Minnie Evans was forty-three years old when she began to draw pictures based on her strange dreams and waking visions: giant birds, biblical figures, and other fantastic images. This is her story of a woman who pursued her art despite the restrictions placed on her as an African American-woman.
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Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Grade 4-8?With Painting Dreams, Lyons continues to introduce young people to self-taught African American artists and craftspeople. Born in 1892, Minnie Evans was an unusual child who had visions and was tormented by extremely vivid dreams. In middle age, she began to paint from her imagination, using scrap materials. Her family and friends worried that she was mentally unstable and never appreciated her work, even though they accepted her need to paint. She became known to the art world in the 1960s through the photographer Nina Starr, who was responsible for exhibitions and articles featuring the artist. Lyons's book is based on interviews with Starr and other people who knew Evans, as well as published material. Twenty full-color reproductions of her paintings are included, with mention of some of the recurring motifs in her work, but not indulging in any detailed criticism. The paintings range from childlike to psychedelic in execution; they are visionary in subject matter, composition, and coloring. There are also two photographs of Evans, taken by Starr, and a few other small photos of places mentioned in the text. A readable, interesting, and well-documented title.?Pam Gosner, Maplewood Memorial Library, NJ
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Gr. 5^-7. Poor, untaught, deeply religious, Minnie Evans was driven to paint her dreams. Her family thought she was crazy and tried to stop her. But today her art is celebrated, and her paintings hang in museums. As in her biographies of Horace Pippin and Harriet Powers, Lyons has brought us the life and work of an African American folk artist who succeeded despite community prejudice. The small, spaciously designed volume is illustrated throughout with quality reproductions of Evans' work in glowing color and detail. Lyons' sources are meticulously documented in notes at the back, including references to her own interviews with people who knew the artist. Lyons includes some negative comments from those who belittle "outsider" art, as well as praise from critics for the powerful visionary artist. Hazel Rochman
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Judge Dee at his best,
This review is from: The Emperor's Pearl: A Judge Dee Mystery (Judge Dee Mystery Series) (Paperback)
More than half a century ago, Robert Van Gulik translated an ancient Chinese detective novel about a real-life Chinese magistrate named Dee Jen-Djieh who lived around 700 A.D.; evidently he had so much fun that he decided to write a few more Judge Dee mysteries of his own. "The Emperor's Pearl" is among his better ones. On the night of the dragon boat races in Poo-Yang district, the drummer of the boat favored to win the race collapses; turns out he's been poisoned. Judge Dee is called in to investigate, and finds out he has not one murder on his hands, but a whole string of deaths involving a missing domino, a malevolent river goddess, and the theft of the Emperor's Pearl, still unsolved after a hundred years. With the help of his trusty seargeant Hoong Liang and a lady wrestler named Violet Liang (no relation), Judge Dee unravels the tangled mess and puts everything to rights.Unlike the classic Chinese detective novel which reveals in the beginning whodunit and focuses instead on how the crime was solved, "The Emperor's Pearl" is more like a contemporary novel in which we have to wait for the end for the resolution. There are some interesting plot twists and turns and enough surprises to satisfy the most diehard mystery fan. It's too bad Van Gulik didn't bring back the formidable Violet Liang in a subsequent novel; she's a delightful invention who's worth a book all by herself.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Satisfying mystery in exotic setting,
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This review is from: The Emperor's Pearl: A Judge Dee Mystery (Judge Dee Mystery Series) (Paperback)
Judge Dee, a magistate in 7th century China, is forced by the weather to stop at a remote mountain monastery. There, while the storm rages, Dee observes suspicious behavior and hears stories of ghosts and vague accusations of murder.The investigation shows the judge many secrets, some personal and some criminal, places him in danger of his life, and exposes to the reader the religions and manners of ancient China; surprisingly modern in some respects and almost unimaginable in others. In the end, Dee's perception of human motivations as well as his logical mind allow him to redress injustice, improve the lives of several young people, and give the reader a solid solution to intellectual puzzles. A mystery in the classical sense, this concentrates more on the plot than on characters, and gives a well-integrated lecture in history.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Clever mystery with a little extra,
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This review is from: The Emperor's Pearl: A Judge Dee Mystery (Judge Dee Mystery Series) (Paperback)
This novel, written by the author both in English and in Dutch ("De Parel van de Keizer") is part of the second series of mystery books featuring Judge Dee as the sleuth. These novels are a bit shorter and a bit "lighter" than the first series of five books, which starts with "The Chinese Maze Murders" ("Labyrinth in Lan-Fang"). Once again Judge Dee solves three unrelated mysteries, using his skills of observation and logical thinking, employing casual conversations with various protagonists as his main approach. However, in this book Judge Dee also surprises the reader by an unusual gambit that almost misfires.
What I liked most about this book were hints of the supernatural that nonetheless stay within the limits of the traditional mystery novel. This novel makes great bedtime or vacation reading!
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