium, and such information. And on the right, it asks a few pointed questions that pertain to the picture, compelling us to take a closer look at the art work in order to answer the questions.

For example, in Come Look With Me: World of Play by Gladys S. Blizzard, as we look at Winslow Homer's Snap the Whip, we are asked, Which boy seems to be the leader? How did the artist show you that? What season does this painting show? What clues let you know that? and a few more. And below the questions, a few paragraphs about the artist and this particular piece helps us appreciate the work better.

In Come Look With Me: Latin American Art by Kimberley Lane, we look at Xul Solar's Drago and try to figure out What is happening in this scene? What kind of creature do you see in the painting? How many of the flags in the picture do you recognize?  Why are the sun and the moon out at the same time?

As readers, we don't always have to know the 'right' answer, and sometimes, there isn't a single right answer. It is all about what you see in the picture, what speaks to you, what stands out and gets your attention.

In Come Look With Me: American Indian Art by Stephanie Salomon, we see a pair of Hopi Kachina Dolls made of painted wood, cloth, feathers, string and yarn. Have you ever received a doll or figure as a gift? Talk about a toy or doll or figure that is special to you... And we learn that Kachina dancers would give Hopi children these dolls as blessings for a happy life.

Of the few that I've read with Ana, she seems to choose the same pictures to go back and stare at on her own, completely ignoring some others. Oggie flips through them until something engages him and asks me to read it to him.

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I am learning a lot in the process. I do not have any formal art education - a science major throughout - and no real sense of what constitutes art and why until well into adulthood. Art nurtures the soul, simply put, and hence the attraction to it and the drive to explore it with the kids.

I still remember the first time I read When Pigasso Met Mootisse by Nina Laden to Ana a few years ago. And having recently read it to Og for the first time a few weeks ago, I am fascinated to see the different ways in which the two kids have received this book, and notice what appealed to them and amused them. And, judging by how often Og has picked it out of the bookshelf at home to read at bedtime in the past few weeks, it looks like the book has made a favorable impression on him.

There is something magical about books. And there are many wonderful books out there to satisfy the curious mind. I hope I get to sample as many as I can with the children, learn in the process, and hopefully savor the experience.

[image sources:  http://www.mikevenezia.com, http://www.anholt.co.uk/, goodreads.com, paperbackswap.com, openlibrary.org]

Picasso Cats and A Parchment of Code

Gooney Bird and Ms. Lowry did manage to teach me something, didn't they: Think up an intriguing title for an absolutely true story.

Well, that's how far the learning went. The story itself isn't anywhere as fancy.

The vigorous scratching sounds - as of a pencil on paper - was incessantly hitting my ears. Tuning out the familiar sound, I went about my business of making the night's meal reassured by the fact that Og was building his toboggan in the nook where I can keep an eye on the proceedings.

"Dinner's ready", I called out aloud, hoping to save a few steps to each room in order to rope them all in one by one.

"Not yet, Mama, I am still working. Maybe in five minutes?", Ana responded.

Saving the mostly-done toboggan for later, Og enthusiastically shouted, "I'm coming!" and set out the place-mats and went over to bring Papa to the table.

A few minutes later, Ana was standing next to me holding up a parchment-looking thing and a white piece of paper.

A cursory look showed the white paper as having some cat drawings on it; the parchment-looking thing turned out to be a piece of paper with torn edges (and a few cuts), colored golden yellow with a golden yellow color pencil (the vigorous scratchings made a connection now), with some sort of symbols on it like hieroglyphs.

"Tell me about it, Ana", I asked automatically while dishing up the food.

"See, Mama? This code is from the Jewel Fish of Karnak. I wanted the paper to look old, just like in the book, but it doesn't look as old. How can I make it look really old, Mama?"

"Hmmm... I usually apply some used coffee grounds to get a sort of burnt edge and maybe stain with some tea or coffee... do you want me to help you with that?"

"Maybe later. And I want to do it myself. Look at the code, Mama! I made it easy for you to read. Read it, read it!"

And I did.

"My mom died when I was born" ?!

No idea as to who wanted this message encoded in the first place, and am hoping optimistically that it isn't her subconscious spilling its (or is it my?) guts out.


"Oh, and, these are just Picasso cats, Mama, they are not supposed to be cute, but they think they are."

There you have it! Two unrelated things, connected only by the wildest stretch of the imagination.

Getting to Know Georgia O'Keeffe

The name Georgia O'Keeffe is probably not unfamiliar to many today. Her large arresting flowers in bold colors and immaculate detail is what my mind has come to associate with the name, along with a few now-famous bones.

For the kindergartner in residence, I thought it would be educational and fun to gather a few related books on a chosen topic and read them one after another (interspersed with other books, over a couple of weeks) to make it a sort of study without any pressure or expectation.

And to keep things interesting, I don't tell her the topic in advance. I borrow the books from the library, wait till the short-listed few on a topic are handy, then release them one at a time for Ana to read.

It is a joy to see her connect the related books and point out similarities among them and extract a few essential things from each to form a comprehensive picture.

There are no doubt many wonderful books on any given topic and knowing which ones to choose for the study is not easy. But I don't sweat over it. This is not an end-of-term research paper. This is more to introduce the fact that many books can present the same person/place/thing/animal and yet have an array of information to offer. And, also to reinforce the fact that different books on the same subject do in fact have some common core information.

One such recent study was artist Georgia O'Keeffe.

My Name Is Georgia: A Portrait by Jeanette Winter
by Jeanette Winter

We started with My Name is Georgia. The title was arresting enough and caught Ana's attention.

The book has bold illustrations and simple text. It presents Georgia's life in a condensed and compact way, highlighting her birth, childhood and later years.

But, unlike typical biographies, by selectively quoting Georgia's words directly, the book turns into a first person narration letting us see how the artist saw things. There is an indication of time passing and Georgia growing.

She painted small things large so people would notice them. This stuck in our head. The book might not be quite engaging in and of its own for the typical picture book audience but it certainly started us off on a good path.

Georgia's Bones
by Jen Bryant
illustrated by Bethanne Anderson

Then, a few days later, she noticed Georgia's Bones strategically placed on her car seat on the ride from school. As she read it, she pointed out, "These are the same bones from that other book, Mama! Is she the same Georgia? She looks different in this book..." Sure enough, this opened up a new door for us to talk about.

The illustrations are beautiful in this book. The double-page with the huge Ram's Head caught Ana's attention.

Text is simple enough for elementary level, combining quotations and third person narration, but is packed with poetry. Talking about Georgia's fascination for bones that she collects from the desert

She didn't know why they pleased her so.
Perhaps it was the quiet way they did their work - the years of being invisible, and then, when everything fell away, they appeared, pure and beautiful.

The book again reinforced a handful of facts about the artist's life. It also brings out the artist's attraction to natural and everyday objects in which she found shapes, and she viewed them in unusual ways.

In the woods around her father's Wisconsin farm, she collected shapes: flowers, leaves, sticks and stones. She put them in her pocket and took them home.
"Such common objects," said her brother.
"Why do you bother?" asked her sister.
"Because they please me," Georgia replied.

However, it also showed how Georgia looked at things differently.

The holes in the bones pleased Georgia, too.
They made frames and windows through which she glimpsed a piece of the sky,
or a tiny corner of a mountain.

The book ends with Georgia painting the bones in her New York City studio.

Through Georgia's Eyes
by Rachel Victoria Rodriguez
illustrated by Julie Paschkis
Then came Through Georgia's Eyes, which sneaked into the stack of few books Ana had chosen to read at bedtime one night.

Again, she wondered why Georgia looked different in the pictures in this book, compared to the other two. She noticed that the book talks about the same yearning Georgia has for the wide open spaces, the same night sky she sees over open desert, the same determination at 12 when she declares 'I want to be an artist', and the attraction for common objects around her.

Season melts into season on her family farm. Georgia struggles to show on paper what she sees. At twelve she takes painting lessons. She tells her friend, "I am going to be an artist."

This book is in third person narration. The illustrations are beautiful. Ana particularly liked the double-page spread that shows people flitting like butterflies over gigantic flowers that Georgia paints.

Flowers delight her. She paints them as giants. People stop to stare. Georgia's flowers make them feel like tiny butterflies, flitting through the universe of her garden.

The book closes with an invitation to the readers.

Open your eyes...
...and walk along.
See the colors? Hear the shapes singing?
No need to hurry.
Lean in... look closer.

Presenting a biography, knowing which aspects of the illustrious life to showcase, and to do it in a short picture book format sounds like a Herculean task. But the three biographies above (regardless of how accurate they are historically) gave us a good picture of the artist, the person.


Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

Highlights From The Collection
by Barbara Buhler Lynes

To seal it, we looked at the reprints in Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, Highlights From The Collection at the Santa Fe Museum.


Finally, inspired by all that we've read, we did an art project.

Bones, or Landscape, or Flowers? Which one shall we choose?

We settled on flowers.

I found an old photograph of the Bleeding Hearts in our garden. I created a small frame to focus on just the details of one flower.

And we sat down side by side. Studied the shapes, light, colors within the small frame. Then, Ana tried her hand at representing what she saw using shapes and color pencils.

[Disclaimer: I am not an artist. I don't even pretend to be one. I am fascinated by artists and creative souls in general. And, I do a lot of art exploration projects with my kids in the hope of educating not just my kids, but myself as well.]

[image sources: goodreads.com, author Jen Bryant's website, author Rachel Rodriguez website, amazon.com, wikipedia]