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If you were a boy named Henri Matisse who lived in a dreary town in northern France, what would your life be like? Would it be full of color and art? Full of lines and dancing figures? Find out in the beautiful, unusual picture book Iridescence of Birds. This work, designed to be appreciated by children and adults alike, is about how Henri Matisse became one of the world’s most famous and influential artists. It is written by acclaimed author Patricia MacLachlan with illustrator Hadley Hooper.
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The entirely brilliant Maria Popova, in her superlative digest Brain Pickings, writes: “At 8PM on the last day of 1869, a little boy named Henri entered the world in a gray textile-mill town in the north of France, in a rundown two-room cottage with a leaky roof. He didn’t have much materially, but he was blessed
From The Iridescence of Birds
Henri Matisse’s adult work, Harmony in Red, 1908
with perhaps the greatest gift a child could have — an unconditionally loving, relentlessly supportive mother. Like many creative icons whose destinies were shaped by the unflinching encouragement of loved ones, little Henri became the great Henri Matisse thanks to his mother’s staunch support, which began with an unusual ignition spark: At the age of twenty, Henri was hospitalized for appendicitis and his mother brought him a set of art supplies with which to occupy his recovery. “From the moment I held the box of colors in my hands,”Matisse recounted, “I knew this was my life. I threw myself into it like a beast that plunges towards the thing it loves.” And that thing flowed from love, too — it was Matisse’s mother who encouraged her son, like E.E. Cummings encouraged all aspiring artists, to disregard the formal rules of art and instead paint from the heart. “My mother loved everything I did,” he asserted. Decades later, thanks toGertrude Stein’s patronage, which catalyzed his career and sparked his friendship with Picasso, the world too would come to love what Matisse did.”
From the Iridescence of Birds
The Iridescence of Birds: A Book About Henri Matisse tells the heartening story of young Henri’s childhood and how it shaped his artistic path long before he began painting — how his mother, in an attempt to brighten the drab and sunless days, put bright red rugs on the floors and painted colorful plates to hang on the walls, letting little Henri mix the paints; how his father gave him pigeons, whose iridescent plumage the boy observed with endless fascination; how the beautiful silks woven by the townspeople beguiled him with their bright patterns.
INDUSTRY REVIEWS:
“A spacious and beautiful book, as much a lesson for adults on visual enrichment and nurturing a creative spirit as an introductory biography for children.” – “The Horn Book” *”Glorious . . . Effective page turns and the accretion of detail in both text and illustration take readers on a journey.” – “Kirkus Reviews,” STARRED REVIEW *”The book gives off a creative energy that readers of all ages will find fulfilling . . . A poetic look at creativity, both natural and nurtured.” – “School Library Journal,” STARRED REVIEW *”In two long, lyrical sentences, Patricia MacLachlan wonders about the early years of Henri Matisse . . . an essential, spirited picture book.” – “Booklist,” STARRED REVIEW *”It’s a sumptuous meditation on the way artists see and feel, one that possesses an iridescence of its own.”- “Publishers Weekly,” STARRED REVIEW
Kindle
Available on iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Mac
Free Delivery Worldwide
Delivery in Australia & NZ
Click to Read More