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THE ARTS
Augustin, Marion

The History of Western Art in Comics: From Prehistory to the Renaissance!

96 pp. | Holiday | July, 2021 | Trade ISBN 978-0-8234-4645-2 $22.99 | Paper ISBN 978-0-8234-4646-9 $12.99 | Ebook ISBN 978-0-8234-5160-9 $10.99
(2) K-3 Translated by George L. Newman. Illustrated by Bruno Heitz. As Grandpa visits his Parisian grandchildren, they walk around the city and begin to notice and discuss the art of their surroundings, from street art to architecture. This leads Grandpa to start at the beginning, allowing for the titular survey of Western art. The focus here is on painting, sculpture, and architecture as we move chronologically through different time periods and places: from prehistory, to Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, to ancient Greece and Rome, to the Middle Ages, and finally to the Renaissance. The narrative moves at a fast pace to cover all this ground, and the information is quite dense--comic panels incorporate maps, timelines, sidebars, cross sections, ­occasional footnotes, and a copious amount of typewritten text. This denseness is mitigated by the cartoon style and balanced color palette of the illustrations, the numerous asides shown in speech bubbles, and the continuing dialogue between Grandpa and the kids. While the focus of this history lesson is squarely on the art, it's also made clear that art cannot be divorced from social and political contexts. Back matter includes photographs of various artifacts for each period with generous captions, a glossary, and an index.
Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2021

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