From School Library Journal:
Grade 4 Up-Rembert grew up in the segregated rural South of the 1950s. His paintings visually chronicle this life, while his own words fill in where the pictures leave off. Although he did not begin painting until the 1990s, his memories are vividly portrayed in strong, confident works of art. From the cotton fields to Colored Folks Corner in Cuthbert, GA, to the county chain gang, Rembert depicts a hard life without bitterness. He also captures happier memories. The paintings are done in deep, warm, rich colors on leather. Shapes and colors create patterns that fill the art and draw the eye across the page. The white of the cotton bolls spread in waves across the field contrast sharply with the dark pigments of the pickers' skin tones. Black-and-white stripes of the chain gang literally cover the leather canvas. The reproductions fill the pages and details are enlarged within the discussion on subsequent pages. The result is a cohesive union of text and illustrations that reinforces the emotions, rhythm, and power of this autobiographical profile. The self-taught artist's powerful work is reminiscent of works by Jacob Lawrence and Horace Pippin. The title, which comes from Nikki Giovanni's poem for Winfred Rembert, is a theme that runs throughout the artist's life and his work. This book makes a strong companion to Belinda Rochelle's Words with Wings: A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art (HarperCollins, 2001).-Carolyn Janssen, Children's Learning Center of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, OH
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From Booklist:
*Starred Review* Gr. 4-7. This handsome book about the life and art of Winfred Rembert begins auspiciously with "Don't Hold Me Back," a poem written for the artist by Nikki Giovanni. In his autobiographical account, Rembert reflects on growing up in Georgia, picking cotton, worrying about lynching, attending a civil rights demonstration, spending time in prison. Telling the same story visually, Rembert's unusual pictures are classified as "outsider art." At first glance they look like naive paintings, but each one is a piece of leather that has been carved, tooled, and dyed with rich colors. Often a picture is discussed on a single double-page spread. In other cases, the discussion continues on a second spread, with portions of the original picture framed, enlarged, and presented again. This technique works very well, and so does the unusual practice of using a dark, monotone print of the featured picture as background for text. The book closes with a note on the art, a historical note, and a bibliography of recommended reading. This beautifully designed, very accessible book offers a vivid impression of an African American man's experiences in the mid-twentieth-century South. Carolyn Phelan
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