My Account Wish List Shopping Cart Log In
Store Location

Artists & Illustrators

Without getting into any esoteric exploration of the nature or meaning of art, it's safe to say that artists have always played a crucial role in human society and civilization. We aren't even talking about the broad spectrum of artists here: surely this would be true if we included poets, composers, actors, and concert pianists, but it's equally true when "artist" is limited to painters and sculptors.

The men responsible for overseeing the construction of the Tabernacle of the Jews, Bezalel and Oholiab, can rightly be described as visual artists. It's interesting that in the ancient world artists were considered manual laborers, that they had none of the glory attributed them by modern cultures, that instead of idle bohemians they were hard workers who put in long hours and earned their bread by the sweat of their brow.

If you told a Hebrew or Greek that painters were somehow spiritually or intellectually enlightened oracles, they wouldn't understand. Even during the Renaissance, when the bourgeois reverence of "Art" was born, painters and sculptors were simply advanced craftsmen—gifted in their fields, but not the set-apart breed later generations would consider them to be.

Modern critics like to talk about the "surprisingly advanced understanding of human nature" evidenced by ancient paintings and statuary. Those artists were simply representing what they saw: much of what interpreters think they see now in those reflections is simply the result of their own over-intellectualized approach rooted in Enlightenment ideas of evolution and human progress. The ancient artists undertook to present and interpret life as they knew it, not to represent some philosophically-based school of thought or technique.

To suppose that an artist's life is of no consequence or likely uninteresting, however, is not a defensible assumption. Rembrandt's biography may not be any more interesting or compelling than yours or mine, but given the mark he made on Western civilization through his paintings, it might be more valuable reading, at least from an educational perspective.

Also, artists since the Renaissance have been in the business of making statements through their art, and understanding what their lives were like can be helpful on two levels—it lets us see if their lives were consistent with the ideals they championed, and it demonstrates that, as people, they were just as much products of their environment as those of us who've never picked up a paint brush or chisel. The following biographies show both sides, as well as helping us toward a greater appreciation of the paintings, sketches, drawings and sculpture they left behind.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
Did you find this review helpful?
Parent Categories
81 Items found Print
Filter
Active Filters: Hardcover
Art of Art for Children's Books
by Diana Klemin
1st edition from Clarkson Potter Publishers
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
At Home with Beatrix Potter
by Susan Denyer
from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
for 6th-9th grade
in Peter Rabbit & Friends (Location: FIC-PETER)
Because Barbara
by Sarah Mackenzie, illustrated by Eileen Ryan Ewen
from Waxwing Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.14
Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin
by Marguerite Henry & Wesley Dennis
from Bobbs-Merril Co
Biography for 1st-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Boy Who Drew Birds
by Jacqueline Davies
from Houghton Mifflin
for 1st-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$15.29
Camille Pissarro
by Alix Wood
from Windmill Books
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Choices, Changes
by Joni Eareckson Tada
from Zondervan
Biography for Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
Dancer: Degas, Forain, and Toulouse-Lautrec
by Annette Dixon with Mary Weaver Chapin, Jill Devonyar, Richard Kendall, and Florence Valdes-Forain
from Portland Art Museum
for Adult
in Artists & Illustrators (Location: ELE-ARTISTS)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Diego Rivera
by Duncan Tonatiuh
First Edition from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Drawn from New England: Tasha Tudor
by Bethany Tudor, with photographs and drawings by Tasha Tudor
from Philomel Books
for 5th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
First Starry Night
by Joan Shaddox Isom
from Charlesbridge
for 4th-6th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Girl Who Drew Butterflies
by Joyce Sidman
from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
for 3rd-8th grade
2019 Robert F. Sibert Medal winner
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$18.69
Hasidim
by Ira Moskowitz, Isaac Bashevis Singer
from Crown Publishers
for 9th-12th grade
in Artists & Illustrators (Location: ELE-ARTISTS)
John James Audubon
Landmark #48
by John & Margaret Kieran, illustrated by Christine Price
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
John James Audubon: Painting America's Wildlife
by Janet Stevenson, illustrated by Robert Boehmer
from Encyclopedia Britannica
for 7th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Leonardo da Vinci
by Emily Hahn, illustrated by Mimi Korach
from Random House
for 6th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Leonardo da Vinci
by Jay Williams
from Horizon Books
for 5th-8th grade
in Horizon Caravel Books (Location: VIN-HOR)
Leonardo da Vinci
by Richard McLanathan
from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
for 8th-Adult
in Artists & Illustrators (Location: ELE-ARTISTS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Leonardo da Vinci: Pathfinder of Science
Immortals of Science
by Henry Gillette
from Franklin Watts
for 7th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Leonardo: Beautiful Dreamer
by Robert Byrd
1st edition from Dutton Children's Books
for 3rd-5th grade
2004 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.20 (1 in stock)
Life & Times of Leonardo
by Liana Bortolon
from Curtis Publishing Co.
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Life & Times of Michelangelo
by Maria Luisa Rizzatti
from Curtis Publishing Co.
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Life of Picasso Volume II
Book 2 of 4
by John Richardson with Marilyn McCully
First Edition 2nd Printing from Random House
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Linnea in Monet's Garden
by Christina Bjork & Lena Anderson
from R&S Books
Biography for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$4.80 (2 in stock)
Lust for Life: A Novel of Vincent Van Gogh
by Irving Stone
from Heritage Press
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Make Way
by Angela Burke Kunkel, illustrated by Claire Keane
from Random House
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.99
Masters of Art: Chagall
by Gianni Pozzi, illustrated by Claudia Saraceni & L. R. Galante
1st edition from Peter Bedrick Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
Masters of Art: Giotto and Medieval Art
by Lucia Corrain, illustrated by Sergio, with the assistance of Andrea Ricciardi
from Peter Bedrick Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
Masters of Art: Goya
by Mariarosa Schiaffino, illustrated by Claudia Saraceni & Thomas Trojer
from Peter Bedrick Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
Masters of Art: Leonardo da Vinci
Masters of Art Series
by Francesca Romei, illustrated by Sergio and Andrea Ricciardi
from Peter Bedrick Books
Biography for 4th-8th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
Masters of Art: Michaelangelo
Masters of Art
by Gabriella di Cagno, illustrated by Simone Boni & L. R. Galante
from Peter Bedrick Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Artists & Illustrators (Location: ELE-ARTISTS)
Masters of Art: Picasso
by Loria Stefano, illustrated by Simone Boni & L. R. Galante
from Peter Bedrick Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
Masters of Art: Rembrandt and Seventeenth-Century Holland
Masters of Art
by Claudio Pescio, illustrated by Sergio
1st edition from Peter Bedrick Books
for 5th-Adult
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
Masters of Art: Van Gogh
by Enrica Crispino, illustrated by Simone Boni, Francesca D'Ottavi, L. R. Galante & Ivan Stalio
from Peter Bedrick Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
Mathew Brady
by James D. Horan
from Bonanza Books
for 8th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
Mathew Brady: Photographing History
by Manual Komroff, with photographs by Mathew Brady
from Encyclopedia Britannica
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Matisse: Painter of the Essential
Art for Children
by Yolande Baillet
from Chelsea House Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Artists & Illustrators (Location: ELE-ARTISTS)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Moon and Sixpence
Modern Library
by W. Somerset Maugham
from Heritage Press
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
My Name is Georgia
from Harcourt, Brace & Company
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Natural Way to Draw
by Kimon Nicolaides
from Houghton Mifflin
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Norman Rockwell's America
by Christopher Finch, Illustrated by Norman Rockwell
from Reader's Digest
for 3rd-Adult
in Artists & Illustrators (Location: ELE-ARTISTS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Norman Rockwell: Storyteller with a Brush
by Beverly Gherman
from Atheneum
for 3rd-7th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Picasso
Artists by Themselves
by Rachel Barnes, editor
from Bracken Books
for Adult
in Artists & Illustrators (Location: ELE-ARTISTS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Pictures by J.R.R. Tolkien
by Christopher Tolkien (editor and text), illustrations by J.R.R. Tolkien
2021 Reissue from William Morrow & Company
for 9th-Adult
in Lord of the Rings (Location: LIR-LOTR)
$35.00
Private World of Tasha Tudor
by Tasha Tudor and Richard Brown
1st edition from Little, Brown & Company
for 8th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
R. v. R.: The Life of Rembrandt Van Rijn
by Hendrik Willem Van Loon, art selected by J. B. Neumann
from Heritage Press
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Randolph Caldecott
by Leonard S. Marcus
from Frances Foster Books
for 7th-Adult
in Oversized Biographies (Location: BIO-OVER)
Rembrandt and Titus
by Madeleine Comora
1st edition
for 4th-8th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
Robert Bateman: An Artist in Nature
by Robert Bateman, text by Rick Archbold
from Random House
for 9th-Adult
in Artists & Illustrators (Location: ELE-ARTISTS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Romance of Leonardo da Vinci
by Dmitri Merejcovski
from Heritage Press
for 10th-Adult
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
Secret World of Walter Anderson
by Hester Bass, illustrated by E. B. Lewis
from Candlewick Press
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Self-Portrait: Erik Blegvad
from Harper & Row
for 4th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Self-Portrait: Margot Zemach
by Margot Zemach
from Harper & Row
for 4th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Self-Portrait: Trina Schart Hyman
from Harper & Row
for 4th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Sparky & Spike
by Barbara Lowell, illustrated by Dan Andreasen
from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
Picture Biography for Preschool-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$14.41 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Story of Dan Beard
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #43
by Robert N. Webb, illustrated by Everett Raymond Kinstler
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of John J. Audubon
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #27
by Joan Howard, illustrated by Federico (Fred) Castellon
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Talking to the Sun
by Selected by Kenneth Koch and Kate Farrell
from Henry Holt and Company
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
This is M. Sasek
by Olga Cerna, Pavel Ryska, and Martin Salisbury
from Universe Publishing
for 1st-6th grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
Tomfoolery
by Michelle Markel; illustrated by Barbara McClintock
from Chronicle Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$18.99
Trails Plowed Under
by Charles M. Russell
from Doubleday & Company
for 7th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Vincent Van Gogh
by Jan Greenberg, Sandra Jordan
from Delacorte Press
for 3rd-6th grade
2002 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
in Artists & Illustrators (Location: ELE-ARTISTS)
Vincent Van Gogh
Art for Young People
by Peter Harrison
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 4th-7th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Vinnie and Abraham
by Dawn FitzGerald, illustrated by Catherine Stock
from Charlesbridge
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in U.S. Monuments & Symbols (Location: HISV-LANUS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
World of Bernini
1973 printing from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
World of Bruegel
Revised, 1975 printing from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
World of Cezanne
Revised, 1974 printing from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
World of Delacroix
by Tom Prideaux
Revised, 1975 printing from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
World of Gainsborough
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
World of Leonardo
by Robert Wallace
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
World of Manet
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
World of Michelangelo
by Robert Coughlan
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
World of Rembrandt
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
World of Rubens
by C. V. Wedgwood
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
World of Titian
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
World of Turner
Time-Life Library of Art
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
World of Van Gogh
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
World of Velazquez
Time-Life Library of Art
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
World of Vermeer
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
World of Watteau
Time-Life Library of Art
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
World of Whistler
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Time-Life Library of Art (Location: VIN-ARTBIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Sign Up!

Shop

Support

Hours & Directions

Learn more about our store location and hours

Connect

503.655.1951

hello@exodusbooks.com

19146 Molalla Ave,
Oregon City, OR 97045