Product Description
One of the Impressionist era’s best-loved painters, Pierre-Auguste Renoir painted every day for 60 years—that’s over 5,000 paintings! The joie de vivre expressed in his work is reflected on every page of Smart About Art: Pierre-Auguste Renoir in colorful, dynamic illustrations and 17 reproductions. With humor and insight, this title takes us through the life of an artist who at first was so unpopular that his paintings were attacked with umbrellas. Written as if it were a child’s own class report, this title is sure to draw new young fans to Renoir’s paintings.AUTHOR BIO:True Kelley lives in New Hampshire. She wrote and illustrated two titles in theSmart About Art series: Pablo Picasso: Breaking All the Rules and Claude Monet: Sunshine and Waterlilies. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Artsy Lady
This little book is simple to read and has many important facts, as well as examples of Renoir's art. It is appealing to readers that are young and have an interest in art. I like the format of thinking of questions the reader would like to ask the artist.

great introduction to art for children
the whole collection, a great way for kids to start to undesrtand why all these painters painted that way and what they were trying to say with their art.

Good kid appeal
This will be a good book to add to my third grade library. It is one the students can easily identify with and find clear descriptions. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Boating Party
Exciting information and analysis of one of the greatest paintings of all time. Many fabulous color close ups of different parts of thework, with lots of exciting insights.Also describes all the people in the painitng. One of the prized books in our collection. A real find. Great reference. ... Read more

Product Description
Imagine one of the history’s master artists placing hidden images in his paintings and never telling anyone he did so.Then imagine that no one noticed these hidden images for nearly a century after his death.Now imagine that a best-selling author has written a truly groundbreaking and endlessly fascinating book documenting those hidden images.
The artist is Pierre-Auguste Renoir.The author is Donald T. Phillips.The book is The Hidden Renoir.

Renoir was one of the founders of the Impressionist movement of the late 19th century.Impressionist paintings, when viewed close up, appear unclear, without detail or relief.But when seen from a distance, the artist’s intentions become more visible.Renoir applied this same concept to many of the 6,000 paintings generated over the course of his career.In so doing, he created within each painting a myriad of hidden images that can only be seen from a distance, in varying light conditions, and with a keen and curious eye.
After years of conducting extensive research into the life and art of Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Phillips presents two dozen paintings, including some of the artist’s most famous masterpieces, in a variety of genres – landscape, portrait, figure, etc.Throughout the book, Phillips places each painting in the context of Renoir’s personal history and, in so doing, tells the artist’s life story.As Henri Matisse once said of his older friend:“Recorded time holds no nobler story, no more heroic, no more magnificent achievement than that of Renoir.”

Why did Renoir include these hidden images in his paintings?He did it to express his feelings and beliefs, he did it for fun, and he did it because he was an artist.

From the Introduction to The Hidden Renoir:
Renoir’s simplicity conceals his genius.He made his paintings lovely to view and easy to perceive while, at the same time, leaving behind hidden elements that must be looked for.These hidden elements are masked by variations in colors, variations in how the colors were applied to the canvas, in how they interact and merge together, and in how the resulting images look from various distances, at different times of the day – in morning, afternoon, and evening light.To truly appreciate a Renoir painting, one must look beyond the artist’s simplicity.One must take time to think, to search, and to probe deeper.
... Read more