Draw What You See: The Life and Art of Benny Andrews

by Kathleen Benson, Benny Andrews (Illustrator)

Overview

Benny Andrews loved to draw. He drew his nine brothers and sisters, and his parents. He drew the red earth of the fields where they all worked, the hot sun that beat down, and the rows and rows of crops. As Benny hauled buckets of water, he made pictures in his head. And he dreamed of a better life—something beyond the segregation, the backbreaking labor, and the limited opportunities of his world.      Benny’s dreams took him far from the rural Georgia of his childhood. He became one of the most important African American painters of the twentieth century, and he opened doors for other artists of color. His story will inspire budding young artists to work hard and follow their dreams.
     

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780544104877
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	01/06/2015
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.70(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD840L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Kathleen Benson is the author of several picture books, many of which she co-authored with her late husband, Jim Haskins, including John Lewis in the Lead, which won the NCSS Carter G. Woodson Award for the most distinguished social science book for young readers that depicts ethnicity in the United States. She lives in Manhattan.

Benny Andrews was a groundbreaking artist, author, teacher, and activist who is widely considered to be one of the finest African American painters of the twentieth century. His work is included in museum collections around the world. He illustrated many children's books, including Poetry for Young People: Langston Hughes by David Roessel and Arnold Rampersad, for which he was posthumously awarded the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Award; John Lewis in the Lead by Jim Haskins and Kathleen Benson, which won the NCSS Carter G. Woodson Award; and The Hickory Chair by Lisa Rowe Faustino, an ALA Notable book.

Editorial Reviews

Draw What You See has the enormous boon of being illustrated with the painter's own work…Every image has a magnetic intelligence that is hard to look away from, along with many small details of exquisite loveliness…I suspect that many adult readers, and possibly some children too, will be tempted to flip through the pages of the book at least once before they settle in with the words. Benson's language is workmanlike, letting the inspirational facts of Andrews's life speak for themselves. She shapes his story to emphasize the artist's social activism and sense of mission…

The New York Times Book Review - Maria Russo

10/20/2014
Artist Andrews’s own striking paintings illustrate the story of his life and work, eloquently told by Benson. With an often difficult childhood spent working in cotton fields, Andrews found inspiration for his childhood drawings from workers in the field, “church ladies’ hats and the preacher’s Bible stories,” comics, and movies. Andrews’s eventual departure from Georgia—first through the Air Force, then to art school in Chicago—led to a broadening of his subject matter and style. In New York City, his artwork increasingly reflected his social conscience: he painted Harlem residents, living at the advent of the civil rights movement. His images blend whimsical elements—tree leaves resemble globular mosaic glasswork in one scene—with stark depictions of struggle, emphasizing his efforts to find intersections between creativity and social justice. Ages 4–8. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

"There's no better illustrator for this narrative than Andrews himself." —Booklist "[Andrews'] images blend whimsical elements—tree leaves resemble globular mosaic glasswork in one scene—with stark depictions of struggle, emphasizing his efforts to find intersections between creativity and social justice." —Publishers Weekly * "This singular biography refocuses attention on the struggle for social justice through the extraordinary visions of this singular painter—every illustration is the artist's own." —Kirkus, starred review "The narrative is expertly crafted around original Andrews paintings, which are notable for their focus on autobiographical elements and people’s experiences of prejudice as well as for the expressionistic stylization of figures." —Horn Book Magazine "Photographs of the artist in his studio open and close the book. His artwork and his story will inspire children to both "draw what they see" and live out their dreams." —Shelf Awareness * "A powerful work about an influential artist and activist." —School Library Journal, starred review "The illustrations are taken from Andrews’ paintings, and the full-bleed images that fill the lanky pages and sometimes double-page spreads showcase Andrews’ figural strengths, folkloric echoes, and eye for composition...they effectively convey the way Andrews drew on his life and surroundings for his art." —Bulletin   —

From the Publisher

★ 01/01/2015
Gr 4–6—Benny Andrews began drawing when he was able to hold pencil in his hands and "once he started, he never stopped." He was born in 1930, one of 10 children to sharecroppers, and attended high school at a time when few of his friends had similar opportunities. After the service and college, Andrews went to New York City, where his work began to blossom: in scenes of Harlem life, the jazz world, and of his Georgia childhood. Social causes and injustice, particularly the civil rights movement and the exclusion of African American and female artists from museums fueled both his art and activism. Thick with broad, vibrant swatches of greens, blues, and reds and incorporating collage elements, the artist's folklike paintings depicted the world around him—and illustrate Benson's moving and accessible picture book biography. Whether two or three dimensional, existing on a shallow stage or in an expansive landscape, Andrews's often elongated, stylized figures carry weight and their postures tell stories of oppression, of joy, of curiosity, and of pride. Readers will recognize the artist as the illustrator of Jim Haskins's John Lewis in the Lead (Lee & Low, 2006), Delivering Justice (Candlewick, 2005), and Langston Hughes (Sterling, 2006). His poignant portrayals of the human condition in these and other titles and in paintings hanging on museum walls long ago earned him the title he chose for himself: the "people's painter." A powerful work about an influential artist and activist.—Daryl Grabarek, School Library Journal

School Library Journal

★ 2014-10-22
African-American artist and arts activist Andrews was an outsider by birth and politics but not an outsider, or self-taught artist. Driven by an early passion for drawing and a desperate Depression-era childhood in Plainview, Georgia, Andrews attended college on a 4-H scholarship, served in the Air Force and earned a BFA from the prestigious Art Institute of Chicago. A black man on the GI Bill, Andrews had never even visited a museum until he went to art school. His paintings celebrated narrative; he painted the geography and the lives of black folks in the Jim Crow South and the striving, struggling inner cities of the North. Author Benson, her late husband, Jim Haskins, and Andrews (who died in 2006) collaborated on several projects celebrating African-American history and achievement, including John Lewis in the Lead (2006); her passion for her subject shines clearly in the text, brief though it is. She introduces readers to young Benny, who grows up surrounded by cotton fields, finds inspiration in the church and continues with his education even as his classmates drop out to work cotton full-time. She closes with his activism on behalf of "outsider" artists: "He believed that art was for everyone." This singular biography refocuses attention on the struggle for social justice through the extraordinary visions of this singular painter—every illustration is the artist's own. Indelible. (Picture book/biography. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews