Discover Great Paintings

Micklethwait’s A Child’s Book of Art dealt with themes, such as ‘fruit’ or ‘action words’ where each double spread could exhibit work from a wide range of artists from Toulouse-Lautrec to Hockney. In this new title, each spread is devoted exclusively to one of thirteen selected artists, arranged in chronological order so as to see them in their historical context. The child can enjoy the painting as a whole by looking at the right hand side where there is also a photo of a child or child’s hand to scale next to a mini version of the painting so that the reader can judge its true size. There is an information box about each artist included. The child is invited to take on the role of art detective by looking more closely at the painting for details such as the age of the subjects in Holbein’s ‘The Ambassadors’, the dove in ‘Christ in the Carpenter’s Shop’ by Millais or the brushwork in Hockney’s ‘Self-Portrait with Blue Guitar’. The left hand page, in true Dorling Kindersley style, has bite-size chunks of information and further details of the painting ‘cut out’ along with thought-provoking questions about the items which guide children’s own investigations and challenge children to think about what they are seeing.

Do not expect all the paintings to be instantly recognisable. The author has chosen works that will interest the child viewer. A child looks at a painting in a confident, exciting and refreshing way. Unlike an adult viewer the child’s response is not affected by whether it is by a particular well-known artist. Ideal for the infant or junior classroom.