A Story About Artist Agnes Martin
A TRUE TALE WITH
A CHERRY ON TOP
Cameron Kids
(Abrams)
(pub.1.30.2024)
40 pages
Ages 4 - 8
Author: Henry Martin
Illustrator: Shelley Hampe
Character: Agnes Martin
Overview :
"Like her contemporary Georgia O’Keeffe, Agnes was deeply inspired by the New Mexican landscape and lived a solitary life there, painting what she loved. And what did Agnes love? She loved an eggshell blue sky at sunrise, and she loved the cotton candy pink sunset. Agnes loved the whole world.
She said, 'If I paint the things I love, then my paintings will be about love. And you will feel love when you look at them.' She even painted a painting called I Love the Whole World—twice. But some days, Agnes did not love the whole world. Not everyone understood her art, or her, and she felt it all. Agnes painted solace in pale, barely-there, mercurial hues and painstakingly simple lines and squares."
Tantalizing taste:
"Agnes loved painting waves, but she loved the waves of
the sea even more.
'It is better to go to the beach and think about painting
than it is to be painting and thinking about going to the
beach,' she said.
To love the whole world is to be in the world.
Light stippling the surf.
Salt in the air. Sand between toes.
Love and belonging washing over you. Wave upon wave upon wave."
And something more: The About Agnes Martin section explains: "Agnes wrote, 'My work is not what is seen. It is what is known forever in the mind.' By dispensing with objects, narratives, perspectives, colors, and movement, Agnes invites the viewer to meditate on the simplified purity of what remains: textures, grooves, brushstrokes, and patterns.
Not everybody understood Agnes ... Agnes believed in accepting and encouraging children for who they are. We hope this book continues this tradition and shines a light on a unique person who achieved, though sometimes struggled to find, peace and happiness in life."
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