Impressionism: 13 Artists Children Should Know

13 Things Children Should Know

by Florian Heine

Who were the Impressionists? Why did they become so famous? What do you need to know about their pictures, their way of painting and what made them so exceptional? In this book, you will get to know the most important Impressionists and their masterpieces. Easy-to-understand explanations and stimulating ideas will introduce you to these painters and their times.

Have fun testing your knowledge in our quizzes!

Discover new ideas for your own pictures!

Learn more about the artists with tips and information.

Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Gustave Caillebotte, Edgar Degas, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, Mary Cassatt, Max Liebermann, Georges Seurat, Childe Hassam, Paul Signac, John Singer Sargent

--from back cover

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Picture Books, Childrens

48 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2015

Reviews

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

First sentence: Impressionist is the name we give to a special kind of painter. The Impressionists first began painting in France during the late 19th century. They had new ideas about the way we should paint.

Premise/plot: This is a nonfiction book for children and young adults about the Impressionists. (Let's be honest, it's also for adults who are intimidated by the subject and are looking for an easy introduction.) It introduces readers to thirteen artists. These artists are: Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Gustave Caillebotte, Edgar Degas, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, Mary Cassatt, Max Liebermann, Georges Seurat, Childe Hassam, Paul Signac, and John Singer Sargent. Of the thirteen artists, many--but not all--were French OR spent a part of their life living in France. (Paris was quite the place to be.) At least two pages--if not more--are dedicated to each artist. Readers will see at least one--if not more--work from each artist. The author does a great job of representing an artist's uniqueness.

Edouard Manet, "Music in the Tuileries Gardens" (1862); "Bunch of Asparagus" (1880), "Asparagus" (1880)
Claude Monet, "Impression Sunrise" (1872); "Wheat Stacks, Snow Effect, Morning" (1891); "Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge" (1899)
Auguste Renoir, "Dance at the Moulin de la Galette" (1876)
Gustave Caillebotte, "Paris Street, Rainy Day" (1877)
Edgar Degas, "Ballet Dancers/The Star" (1876/77); "Dancers Practicing at the Bar" (1877); "At the Races" (1877/78)
Berthe Morisot, "Butterfly Hunt" (1874); "Hanging the Laundry Out to Dry" (1875)
Camille Pissarro, "Boulevard des Italiens" (1897)
Mary Cassatt, "The Letter" (1891); "The Boating Party" (1893/94)
Max Liebermann, "The Parrot Man" (1902); "Terrasse Restaurant Jacob in Nienstedten/Elbe" (1902/03)
Georges Seurat, "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" (1884-86)
Childe Hassam, "Church at Old Lyme" (1905); "The Avenue in the Rain" (1917); "Rainy Midnight" (1890)
Paul Signac, "Portrait of M. Felix Feneon" (1890); "Grand Canal (Venice)" (1905)
John Singer Sargent, "The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit" (1882)

My thoughts: I liked it. I'm not sure I loved, loved, loved it because I thought it was a bit uneven at times. It included at least one artist that wasn't an impressionist at all. I think when you look at the whole book, one does get a sense of what made them unique and set them apart from what had gone before. I also liked that it is packed with information about each artist. And the representations of the art is nice. Most of the time, the pictures are big and you get an idea of the magnificence of the original piece.

Personally, I don't understand why some artists get three pictures and other artists get only one. For example, I think the author chose the two asparagus pieces of Manet just to squeeze in an interesting "I-didn't-know-that-fact." I don't think from a representative artistic point of view that asparagus is more thrilling than say Renoir's incredibly beautiful work. I think the book should have been 12 Artists Children Should Know and given more space to Renoir.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Impressionism: 13 Artists Children Should Know is a great way to take a first look at impressionism, looking at thirteen prominent artists---Edouart Manet, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Gustave Caillebotte, Edgar Degas, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, John Singer Sargent, Paul Signac, Childe Hassam, Georges Seurat, Mary Cassatt, and Max Liebermann. The life of each artist is highlighted along with a historical timeline to provide perspective on what was going on at the same time in the world. Some of each artist's work is featured, with notes that offer more information. I especially like how suggestions are made for children to try to do what artists did. Great first look at impressionism.

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book contains artists considered Impressionists, Post-Impressionists, and Neo-Impressionists.

Selecting just 13 artists is hard, but it's fairly inexcusable to include Signac and Sargent(!) while excluding Van Gogh and Cezanne. Van Gogh even has a painting on the map in the back of the book, but isn't included as an artist.

Love the size of many of the art reproductions in the book. It's easy to see the details and really appreciate the painting.

Some picky things.
* The book uses a timeline with the same span 1805 to 1920 at the top of every artist intro page. The earliest any artist is born is 1830. On the other hand, 6 of the 13 artists included lived past 1920. If they had shifted it by 20 years (1825 - 1940), then I think the full length of everyone's life would have been on the timeline.

* The contemporaneous events recorded on the timeline seem rather random (the invention of chewing gum?). Even when they do seem relevant, they could be assigned to artists better. Degas is the only artist where they mention that he painted from photographs. Why not group the photography timeline entries on the Degas timeline? Also, the dates of the various Impressionist Exhibitions aren't on ANY timeline.

* Wikipedia has a nice graph showing how the lifespans of the various artists match up against each other, letting you see who was older, who was younger, who painted for a long time, etc. That would have been something nice to include.

* Where was Max Lieberman given 2 two-page spreads when Renoir, Mary Cassatt, and Pissarro have only a single two-page spread? That seems to assign Lieberman more importance than he has among the Impressionists.

* The "Where Impressionism Made Its Mark!" spread at the back of the book shows a map of France and a map of Paris, identifying the locations/subjects of Impressionist paintings and their painters. (This is a cool idea!) Monet is overly represented with 7 of the 11 on the France map and 1 of the 9 on the Paris map. Renoir, Pissarro, Mary Cassatt, and Van Gogh (not even one of the artists in the book!) all have 1 painting on the France map. Manet and Degas each have 2 on the Paris map, with Caillebotte, Renoir, Seurat, Pissarro, and Monet having one each. That means that of the 13, 5 artists (Morisot, Lieberman, Hassam, Signac, and Sargent) aren't included on the maps at all.

[Jessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Includes bios of the 13 artists, shows their lives on a properly spaced timeline at the top with dates of other events marked, and shows a few works for each artist. The biographies talk about the connections of the artists to each other, which I liked.

For each artist, at least one of the works of art takes up most of a page, so you can see a lot of the detail. It's good for spending a lot of time looking at the paintings carefully.

There's not ever a single description of what makes Impressionism or is characteristic of it -- the intro is more about what Impressionism *wasn't* -- but the biographies do emphasize a lot of the patterns that come up.

I love that the timeline exists and that it's properly spaced, but it would be nice if it were shifted over a bit. The earliest artist birth in the book is 1830, so we don't need to start at 1805. The latest death is in 1935, so ending the timeline at 1920 seems like a problem. (In fact, 6 of the 13 artists died after 1920.) I would also have liked for the other events marked on the timeline to be more related to Impressionism or to the particular biography. When did the Haussman redesign of Paris happen? When were the major eight Impressionist exhibitions? The facts about photography are relevant, but they're not with the biographies for which they're most relevant.

I think Monet, Renoir, Degas, Morisot, and Cassatt are necessary, and I'm not going to argue with Caillebotte, Pissarro, or Seurat. I like using Manet as a lead-in, someone who was at the very beginning of the movement when it wasn't quite Impressionism yet. That leaves Liebermann, Hassam, Signac, and Sargent. Liebermann and Hassam were I think choices to show non-France-based Impressionism, which I get, and Signac is a cool follow-on from Seurat. But Cezanne was left out, and I don't think that makes sense. And then Sargent doesn't belong at *all*. There are many other artists (Van Gogh! Who is mentioned in Signac's bio! And has a painting in the map at the end!) who were much more aligned with Impressionism without strictly being Impressionist.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy impressionist paintings, so I was curious to read this book from the Things Children Should Know series, which I've enjoyed in the past. This has lots of delightful little facts about artists I was familiar with and ones I wasn't. It's a fun book that I learned from as an adult. Recommended for anyone casually interested in art history or who has enjoyed an impressionist painting and wanted to learn a little more.

[Mrs. Ruigrok · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book which explains impressionism and 13 important artists that people should know. The text is easy to read with a timeline, samples of the artists work and an explanation of who they are, what they painted, where they lived and where they were born and died. It also has suggestions for painting for students and is an all-round super book!

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second title in this series that I have read and enjoyed. This one focuses on artists just 13 artists who painted in the impressionist style which began in France in the mid 1860s. The title features three or four pages on each artist featuring a very brief biographical sketch, three or four paragraphs about the artist’s work, and several reproductions of some of the artists paintings. It was this reproduction of the artists works that I appreciated the most because a number of the reproductions where of lesser well known works of the artists.
Several artists I was unfamiliar with, such as Gustave Caillebotte, Max Lieberman, Chad Hassam, and Paul Signac. Hope to read more titles in this series.

[Kayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably a lens of nostalgia because we had a lot of these as prints as a kid, but I enjoyed this one a lot. A timeline across the top helped put it in context. It talked about what influenced the artists (new idea, paint tube invention, paintbrushes, Japanese printmakers, each other).

[Youying · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun way to learn about Impressionism without reading a ton of words

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book for youth, pointing out 13 artists of impressionism. I liked that it gave short histories and information on their style of painting, as well as it featured at least one if not more of their work pieces. It was educational and I enjoyed it.