Author
Title
Difficulty*
Artist
Type of Art
Time Period
Easy
Jackson Pollock
painting
20th cent.
Michael Foreman
Grant Wood
Various
watercolors
Regionalism
Trompe
L’Oeil
Greenberg, Jan &
Jordan, Sandra
Foreman, Michael
Duggleby, John
Capek, Michael
Action Jackson
After the War Was Over
Artist in Overalls
Artistic Trickery: The Tradition
of Trompe L’Oeil Art
Medium
Medium
Difficult
Weatherford,
Carole Boston
Becoming Billie Holiday
Medium
Billie Holiday
Weatherford,
Carole Boston
Before John Was a Jazz
Giant
Easy
John Coltrane
Sullivan, George
Guarnieri, Paolo
Berenice Abbott,
Photographer
Boy Named Giotto, A
Lester, Julius
Roop, Peter &
Connie, eds.
Contains
References
Lives of Well Known Artists (last updated August 2012)
X
music
20th cent.
20th cent.
Ancient
Greece to
Present
20th cent.
X
Jazz Music
20th cent.
X
Photography
19th C
Medium
Giotto
frescos
Blues Singers, The
Medium
Various
vocal
preRenaissance
20th cent.
X
Capturing Nature: The
Writings of John James
Audubon
Catching the Fire
Difficult
John James
Audubon
painting and
drawing
19th cent.
X
Difficult
Philp Simmons
iron work
20th cent
X
Chuck Close Up Close
Medium
Chuck Close
portraiture
20th cent.
X
Medium
Clara Schuman
piano
19th cent.
Lyons, Mary
Rubin, Susan
Goldman
Clara Schuman: Piano
Virtuoso
Deep Blues
Delicious: The Life and Art of
Wayne Thiebaud
Christensen,
Bonnie
Django: World’s Greatest
Jazz Guitarist
Lyons, Mary
Greenberg, Jan &
Jordan, Sandra
Reich, Susanna
Medium
Medium
Bill Traylor
Wayne Thiebaud
folk art
Paintings
20th cent.
20th cent.
X
Easy
Django Reinhardt
Jazz Music
(guitar)
20th cent.
X
Artist’s life while making
his first painting
Life in his town.
Artist's whole life
A look at the art and the
artists
Artist’s life told through
poems inspired by artist’s
song titles
Author imagines sounds of
artist’s childhood that
inspired him
Parisan artists and early
U.S. photographers
Early years
Berenice Abbott
Difficult
Biographic Information
X
Brief biographies of each
artist.
Artist’s life as told through
his journals.
Based on interviews.
Artist's whole life
Artist’s whole life, based
on interviews.
Artist’s whole life
Artist's whole life
Artist’s life accompanied
by reproductions of his
paintings
Artist’s life told through
poetic, rhythmic text with
illustrations
Artist’s autobiography with
brief biographies of other
African American artists
Artist’s rise to fame.
Butler, Jerry
Drawing in the Sand, A
Medium
Jerry Butler/various
painting
20th cent.
X
Pinkney, Andre
Rubin, Susan
Godman
Meryman, Richard
Duke Ellington
Edward Hopper: Painter of
Light and Shadow
First Impressions: Andrew
Wyeth
Genius of Leonardo, The
Medium
Medium
Duke Ellington
Edward Hopper
piano
painting
20th cent.
20th Cent.
X
X
Difficult
Andrew Wyeth
20th cent.
Medium
Leonardo da Vinci
watercolor
and tempera
various
Medium
Medium
Georgia O’Keeffe
Michele Wood
painting
folk art
20th Century
20th cent.
Perry, Regina
Georgia’s Bones
Going Back Home: An Artist
Returns to the South
Harriet Powers’s Bible Quilts
Difficult
Harriet Powers
quilts
19th cent.
X
Wilson, Janet
Ingenious Mr. Peale, The
Difficult
portraits
18-19th cent.
X
Monceaux, Morgan
Jazz: My Music, My People
Medium
Charles Wilson
Peale
Various
vocal and
instrumental
20th cent.
Livingston, M
Keep on Singing
Easy
Marion Anderson
vocal
20th cent.
Krull, Kathleen
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo DaVinci
Varied
16th Century
Stanley, Diane
Fritz, Jean
Leonardo DaVinci
Leonardo’s Horse
Medium
Medium
oil painting
sculpture
15th cent.
15th cent. and
20th cent.
Goffstein, M.B.
Lives of the Artists
Medium
Leonardo DaVinci
Leonardo Da Vinci,
Charles Dent,
Nina Akamu
Various
various
various
Roalf, Peggy
Medium
Various
self-portraits
15th-20th cent.
Difficult
Martha Graham
dance
20th cent.
X
Stanley, Diane
Looking at Paintings: Self
Portraits
Martha Graham: A Dancer’s
Life
Michelangelo
Brief account of each
artist.
Contains a glossary of art
terms.
Artist’s whole life.
Medium
Michelangelo
Renaissance
X
Artist’s whole life
Winter, Jeanette
My Name is Georgia
Easy
Georgia O’Keefe
painting
sculpture
painting
Arnholt, Laurence
Picasso and the Girl With a
Ponytail
Easy
various
20th cent.
Mathis Sharon
Ray Charles
Pablo Picasso
Sylvette David aka
Lydia Corbett
Ray Charles
vocal and
piano
20th cent.
Visconti, Guido
Bryant, Jen
Igus, Toyomi
Freedman, Russell
Difficult
Medium
15th cent.
20th cent.
Based on interviews.
Artist's younger years.
Artist’s later life with his
apprentice
Early childhood
Artist looks back at her
family history
Information on the artist
and her quilts
Artist's whole life.
Brief glimpses of each
artist. Contains a glossary
of jazz terms.
Artist’s rise to fame written
in verse.
Scientific inquiry
X
Artist’s whole life.
Story of Leonardo’s horse
sculpture
Tells of the artists travels
and inspirations.
Brief period of the artists'
lives.
Brief highlights in the
artists life
Restless Spirit: The Life and
Work of Dorothea Lange
Winter, Jeanette
Medium
Sebastian Bach
music
17th cent.
Littlesugar, Amy
Sebastian: A Book About
Bach
Shake Rag
Easy
Elvis Presley
20th cent.
George-Warren,
Holly
Shake, Rattle & Roll: The
Founders of Rock & Roll
Medium
Various
Martin, Jacqueline
Lyons, Mary
Duggleby, John
Medium
Medium
Difficult
Wilson Bentley
Horace Pippin
Jacob Lawrence
Lyons, Mary
Snowflake Bentley
Starting Home
Story Painter: The Life of
Jacob Lawrence
Talking with Tebe
vocal and
guitar
instrumental
and vocal
music
photography
folk art
painting
Easy
Clementine Hunter
Littlechild, George
This Land is My Land
Easy
Freidman, Russell
Voice That Challenged a
Nation
Walking the Log: Memories of
a Southern Childhood
Wonderful Tower of Watts,
The
Yellow House, The: Vincent
van Gogh & Paul Gauguin
Side by Side
Nickens, Bessie
Zelver, Patricia
Goldman Rubin,
Susan
*
Easy = Level 1 & 2
Medium = Level 3 & 4
Difficult = GED-level
Easy
Dorothea Lange
Photography
20th cent.
Partridge, Elizabeth
X
X
Story of artist’s life
accompanied by some of
her photographs
Highlights of the artists
musical life.
Early Years
20th cent.
Short glimpses into each
artist’s life.
19th cent.
20th cent.
20th cent.
X
Artist's whole life.
Artist's whole life.
Artist's whole life.
folk art
20th cent.
X
George Littlechild
folk art
20th cent.
Difficult
Marion Anderson
vocal
20th cent.
Easy
Bessie Nickens
painting
20th cent.
Easy
Simon Rodia
sculpture
20th cent.
Medium
Vincent van Gogh
Paul Gauguin
impressionist
19th cent.
X
X
Based on interviews.
Artists whole life.
Artist weaves his
biography with Native
history
Artist's whole life.
Artist’s life as told by the
artist
Focus is on the building of
the towers
The year the artists lived
together. Short
biographies included.