Painting Behind the Scenes

Oblong 8vo.From School Library Journal: Grade 5-8-- These handsome titles are companion books to a PBS television series, and reflect the impact of that medium in their bold design; colorful images and reproductions; and informal, conversational texts. Pekarik draws attention to various aspects of the sample artwork; mentions interesting information about the artists; and appeals directly to readers to think, notice, and compare. In Painting , the examples range from a Persian miniature to a surreal fantasy by Paul Klee, a swiftly drawn Matisse nude, and a Goya portrait of a royal child and his cat. Sculpture presents a wide-ranging collection that brings into juxtaposition such works as Henry Moore's stone "Torso," Gothic figures from Chartres Cathedral, Brancusi's "Bird in Space," a Calder mobile, and the Statue of Liberty to demonstrate how scale, shape, composition, motion are all part of the artist's craft. The books provide a tour through a true "museum without walls" in which some of the best of the world's art is described by a lively and knowledgeable guide. Such eclectic introduc tions have been offered before, but never in a more interesting fashion.