Andy Warhol (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists: Previous Editions)

Mike Venezia's series "GETTING TO KNOW THE WORLD'S GREATEST ARTISTS" is a reliable and consistent series of art history books for elementary grade children. Venezia's books may be read aloud to preschool aged children or younger elementary grade children or children in grades two, three or four may be able to handle reading them to themselves, the large font helps with that although some words are higher level vocabulary. The illustrations in the book are photographic reproductions of Warhol and his artwork and some other Pop Art works, as well as some silly cartoons illustrated by Venezia which add a little humor to the book. Venezia always scrubs the artist's lives of anything controversial to provide age-appropriate basic information about the artist and his art and a little of the art movement the artist was a part of. Each of his books follows the same formula. Venezia has a talent for giving just enough information about an art movement and the artist's life and no more. He makes the subject interesting to kids who may not think they want to know about the life of an artist. Venezia's books are not boring nor are they too long or too detailed, they are 'just right'. I recommend all of Mike Venezia's books as they are all consistently written and produced. This book starts off with some popular works of Andy Warhol and talks a bit about the Pop Art movement. Then the book backtracks to Warhol's childhood with some detailed information that young children can easily identify with and relate to. Included with the basic biographical information is Warhol's interest in art at a young age and information about his primary and secondary education, segueing into how his art changed over time and at what point he became a self-employed professional artist. Also referred to briefly are other artists of the time that were part of the Pop Art movement, with photographs of their work, to compare and contrast Warhol's work with. This book has many reproductions of Warhol's art from his childhood through the end of his life and talks about the different mediums he used besides painting also. The book follows Warhol through his life from childhood to his death. As I said earlier Venezia has cleaned up the information presented to be age appropriate for elementary grade children. As an example, young children are often sensitive or scared about death and may worry about or be scared of doctor visits. Venezia mentions the date that Warhol passed away but no other details about his death (leaving out that he died after a common gall bladder surgery which other biographies for middle schooler students do mention). Another example is that the attempt made on his life and being shot with a gun but recovering from that is not mentioned (something else mentioned in middle grade biographies about Warhol). I commend Mike Venezia for realizing what children may be sensitive about and leaving out those details. The inclusion of information about the artist as a c

My 9 year old grandson's fave artist is Andy W. and so it seemed natural to give to him. It is colorful, not a terribly big book and maybe a tad young for a 9 yr. old, but he still seemed to like it. Since he actually was Andy Warhol for Halloween last year, I try to buy him anything and everything Warhol I can find so if your child likes Warhol, this is something you should consider.

This is a significant book! I recommend it highly. It is especially helpful when wanting to teach young children about POP ART that existed in the early and late 70's. Andy Warhol is an inspiration because he is the first person be begin depicting "everyday life" into his works of art. He modeled the "Campbell's Soup Cans" and the "Marilyn Monroe" icons in order to make a strong point. He believed that much like we consumed mass produced products such as soups we were also "mass consuming" pop icons such a Marily Monroe. He brought out his ideas through many works of art. This is a great way to show young children about POP ART and about Andy Warhol's great accomplishments. Another pop artist that could be correlated with Warhol is Lichtenstein he also depicted "mass consumerism" but with comic books and neat techniques to acquire his pieces of art. GREAT STUFF!!!