Portrait of an Artist: Frida Kahlo: Discover the Artist Behind the Masterpieces (Portrait of an Artist)

by Lucy Brownridge

Sandra Dieckmann (Illustrator)

A beautifully told art story for children, looking at Frida Kahlo's life through her masterpieces. Accompanied by stunning original illustrations from the award winning Sandra Dieckmann.

a a a a a - absolutely stunning
a a a a a - perfect for budding artists
a a a a a - A wonderful resource for parents and teachers.
a a a a a - the perfect amount of girl power

Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter and today is one of the world's favourite artists. As a child, she was badly affected by polio, and later suffered a terrible accident that left her disabled and in pain. Shortly after this accident, Kahlo took up painting, and through her surreal, symbolic self portraits described the pain she suffered, as well as the treatment of women, and her sadness at not being able to have a child. This book tells the story of Frida Kahlo's life through her own artworks, and shows how she came to create some of the most famous paintings in the world. Learn about her difficult childhood, her love affair with fellow painter Diego Rivera, and the lasting impact her surreal work had on the history of art in this book that brings her life to work.

'A thoughtful and colourful biography of one of Mexico's most prolific artists.' - Kirkus

• ISBN13: 9781786036421
• Publish Date: 3 September 2019
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 24 October 2023
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Frances Lincoln Publishers Ltd
• Imprint: Frances Lincoln Children's Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 32
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Portrait of an Artist: Frida Kahlo is an illustrated biography of Frida Kahlo aimed at young readers (6-10 years). Due out 3rd Sept 2019 from Quarto on their Wide Eyed Editions imprint, it's 32 pages and will be available in hardcover format.

This is an appealing full color illustrated short biography and it's part of the Portrait of an Artist series including children's biographies for luminaries such as Van Gogh, Monet, and Georgia O'Keeffe. I think the author does an admirable job of honestly presenting Kahlo's life in an age-appropriate manner. The typesetting and coloring are well done and it's especially impressive that the contrast is consistent and the text shows well and readably on all the different background colors. The art by Sandra Dieckmann is energetic and colorfully appealing.

There is a short interpretational resource list at the back of the book showing some of Frida's major works with an explanatory paragraph about the symbolism. This would make a good group read or resource book for a classroom unit on different artists as well as a nice read for an art interested youngster.

Well done and enjoyable. Five stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.