Art for Art’s Sake

Stumped on how to get younger children to appreciate something more than art a la the Fox Television Network? This trio of tomes may provide the hook you need.

The National Gallery of Art Activity Book by Maura A. Clarkin (Harry N. Abrams Inc.: $16.95, paperback) delivers lessons about 25 classic pieces from the Washington institution’s collection with word games, puzzles and “Magic Pictures Frames” that offer food-for-thought about artists’ painting secrets and related topics.

The artworks are nicely reproduced, and the text provides a decent lead-in to the activities, which range from making paintings and sculpture to constructing dioramas and mobiles. For example, why does George Washington look so serious in Gilbert Stuart’s famous portrait? And how would you like to look if you were the President and your likeness was going to be on a new $25 bill? Draw your self-portrait. Or perhaps making a mobile a la Alexander Calder would be more to your liking?

The tone is a bit stuffy--but the art is compelling. It’s not a book to just hand to the kid and hope they get it by osmosis; some parental guidance and assistance will probably be needed to really get the kids involved.

A different approach to the subject is offered in Paint and Painting (Scholastic: $19.95, hardback, ages 8 and up), a charming interactive book that covers the tools of prehistoric cave artists to the techniques of 20th-Century masters.

Part of Scholastic’s “Voyages of Discovery” series, this book gives children a sense of the relationships of different cultures through the artists’ tools, materials and ideas. The artwork is frequently dazzling (the Sistine Chapel before and after restoration, the Warhol/Pollock/Picasso flip page) and the interactive material a hoot--how often do you get to run your fingers over a cave painting or touch a real piece of papyrus?

“Paint and Painting” is short but sweet. Be sure not to miss the reusable vinyl stickers tucked into the back cover.

Oh! Coloring Book by Josse Goffin (Harry N. Abrams Inc.: $9.95, paperback) is a clever coloring book derived from the artist’s illustrations for his book “Oh!.” The illustrations are reduced to black-and-white drawings ready for coloring.

But there’s more to it than that. A fish folds out to become a duck, followed by a fold-out that just has the fish’s tail so the child can build upon it, using it as a springboard to either try to duplicate Goffin’s drawing or to create something new. Southland fans of a certain age will find this familiar turf: Perennial local TV host and radio commentator Tom Hatten used to do the same thing with “squiggles” during broadcasts of “Popeye” cartoons in the ‘50s.