Bookverdict.com

Gr 1-8 Greenberg and Jordan offer another remarkable book as they capture a two-month period during which Jackson Pollock created Number 1, 1950, (Lavender Mist). Though only focusing on this one painting, the authors manage to include interesting and revealing details about Pollock's childhood influences, his pets, his studio, and his environment. The active tense of the text lends immediacy and liveliness to the subject, "an athlete with a paintbrush" who "swoops and leaps like a dancer." Quo...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

Picture books about artists are full of pitfalls. Will an illustrator attempt to re-create the style of a famous painter? Will he mix reproductions with illustrations, risking a cluttered design? Will the author make the subject more "accessible" by creating a child protagonist or a fictional child-friendly plot? In Action Jackson, the trio of collaborators nimbly avoids these hazards as they present the complex, reserved artist Jackson Pollock using few words and large watercolor and pen illustrations. What Pollock paints is shown minimally with a few strokes, allowing the focus of these scenes to be the figure of the painter stretching his body across the canvas. Even when the artist is sitting quietly on the dunes, Parker's gestural style and quick improvisational line implies that Pollock's mind is as active as the gulls he's watching. Before beginning their story, the authors tell us i...Log In or Sign Up to Read More