Art History Books for Kids

For the past couple weeks I’ve been teaching my 3 year old daughter, “Bubby” (nicknamed this when she was little because she called everyone Bubba for some reason), about famous artists.  I think it is important to teach my children about art and music history, and want them to be able to have an appreciation for each.  While at the library, I found some really neat books written by Laurence Anholt about Pablo Picasso, Edgar Degas, and Leonardo Da Vinci.  The author has written historically factual stories about each of these famous artists, but in a child friendly way.  For example, the “Girl with the Ponytail” was a favorite subject of Picasso during a particular summer.  The story is about how Picasso met Sylvette, how she became famous as his model, and how Picasso let her choose one piece of artwork at the end.  Sylvette was then able to sell the painting and afford her own art studio.  Real pictures of the artist’s work are incorporated throughout each book (paintings, sculptures, and/or drawings).

Bubby was able to relate to the artist through the characters in the story and it really helped us understand each artist’s personality too.  This is what she (and I) learned from these books:

We discussed vocabulary for: artist, famous, painting, sculpture

Pablo Picasso:

• Liked painting people in unusual ways (for example a foot could be by person’s head, and an arm by a foot, and Picasso often didn’t do things symmetrically- made an ear on one side of the head completely different than the other)
• Liked creating paintings and sculptures
• Had a very cluttered studio with all sorts of objects and artwork around
• Was a silly, happy man (at least during the period when this book was written)

Edgar Degas:

• Liked painting horses and dancers
• Liked creating paintings and sculptures
• In the end was a grumpy man due to loss of eyesight

Leonardo Da Vinci:

• Liked studying how and why things worked
• Liked creating paintings, drawings, and inventions
• Wrote his notes in mirror image
• Was a compassionate man who took in children from the street

Bubby and I also went online to view more famous paintings from each of these artists.  (Picasso is not on this site, but there are many resources online and at the library for these artists.)  She also had fun creating her own drawings,  paintings, and sculptures after reading each of these books.  The picture above is an example of her version of a “Picasso” person compared to her regular drawing of a person.  Due to these books, Bubby has been able to recall the facts above and I think our discussions are setting a good foundation of knowledge about the artists in a fun way.  There are a few more books in the series of Anholt’s Artists Books for Children (geared toward children ages 4-8 years old) on artists such as Matisse, van Gogh, and Monet.  I plan to look for them on our next trip to the library!

These are the three books we already checked out from the library:

Do you know of more child friendly art and art history books or websites? I would love to know about them! Please share in the comments below.