Annemarie van Haeringen

Living in an orphanage as a young child, Coco Chanel learned many different kinds of needlework - skills she would put to good use later in life, when she became a world famous fashion designer. Observing the wealthy clients around her, she designed chic hats and more comfortable clothing. Most of all, she worked on creating 'the Little Black Dress' that would become a fashion icon...

Originally published in the Netherlands as Coco of het kleine zwarte jurkje, this slim picture-book biography concentrates on Chanel's youth, and on the innovative contributions she made to fashion design. The narrative is engaging, and the artwork stylized and quirky. I was familiar with author/illustrator Annemarie Van Haeringen's name, largely through her work on Hanna Kraan's De boze Heks books, and was curious to see what she would do with her own story. Judged on its own merits, I found Coco and the Little Black Dress engaging, less because I am particularly interested in fashion, and more because I appreciate an "orphan makes good" story. That said, my knowledge that Chanel was a traitor - an active Nazi spy, she did far more than just take a German lover, during WWII - really prevented me from taking this story to heart. I don't deny that Chanel did something notable in the world, and that her name will long be remembered in the fashion world. But the revelations of her conduct during the Second World War made me uncomfortable with such a lighthearted, almost adulatory treatment of her life story. There's no back matter here, so there is no opportunity for any additional information to be imparted, making me even more uncomfortable. I plan to seek out Elizabeth Matthews' Different Like Coco, which is another picture-book treatment of the subject, and will hope to see the issue addressed there.

As for Coco and the Little Black Dress, although I enjoyed the illustrations and narrative enough to seek out Van Haeringen's other work, I do not recommend it very strongly, given these concerns, unless an adult reader is willing and able to explain to the child listener that there is another, far less noble aspect to Chanel's story. If the adult reader is unwilling to take that step, I suggest avoiding the subject altogether, rather than hiding the unfortunate truth.… (more)

I knew about Matisse's large, colourful beautiful paintings, I was not aware of his paper cutout collage type works.

"Mr. Matisse and His Cutouts" is a children's nonfiction picture book. After a severe illness where he has abdominal surgery and ends up in a bare, white hospital room, artist Henri Matisse needs colour. Despite his pain, he still needs to create and fill the walls with color. He tries to paint but for various reasons that does not work, so he he begins creating art by cutting shapes out of paper and arranging the shapes on the walls and ceilings of his room, with the help of an assistant. When he is able to return home, he continues to create using the cutout method to create various works.

"I'm creating directly with color. It's what I've been striving for all my life."
He couldn't sleep, and he wouldn't take a sleeping pill. "I might lose all the beautiful images if I did."

The language and illustrations in this book are creative, artistic and use the colours that Matisse so loved. This is a wonderful book when looking at various types of art, the history of art, creativity, perseverence and more. Parents and teachers could read this book with children, then create cutout masterpieces.

There was a short biography at the end of the book to give a little more information. I learned more about this artist from reading this short book. It would be a great addition to a school library.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.… (more)