Great Art Adventure

Two children visit the wacky Museum of World Art, where paintings come to life, and they see such works as Egyptian paintings, Roman mosaics, Tibetan scrolls, and American Indian buffalo skin paintings

Grade 3 Up-There may be other "visit to a museum" books around, but none feature these objects or have this unique approach. Throughout this oversized title, small captioned reproductions of paintings or artifacts from different cultures are matched with full-page, humorous parodies of the masterpieces that include two contemporary children, also seen as they make their way around the Museum of World Art. The sequence of these drawings provides the visual narrative of this otherwise textless story. Knox uses the endpapers to produce a floor plan of the building and show the youngsters' route. The send-ups are clever because Knox demonstrates great respect for the original works of art. He merely replaces certain elements with modern objects and modifies script styles to enable viewers to read English messages. For example, an ancient Grecian vase shows a line of people (including the imaginitive pair) waiting with umbrellas at the "Coat Check." A Russian icon depicts contemporary scenes. By doing so, the artist calls attention to the structure and aesthetic content of both his interpretations and these antiquities. His inventiveness and zany sense of humor make this an adventure not to be missed.
Kenneth Marantz, Art Education Department, Ohio State University, Columbus
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Touring the wacky Museum of World Art, two contemporary Alices in Wonderland named Dave and Jane wander through New Yorker artist Knox's hilarious but loving parodies of fine art and a certain big-city museum. A sophisticated and witty guide, Knox merrily incorporates the quotidians ofmuseum-going--coat-check lines, elevators, closed-circuit security--into remarkably faithful updatings of 11 works of art, including a black-figured Greek vase, a Book of Kells illumination and a Ming dynasty landscape. Sandwiched between the exquisitely reproduced originals (complemented by brief but informative captions) and the exuberant take-offs are black-and-white cartoons of the kids looking at the art. Study that Tibetan scroll, Papua New Guinea mask, Russian icon or Native American painted buffalo robe, the author implies, then let the imagination soar. Time-honored art appreciation this is not, but Knox's kid-pleasing and original approach offers plenty of lasting lessons, including the idea that art reflects life--and vice versa. Ages 4-up.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ages 5-9. Two children enter the Museum of World Art, a magical series of galleries, where they find themselves and their surroundings depicted according to the styles of various places and times in art history. Each double-page spread includes a black-and-white illustration of the kids in the gallery as well as a full-color reproduction of, for instance, an actual Egyptian wall painting. There is also a picture of the children's trip to the museum as it would have appeared in an Egyptian wall painting. The brief text points out characteristics of the Egyptian style: heads, legs, and feet in side view, though eyes and torso are shown facing forward. Other artwork includes a Roman mosaic, a Celtic manuscript, a Russian icon, a Chinese landscape painting, a Tibetan scroll, a New Guinean bark mask, and a Native American painted buffalo robe. The illustration of a Greek vase painting that shows museum goers in line to check their umbrellas is particularly effective. Original in its approach, this book will intrigue children and help them begin to decipher the many languages of world art. Carolyn Phelan