Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Pablo Picasso: Xtraordinary Artists
Nonfiction
For ages 12 and up
Creative Education, 2006 ISBN: 1583413316
From very early on Pablo Ruiz Picasso loved to draw and quickly made the connection between “pictures and the expression of ideas and emotions.” He used his pictures to show the world what he wanted, what he dreamed of and hoped for, and what he felt.
Though Pablo was obviously a talented artist from birth he had a great deal of trouble with reading, writing, mathematics, and other school subjects. More than anything he liked to draw, communing with his subjects intensely and thus detaching himself from the outside world.
Luckily Pablo’s father was supportive, teaching his son all he knew about art and then, when the time came, letting Pablo make his own artistic discoveries. When he was fourteen Pablo went to art school in Barcelona but soon showed his teachers that he so technically advanced and unconventional in his thinking that he needed to go to a better school which he did, going to art school in Madrid when he was sixteen. Here Pablo still found the style of teaching to be too stuffy and rigid for his tastes so he skipped school and taught himself.
This refusal to go along with what was accepted and traditional became Pablo’s way of doing things. He loved to break the rules and he would not compromise when it came to his art. He created what he felt and what he liked and that was all there was to it.
When he was twenty two Pablo moved to Paris. The atmosphere in the great city suited him and here he grew, part of a large artistic community. Paris was the place that Pablo his fame and his fortune.
This exceptional biography is not only beautifully written but it is also full of Picasso’s artwork. Each painting or drawing shows readers the changes that he went through both artistically and on a personal level. The artwork also gives one glimpses into Pablo’s heart and in many of the pieces we can see his inner turmoil, his frustration, and his complex character.
