Lives of the Artists

Lives of the Artists – Masterpieces, Messes (and What the Neighbors Thought)
Written by Kathleen Krull and Kathryn Hewitt
Published at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

About the Book

In this entertaining, informative collection, readers will discover the idiosyncrasies—sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic—of twenty famous artists: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Peter Bruegel, Sofonisba Anguissola, Rembrandt van Rijn, Katsushika Hokusai, Mary Cassatt, Vincent Van Gogh, Käthe Kollwitz, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Marcel Duchamp, Georgia O’Keeffe, William H. Johnson, Salvador Dali, Isamu Noguchi, Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and Andy Warhol.

Who are Kathleen Krull and Kathryn Hewitt?

KATHLEEN KRULL is well known for her innovative, award-winning nonfiction for young readers, which includes the successful Lives of... series. She is a book reviewer and former children's book editor. Kathleen Krull lives in San Diego, CA. www.kathleenkrull.com

KATHRYN HEWITT has illustrated many books for young readers, including all of the books in the Lives of... series written by Kathleen Krull. She lives in Santa Monica, CA. www.kathrynhewitt.com

My Thoughts

Have you ever wondering how a famous artist became known?  Or what was his youth looked like?   This book will help you discover numerous artists and learn more about them at the same time.   It could become a great springboard to a more in-depth study on a specific artist like Leonardo Da Vinci for example.  The book present the following artists: Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Peter Bruegel, Sofonisba Anguissola, Rembrandt Van Rijn, Katsushika Hokusai, Mary Cassat, Vincent Van Gogh, Kathe Kollwitz, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Marcel Duchamp, Georgia O’Keeffe, William H. Johnson, Salvador Dali, Isamu Noguchi, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, as well as Andy Warhol.

Each artist will be presented with his/her birth date and death date as well as some historical information about his/her life.    At the end of the few pages, you can also learn more about some of the artworks done by that artist.   The book presents the artists as they probably never been presented before.   While reading this book I have discover that there was a time when people paid to see dissections at anatomy theaters, which were unheated to prevent the corpse from decaying too fast (this was during the time of Rembrandt!).   This is only a sample of the kind of fascinating information you would find throughout the book.

My only disappointment is that the book doesn’t present some of the most famous painting/sculpture of these artists.  There are illustrations within the book but no photographs of the actual work of the artists presented.  I think it would have made the book more complete.  On another hand, why not used the information from in the artwork section of each artist and go on a hunt on the internet to see why these particular works are mentioned in the book?  It would make a perfect lesson on how to use the internet at the same time!

If you are interested in learning more about the artists mentioned in the book, I think this book is quite interesting.

Lives of the Artists is available at your favourite bookstore, even amazon.ca.

Disclaimer: Thanks to Thomas Allen for sending me the above mentioned product for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.