Diego Rivera: His World and Ours

Diego Rivera: His World and Ours by Duncan Tonatiuh

The Text: Tonatiuh tells the story of Rivera's life in simple, brief text beginning with his love of drawing and art training, then his return to Mexico to paint murals around the city, combining classical art styles, experimental forms like cubism, and "ancient Mexican art" he had seen on his travels throughout the country. Tonatiuh finishes the book with a series of speculations on what Rivera would paint today, "Maybe Diego would paint shops at the mall...as he painted stree vendors selling flores."

The Illustrations: Tonatiuh's distinctive art style compares the Mexico that Rivera experienced and painted with the modern country and children. His art is heavily inspired by ancient art show more forms and even I can see the influences of Mayan and Aztec art.

The Extras: There are quite a few extras including a glossary of words and references, an author's note that expands on the life of Diego Rivera, a list of museums in the United States and around the world where Rivera's art can be found, and a bibliography. The final extra is a list of the works of Rivera that inspired specific illustrations in the story and an example of Rivera's art.

The Verdict: The author/illustrator says in his final note that his illustrations were not intended to be representatives of Rivera's works, but interpretations in "a manner both accessible to children and conducive to his own illustration style." I have to disagree with this idea. Whenever I think of Rivera, I'm going to see Tonatiuh's illustrations in my head. This isn't really a biography of Diego Rivera at all, more of a...sort of...artistic representation of him? It's clearly meant for very young children in the lack of details (the actual text never says where Rivera painted his famous murals for example) but how many young children will be interested in specific artists, let alone this one? This isn't really a biography (biographies of artists should be illustrated by, or at least include a large selection of, the artists' work in my opinion) it's a sort of excursion into Tonatiuh's own painting, loosely centered around Rivera's life. If you purchase it, which I don't recommend, put it in the picture books.

ISBN: 978-0810997318; Published May 2011 by Abrams; Borrowed from the library show less

Diego Rivera: His World and Ours was a very informative autobiography of Diego Rivera’s life. Although children do not usually want to pick up a book and read about an artist’s life, but this book creates an engaging read. To begin with, the illustrations are part of what makes this book so great. The people look like little cartoon characters that make the pages interesting and fun to view along with the facts in the text. The illustrations looked like paintings, which is smart because Diego Rivera was a painter. Each page was like a mural that blended greatly with the representation of his life. In addition, these paintings are a fun way to represent the historical culture of this time period. They all added to the main idea of show more this book, which was to inform readers about Diego’s life as a famous, Mexican painter. The setup of the book was another reason why it was enjoyable to read. The author wrote most of the book on Diego’s life, but the end was about what Diego might think and paint if he were still alive today. For example, “Maybe Diego would paint shops at the mall as he painted street vendors selling flores.” This was interesting, thought-provoking, and very unique! show less

A biography of Diego Rivera depicted by simple coloring book type drawings that are colored in. The images are at times positioned in awkward body positions due to the lack of necks drawn by the illustrations. The illustrations were fun and moved along with the timeline of Diego Rivera. The reader can feel how he tried to mesh together the traditional classical artwork with the newer modern images he experimented with in Paris.

Summary: A children's biography of Diego Rivera. His life from childhood, to training as an artist in Europe, to his return to do legendary murals in Mexico.

Personal reaction: Really unique and interesting art. I have never encountered a children's book that uses a child-accessible version of ancient Mesoamerican art. Great style. Interesting that Rivera's art is described as related to the same style. However, the book's art does not mimic Rivera's, but is instead more simple and more overtly Mayan-inspired. Cool nonetheless.

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The illustrations were very appropriate for the subject of Diego Rivera. I also really appriciated how the author in the text provided ways for the reader to connect Diego's past to our present time.

this book shoes life and art, showing how his murals reflected mexivan culture and history, the vivid illustrations and clear storytelling make his story accessible and inspiring for young readers.

This book takes us through the life of world renowned painter Diego Rivera. This would be the perfect book to use during an art Module for the younger grades in elementary school. They often try and mimic a painters style and Rivera has his own unique style that he developed as he traveled and practiced other styles. The pictures in the book all look similar and every person has the same features which I find interesting. At the end of the book there is a glossary with words and references that students come across in the book as well as an author's note with Rivera's timeline.