A Short Walk Around the Pyramids & Through the World of Art - Hardcover

Isaacson, Philip M.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0679815236 ISBN 13: 9780679815235

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 1993

Synopsis

Illus. with full-color photos. Isaacson introduces art in all its forms: painting, sculpture, folk art, crafts--even cities. He discusses the differences between realism and abstraction, links between tribal art and modern sculpture, use of color by diverse artists, and why everyday objects can be works of art.

About this title

From the Back Cover

"Beautiful, imaginative, and richly provocative."--(starred) Kirkus.

Reviews

Exuding a sincere appreciation for the emotional impact of art, Isaacson's vividly eclectic tour from the pyramids to a magically photographed New York City forms an outstanding introduction to the rewards of looking at art. More than 70 beautifully presented examples acquaint readers with painting, sculpture, crafts, industrial design, photography and city planning--from Elgin Marble fragments to a Shaker village in Maine, from a Jackson Pollack drip painting to a Peruvian poncho. Simple but eloquent descriptions touch on color, form and the power of art to communicate across both centuries and cultures. The graceful layout allows ample opportunity for reflection stimulated by Isaacson's gentle observations on the links between a West African tribal funerary figure and a Jacques Lipchitz bronze, or on the sinuous harmony of a Karmann Ghia automobile photographed in front of the Guggenheim Museum. "Art will make our hearts leap," he writes, and proves it on every page. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Once again, the author of Round Buildings, Square Buildings, and Buildings That Wiggle Like a Fish (1988) informs eye and mind with his lucid, intelligent approach to the visual arts. Here, he ranges from ancient structures through classical painting and sculpture to contemporary crafts--all in a logical progression from pure form to schematic and literal representation and to the impact of color and style on how images are perceived. His demonstration of the difference between photographs as simple records of the visual world and as art is admirably effective (the Taj Mahal is a work of art, for instance, but a photo of it usually isn't). Chapters on ``Useful Things,'' made handsome by the way their form follows function, and on communities--from traditional villages to a modern city--where architectural motifs are particularly harmonious, well integrated, and appropriate, are especially fascinating. The author (a Maine attorney and art critic) makes a splendid guide; his examples are a personal selection, some well known and some unfamiliar but all shrewdly chosen to illuminate ideas that could well spark a lifelong interest in art. (Many of Isaacson's own photos, more than two- thirds of the 84 color images here, are superb.) Beautiful, imaginative, and richly provocative. Notes on the art; index. (Nonfiction. 9+) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0679815236
• ISBN 13: 9780679815235
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 120