Lives of the Artists: Masterpieces, Messes (And What the Neighbors Thought) [Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Kathleen Krull (Author), John C. Brown (Narrator), Melissa Hughes (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2001 | Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

In this entertaining, informative collection, readers discover the idiosyncrasies-sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic-of twenty famous artists, including Michelangelo, Cassatt, van Gogh, Kahlo, and Warhol. “Fresh, spirited, and unconventional.”--Kirkus Reviews

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6 Up-Judging from the popularity of television talk shows and supermarket tabloids, Americans love gossip. As the title suggests, this collection of anecdotes about 15 famous artists of European heritage (and Hokusai) is gossipy. Tidbits flood the brief biographies: Leonardo's and Michelangelo's homosexuality, Van Gogh's "ear episode," Bruegel's fondness for practical jokes, Cassatt's support of women's suffrage, etc. These morsels are integrated into chapters with an easy-flowing sequence of short paragraphs, and supplemented with an "Artworks" section that adds a few pithy comments about several specific pieces, such as O'Keeffe's bone paintings or Kollowitz's large granite memorial for her son Peter. Hewitt supplies a full-page watercolor and colored-pencil portrait and vignette for each artist. These are friendly representations that also include personal objects like Matisse's fiddle, Chagall's village, Duchamp's snow shovel, etc. They add pleasant visual attractions to the lighthearted approach in this inviting introduction to a few of the Big Names in our artworld. A page of artistic terms is also included.
Kenneth Marantz, Art Education Department, Ohio State University, Columbus
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Gr. 4^-6. From the eclectic series that began with Lives of the Musicians: Good Times, Bad Times (and What the Neighbors Thought) (1993) comes a volume devoted to visual artists. The subject seems well suited to Krull's format: informative short biographies that focus on the subjects' personal lives and eccentricities rather than chronologies of their masterpieces. A few notes on major artworks follow each biography. Among the 19 artists discussed are Leonardo, Bruegel, Cassatt, Van Gogh, Picasso, O'Keefe, Dali, Noguchi, Rivera, Kahlo, and Warhol. Each chapter begins with one of Hewitt's distinctive portrait paintings, handsome caricatures of the artists and a few significant or distinctive objects indicating their interests and individual traits. A lively, entertaining presentation. Carolyn Phelan --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Audio CD
• Publisher: Audio Bookshelf; Unabridged edition (January 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 188333263X
• ISBN-13: 978-1883332631
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 6.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,460,469 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

KATHLEEN KRULL is well known for her innovative, award-winning nonfiction for young readers, which includes the successful Lives of... series. Kathleen Krull lives in San Diego, CA. Visit her at www.kathleenkrull.com AND http://facebook.com/kathleen.krull

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting cross selection of artists, May 28, 2000

By 

Kathryn R. Ziemnik (OH) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lives of the Artists: Masterpieces, Messes (and What the Neighbors Thought) (Hardcover)

"It's not what an artist does that counts, but what he is" - Picasso, p. 56

The book contains 16 Chapters on the following 17 artists in birth year order: Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), Peter Bruegel (1525?-1569), Sofonisba Anguissola (1532-1625), Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669), Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), Mary Cassatt (1845-1926), Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), Kathe Kollwitz (1867-1945), Henri Matisse (1869-1954), Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Marc Chagall (1887-1985), Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968), Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986), William H. Johnson (1901-1970), Salvador Dali (1904-1989), Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988), Diego Rivera (1886-1957) & Frida Kahlo (1907-1954), Andy Warhol (1928-1987).

It contains a variety of gossipy tidbits about the artists' lives. The cross selection of artists is an interesting combination. Krull introduced me to three artists of which I was not familiar (Anguissola, Kollwitz and Johnson). As a result Krull has whet my appetite and I will now seek out further information. Hewett"s illustrations are entertainly and cleverly done. I am especially particular to her rendition of Hokusai (he is wearing a kimino with both "The Wave" and "Mt. Fuji" on it).

I'm not convinced that the book is intended for young readers (ages 9-12). The gossip is on occasion adult in content. No actual prints of any of the artist's paintings are included, which was a surprise given the high cost of the book. This proves cruelly aggravating given that Krull references select paintings with accompanying notes.

Additional tidbits missing from the book: Dali did the dream sequence in Alfred Hitchcock's "Spellbound" starring Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman. Chagall's "The Dead Man" was the inspiration for the title of the Broadway play "Fiddler on the roof." Rivera caused a scandal when he painted the portrait of Lenin in a Rockefeller Center mural in '33. In addition, he used his clout to enable Leon Trotsky to live in Mexico. Two years later Kahlo introduced Trotsky to her friend, a Stalinist agent, who killed him with an ice-axe.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars NOT For Children Only!!!, April 16, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Lives of the Artists: Masterpieces, Messes (and What the Neighbors Thought) (Hardcover)

What a sin that this marvelous series is positioned as "children's literature." As a 40-year-old lifetime student of art, I stumbled across this title in a gift shop. It brings life and personality to artists that surpasses any biography I've read. *Anyone* who is interested in art would love this charming, insightful, and delightfully anecodotal work. I immediately went to Amazon.com and bought the other two in the series. I told myself that I would give them as gifts, but I can't part with them. Enjoy!

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Art book without art, January 23, 2005

By 

Atheen M. Wilson "Atheen" (Mpls, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Lives of the Artists: Masterpieces, Messes (and What the Neighbors Thought) (Hardcover)

I have mixed feelings about this book. I enjoyed it because it puts some of the humanity back into a subject many of whose personalities have been so lionized that they have become icons, non-people. However, I'm not certain to whom I might recommend it.

To begin with, the book has the direct, simple style of books written for children, grades 4-8. The language is a little too complex for those under age 8, the style a little too simple for those over age 13. Since I occasionally read children's books anyway, this did not stop me as an adult from reading the book and taking satisfaction from doing so. Nor would I have had any problem with recommending the volume for a school or public library, except....

I enjoyed the book primarily because I had already had a rather extensive exposure to art of all types through my mother, who was a working artist herself. Our house was littered with books about artists and their art works, and I started visiting museums in her company from the age of six. When Lives of the Artists: Masterpieces, Messes (and What the Neighbors Thought) discussed Rembrandt, I already possessed a pretty clear impression of his style and of some of his more famous works. The possibility that the he did not paint Man with a Golden Helmet surprised me, because I have a very clear picture of the work-one of my favorite Rembrandts-in my head. Someone who didn't would find it difficult to care; it would be just another bit of free-floating information.

In short, the book fails to fulfill a goal as a vehicle of teaching young people-or any people-about art because there are no illustrations of it. While there are entertaining anecdotes about a nice selection of famous people who perform a variety of styles of art, they might be anyone with eccentric behavior.

I'm not certain where the fault for this glaring defect lies. Perhaps it arises from an attempt to produce an interesting and attractive book that is still affordable, especially for children. Perhaps it was a matter of inability to procure a right to reproduce a work of art belonging to someone who has exclusive rights over it. Still, I find it difficult to believe that the museums of the world would be unwilling for their masterpieces to be represented in a book on famous art, especially for children, if only because it represents free publicity for their establishment. Certainly if any given museum is unwilling, there are other works of art from which to choose: therein lies a certain degree of leverage.

Whatever the reason for the lack of art in an art book, I can only suggest this book to schools that provide a thorough grounding in the subject. An art teacher might give lectures on periods of art, their characteristic works and personalities, and suggest that this book might be fun to read. For a young person who has been prepared, this might return "great" art once again to the realm of human endeavor.