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What the Artist Saw
The Met Louise Bourgeois: She Saw the World as a Textured Tapestry
See how iconic artists like Louise Bourgeois were influenced by their environments in this beautiful series produced in collaboration with The Met.
See the world through Louise Bourgeois’s eyes and be inspired to produce your own masterpieces.
Have you ever wondered exactly what your favorite artists were looking at to make them draw, sculpt, or paint the way they did? In this charming illustrated series of books to keep and collect, created in full collaboration with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, you can see what they saw and be inspired to create your own artworks too. In What the Artist Louise Bourgeois , meet famous French American painter, printmaker, and sculptor Louise Bourgeois. Step into her life and learn what led her to explore her fears and emotions through her art. Learn all about her family and what inspired her to create her large spider sculptures. Have a go at producing your own art inspired by your dreams!
In this series, follow the artists’ stories and find intriguing facts about their environments and key masterpieces. Then see what you can see and make your own art. Take a closer look at landscapes, or even yourself, with Vincent van Gogh. Try crafting a story in fabric like Faith Ringgold, or carve a woodblock print at home with Hokusai. Every book in this series is one to treasure and keep— perfect for budding young artists to explore exhibitions with, then continue their own artistic journeys.
See the world through Louise Bourgeois’s eyes and be inspired to produce your own masterpieces.
Have you ever wondered exactly what your favorite artists were looking at to make them draw, sculpt, or paint the way they did? In this charming illustrated series of books to keep and collect, created in full collaboration with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, you can see what they saw and be inspired to create your own artworks too. In What the Artist Louise Bourgeois , meet famous French American painter, printmaker, and sculptor Louise Bourgeois. Step into her life and learn what led her to explore her fears and emotions through her art. Learn all about her family and what inspired her to create her large spider sculptures. Have a go at producing your own art inspired by your dreams!
In this series, follow the artists’ stories and find intriguing facts about their environments and key masterpieces. Then see what you can see and make your own art. Take a closer look at landscapes, or even yourself, with Vincent van Gogh. Try crafting a story in fabric like Faith Ringgold, or carve a woodblock print at home with Hokusai. Every book in this series is one to treasure and keep— perfect for budding young artists to explore exhibitions with, then continue their own artistic journeys.
56 pages, Hardcover
Published June 28, 2022
About the author
Amy Guglielmo
23 books98 followersAmy Guglielmo is an award-winning author, artist, art educator, public art and STEAM advocate. She writes children’s books about strong, pioneering women, and artsy, innovative people. Her titles include: the Christopher award-winning POCKET FULL OF COLORS: The Magical World of Mary Blair Disney Artist Extraordinaire (Atheneum 2017), the Touch the Art series (Sterling, 2006, 2009, 2010) and the PEEK-A-BOO ART Series (Cartwheel/Scholastic 2019, 2020) with Julie Appel, HOW TO BUILD A HUG: Temple Grandin and Her Amazing Squeeze Machine (Atheneum 2018) with co-author Jacqueline Tourville, CEZANNE'S PARROT (Putnam 2020) and JUST BEING DALI (Putnam 2021), the upcoming, LUCILLE BALL DID IT ALL (Abrams 2024), and the new WHAT THE ARTIST SAW series with The Metropolitan Museum of Art and DK. Amy is the Creative Director of Reading Rainbow Live. She brings over twenty years of experience in both children’s publishing and public and private school education to the Reading Rainbow Live team. Amy is represented by Stephen Barbara at InkWell Management. For more information go to www.amyguglielmo.com.
Amy lives with her husband on the shores of Mexico and Lake Champlain where she enjoys water sports just as long as she doesn't have to get her hair wet.
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@amyguglielmo
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@amy_guglielmo
Amy lives with her husband on the shores of Mexico and Lake Champlain where she enjoys water sports just as long as she doesn't have to get her hair wet.
@amyguglielmo
IG
@amy_guglielmo
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 20, 2025
“Yaptığım her şey içim çocukluğumdan esinlendim..”
Bizi var eden, biz olmamıza yarayan her türlü nesne ile tekrar ilişkilenip onu yaşayan ve herkesin zihninde yaşamaya devam edecek bir eser haline getirme sanatın yüklendiği misyon ya da anlam bence. Bizi biz yapan her şeyi kullanabildiğimiz ve kendi üslubumuzda dile getirdiğimiz ölçüde gerçek birer sanatçı olma yoluna girmiş oluyoruz. Ve her sanatçı hayatında kendi tarzından bir parça bulabilmek de sanatın yaşayan organik bir kavram olmasını, her sanatçıda daha da yeşererek, filizlenerek daldan dala çoğalmasını sağlıyor tıpkı gittikçe köklenen bir ağaç gibi. Louise Bourgeois çocukluğumdan beri içimde yaşayan bir sanatçı misali organik ve halen varlığını belki de benim üreteceğim eserlerle devam ettirecek ölümsüz bir sanatçı diğer tüm eser üreten ve aslında halen yaşayan sanatçılar gibi. İyiki sanat var ve biz tüm bu ruhları tek bedende bir hissedebiliyor, sanatın birleştirici gücünde buluşabiliyoruz…
Bizi var eden, biz olmamıza yarayan her türlü nesne ile tekrar ilişkilenip onu yaşayan ve herkesin zihninde yaşamaya devam edecek bir eser haline getirme sanatın yüklendiği misyon ya da anlam bence. Bizi biz yapan her şeyi kullanabildiğimiz ve kendi üslubumuzda dile getirdiğimiz ölçüde gerçek birer sanatçı olma yoluna girmiş oluyoruz. Ve her sanatçı hayatında kendi tarzından bir parça bulabilmek de sanatın yaşayan organik bir kavram olmasını, her sanatçıda daha da yeşererek, filizlenerek daldan dala çoğalmasını sağlıyor tıpkı gittikçe köklenen bir ağaç gibi. Louise Bourgeois çocukluğumdan beri içimde yaşayan bir sanatçı misali organik ve halen varlığını belki de benim üreteceğim eserlerle devam ettirecek ölümsüz bir sanatçı diğer tüm eser üreten ve aslında halen yaşayan sanatçılar gibi. İyiki sanat var ve biz tüm bu ruhları tek bedende bir hissedebiliyor, sanatın birleştirici gücünde buluşabiliyoruz…
March 17, 2024
Cute book in a series from The Metropolitan Museum of Art in a series called “What the Artist Saw.” Published in 2022, it tells young readers about the life and 70-year career of French sculptor, painter, and fabric artist Louise Bourgeois (1911 - 2010). The book is solid but the random prompts, questions, and invitations to undertake activities with minimal instruction or caveats, set in italics and with no follow-up whatsoever, seem ineffective. They include:
• What do you see happening where you live? Draw what you see around you.
• Have you ever visited a museum or gallery? What did you see?
• Where would you like to travel? What do you think you would see there?
• Try making mini sculptures out of pencils. How would you make them stay in place?
• Try molding a shape out of clay or another soft material.
• Put on a fashion show! How would you use old clothes in new ways?
• Do you keep treasures? What do they remind you of?
• What kind of shapes and patterns do you like to draw? Have you ever drawn or doodled to relax?
• Do you have clothes that remind you of a special day or person?
• What would it be like to create art with a friend? How would you help each other?
To be sure, these are great prompts if there is someone to guide, hear, and discuss the child reader’s response and answer the inevitable questions they will have. Without that input, the “Try this yourself!” sounds like an invitation to get some creative kids in trouble. That said, this would be a great book to do slowly and with time to pause, discuss, explore, critique, and then link back to Bourgeois’ life.
• What do you see happening where you live? Draw what you see around you.
• Have you ever visited a museum or gallery? What did you see?
• Where would you like to travel? What do you think you would see there?
• Try making mini sculptures out of pencils. How would you make them stay in place?
• Try molding a shape out of clay or another soft material.
• Put on a fashion show! How would you use old clothes in new ways?
• Do you keep treasures? What do they remind you of?
• What kind of shapes and patterns do you like to draw? Have you ever drawn or doodled to relax?
• Do you have clothes that remind you of a special day or person?
• What would it be like to create art with a friend? How would you help each other?
To be sure, these are great prompts if there is someone to guide, hear, and discuss the child reader’s response and answer the inevitable questions they will have. Without that input, the “Try this yourself!” sounds like an invitation to get some creative kids in trouble. That said, this would be a great book to do slowly and with time to pause, discuss, explore, critique, and then link back to Bourgeois’ life.
August 11, 2022
I recently learned about this artist from Cloth Lullaby: The Woven Life of Louise Bourgeois, one of the weirdest and most unhinged picture book biographies I have ever read. I'm pleased that I got to read this new book so soon afterwards, since it filled in a lot of the other book's blanks.
This picture book biography gives a sense of where Bourgeois was in real space and time, instead of relying on metaphors, and tracks the development of her life and career alongside historical events that affected her. It also explains her art well, addressing the multiple mediums she worked with and sharing images of some of her works. Naturally, the book glosses over her more sexualized artwork, but it still gives readers of all ages a sense of her oeuvre.
This picture book biography gives a sense of where Bourgeois was in real space and time, instead of relying on metaphors, and tracks the development of her life and career alongside historical events that affected her. It also explains her art well, addressing the multiple mediums she worked with and sharing images of some of her works. Naturally, the book glosses over her more sexualized artwork, but it still gives readers of all ages a sense of her oeuvre.
November 7, 2024
This title is part of a series called, What the Artist Saw published by DK publishing and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. I have read a could have titles in this series, but found this one lacking in information and where I might see some of Bourgeois sculptures. I did find it fascinating that her parents and grandparents had worked in art cleaning and repairing old tapestries. Didn’t feel that I had a good exposure to or understanding of Louise Bourgeois when I finished this title.
February 12, 2026
追求稳定性秩序感，路易斯布尔乔亚一定是个J人！她母亲去世felt alone and abandoned, very sad, quit studying math，父亲去世heartbroken，简直正常得不像个艺术家。看看“隔壁”莫奈父亲去世以后took his small inheritance...
“My best friend was my mother, and she was deliberate, clever, patient, soothing, reasonable, dainty, subtle, indispensable, neat, and useful as a spider.”她和母亲感情那么深，为什么会说“The needle is used to repair damage. It's a claim to forgiveness.”呢？嗐，我觉得她跟我一样是INFJ。
“My best friend was my mother, and she was deliberate, clever, patient, soothing, reasonable, dainty, subtle, indispensable, neat, and useful as a spider.”她和母亲感情那么深，为什么会说“The needle is used to repair damage. It's a claim to forgiveness.”呢？嗐，我觉得她跟我一样是INFJ。
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 26, 2022
I generally like these kinds of books, but this one was a bit long winded for my 6 year old. Plus, I don’t love Louise’s art style. But, I recognize that’s so subjective
December 31, 2022
A little long, provided you’re not reading aloud to a roomful of young art scholars
June 27, 2023
3.5 stars.
March 14, 2025
Beautiful book about an amazing artist ❣️
February 27, 2023
What the Artist Saw is a new picture book biography series that introduces readers to artists and includes activities they can do themselves. This one focuses on Louise Bourgeois. What I appreciated is that there were images of some of her work to help me better understand his art. It reminded me of a previous San Francisco visit where the Museum of Modern Art had an exhibit of her Spiders. I will definitely be checking out the other books in this series.
September 7, 2023
There is nothing objectionable about this book, I just didn't find the subject particularly interesting.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews