Faces, Places and Inner Spaces: A Guide to Looking at Art

by Jean Sousa, The Art Institute of Chicago

Published in association with the Art Institute of Chicago

A wonderful, innovative way to get children looking at art

How do artists use faces, places, and inner spaces to express themselves? Examining "faces" in art can help us discover how people from different cultures and times have seen themselves. By looking at "places" (landscapes and cityscapes), we can become more aware of our everyday life and appreciate what surrounds us. And an artist who depicts his or her "inner space" shares something very personal that might resemble some of our own thoughts, or seem so strange that we want to know more.

Within each of those categories, the variety of subjects is unlimited. This book gives examples of each and explains how the artist comes to his or her unique vision. Among the works included are an African mask, a West Mexican clay-pole dance scene, a Hindu sculpture, a Chinese screen, a Japanese actor print, as well as Surreal objects by Cornell, paintings by Van Gogh, Miro, and others. After exploring each of these topics, young readers will be prepared to take a new look at art and to start understanding how artists shape our view of the world.

As an interactive way to get kids thinking about the concepts in the book, a pocket at the back of the book contains a "mirror" so kids can look at and discuss their own face; a picture frame; and an acetate sheet to use for other activities.

Genres: Art

48 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2006

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book explores works of art in three sections, explaining that "artists have always portrayed faces, places, and inner spaces." Faces and places are easy to define, but inner spaces "also can be found in our minds, private places created by our emotions, thoughts, beliefs, and imagination." I liked the varied works of art in the book,for example African masks, a surreal image, "American Gothic" and a Van Gogh self-portrait in the faces section; photographs from the Great Depression, Willem de Kooning's abstract expressionism, Chinese Street Scenes from the Yuan Dynasty, Mary Cassatt and Winslow Homer in the places section; and ending with a chest of drawers entitled "Cabinet of Four Wishes" by Richard Snyder, Georgia O'Keeffe's "Blue and Green Music," and a Renaissance altarpiece of the Virgin Mary in the inner spaces section. Jean Sousa answers many of the questions she places so authoritatively that it weakens the thought-provoking potential of this otherwise solid "guide to looking at art."

[Amanda Zell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a fun and helpful guide to looking at art.

This book would be awesome to use in an art class to describe the different elements of art. It could be a resource that a teacher would pull from to describe the different types of art when introducing a new unit. The pictures are a variety of different styles ranging from painted to photography to images of sculptures. I would also say that that this was a description book as it describes so many elements of art. The arrangement of text and pictures, as well as the font, vary from page to page, keeping the reader engaged in what is happening and what will happen next.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book can help anyone in the department of visual arts.

Curriculum Connection: Instruction, Art

This was a very informative book. I have always had an appreciation for art, but sometimes I feel like I just do not get it. The pictures in this book assist in the narraters guidance in how to look at art. This book could be beneficial for any age reader.

Genre: Non-Fiction/Informational