Kimberly Lane, with reproductions of artwork by various artists,
Come Look With Me: Latin American Art
Charlesbridge, 2007.

Ages 9-12

Come Look With Me: Latin American Art is the latest addition to the Charlesbridge art appreciation series for children. Kimberly Lane, an art teacher at The School at Columbia University, curates a tour of twelve Latin American art works, explaining how the artists became painters and some of the goals they tried to achieve through their art.

Lane’s choices date from 1895 to 2004 but are mainly clustered in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Full-page color reproductions are each accompanied by a few paragraphs about the artist’s personal background (often including his or her social consciousness); aesthetic influences on his or her work; and the painting itself. Titles are respectfully given in the exact language used by the institutional or individual owners of the original works.

Heading each page of text are questions that draw young readers into the experience of the work. “Who are these skeletons and what are they doing?” they are asked to consider of Calavera Las Bicicletas by José Guadalupe Posada (1895). “If you painted someone you loved, whom would you choose?” they are asked while viewing Juan Sánchez’ memorial of his mother, Mujer Eterna: Free Spirit Forever (1988).

Lane’s discussion of a Diego Rivera mural at City College of San Francisco relates his role in the Mexican mural movement. Of Rufino Tamayo, she points out the influence of Picasso and Cézanne on the artist. Three of the twelve paintings are by women: a self-portrait by Mexican Frida Kahlo, Brazilian Tarsila Do Amaral’s Fernand Léger-influenced painting of the Central Railroad of Brazil, and a cubist still life by Cuban Amelia Peláez.

At the end of the book, readers are instructed to go back and look at the paintings again, with a

new set of questions, including “If you could go inside one of these artworks, which one would you choose? What would it be like to be inside this work?” Kimberly Lane’s questions are stimulating and fun for young minds and offer opportunities to explore cross-currents between history and art, as well as between Latin American and European artists. Although designed for classroom use, precocious young historians and potential art critics will find plenty to mull over and delight in on their own.