Review by Booklist Review
Gr. 7^-12. With many full-color, full-page reproductions, this glowing artistic biography in the First Impressions series focuses on Renoir's development as an impressionist painter more than on the particulars of his personal life. The paintings, including two double-page foldouts of famous party scenes, show that he celebrated the joy of life, that he was determined to make pictures that were "pretty--yes, pretty." Rayfield does talk about Renoir's life and career, including his relationship with the other great impressionists and the long years of poverty and critical rejection before his final years of celebrity. However, the best parts of the book are the detailed discussions of particular pictures included--pictures of children, mothers, nudes, landscapes, groups, still-lifes, etc.--that take you up close to see his fluid style and technique, his use of color and light. No particular sources are cited for the text (except his son's book, Renoir, My Father), but the pictures that are reproduced here are listed at the back of the book, with full information about size, medium, date, and present location.--Hazel Rochman
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Horn Book Review
This well-balanced combination of biography, art history, and analysis is enhanced by fifty-five illustrations--most full-colored reproductions of Renoir's paintings--with a few photographs of the artist, his family, friends, and places he painted. Quotations from his letters, his friends, and his son add authenticity to the story of his experimentation, struggle for acceptance, determination, and joy in life and painting. Ind. From HORN BOOK Spring 1999, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Readers learn in this pithy entry in the First Impressions series that one of today's most popular of the Impressionist painters was, in his lifetime, rejected from exhibitions and often struggled to make ends meet. Rayfield follows Renoir from his youth and his first job painting ceramics, to his old age, when his hands were so crippled with arthritis he could barely hold a brush. Although young readers may be more familiar with his early works (and his affiliation with painters such as Monet and Cƿzanne), he continued to paint until his death. He experimented with new styles, and created many later portraits of his wife and children. Excellent and abundant full-color reproductions accompany the text, as well as black-and-white photographs of the artist and his home. The book includes commentary from Renoir's son, filmmaker Jean Renoir, as well as recollections from the painter and his friends. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
