FAMOUS ARTISTS IN HISTORY by Kelly Milner Halls

 

Learning about art usually requires a trip to the museum, but this nonfiction book by author Kelly Milner Halls will take readers on an art adventure as each page turns. Beginning with the birth of Michelangelo in 1475 through the years to 1983 and artist Njideka Akunyili Crosby, FAMOUS ARTISTS IN HISTORY introduces well-known artists and a number of less well-known talents to young readers interested in painters, sculptors, and photographers. 

Readers will learn about artists like Van Gogh, Picasso, Kahlo, and Warhol. The four-five page bios reveal each artist's early life, development in their chosen medium, and the works that made them famous. Included are other artists like Utagawa Hiroshige and his wood block prints that made art affordable for the common man and photographers like Julia Margaret Cameron and Gordon Parks who both broke artistic barriers of their times.

Pioneers in graffiti art like Jean-Michel Basquiat and mixed media collages like Njideka Akunyili Crosby are introduced. Readers will find out that Yayoi Kusama of Japan was inspired by her own mental illness struggles brought to life on canvas. 

As usual Kelly Milner Halls writing is well-researched. Included at the end of each piece are suggestions of where to learn more and also further tidbits about each artist. A glossary at the end of the book highlights selected words from throughout the book. FAMOUS ARTISTS IN HISTORY is perfect for classrooms and libraries wherever young readers interested in art might be.