Heiligman, Deborah. Vincent & Theo.

Heiligman, Deborah.  Vincent & Theo.      Macmillan/Henry Holt    2017  454p  $19.99  Hardback  ISBN 978-0-8050-9339-1      hs/adult    Biography  VG-BN 

This is a comprehensive biography about two brothers who shared and supported each other through life’s highs and lows, with information based on the letters between Vincent and Theo over the course of their lives. For quite a while most of the world paid attention to Vincent van Gogh and not to Theo. We are now able to see Theo because Vincent sketched several portraits of Theo sitting, in the countryside, in a garden, and so forth. Based on this book, readers will realize that the brothers were intimately entwined. They depended upon on one another in many ways. Vincent was prone to melancholia, depression, and wide mood swings, while Theo was the stable brother, who funded Vincent’s life and career and promoted his artwork.
   

The story of Vincent’s life is multifaceted. He had mood swings that made him sad, low, and angry. During these days he used dark colors and dark shadows in his artwork, and it was full of pessimism. On other days he was full of energy, ideas, and enthusiasm, which resulted in the use of brighter colors, sunlight and passion.
    

This book provides an insight into the life of a struggling artist.  It would be a good addition to a high-school collection that needs biographies or materials on artists.

Summary: This is a comprehensive biography about Vincent and Theo van Gogh, two brothers who supported each other through life’s highs and lows, with information based on their letters.

Vincent van Gogh, Theo van Gogh                             --Linda McNeil

Venezia, Mike. Jackson Pollack.

Venezia, Mike.  Jackson Pollack. (Rev. ed)  Scholastic/Childrens Press  2017           32p      $29.00 ISBN 978-0-531-22191-4     elem/ms  Biography        VG-BNs       

What is most fascinating about this Pollock biography is author Mike Venezia’s attempt to judge the art without bias, not an easy feat with art in the abstract category.  Of course, he fails in this attempt, but readers will forgive him because he combines playful, creative cartoon-like images with typical biographical data, hoping to interest young readers in art.  Venezia successfully shows the beauty of Pollock’s paintings while at the same time he points out the criticism of his abstracts. He covers Jackson’s early life, showing how he painted using any old things that were around the house.  The reader learns about Jackson’s talented brothers, the family’s moves around the western part of the U. S., and Native American influences in his paintings.  In the next stage of Pollock’s life, post high school, Venezia discusses Benton’s influence over him.  In this period, Pollock was dissatisfied with his creations, and his dark side appeared.  His teachers were undeterred by this dark side, however, and continued to try to help him.  Highly influenced by Orozco and Picasso, Pollock put together a style that made people begin to notice.  Finally, his signature style consumed him, consisting of works characterized by a lack of symbols and shapes, painted with drips and splatters all over huge canvases, and although these paintings were not immediately sold, they withstood the test of time.  Venezia does offer the reader the possibility that anyone could throw paint around and paint a Pollock design.  Bias comes through, however, when Venezia closes the book with his opinion that Pollock’s work is very exciting, with the feelings evoked by its “color, movement and energy.” 

The strength of this series, as mentioned above, lies in its unique combination of the serious and the playful, the authentic and the created, and the detailed and the simple.  If the writer’s purpose is to inspire children to read, Venezia will achieve this goal easily.          

Summary: This book covers Pollock’s interesting life growing up out west, moving from ranch to ranch with his family, followed by a move to New York to take art classes and ending with his unusual development as an artist.    

Jackson Pollock-Biography, Jackson Pollock-Art                                         —Martha Squaresky