Human Anatomy Videos

Author Jen Bryant and illustrator Melissa Sweet joined forces to create one of the best picture book bios Ive read in a long, long time. All too often picture book bios leave me underwhelmed. They either are skimpy with the facts or too much information is crammed into 36 or so pages. A Splash of Red strikes just the right balance.

Bryant does a superb job of getting at the essence of Horace Pippin, a self-taught artist who, after being wounded during WWI, reinvented himself as a painter. Pippins early love of art, his thrill of winning an art contest as a boy, and his determination not to give up are dramatically told in clean, vigorous prose. Particularly interesting is that nowhere in this bio does Bryant mention that Pippin is a black man. Although obvious from the art, Pippins standing as an determined artist is whats stressed, not his color.

Sweet more than holds up her share of the partnership. Her illustrations mimic Pippins folksy style, yet she brings her own sensibilities to the mix. Sweet includes Pippins quotes into her artwork and she uses a combination of watercolor, gouache, and collage to obtain her effects.

The books back matter includes a historical note that gives a straightforward account of Pippins life. Theres also a list of resources (and a website) for readers whod like more information. Highly recommended.

A Splash of Color: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin
by Jen Bryant
illustrations by Melissa Sweet
Alfred A. Knopf, 40 pages
Published: 2013

Evan Penny was born in South Africa in 1953. He currently lives and works in Toronto, Canada. In 1978 Penny graduated from Alberta College of Art and Design and received a post-graduate degree in sculpture.

Evan Penny makes sculptures of human forms out of silicone, pigment, hair and aluminium. His pieces range from the almost precisely lifelike, to the blurred or stretched. Penny says one of his interests “is to situate the sculptures perceptually between the way we might see each other in real time and space and the way we imagine our equivalent in a photographic representation.” Though his creations are lifelike, Penny believes that “the real cant be represented or symbolized,” leaving everything to be a representation.