Children's Books About Women Artists
New York City has so many opportunities for children to see art. There are museums, galleries, and art on the sidewalks. If seeing all this art inspires young kids to learn more, The New York Public Library has many wonderful children's books about artists' lives. In celebration of Women's History Month, we've chosen to highlight books about inspiring women artists.
Art From Her Heart: Folk Artist Clementine Hunter
by Kathy Whitehead; illustrated by Shane Evans
Lyrical writing introduces readers to a self-taught artist whose paintings captured scenes of backbreaking work and joyous celebrations of southern farm life, but because of the color of her skin, she was not allowed into the museums or galleries where her art was shown.
The Bluest of Blues: Anna Atkins and the First Book of Photographs
by Fiona Robinson
A gorgeous picture book biography of botanist and photographer Anna Atkins, the first person to ever publish a book of photography, using this new technology to catalogue plant specimens in what was to be a true marriage of science and art.
Cloth Lullaby: The Woven Life of Louise Bourgeois
by Amy Novesky; illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault
Just as spiders spin and repair their webs, Louise's own mother was a weaver of tapestries. Louise spent her childhood in France as an apprentice to her mother before she became a tapestry artist herself. She worked with fabric throughout her career, and this biographical picture book shows how Bourgeois's childhood experiences weaving with her loving, nurturing mother provided the inspiration for her most famous works. With a beautifully nuanced and poetic story, this book stunningly captures the relationship between mother and daughter and illuminates how memories are woven into us all.
Dancing Through Fields of Color
by Elizabeth Brown; illustrated by Aimée Sicuro
Presents the story of Helen Frankenthaler’s early life, how she used colors to express emotion and how she overcame the male-dominated art world of the 1950s to originate her own unique and influential style of abstract expressionist painting. Encourages young readers to express themselves through art in their own unique ways.
Dorothea Lange: The Photographer Who Found the Faces of the Depression
by Carole Boston Weatherford; illustrated by Sarah Green
Before she raised her lens to take her most iconic photo, Dorothea Lange took photos of the downtrodden, from bankers in once-fine suits waiting in breadlines, to former slaves, to the homeless sleeping on sidewalks. A case of polio had left her with a limp and sympathetic to those less fortunate. Traveling across the United States, documenting with her camera and her fieldbook those most affected by the stock market crash, she found the face of the Great Depression. In this picture book biography, Carole Boston Weatherford's lyrical prose captures the spirit of the influential photographer.
Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos
by Monica Brown; illustrated by John Parra
A picture book tribute to the iconic Mexican artist reveals how the animals in her life and her personal struggles inspired many of her works of art, and how her achievements raised awareness about her indigenous culture and the female form.
My Name is Georgia: A Portrait
by Jeanette Winter
A richly illustrated biography of Georgia O'Keeffe follows her life from the time she was a young girl, when she viewed the world in her own way, practicing her drawings and running free, to adulthood, when she followed her love of art from the steel canyons of New York City to the plains of New Mexico.
Georgia Rises: A Day in the Life of Georgia O'Keefe
by Kathryn Lasky; illustrated by Ora Eitan
The artist Georgia O'Keeffe spends the day transforming the materials, colors, and landscape of her desert home into paintings, in an imaginative and revealing look at how this artist's creative process is affected by the natural world and small moments of daily life.
In Her Hands: The Story of Augusta Savage
by Alan Schroeder; illustrated by JaeMe Bereal
Presents the life of the African American sculptor Augusta Savage, who overcame many obstacles as a young woman to become a premier sculptor of the Harlem Renaissance.
In Mary's Garden
by Tina and Carson Kügler
In this inviting picture book biography of Mary Nohl, we meet the artist as a young girl, just discovering her talent, and watch as her front yard sculpture garden comes to life.
A Life Made by Hand: The Story of Ruth Asawa
by Andrea D'Aquino
Ruth Asawa (1926-2013) was an influential and award-winning sculptor, a beloved figure in the Bay Area art world, and a devoted activist who advocated tirelessly for arts education. Delightful and substantial, this engaging title for young art lovers includes a page of teaching tools for parents and educators.
Maya Lin Artist-Architect of Light and Lines
by Jeanne Walker Harvey; illustrated by Dow Phumiruk
An introduction to the life and achievements of the artist-architect who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Describes the creative childhood explorations that inspired her career, and how she learned to think artistically with her hands as well as her mind, while performing unique experiments with light and lines.
Out of This World: The Surreal Art of Leonora Carrington
by Michelle Markel; illustrated by Amanda Hall
Ever since she was a little girl, Leonora Carrington loved to draw on walls, in books, and on paper. She loved the fantastic tales her grandmother told that took her to worlds that shimmered beyond this one, where legends became real. Out of This World is the powerful, stunningly told story of Leonora Carrington, a girl who made art out of her imagination and created some of the most enigmatic and startling works of the last eighty years.
Pocket Full of Color: The Magical World of Mary Blair, Disney Artist Extraordinaire
by Amy Guglielmo and Jacqueline Tourville; illustrated by Brigette Barrager
Presents the life of the American artist, describing her early work at Disney Studios, her frustrations at not getting her color work accepted, and the later incorporation of her work into some of Disney's best-loved films.
The Quilts of Gee's Bend
by Susan Goldman Rubin
A photo-essay portrait of the remarkable women of Gee's Bend and their celebrated artisan quiltmaking traditions, explores their multigenerational history and culture while celebrating the artistic mastery that led to their 2002 exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Stitchin' and Pullin': A Gee's Bend Quilt
by Patricia McKissack; illustrated by Cozbi A. Cabrera
As a young African American girl pieces her first quilt together, the history of her family, community, and the struggle for justice and freedom in Gee's Bend, Alabama unfold.
Collections
13 Women Artists Children Should Know
by Bettina Schmann; translated by Jane Michael
This book teaches a young audience about the works and lives of thirteen women artists through informative texts, puzzles, coloring exercises, and fun quizzes. In colorful spreads that feature important works as well as portraits of the artists themselves, children will learn how Sofonisba Anguissola, the Renaissance painter and pupil of Michelangelo, mastered portraiture in the Spanish Court; and how Mary Cassatt’s paintings depicted the lives of women in the nineteenth century. Modern and contemporary artists such as Georgia O’Keeffe, Frida Kahlo, Louise Bourgeois, and Cindy Sherman round out this introduction to women artists for children.
Women Artists A to Z
by Melanie LaBarge; illustrated by Caroline Corrigan
How many women artists can you name? From Frida Kahlo and Georgia O'Keeffe to Jaune Quick-to-See Smith and Xenobia Bailey, this lushly illustrated alphabet picture book presents both famous and underrepresented women in the fine arts from a variety of genres: painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, and more. Each spread features a simple line of text encapsulating the creator's iconic work in one word, such as "D is for Dots" (Yayoi Kusama) and "S is for Spider" (Louise Bourgeois), followed by slightly longer text about the artist for older readers who would like to know more. Backmatter includes photos, extended biographies, and discussion questions for budding creatives and trailblazers.
Women in Art: 50 Fearless Creatives Who Inspired the World
by Rachel Ignotofsky
A charmingly illustrated and inspiring book, Women in Art highlights the achievements and stories of 50 notable women in the arts—from well-known figures like painters Frida Kahlo and Georgia O'Keefe, to lesser-known names like 19th-century African American quilter Harriet Powers and Hopi-Tewa ceramic artist Nampeyo. Covering a wide array of artistic mediums, this fascinating collection also contains infographics about artistic movements throughout history, statistics about women's representation in museums, and notable works by women. Women in Art celebrates the success of the bold creators who inspired the world and paved the way for the next generation of artists.
Summaries provided via NYPL’s catalog, which draws from multiple sources. Click through to each book’s title for more.