LIVES OF THE ARTISTS

Poetic evocations of five artists—Rembrandt, Guardi, Van Gogh, Bonnard, Nevelson—accompanied by a painting in full color at the outset and a drawing at the close (except in the case of Nevelson's sculpture—where the pattern is tellingly reversed). Just who these little tributes might be written for would be hard to say, since the references will be obscure to most young people—even in an atypically straightforward instance: "Guardi,/we don't know/too much about you./Your sister wed/Tiepolo./Your father,/your two brothers,/ and your sons/ were painters, too./In your time Canaletto/was acknowledged master/of the Venetian view." (The comparison with Canaletto on the two succeeding pages is well-drawn—if one knows Canaletto's work.) A child sensitive to word-sounds might read on regardless; and a child responsive to art and reflectively-inclined might respond to the lines opposite the sturdy, intent little Rembrandt drawing: "Every outside/has an inside,/and every inside/has an outside./ Just one stroke/ of Rembrandt's/chalk,/needle, brush, or pen/could tell both tales./ They tell them/ to this day." But this is the sort of anamolous object best discovered under a toadstool—or presented, knowingly, as a gift.