Book Review: A History of Pictures for Children

A History of Pictures hardcover edition was originally published in 2016, and the paperback edition in 2020.

This particular edition I'm reviewing is interesting because it features the same content as the original book but re-written for younger audience. The book is authored by David Hockney and Martin Gayford with illustrations by Rose Blake who appears as a small kid in this book. This book only has 128-pages compared to the original's 360 pages.

The writing is definitely more accessible to younger readers and the content is written in an engaging manner. This book explores the meaning and purpose of art. There are many examples included from the history of art, including the caveman drawings, famous paintings created during The Renaissance, Chinese art, Japanese art and modern artworks created with collage and digital tools.

There's also discussion into the different styles and art movements, and what makes art look good and/or impactful, and how art has influenced people and other artists. The most interesting part about the book is finding out how these artists think.

This book provides a good introduction into art history and does a good job at making the content lively with additional illustrations drawn for younger audience.

A History of Pictures for Children is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | AU | JP | CN)

Visit Amazon to check out more reviews.

The links below are affiliate links, which means I earn some commission from each purchase, but at no extra cost to you.

Here are direct links to the book:
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.de | Amazon.fr | Amazon.it | Amazon.es | Amazon.com.au | Amazon.co.jp | Amazon.cn