Van Gogh

I bought all of the books in this series for our homeschool art curriculum. They are easy to read and a fun supplement that can lead to a nice trip to the Smithsonian Gallery of Art.

This book offered a great resource for my classroom. There is a lot to read about his life and history so I would definitely not use it as a read-aloud. I do however, use this book to point out significant events in his life. The illustrations are light and add humor to an otherwise depressing life. They bring the artist to life and that makes it easier for my students to relate to and it keeps up their interest. Informative and enjoyable, this book is a must have for teachers.

Well, we should not have been surprised that Vincent Van Gogh presents a challenge to Mike Venezia, because the tragic life of this particular artist does not especially lend itself to the cartoons that Venezia includes in his Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists series. On the one hand we are talking about one of the most famous artists of all time, whose paintings now sell for millions and millions of dollars. But on the other hand we have a man who suffered severe emotional problems, cut off his ear, and ended up committing suicide. To be fair, Van Gogh was the epitome of the starving artist, and while none of the cartoons in the book goes too far, the one on the back of Venezia's self-portrait with a paper-cut is over the line given that this is a book for children.The strength of the book is that Venezia does one of his best jobs of explaining the unique style of the artist with his look at Van Gogh. It is ironic that in a book where the subject presents such problems, Venezia provides ten cartoons in the book, which might be the most I have seen in any of his volumes to date (there are 22 paintings and drawings by Van Gogh). Certainly the cartoons do not reflect the tone of the text, which deals with Van Gogh's problems in a straight-forward manner. But given the fate of the artist, it is hard to find them totally appropriate. Again, to be fair, this is Venezia's format and we could not expect him to abandon it and perhaps he was trying to provide a counterbalance to Van Gogh's self-destructive impulses. Certainly parents should check this one out and make a judgment for their own children, and teachers should do the same thing for their students. A good alternative text, although written for a slightly older audience, is "What Makes a Van Gogh a Van Gogh" put out by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

This is a truthful and sensitive presentation of information about an artist who suffered from an emotional disorder and often was not a happy person. Mr. Venezia does not gloss over Van Gough's difficulties, but presents them in a way that children can understand within the context of explaining what was importaint to the artist, and how the man's feelings and life experiences affected his paintings. When I read the book, I decided not present it to my daugher as early as the other Venezia artist and composer biographies. I waited until I thought she could clearly separate in her mind what other people do from the things our family does. Each parent will need to decide when their own child is ready for information about a great artist who ulimately commited suicide; it is the old decision between sheltering a child or presenting disturbing information when you are there to talk about it with them. Aside from these considerations, I strongly feel that the book maintains the same high standards found in all of Mr. Venezia's books. Any swerving from the facts to maintain a glossy finish (i.e., the traditional fairy tale happy ending?) would have been disappointing.

If you want your child to learn to know and love art, Mike Venezia's books are what you need! Like all the books in this series, this is an interesting, informative book, introducing art and artists to kids in a humorous, funny and captivating way. My son read all the books of Venezia, he loved them, and became interested in art, history and geography through these books (at the age of 7!). The homurous way Venezia uses is exactly what makes it so interesting for small kids. Don't miss these books!