Customer Reviews

Georgia O'Keeffe (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists)

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"Georgia often rearranged the natural things she saw, and simplified them", p. 8

The young reader will learn about O'Keeffe's young years on her family's big Wisconsin farm, her years in Texas teaching art and during her free moments painting, her years with Stieglitz in New York painting, and her years in New Mexico painting.

O'Keeffe's choice of enlarging objects in her paintings makes this a perfect choice for young children. Everything is larger than life for the young. If there is anyone who will have nearly an innate appreciation for O'Keeffe's style it will be the young. They will readily identify her objects. Her color choices in her paintings are few and therefore not busy and distracting. The young reader will be drawn in by her bold and bright selection of colors.

Venezia's illustrations are humorous. His narrative is delightfully entertaining. His approach brings the artist within reach of the young. His re-enactment of an opening at Stieglitz's gallery of new artists' paintings is precious.

The size of the book is perfect for smaller hands. It enables the young to have art within their grasp. Venezia gives the locations of the paintings and as result if the child lives near one of the museums or will be near one on vacation, she/he would be able to see the original.

This is the 15th in Venezia's "Getting to know the World's Greatest Artist" series. He also has similar series on composers. Venezia's back cover illustrations tie back to the subject. "Like O'Keeffe, Mike searches near his home for objects in their natural surroundings ...".

The price of the book is well worth paying. The book contains the following: O'Keeffe's Paintings - 18, Photos of O'Keeffe - 3, Venezia's Illustrations - 8, Others' paintings - 3.

This book - along with every other one in the "Getting to Know the World's Famous Artists" series -- is a fantastic purchase all around. It puts a creative spin on the teaching of art to children and makes the artists' stories come to life in a "current" and cool way -- using graphics/cartoons, great photos of masterpieces and easy-to-understand language. My son is 8 years old and loves all of the books -- I think they are appropriate for a range of ages (4 or 5 yrs to 10 / 11 / 12 yrs.)

We own over 30 of the Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists books. Georgia O'Keeffe's is one of my daughter's favorites. When she was 8 years old she used to sleep with five of the books like they were Teddy Bears because she loved them so much. They obviously have enormous appeal to children with the cartoons mixed in with the actual art, but even adults can enjoy these stories about the artists lives.

I bought all of the books in this series for our homeschool art curriculum. They are easy to read and a fun supplement that can lead to a nice trip to the Smithsonian Gallery of Art.