In his art Magritte depicts everyday objects from a new perspective; nothing he creates turns out quite the way we expect. A stone floats weightlessly in the air, a landscape dissolves into fragments, a seagull wears a dress made of summer clouds and a locomotive steams out of a firepalce. This book introduces children to Magritte's crazy, topsy-turvy world full of riddles and secrets and to the concept of seeing everyday things differently.
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
The books in Prestel's Adventures in Art series do a wonderful job of balancing respect for art with an understanding of what holds a young child's interest. Now You See It--Now You Don't is filled with excellent reproductions of the paintings of René Magritte, carefully printed in color, with a lot of white space around each one. Designed with confidence in a child's ability to find the paintings fascinating, the layout is calm, and the text is full of fun. "What a horrible meal!" reads the caption over the famous image of the plate of ham with a human eye staring out from the middle of the meat. Throughout the book such comments are written in the same proper, school-board script Magritte himself used to caption such pictures as "This is not a pipe" (which depicts--of course--a pipe). Of a painting of six everyday objects with wonky captions (such as an empty glass labeled "the storm,") titled The Key to Dreams, readers are asked, "What do you think this picture could be called?" The book reproduces many old, black-and-white, surrealist snapshots, and even introduces Man Ray to the reader. This is the sort of multifaceted book that should enthrall the parent as well as the preschooler, and probably everyone in between. --Peggy Moorman
From School Library Journal
Grade 4-6-Some readers may be unsatisfied by the narrow focus of these slim volumes, but for others they may be just the ticket to nudge them into the world of fine art. Appealing layouts and the numerous, good-quality, full-color reproductions of the paintings are the strong points here. Pieter Bruegel examines the artist's The Tower of Babel. The text focuses more on Antwerp in the 16th century and the biblical story on which the painting is based than it does on Bruegel's life. A fair portion of the book is a tour of the tower lead by a stonemason depicted in the painting. An interesting section provides reproductions of other artist's interpretations of this subject. Now You See It discusses how Rene Magritte translated the sense of mystery he felt about ordinary objects to the canvas. Many full-page reproductions of his work are included. No mention is made of other surrealists. These introductory books may create more questions than they answer, making them ideal to spark classroom discussion or kick off bigger research projects.
Torrie Hodgson, Burlington Public Library, WA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Torrie Hodgson, Burlington Public Library, WA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Gives a good explanation of the artist's work.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Rene Magritte: Now You See It--Now You Don't (Adventures in Art (Prestel)) (Hardcover)
As an art teacher, I have been very impressed with this series of books for children. This volume, in particular, helps to explain some of the interesting and yet bizarre qualities of this surreal artist. I look forward to the next book in this series.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great kid's art book,
This review is from: Rene Magritte: Now You See It--Now You Don't (Adventures in Art (Prestel)) (Hardcover)
I bought this at the Tate gallery shop for my kids, who surprise me time and again by pulling it off the shelf for me to read. They love the oddball art, which seems accessible to them presented in this format. I'm going to pick up some others in this series for an early childhood art history selection. It's so great to be able to share this kind of thing with my kids.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
