Books with author Peggy Roalf

This book is one of a series designed to present many different painters' views of a single subject. This book shows us something about what great artists saw when they were inspired by the skill and spectacle of the circus, with its daring trapeze artists, riotous clowns and dancing bears. Some painters have recreated the excitement that unfolds night after night under the big top. Others have used the circus as a way of expressing other aspects of life, like the tragedy of war. Readers are led on a personal gallery tour of 19 of the author's favourite paintings of the circus. From the work of an unknown Indian artist to Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Georges Seurat, Marc Chagall and others, each artist's vision and interpretation of the circus is unique. Some artists such as Reginald Marsh in " Pip and Flip" and John Steuart Curry in " The Flying Codonas" , depict the drama and excitement traditionally associated with circus acts. Other artists, such as Edward Hopper in " Soir Bleu" and Max Beckmann in " Acrobat on Trapeze" , were more unconventional in their view of the circus and use it as a means to convey the horror and despair they felt about war.

Roalf leads readers on a personal gallery tour of nineteen favorite paintings of dancers. From the work of an unknown Roman artist to Breughel, Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, and others, each artist s vision and interpretation of the dance is singular. Henri Matisse, for example, expresses the powerful energy in a circle dance by using bold lines and three brilliant colors in The Dance. Georges Seurat created a new way of painting, with thousands of flickering little dots instead of brush strokes, in The Can-Can. This book inspires young readers to observe their world and to use their imagination to see like a painter. Full-color paintings. Ages 8-12.