Lives of the Artists: Masterpieces, Messes (and What the Neighbors Thought)

Lives

by Kathleen Krull, Kathryn Hewitt (Illustrator)

Most people can name some famous artists and recognize their best-known works. But what's behind all that painting, drawing, and sculpting? What was Leonardo da Vinci's snack of choice while he painted Mona Lisa’s mysterious smile? Why did Georgia O'Keeffe find bones so appealing? Who called Diego Rivera "Frog-Face"? And what is it about artists that makes both their work and their lives so fascinating—to themselves, to their curious neighbors, and to all of us? This book presents the humor and the tragedy in twenty artists' lives as no biography has done before.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Biography, History, Childrens, Picture Books, Audiobook

124 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 30, 2017

Reviews

[Caterina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm conflicted on this unique, gossipy book for children. The illustrations by Kathryn Hewitt are darling and seem just-right for middle grades -- flattering caricatures of the artists with their tools, children, pets, musical instruments, etc. The vocabulary and complexity of the text (by Kathleen Krull) also seem right for middle-graders, and the stories are lots of fun. So initially I was charmed.

But there are two problems. First: there are no pictures of the art. This just doesn't work unless the reader is already very familiar with every artist. Sometimes the text did not make sense because I could not picture what was being referred to. Second, some of the stories contain details that just don't seem appropriate for middle grades. Do children in fifth grade really need to know, for example, that Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera had a lot of extramarital affairs?

For me, the book did not quite succeed in achieving the right balance, straying over the line from light-hearted fun to being flippant about serious things. There's also some violence -- not only Van Gogh's ear, but Van Gogh's gun suicide. There is brief mention of a few controversial topics -- not that they are necessarily handled inappropriately, but I would recommend reviewing to see if it's a match for your children's level of maturity. That being said, I mostly enjoyed the book.

[zachariah]

I would’ve treated Frida so much better than that frog face Diego

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book provides a behind the scenes tour to twenty world renowned artists. It glimpses over the art historical data and jumps right into the juicy details of their lives. For instance, did you know that Georgia O'Keeffe lived to the ripe old age of ninety-eight, and then bequeathed her ranch and many paintings to a young man less than half her age? Or, that Marc Chagall often painted in the nude? (You will never look at his paintings the same again!) This book is littered with fun facts and interesting personality tidbits that will forever change your perception of these intriguing individuals. Each artist is discussed in around four pages, which include a full page illustration of the artist and a shortlist of the artist's best-known artworks. The amusing illustrations depict the artists with larger that laugh heads and visual clues about their lives. Little groupings of drawings are also included to break up the lengthier blocks of text. A must for students interested in the art world, and a great way to humanize the giants of art history.

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun little book about the lives of artists and some very interesting facts of how eccentric they were.

[Sue Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

To sum this book up it's essentially People Magazine does a special edition on some famous artists that you may (or may not) have heard of. Most were chosen because they are readily well known for iconic art pieces but some may not be as familiar as others if you're not really that into art.

Regardless - it's really just a bunch of apparently odd quirks and weirdness that many like to lump what most people suppose artists are like. Truthfully, I think you could probably find all these quirks and weirdness (and a whole lot more that are much more nasty) in the general population - hell, probably in your own family's closet. But it may not sell books as well.

Meh. Not really worth the read unless you're waiting to get your hair done.

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this extraordinarily illustrated book, 20 famous artists' biographies are presented, full of very interesting facts and oddities. A wonderful book!

[Denise Spicer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Artists are WEIRD. And this book gives plenty of proof in 93 pages with brief bios of 20 famous artists from Leonardo da Vinci (b. 1452) to Andy Warhol (b. 1928). Although the illustrator, Kathryn Hewitt, provides us with colorful and fairly interesting interpretations of the artists and their works, we are shown NO photos of the artists or their works. The end of each chapter includes a list of descriptions of a few of the artists’ most famous or representative works but NO photos, making this a very incomplete introduction to the lives of these artists and art history. Some of these artists lived to extreme old age, many were eccentric and egotistic, and some loved garlic. So yeah, artists are WEIRD
Note to parents, grandparents , and educators: Although this book is categorized as a “J” book, due to the author’s choice to include many of the more unsavory details of the artists’ personal lives, it is not appropriate for young children.

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook. A general brief overview of a variety of well-known artists. Of value especially to middle and high school students, but pleasant for all to discover interesting trivia. These short anecdotes are for the most part bleached of any risque or controversial content, but still full of unthreatening facts which will tease one into want to learning more. Good thumbnail sketches and you'll go "I didn't know that!" at least once.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun little paperback book summarizing the lives and most important works of twenty artists with cartoonish pictures (big heads) with just a few pages for each. Leonard da Vinci, Michelangelo, Bruegel, Sofonisba Anguissola, Rembrandt, Hokusai, Cassatt, Van Gogh, Kathe Kollwitz, Matisse, Picasso, Chagall, DuChamp, O'Keefe, William H. Johnson, Dali, Isamu Noguchi, Rivera and Kahlo & Warhol.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Text flowed nicely and I found it engaging. The art is perfect for the text.

Nineteen artists, from daVinci (b 1452) to Warhol (b 1928)

Most are familiar but a couple were new to me (e.g. Sofonisba Anguissola)

missed having examples of their art, but that would have required the addition of too many pages and too many words

in general, modern artists are not my favorites

[Tressa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting mix of famous and lesser known (to me) artists.

[Susan Forsgren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creative and entertaining that has the readers mesmerized.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think it really served it's purpose. It told me interesting facts, along with facts about these artists, and I really enjoyed it!

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this with my 6th grader. Occasionally more mature than I was expecting but overall we liked it.

[Susan]

A fun, short look at quite a few famous artists' lives and famous works. A great introduction for kids that may get them to look up the actual artists and their works!

[Roxann Kelly]

I loved this book - short introduction to African American women that made a difference. I would recommend.

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is fun to read or listen to. I suggest that teens and adults will find this enjoyable and filled with interesting facts and stories.

[Jolene Buckley]

a book filled with white artistes with frida,Pablo, and more there are many pages and lots of words each person has 2 to 3 pages about their back stories and how they became artists.

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ultra condensed biographies

[Meltha · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a very nice diversity of artists in here, including several women, which is no mean feat frankly, and the biographies are to the point and generally accurate. The glossary of art terms at the end was also a nice touch.

I did have two problems with the text, though. These are biographies of artists, but unless a small picture is included in the illustration of the person being discussed, there is no example given of his or her work. This seems like a pretty big oversight. I have absolutely no idea what Duchamp's work looks like, for example, or Noguchi's, or Anguissola's, because frankly I'd never heard of them before. I can Google them, of course, but a single page for each artist of an example work would have been very useful.

The second issue I had with this is becoming something of a repeating theme with modern children's literature. I'm honestly not sure what marks this as "children's" literature. The biographies are short, certainly, but that doesn't necessarily make them for children. They would be highly educational for the average adult, or even an adult who likes art but is not an expert. The themes that came up were often ones that might be problematic if discussed in a grade school classroom, and often they weren't actually necessary to the artists being discussed. For example, the story of Van Gogh's ear is related, and well and good, it's important (though I do get a bit tired of that being the only bit of his life people seem to fixate on), and yes, he did present his ear to a friend of his, but why specifically do we need to know she was a prostitute (which comes up, again pointlessly, with several other artists)? What she did for a living doesn't come into play here at, and the professions of various other people aren't automatically mentioned, so why does that bit of info get such a heavy focus? The same goes for Michelangelo's possibly being gay (referred to as homosexual for three artists), with the point immediately made that nobody knows if he was or not. There's nothing wrong with being gay, but for some reason the book reads like it's telling gossip here rather that giving a biography. It felt a tad sensationalist, and I'm honestly confused as to the age level this would work at. Again, in an adult book, I could see some of these tidbits used as prurient attention getters, but with kids, not so much.

I also would have liked to have an endnote that perhaps listed some major works for each of the artists, museums that display their works, or websites that would have further information about them.

On the whole, they're decent mini-biographies, but the text had some complications and omissions that could have been handled better.

[Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another marvelous Lives of book. Ordered the whole series for both my libraries. A great go-to book for read aloud; however, one must censor the "controversial" parts. This particular book about the artists is extra censor-worthy as many artists were famous not only for their work, but their eccentric and non-conventional lifestyles. I really do appreciate the diversity of Krull's choices for these books and this is another great example. There were many artists I had not heard of before (Sofonisba Anguiossola,Kathe Kollwitz, William H. Johnson, and Isamu Noguchi), but who are historically noteworthy. I enjoyed reading it so much, I googled each one when I was done to learn more about the artwork.

[Sher · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fabulous little book that tells about the lives of 20 famous artists. It certainly does not try to be all-encompassing, but rather gives a taste of how some artists lived. As such, it whets the appetite for more. I not only look forward to learning more about many of these artist, but also I want to see their paintings.

The artwork in this book, by Kathryn Hewitt, is nothing short of fabulous itself. She puts many of the eccentricities of each artist into a visual context that is both beautiful and humorous.

The whole book is intelligently done. There are at least two more in this series that I can't wait to read.

[Cedric Osborn-brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was an interesting collection of biographies. First this would not be a good book for children who know nothing of the artists the book covers, as the authors do not give much general information on the artists and more so seem to give interesting tidbits of information about the artists instead. However the trivia included is interesting and seems to provide information most people would not know about such and such artist. Also I really enjoyed how the artists portrayed included more than just Medieval artists or American artists but included a ride variety of artists, though it would have been nice to have more modern artists who were not born in the United States.

[Shelby Moser · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book about 19 artists of all periods. This book is an interesting book about the artists and the obstacles they overcame and how they were treated in their period. In many cases the artists were not appreciated by people around them. For every artists, Krull provided information about how the artist was or would have been perceived by the neighbors. Despite the fact that it is a biography, the story is told in a creative and run way. The theme of the book is what the neighbors thought. I would suggest that this book is best for middle-school ages children. If you like this book, the author also has books about musicians, poets, and authors.

[Sarah Fresen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lives of the artists by Kathleen Krull is a non-fiction book filled with facts about the most famous artists you may or may not have heard about.This book is fresh,spirited and an entertaining presentation.

My opinion of this book is it's a very interesting book but I didn't like it too mush because it is more of a children's book not a twelve-year-olds book but I know that if I was younger I would definitely like and want to read this book.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of non-fiction and has a love for art. Language and age wise it would probably be a good book for anyone who is under the age of 10.Anyone who is above that age might find it boring or tiring.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a YA book about famous artists. I picked it up because I wanted to see how someone explains artists ranging from the Rennaisance through the Modernists to a young fan. It was a good introduction to artists for a young person, and the author did not gloss over some of the more tawdry aspects of some of the artists. Good effort.

[Jessica Lave · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been looking for this book for YEARS. We had one at the school library when I was a kid and I loved it. The illustrations are awesome and the stories are great basic information for grade school aged kids. Back before the internet was the primary source of research for school reports, this was a great resource.

[Lara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has biographies of artists that are just a few pages long and include the kind of details kids love to know...like what their favorite foods were and surprising details about daily life. These are things that make the artist seem real to a student.

[Kersten · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read. I like her quick biographies, and the interesting little extras that she adds. Whenever I read art biographies I am always interested to see the art, and am constantly stopping to look up works of art of the internet.

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

Kathleen Krull tells intriguing details about the
lives of twenty artists of the world, including DaVinci,
Michelangelo, Van Gogh, Matisse, Chagall, O'Keeffe, Dali, and
Picasso. All of the artists come across as having lived extremely
eccentric lives.