From School Library Journal
Gr 5-8-Chagall's story begins with a description of his family, boyhood, and his Jewish community in the Russian town of Vitebsk. Brief paragraphs on each page bring details of the artist's character to life: "He had narrow shoulders and unruly hair and was good at singing, dancing and playing the violin." Biographical elements are illustrated by and interwoven with descriptions of his paintings. Chagall's work is predominately religious, and his paintings often contain a mixture of modern people and places with biblical stories and elements. The text provides excellent descriptions of such elements, such as the Wheel of Creation. Different features are highlighted to guide readers in looking at and deciphering the artwork. This volume is beautifully designed, with black-and-white photographs of the artist, his family, and studio; many large, full-color reproductions of his paintings; and varied textual elements (font sizes and colors). Certain phrases are highlighted by colored ink; these curving comments serve almost as captions or chapter titles. A worthy introduction to the artist.-Robin L. Gibson, Perry County District Library, New Lexington, OH
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Gr. 4-8. Another fine entry in the innovative Adventures in Art series, this title uses Chagall's biographical paintings to introduce his life story and work. In the opening scenes, Chagall's images of his childhood town illustrate stories about the artist's early years: a picture of an evening inside a synagogue accompanies text about his Jewish education. On the following pages, blocks and fanciful ribbons of text describe the details in Chagall's deeply religious pieces, citing both the biblical scriptures and events in the artist's life that relate to the images, ending appropriately in a description of the glorious painting
Life . A straightforward one-page biography appears at the book's conclusion, along with citations for all the artworks, inconveniently printed on the end-papers. Readers will come away with both a sketch of the artist's life and a deeper appreciation for visual art's capacity to tell stories.
Gillian EngbergCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved