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Lives of Artists: Masterpieces, Messes (and What the Neighbors Thought)
By Kathleen Krull, Illustrated by Kathryn Hewitt
Most people can name some famous artists and recognize their best-known works. But what’s behind all the painting, drawing, and sculpting? What was Leonardo da Vinci’s snack of choice while he painted Mona Lisa’s mysterious smile? Why did Georgia O’Keeffe find bones so appealing? Who called Diego Rivera “Frog-Face”? And what is it about artists that makes both their work and their lives so fascinating?
The Iridescence of Birds: A Book About Henri Matisse
By Patricia MacLachlan, Illustrated by Hadley Hooper
If you were a boy named Henri Matisse who lived in a dreary town in northern France, what would your life be like? Would it be full of color and art? Full of lines and dancing figures? Find out in this beautiful, unusual picture book about one of the world’s most famous and influential artists.
The Fantastic Jungle of Henri Rousseau
By Michelle Markel, Illustrated by Amanda Hall
Henri Rousseau wanted to be an artist. But he had no formal training. Instead, he taught himself to paint. He painted until the jungles and animals and distant lands in his head came alive on his canvases. He endured the harsh critics of his day and created the brilliant paintings that now hang in museums around the world.
Matisse’s Garden
By Samantha Friedman, Illustrated by Christina Amodeo
One day, the French artist Henri Matisse cut a small bird out of a piece of paper. It looked lonely all by itself, so he cut out more shapes to join it. Before he knew it, Matisse had transformed his walls into larger-than-life gardens, filled with brightly colored plants, animals, and shapes of all sizes.
Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat
By Javaka Steptoe
Jean-Michel Basquiat and his unique, collage-style paintings rocketed to fame in the 1980s as a cultural phenomenon unlike anything the art world had ever seen. But before that, he was a little boy who saw art everywhere: in poetry books and museums, in games and in the words that we speak, and in the pulsing energy of New York City.
Women Artists A to Z
By Melanie LaBarge, Illustrated by Caroline Corrigan
How many women artists can you name? From Frida Kahlo and Georgia O’Keeffe, to Jaune Quick-to-See Smith and Xenobia Bailey, this illustrated alphabet picture book presents both famous and underrepresented women in the fine arts from a variety of genres: painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, and more.
Each spread features a simple line of text encapsulating the creator’s iconic work in one word, such as “D is for Dots” (Yayoi Kusama) and “S is for Spider” (Louise Bourgeois), followed by slightly longer text about the artist for older readers who would like to know more. Backmatter includes extended biographies and discussion questions for budding creatives and trailblazers.
My Name is Georgia
A Portrait by Jeanette Winter
From the time she was just a young girl, Georgia O’Keeffe viewed the world in her own way. While other girls played with toys and braided their hair, Georgia practiced her drawing and let her hair fly free. As an adult, Georgia followed her love of art from the steel canyons of New York City to the vast plains of New Mexico. There she painted all day, and slept beneath the stars at night. Throughout her life Georgia O’Keeffe followed her dreams and so found her way to become a great American artist.
The Artist Who Loved Cats: The Inspiring Tale of Theophile-Alexandre Steinlen
By Susan Schaefer Bernardo, Illustrated by Courtney Fletcher
This story opens in modern-day France, when a little girl named Antoinette notices a little bronze cat in the window of her favorite antique store, and begs the shopkeeper Monsieur Arvieux and his clever cat Noir to tell her all about the artist. She learns that Steinlen moved to Paris in 1881 to pursue his artistic dreams, ultimately creating not just the Chat Noir posters but also more than 700 journal illustrations, famous posters, sculptures, cartoon strips and paintings, and even used his art to make the world a better place. Many of Steinlen’s artworks feature cats, his favorite subject.
Rembrandt and the Boy Who Drew Dogs: A Story About Rembrandt van Rijn
By Molly Blaisdell and Nancy Lane
Author Molly Blaisdell transports young readers to the city of Amsterdam in the 1650s. It is a time when world-renowned artist Rembrandt van Rijn is at the height of fame among his patrons — and when his young son Titus longs to imitate him father and become a great painter. At first, Rembrandt rebuffs Titus’s attempts at drawing, but gradually is won over by his son’s enthusiasm and persistence, and he begins to teach Titus the basic techniques of drawing from life.
A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin
By Jen Bryant, Illustrated by Melissa Sweet
As a child in the late 1800s, Horace Pippin loved to draw. He drew pictures for his sisters, his classmates, his co-workers. Even during WWI, Horace filled his notebooks with drawings from the trenches…until he was shot. Upon his return home, Horace couldn’t lift his right arm. He couldn’t make any art. Slowly, with lots of practice, he regained use of his arm, until once again, he was able to paint, and paint, and paint. Before long, his paintings were displayed in galleries and museums across the country.
Sparky & Spike: Charles Schulz and the Wildest, Smartest Dog Ever
By Barbara Lowell, Illustrated by Dan Andreasen
The true story of young Charles Schulz, the creator of Peanuts, and his dog Spike the inspiration for Snoopy. A Junior Library Guild Selection. Doggone fun! — Booklist Starred Review
Who Was Frieda Kahlo?
By Sarah Fabiny, Illustrated by Jerry Hoare
You can always recognize a painting by Frieda Kahlo because she is in nearly all — with her black braided hair and colorful Mexican outfits. A brave woman who was an invalid most of her life, she transformed herself into a living work of art. As famous for her self-portraits and haunting imagery as she was for her marriage to another famous artist, Diego Rivera, this strong and courageous painter was inspired by the ancient culture and history of her beloved homeland, Mexico.
The Noisy Paint Box
By Barb Rosenstock, Illustrated by Mary GrandPre
Vasya Kandinsky was a proper little boy: he studied math and history, he practiced the piano, he sat up straight and was perfectly polite. And when his family sent him to art classes, they expected him to paint pretty houses and flowers — like a proper artist.
But as Vasya opened his paint box and began mixing the reds, the yellows, the blues, he heard a strange sound — the swirling colors trilled like an orchestra tuning up for a symphony. And as he grew older, Vasya continued to hear brilliant colors singing and to see sounds dancing. But was Vasya brave enough to put aside his proper still lifes and portraits and paint…music?
Just Behave, Pablo Picasso
By Jonah Winter, Pictures by Kevin Hawkes
“One day the world is peaceful, lovely landscape painting…The next day — BLAM! — Pablo bursts through the canvas, paintbrush in hand, ready to paint something fresh and new.”
Pablo Picasso may have been one of the most famous artists of the 20th century, but that doesn’t mean he painted what people wanted him to paint. Some people hated his paintings and called them ugly and terrible. But Picasso didn’t listen to all those people. He kept on working the way he wanted to, until he created something new, so different, that people didn’t know what to say.
Action Jackson
By Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan, Illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker
One late spring morning the American artist Jackson Pollock began work on the canvas that would ultimately come to be known as Number 1. The authors use this moment as the departure point for a picture book about a great painter and the way in which he worked.
The book descriptions used are primarily from the publishers.
If you like this post, then please consider sharing it and leaving a comment below. Thank you! Barbara Lowell, Children’s Author