If Monet Painted a Monster

September 1, 2019
From the creators of If da Vinci Painted a Dinosaur (2018), introductions to 16 more artists who didn't paint monsters--but could have. Once again the illustrator brushes in a hamster docent to guide viewers through a gallery of paintings that evoke the styles, and often specific works, of an artistic roster that gives people of color (Jean-Michel Basquiat, Robert Thompson) and women (Dorothea Tanning, Frida Kahlo, Helen Frankenthaler) strong showings alongside their dead white male colleagues. The tone is generally tongue-in-cheek--but there are some genuinely creepy critters too, from a surprisingly disturbing Giuseppe Arcimboldo face to surrealist Tanning's eerily invisible midnight walker. Still, seeing Edward Hopper's Nighthawks transformed into small rodents, a long, green body gliding sinuously among fuzzy Claude Monet water lilies, undead figures cavorting in an Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec "danse macabre," or the dramatic slashes of a Franz Kline-style abstract certainly makes the originals approachable as well as serving as points of departure for private imaginings. The accompanying captions are largely superfluous ("M.C. Escher's creatures creep up and down, around and around." So they do), but as before, a blank page set on an easel at the end invites personal additions to the exhibit. Capsule profiles of each artist parodied close the volume. An engaging approach to fine art--but the premise shows signs of wear. (Informational picture book. 5-9)

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December 1, 2019

Gr 1-3-With the Newbolds' third excursion into art history for children, a curious hamster provides a monster safari through some of the most famous works of American realist Edward Hooper, the surrealism of Dorothea Tanning, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and many more. The story begins by asking readers to conjure up the mental picture of a monster, and goes on to explore how such a creature might appear if imposed on the landscape of various works of art. Rather than Whistler's Mother, viewers are introduced to Whistler's monster-a Lovecraftian sea-monster in a rocking chair. Vegetables are assembled into a monstrous still life to stand for Giuseppe Arcimboldo's portrait of Rudolph II. The example of René Magritte does not seem to channel a specific piece, instead incorporating his themes into a ghoulish work of surrealism. While the works themselves, which appear to be rendered digitally, lack some of the painterly style and hallmarks of the originals, the monsters are integrated so that it is often difficult to distinguish which elements are part of the original; perhaps the best example being Franz Kline's abstract monster in dark strokes. The last page offers children an opportunity to draw their own monster and the back matter explains more about the life and signature style of each artist represented. VERDICT A clever and somewhat spooky introduction to famous artists and their signature works for early elementary students.-Kelly Topita, Anne Arundel County Public Library, MD

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