Review by New York Times Review
The story of how Matisse came up with the ideas behind his cutouts (currently at MoMA in a rapturously reviewed show) makes for an ingenious picture book. As Amodeo's collaged paper figure of the artist cuts out birds and then adds other objects, we see how shape creates feelings and memories. When he adds color, an entire personal world comes into being. Friedman's spare text hits its marks perfectly, and foldout pages of Matisse cutouts provide an extra hit of happiness. THE IRIDESCENCE OF BIRDS: A Book About Henri Matisse By Patricia MacLachlan. Illustrated by Hadley Hooper. 38 pp. Neal Porter/Roaring Brook. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) Matisse once said that he got his sense of color from his mother. MacLachlan runs with that notion, inviting readers to picture themselves as a boy in a "dreary" town in northern France whose days were brightened by his mother's paints, fruits, flowers and rugs. The little boy gets to visit a silk mill, and he raises pigeons, appreciating the "iridescence" that his mother points out. At the book's close, he watches his grownup self at the easel. Hooper's illustrations wonderfully evoke Matisse's palette and style with a dappled beauty all their own. MR. CORNELL'S DREAM boxes Written and illustrated by Jeanette Winter. 32 pp. Beach Lane. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) That reclusive man living in Queens with his mother and brother was the artist Joseph Cornell, who liked to share his miniature-filled boxes with the neighborhood children. Winter tells her readers that if they'd lived near Mr. Cornell, they might have seen him "through the window, working in the dim light" - and been invited to a special show he gave just for children. It's a lovely tribute to Cornell's inventiveness, and a reminder to give our own neighborhood eccentrics their due. EDWARD HOPPER PAINTS HIS WORLD By Robert Burleigh. Illustrated by Wendell Minor. 32 pp. Christy Ottaviano/Holt. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 5 to 9) As a boy, Hopper wrote "Would be Artist" beneath his name on his pencil box, and Burleigh makes the shy painter understandable to any child with a serious, solitary passion. We follow Hopper into adulthood as he devotes himself to finding "what other artists didn't paint." Minor's illustrations capture the profoundly wistful essence of both Hopper himself and his most famous paintings. In pages that move between 20th-century New York City and Cape Cod, we see how Hopper's singular vision tied together his two beloved places. STAND THERE! SHE SHOUTED: The Invincible Photographer Julia Margaret Cameron By Susan Goldman Rubin. Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline. 61 pp. Candlewick. $16.99. (Middle grade; ages 8 to 14) Richly illustrated with Cameron's own photos and drawings of her life by Ibatoulline, this biography takes an admiring but playful approach to the pioneering British photographer. Rubin shows how the ethereal beauty of her portraits was the result of her ruthless pursuit of aesthetic effects - and of children and celebrities to model for her, "captives" who were often forced to sit miserably still for hours. Especially inspiring is the way the book nonchalantly presents the flow between Cameron's work and her family life; her husband and six children come across as good-humored supporters and participants. ONLINE A slide show of this week's illustrated books at nytimes.com/books.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [November 2, 2014]
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Joining a spate of recent picture books about Matisse that includes The Iridescence of Birds, Henri's Scissors, and Colorful Dreamer, this collaboration between Friedman, an assistant curator at New York's Museum of Modern Art, and Milan-based illustrator Amodeo, focuses on the artist's exploration of cut-paper collage. Amodeo uses the same medium for her illustrations, which echo the simplified forms and bright colors Matisse played with; she pictures the artist in a brown button-down shirt, his blank face defined by a broad beard and large eyeglasses. Friedman's crisp writing highlights the importance of trial and error ("He cut leaves of other hues and set them against backgrounds of every shade, experimenting with different harmonies and contrasts"). She also devotes welcome attention to Matisse's assistants: in one clever scene, three workers use large brushes to paint sheets of paper yellow, violet, and green, their movements echoing those of the figures in Matisse's La Danse. Eight reproductions of Matisse's cut-paper work appear throughout, some on gatefolds, and a brief biography closes out this strong study of an artist's thought processes and growth. Ages 4-8. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-3-Seemingly on a whim one day, artist Henri Matisse cut a bird out of white paper, pinned it on his wall, and created a brand-new art form. Eight of his cut-paper works, some appearing as gatefolds, are reproduced in this charming, kid-friendly informational picture book that briefly describes how Matisse began working in his new style and how it and he soared as a result. Amodeo fully captures Matisse's inventive joy with her cut-paper illustrations, which work beautifully with the text and pop from the pages with brilliant, vivid colors, and kinetic energy. In a whimsical spread, the illustrator depicts the man flying to demonstrate how unfettered he felt as his scissors glided effortlessly through paper. Having started with white paper, Matisse eventually asked his assistants to paint paper against which to set his ever-larger cutouts that culminated in a studio "garden." (In a delightful touch, the assistants are shown in a scene reminiscent of the artist's La Danse.) Kids get cut- (or torn-) paper art intuitively and love playing with bright colors when creating their own masterpieces, and they'll appreciate that this book validates their own ideas about the freedom that comes with artistic experimentation. A brief biographical paragraph and material about the artworks close out the book. This title also makes for a great read-aloud before collage projects and in art units on major artists and color theory. Excellent.-Carol Goldman, Queens Library, NY (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
This book ingeniously narrates Matisse's paper-cutout process visually, using the same medium as the artwork created by the painter while bedridden during his final years. Amodeo's elegant cutouts pay homage to the great artist by illustrating the evolution of Matisse's use of this medium, from the creation of simple shapes such as birds and bees, through analysis of color harmony and relationships and exploration of positive and negative space, to pattern and composition. The artwork is so skillfully applied and photographed that the illusion of cut-paper shapes is maintained throughout. The elderly, bespectacled figure of Matisse is portrayed in cutout form as he experiments with shapes, first cutting out a simple bird, then adding shapes reminiscent of seaweed and fish inspired by his travels in Polynesia, then flying like the birds he is creating. Not satisfied with the white shapes, Matisse asks his assistants to paint sheets of paper in a range of shades so he can cut directly into color and experiment with different color combinations. Eight of Matisse's original works are reproduced at intervals throughout the book, carefully chosen to illustrate key aspects of the artist's intention. In its inventive approach to teaching art history, this book should inspire teachers and students alike to experiment with color, shape and form in the same free and expressive mode as the master. (Informational picture book. 5-10) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
