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
paper 1-57505-370-5 In this valuable addition to the On My Own Biography series of easy readers, Lowery (Georgia O’Keeffe, 1996, etc.) renders an intriguing and lucid portrait of the man often referred to as the most celebrated artist of the 20th century. The book begins with young Picasso puzzling over math equations. Finding math difficult, he came up with an inventive alternative, swirling and bending numbers on the page until they became fanciful creations. As a boy, Picasso was often sent to a “cell” as punishment for his lack of academic focus, but there he found the long hours nothing but pleasant, doing just what he loved best, “drawing, drawing, drawing.” This book takes readers on a journey through the highlights of Picasso’s life, visiting his Blue Period, his Rose Period and lingering over cubism. Lowery also makes clear Picasso’s mercurial and tempestuous nature, describing his swings from flamboyant rage to ecstatic joy. She aptly demonstrates how Picasso’s art became an expression of his character and his character an extension of his art. In pleasing textures of oil on canvas and warm hues, Porter’s accompanying illustrations quite nicely echo the art of its subject. (photos, chronology) (Biography. 8-11)
Pub Date: Nov. 30, 1999
ISBN: 1-57505-331-4
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Carolrhoda
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
With but a light sprinkling of names and dates, Myers condenses his Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary (1993) to picture- book length. Myers takes readers through his subject’s childhood and turbulent career, pausing for significant episodes (such as a white teacher’s suggestion that he’d be better off studying carpentry than law), supplying samples of his vivid rhetoric, and tracing his movement toward visions of a more inclusive, less violent revolution. Placing realistic portraits of X and other icons of the civil rights movement against swirling backdrops of faces and street scenes, Jenkins captures a sense of tumultuous times. What emerges most clearly is a portrait of a complex, compelling spokesman who was growing and changing up to the moment he was cut down. (Picture book/biography. 6-8)
Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2000
ISBN: 0-06-027707-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1999
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