Animals Observed: A Look at Animals in Art

MacClintock, Dorcas Charles

ISBN 10: 068419323X ISBN 13: 9780684193236

Publisher: Atheneum, 1993

Synopsis

A lavishly illustrated celebration of animals in art presents reproductions of Eastern and Western art that depicts different animals, including cave paintings.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews:

With 70 plus excellent reproductions and an insightful text by an author who combines a substantial knowledge of natural and art history with her love of animals: a provocative look at the many kinds of images created by artists who've delighted in animal form, behavior, and character. After emphasizing the important role of the artists' respect and, especially, empathy for they animals they portray, MacClintock selects contrasting examples for 18 species or groups (``Giraffes and Okapi''; ``Some Small Animals''). Paintings, sculpture, cut paper, prints, drawings, even illustration (Dorothy Lathrop's flying squirrel)- -the art is of top quality and wide-ranging in style, origin (though the southern continents are scanted), and period, from cave paintings to the present. The obvious greats (many British: Stubbs, Landseer) are well represented; there are also imaginative entries (a drawing by sculptor Henry Moore; a splendid woodcut zebra, stylized but ``identifiable to species''). Some of the descriptions of the art are demanding, but they're also rich with fascinating concepts; the more accessible comments on animal behavior and stories about the artists and the animals give a tantalizing taste of information to be explored. A beautiful, stimulating book. Full notes on illustrations; index of artists. (Nonfiction. 4+) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 3 Up-- The unifying quality of this collection of animal portraits is the skill of each artist in creating believable representations. Ranging in time from a 12,000 B. C. drawing of a horse to a 20th-century Jo Davidson bronze of a calf and, in geography, from an Inuit stone carving to an Australian lithograph, the book presents pictures of about 75 mammals in a variety of media. MacClintock's selections demonstrate the universal appeal of animals and the inventiveness of the world's artists in interpreting their special characteristics. Each picture is accompanied by text--more accurately an extended caption--that in some instances provides information on the creature's behavior and in others gives an anecdote about the artist. Thus, readers are offered a bit of natural history, some biography, and a smattering of social commentary while the pictures illuminate a place and time. The appended listing of who, what, when, and where sets the artwork in its historical context. The quality of the reproductions is topnotch, but some of the pictures are too small to reflect adequately the artistry of these artifacts. --Kenneth Marantz, Art Education Department, Ohio State University, Columbus
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Atheneum
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 068419323X
• ISBN 13: 9780684193236
• Binding: Library Binding
• Number of pages: 56