The Artists

On an autumn afternoon Anna meets a large grey cat with shining yellow eyes. Together they embark on a journey that is all about special friendship and the magic of creating art. A tribute to the painter Balthus, the King of Cats, and to his mysterious world: a place filled with mirrors, cats and girls. This book is both in italian and english language.

Each art-image is a piece of a story. Sometimes this picture illustrates the story in an explicit way, sometimes it becomes a chance to discover or invent a tale on our own. In this book, old and modern art paintings are combined with rhymes that promote an unusual way to watch and comment on masterpieces. These rhymes don’t contain explanations: they are a pretext to understand that watching an artwork can be an act of imagination, creativity and amusement.

This is the story of a painter who took the name from a castle: great patriot, decorated with the Legion d’Honneur, he was also a friend of Pablo Picasso during his five years in Vallauris. Artias used to try different techniques and this book invites the reader to follow the dreams and to use creativity.

This is the first children book dedicated to Mimmo Rotella, edited in partnership with Mimmo Rotella Foundation and Galleria Tega in Milan (based on the idea of Piero Mascitti). It is about the wonderful and amazing encounter between the child Thomas and the artist with his artworks. These artworks are advertising posters made with layers of torn paper, big and small graffiti, images taken from the world of cinema and theatre. Now Thomas can look at the world with brand new eyes: the street is a universe ready to be discovered and his hands are ready to bend the rules!

This time the rhymes are not combined with famous paintings (as it was for "Art in Ryhmes") but with drawings and artworks on paper, made by ancient and contemporary artists. The rhymes help the reader playing and going on with linguistic inventions. Each artwork becomes a moment to use curiosity and imagination.

"We always look at the world with distracted eyes, considering all the object around us meaningless or without interest. This book let us meet Calder, an artist that was able to play and invent with common materials, turning things without life in “kinetic” artworks. Official book of the Calder Exhibition at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome."

Mondrian wanted to show that the essence of the world can be caught in a better way through the abstract painting (and not through the figurative one). Alessandro Sanna picks this “real vision” up and shows us Mondrian’s poetic spirit and view with his refined illustration. This book is a journey among this painter’s figures and abstractions, showed in a simple and essential way. Winner of the Andersen Award 2006 as Best Art Book.

Il giovane Chagall disegna e colora tutto il giorno. Si accorge, però, di usare pochissimo i colori vivaci, mentre nero, bianco e grigio sono sempre ridotti a mozziconi. Come trovare un po’ di leggerezza?

Un viaggio tra le immagini oniriche e lievi di uno dei pittori più amati del secolo scorso, alla ricerca di quella leggerezza che, come diceva Calvino, ci invita a “non avere macigni sul cuore”.

When love and passion for the twentieth century Art combine with the irony of the stories and the beauty of the images, a special tale is born. This book is an enthusiastic look at the art of the past century, the one Junakovic loves the most. He is thankful to those artists and painter who have so bravely defended their achievements. They gave invaluable teachings to the world, subverting rules and promoting a new conception of Art.

This game starts with someone who enjoys turning into a prince, an old man or a child and someone else who is drawing the different characters. And in this way, playing and watching, you can discover how each detail, even the tiniest touch of light in the eyes, communicates a message.

This precious slipcase contains three little books (13x13 cm) and tells children about the mysterious shapes of Lucio Saffaro, who was an artist, a writer and a mathematician. Each book is enriched by thirteen drawings.

This is the third book of Marco Dallari’s trilogy about art and rhymes. This time the book focuses on portraits and “art faces”, suggesting a new way of watching art masterpieces, which become moments of amused discovery.

The “Titian red” is a particular warm and elegant shade of red. Its name is due to the famous Italian artist of the XVI° century. This book let us discover something more about this mysterious painter, with a funny and suggestive path through the palette.

This is a little mystery book about the adventure of a young resourceful boy that deals with murky circumstances. The story is always between reality and imagination; it was inspired by Velàzquez’s masterpiece Las Meninas, which is the key to disclose this little mystery.

Here we find Erri after the adventure of "With Mirò’s Eyes", leaving for a new journey. A colourful postcard from Switzerland lets his imagination run wild: the absolute protagonist is Paul Klee, with his extraordinary drawings, his artistic evolution, the things he used to love. Erri is amazed by that refinement and intensity and feels that something is changing inside his soul… Will this transformation be contagious?

The reader will discover the work of Mirò through the journey of Ernest, a surreal painter and dreamer. We will see the places dear to the artist, beginning our visit with an accidental pretext: a spot of coffee on the table. The colours, the lines, the themes and the light of his paintings and sculptures are suggested in an amusing and eye-catching way. Selected among the 12 best Italian books of 2009 by the Munich International Youth Library.