A unique offering that presents readers with arresting artwork and a compelling life story.
Art and design take center stage in this carefully crafted, elegant, artisanal book.
This stunning autobiographical art book recounts self-taught artist Tejubehan’s journey from an impoverished childhood in rural India, through her family’s efforts to improve their lot in a tent city in Mumbai, and into her adulthood, when she lived as a singer and artist with her husband. The direct, unadorned text has an immediacy that reveals its roots as an orally narrated life story, which was then recorded in Tamil and translated into English. Hand–screen-printed illustrations comprised of intricate linework and patterns of dots underscore elements of the text without being strictly tied to delivering straightforward narrative. In this way, the book emerges more as an illustrated memoir than it does a traditional picture book with interdependent art and text. As a physical artifact, it draws attention to its creation with stiff pages and fragrant, tactile inks. The illustrations themselves are black and white, while the text is set in a sans-serif typeface in colors that change subtly from spread to spread.
A unique offering that presents readers with arresting artwork and a compelling life story. (Art book. 8-14)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-93-80340-17-3
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Tara Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 31, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
In the same format as Georgia O'Keeffe (above), a biography of a painter (1822-99) known for her animal paintings in the realistic Academy style, whose subjects, drama, and often heroic treatment have special appeal for the young. The emphasis on the problems faced by women artists is repeated here; the text is informative but undistinguished (and it's ridiculous to state that the French Bonheur learned her letters by noticing that ``C'' stood for ``cow'' and ``B'' for ``bird''). Still, an adequate introduction to an artist of merit. (Biography. 8-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-316-85648-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1991
Hartling's Old John (1990), set in a German milieu evoked with perfectly selected detail, exquisitely demonstrated that the verities of the human condition transcend their setting. Here, a disastrous decision has been made (presumably by the publisher): a gentle story about a ten-year-old schoolboy's friendship with a Polish refugee in his class is completely undermined by pretending that it takes place in America, though almost every incident and detail—e.g., the characters' names, a teacher's assignment, Ben's gift of flowers to Anna's mother on his first visit, even how jobs and housing are acquired—seems European, and is certainly not American. Set in Hartling's homeland (Austria), this would be a quiet but pleasingly warm-hearted story; as it stands, it's an exasperating travesty.~(Fiction. 8- 11)
Pub Date: April 29, 1991
ISBN: 0-87951-401-9
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Overlook
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1991
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