Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Spectral fairies, soaring women, an infant in a luminous crescent-moon cradle, a human-faced hyena these are a few of the wondrous images filling the pages of this colorful picture-book biography of surrealist painter Leonora Carrington. Born in 1917 to wealthy parents in England, Carrington chafed against their attempt to turn her into a proper lady. Instead, she longed to set her wild imagination free and become an artist. Markel follows Carrington's formative experience in France with Max Ernst and other surrealist artists, whose dreamlike art gave her strange feelings, wondrous as fairy tales and unlocked her own fanciful style. This is echoed in Hall's mixed-media illustrations, which use rich, vibrant colors and curving lines to conjure Carrington's passionate creativity. Her flight to Mexico to escape WWII is magnificently depicted on a two-page spread, aglow in orange and violet, where a winged boat packed with refugees sails from a city in flames; and it's in Mexico that Carrington's career truly takes off. The text and illustrations combine in a way that will help young readers understand surreal art and how Carrington used this style to break free of conventional opinions and depictions of women. Author's and illustrator's notes provide greater insight into Carrington's life and art. Another fantastic collaboration by the creators of The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau (2012).--Julia Smith Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
This striking picture book biography focuses on surrealist artist Leonora Carrington and her influences. Inspired by her grandmother's stories, which took her "to worlds that shimmered beyond this one," Carrington's sensibilities eventually made her simpatico with the French surrealists. When Germany invaded Western Europe, she fled to Mexico, where she continued to develop her fantastical style, rejecting confining gender expectations in the process: "Her women did things they didn't do in paintings made by men. Instead of lying on a couch, they were listening to the stars.... They were friends with monkeys, Minotaurs, and mythic birds." Rather than recreating Carrington's artwork, Hall complements the artist's imagery through her own strange and radiant mixed-media spreads. Ages 4-8. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 4-Markel describes the journey of Leonora Carrington from her privileged childhood and her mutinous days as a school girl to her flourishing career in Paris and Mexico City. In the narrative, Carrington's imagination turns domestic spaces and scenes of war into fantastical landscapes full of animal-women and mystical creatures. Surrealism is explained discreetly as Carrington paints against conventions of class, gender, and aesthetics. Hall's illustrations effectively mimic Carrington's style, with wonky perspectives, muted backgrounds, contrasting flashes of color, and delicate line work. The more famous (mostly male) surrealists whom Carrington befriended are never allowed to upstage her story. Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera saunter by on one page; the "leader" of the surrealists remains unnamed lurking in a corner. Carrington's relationship with Max Ernst receives far less page-space than the strong female friendship she shared with Remedios Varo. In a time where STEM narratives for girls are gaining ground, Carrington's happy obsession with "cats, stones, and magic crystals" provides a reminder that rebellion comes in different forms. Despite being born into a wealthy family, the artist pursued a career that ensured she was "never rich and never proper." VERDICT For budding artists who are searching for a bridge between Barb Rosenstock's Vincent Can't Sleep and Javaka Steptoe's Radiant Child.-Katherine Magyarody, -Texas A&M University, College Station © Copyright 2018. 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 Horn Book Review
Having previously collaborated on The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau (rev. 11/12), Markel and Hall now explore the life of artist Leonora Carrington (19172011). Born into a wealthy English family, the creative and strong-willed young woman convinced her parents to send her to art school in London, where she met Max Ernst and joined his coterie of surrealists. Carrington then moved with him to Paris and painted there until the Nazis invaded France. She fled to Mexico, where she spent the rest of her life, always making art. Markel distills Carringtons experiences into succinct prose full of vigor and imagery. Leonora felt safe. She felt strong. She popped a chocolate into her mouth and reached for a paintbrush. She painted a house filled with enchanted women. Halls dreamlike illustrations take the book to a near fantastical level. Vivid colors, pulsating patterns, and swooping lines make each scene a strikingly original image as well as an homage to Carringtons own art (although the book includes no reproductions of her paintings). From the covers to the endpapers to everything in between, this is a glorious look at a woman artist who did exactly what she wanted to do at a time when few were able to do so. Appended with an authors note (which delivers more specific information about Carringtons life than does the main text), an illustrators note, and a brief selected bibliography. monica edinger March/April 2019 p 103(c) Copyright 2019. 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
Artist Leonora Carrington (1917-2011) bucks pressure and tradition to join the surrealist movement."Leonora's parents wanted her to be like every other well-bred English girl. But she was not." This white girl with Irish heritage doesn't want to "become a lady." As a child, she sketches make-believe planets; she's expelled from boarding school after boarding school. In Italy, she sees Renaissance art in churches and galleries and forges ahead "to paint her own imagined worlds." She joins the surrealists in London and then France, painting fantastical creatures and women who are not simply "pretty decorations." When Nazi Germany invades France, Carrington escapes to Mexico (described, alas, as "exotic"), befriends artist Remedios Varo, and continues painting surrealist works about enchanted women, nature, mysticism, and the occult. Hall's watercolor ink, gouache, and pencil-crayon illustrations feature mild surrealism, far less eerie than Carrington's. Hall uses sinuous lines abundantlydoorways curve, tree trunks bendand tints Carrington's world with greens, golds, and oranges. A few full-bleed spreads are magnificent, including the flight from Nazi Europe, which combines a burning city and a winged creature-ship, and a depiction of Carrington's late painting of a giantess, for which readers must turn the book sideways. A love affair with surrealist Max Ernst and an early marriage of convenience to escape Europe go unmentioned until the author's note; Carrington's mental illness isn't mentioned anywhere.An empowering introduction that demands parallel examination of Carrington's own work. (illustrator's note, bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 5-9) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
