Look! Really Smart Art

Book excerpt: In the fifth book of her outstanding, award-winning series for children on art, Gillian Wolfe explores all the tricks of the trade that artists use to deceive or trick the eye. The book reproduces paintings and other images which vividly illustrate such effects as tromp l'oeil, simulating movement, eyes following the viewer, surrealism, creating texture, theatrical use of light, multiple viewpoints, colour effects such as pointilism, visual suggestion and many more tricks. Artists represented include Escher, Hockney, Chagall, Pollock, Durer, Seurat, Dali, Van Dyck, Lichtenstein and others, as well as an example of Australian Aboriginal art. The author's highly informative text highlights the techniques used by the artists and effectively communicates her enthusiasm for the art. This makes an ideal introduction to a very wide range of art for readers young and old and draws on the author's great experience of educating children about art.