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A Is for Artist

A Getty Museum Alphabet

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Product: Book
ISBN-10: 0-89236-377-0
ISBN-13: 9780892363773
Publisher: Getty Publications
Country:
Year: August 28, 1997
Edition: First Edition
Size: 20.57 x 20.83 x 1.02cm
Number of pages: 64
Weight: 227gr
Binding: Hardcover

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Amazon.com Review
This is a lovely, highbrow alphabet book, ideal for babies and toddlers who can still be carried or cajoled into museums to gaze at paintings. For each letter, there is an image taken from a work in the collection of the Getty Museum. The pictures are fascinating and complex: A is for a 17th-century artist with a dapper mustache who is giving a drawing lesson to two rapt onlookers. B is for bumblebee, a fat little fellow riffling the petals of a luscious-looking camellia. C is for a candle that softly lights the delicate features of a young French maidservant. D is for an aristocratic, black-and-white dog gazing attentively at his overbred master. A wild-looking monkey grasps a bunch of green grapes on the G pages, and St. Peter's huge key (K) to the kingdom of heaven looms heavily.

The back of the book contains thumbnails of the paintings from which the details have been culled, and in most cases they are much larger, more complex compositions. This may have the subtle effect of teaching both babies and parents to scrutinize paintings even the most devoted art lovers sometimes pass by--yet another 18th-century family portrait, a big Renaissance cityscape, a Dutch still life of flowers. For it turns out, of course, that these fancy old warhorses are filled with exciting little passages of drama, charm, and great beauty. --Peggy Moorman

Product Description
In this delightful alphabet book, cleverly illustrated with paintings from the collection of the Getty Museum, A is for an artist by Jan Steen, B is for a bumblebee by Ambrosius Bosschaert, and C is for a candle by Jean-Francois de Troy. Details from twenty-six different paintings by artists including Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cezanne, and Edgar Degas provide the objects corresponding with each letter of the alphabet. The book also contains reproductions of all the paintings from which the details were selected.

This charming book provides a unique opportunity to help children learn the ABCs while teaching them to look closely at great works of art.

The other artists are:

Pompeo Batoni (Italian, 1708-1787), Jan van Huysum (Dutch, 1682-1749), Luca Carlevarijs (Italian, 1663-1730), Hendrick ter Brugghen (Dutch, 1588-1629), Francesco Salviati (Francesco de'Rossi) (Italian, 1510-1563), Bartolommeo Vivarini (Italian, about 1432-1499), Dosso Dossi (Giovanni de'Luteri) (Italian, active 1512--died 1542), Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841-1919), Jean-Simeon Chardin (French, 1699-1779), Jan Brueghel the Elder (Flemish, 1568-1625), Sebastiano Ricci (Italian, 1659-1734), Carlo Dolci (Italian, 1616-1686), Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss, 1702-1789), James Ensor (Belgian, 1860-1949), Lawrence Alma Tadema (Dutch/English, 1836-1912), Georges de La Tour (French, 1593-1652), Pieter de Hooch (Dutch, 1629-1684), Pier Francesco Mola (Italian, 1612-1666), Joseph Ducreux (French, 1735-1802), and Joachim Wtewael (Dutch, 1566-1638)

reviews

Please be aware 2 star rating

Several of the paintings in this book show naked men and women. It's a great idea, but I am shocked that they could not find more appropriate paintings for use in a children's book.

oh,my !!!!!!!!!!!!!! 5 star rating

The illustrations in this book are beyond wonderful.(Duh) Because, of course , they are reproductions of masterpieces. The alphabet letters are huge and displayed on a large negative space.Is also fun for the child to »find« the thing being represented by the letter. Very educational and a joy not to always have to look at the simplistic primary color illustrations in many of the childrens books. My 2yr. old grandchild loves this book and I purchased 3 others for my other granchildren of various ages. It is humorous ,elegant and charming. The»grape«, »skull« and »umbrella« are favorites!!!

source of play, learning and inspiration for children 5 star rating

As you would imagine, this is a lovely book. The paper is nice, the colorwork is great. And it is a sweet way to introduce (or reinforce) the beauty and diversity of the alphabet. The endpages show an upper- and lowercase alphabet and each letter pair is associated with a word. Aa with Artist, Bb with Bumblebee, etc. Once inside, you'll find facing 8-inch square pages for each letter –- on one side beautiful large letters (»U is for umbrella«) and on the other a full-page color plate of a detail from one of the Museum's artworks (an umbrella from Degas's 'Waiting'). Small print on the text page gives you the artist's name, nationality and lifespan, and the work's title and date. The book ends with small representations of the entire works from which details were taken. The three features –- letter pairs with word, word with painting detail, and letter with full picture –- complement each other in a way that also makes this a book ripe for play. This is the kind of resource I would like to see more of from this country's artistic community –- educational, thoughtful and fun. Thanks, Getty!