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THE ARTS
Rogers, Lisa

Joan Mitchell Paints a Symphony: La Grande Vallée Suite

40 pp. | Calkins/Astra | February, 2025 | Trade ISBN 9781662680373 $18.99 | Ebook ISBN 9781662680380 $11.99
(2) K-3 Illustrated by Stacy Innerst. Twentieth-century American painter Joan Mitchell (1925–1992) was inspired by a “verdant valley” in northwest France to create a series of twenty-one gigantic paintings. Standing on a ladder before massive canvases, Mitchell makes sweeping strokes with a brush larger than her hand, creating “marks that will transform her emotions / and memories / into a symphony of colors and / shapes.” Mitchell’s paintings do not represent the valley’s flowers and meadows realistically but rather capture “a feeling about them.” Vivid language describes Mitchell’s art: colors are compared to foods (“cotton-candy pink,” bright raspberry”); bold hues are “soloists”; while an intentionally repetitive sentence structure reinforces her singular focus (“she’s aware only of her / work— / not her studio, / not the music playing, / not her sleeping dogs, / not even herself”). Innerst’s mesmerizing illustrations bring art to life: textured brushstrokes have the feel of paint on canvas, while colors drip and bleed. A stunning double-page spread shows a closeup of Mitchell’s bespectacled face, which has merged with her painting, suggesting the artist and her work are one. Innerst uses ballpoint pen to depict Mitchell, her dogs, and her studio, adding visual contrast to the explosions of color in the paintings. An author’s note, a timeline, photos, and a bibliography offer more context. A lively invitation to explore an important mid-century woman artist and a visual feast that will ignite the imagination.
Reviewer: Julie Hakim Azzam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2025

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