With a page like that, it is easy for the young reader to remember something about Picasso's Blue Period. This meant his paintings were controversial.' Others (including Picasso's father) thought they were just too strange. The text explains, 'Some people thought Picasso's blue paintings were great. When describing Picasso's Blue Period, the cartoon shows people looking at a blue painting exclaiming, 'Why is the guitar blue? Guitars aren't usually blue!', 'Why is he blue? People aren't blue!' and so on, along with, 'It's wonderful! no one has ever painted like this!', 'It's the work of a genius', and 'It's the work of a nut'. This alone might not have held the 6 yo's attention for long, but, the funny cartoonish interludes certainly do. They showcase the artist's famous painting with an anecdote or back-story about that painting. They are direct in offering facts but not in a tedious way. Picasso (Getting to know the world's greatest artists) And, Ana made a hand-written biography book about Georgia. The very first artist we 'studied' was Georgia O'Keeffe. But, I've always wondered about the term 'world famous' - how come only some get to be known all over the world? Why isn't Raja Ravi Varma more widely recognized outside of India? Is he still considered 'world famous'? His oil paintings are certainly gorgeous and he was quite an influential artist of his time. There are wonderful online resource that help with such art projects for kids.Īrt world is indeed strange and I cannot hope to understand it all. I am taking a very casual approach, mostly to educate myself, and, in the process, spark some interest in Ana (and Og). No rush. We try to make it fun by doing an art project in the style of the artist. We've been reading these set of books for the last several months, just one at a time, spread out enough as we intersperse it with other picture books and chapter books. Getting To Know The World's Greatest Artists series of books by Mike VeneziaĪnholt's Artists set of books by Laurence Anholt that offer stories about famous artistsĬome Look With Me series of interactive art books from Lickle Publishing Three series of books have provided us with much information about famous artists and their art, and hours of exploration, in a fun and easy-to-read way:

Come Look With Me by Gladys S. Blizzard