Looking For A Picture Study Book List?
This picture study book list is here to help start your art appreciation collection. Picture study only takes a small amount of time and it can be done independently when you have some good resources.
Why Do Picture Study?
Charlotte Mason believed picture study was an important part of a child’s education.
“Another exercise that is useful is directing children to look at a view, then close their eyes and try to recreate that image in words. They will enjoy hearing their mother put the surrounding view into picturesque words, or remembering aloud a scene or painting she saw once before, and this helps model the skill of oral ‘picture-painting’ to them.” Charlotte Mason: Home Education p.48
Children from age 6 should be encouraged to create art and appreciate works of great artists, too. Children will develop a comfortable fondness for whatever they become familiar with––so why not make sure that what they’re used to is something of quality and beauty?
“We cannot measure the influence that one or another artist has upon the child’s sense of beauty, upon his power of seeing, as in a picture, the common sights of life; he is enriched more than we know in having really looked at even a single picture. It is a mistake to think that colour is quite necessary to children in their art studies. They find colour in many places, and are content, for the time, with form and feeling in their pictures.” Charlotte Mason
Picture Study Book List and Resource
This is quite a comprehensive picture study book list. I’m not suggesting you read them all. I’ve put many options here so you can hopefully find them in your library. We always like to have one picture study resource happening at least weekly in our home. It may include reading about the artist or just studying a work. It is really easy to incorporate art appreciation. Pick something off this picture study book list to get you started.
These English resources include picture study with English lessons in the form of observation and narrations.
- Primary Language Lessons includes famous works of Australian and world art.
- Intermediate Language Lessons includes famous works of Australian and world art
Australian and Aboriginal Art.
- Australian Artists Picture Study includes well known artists like Tom Roberts and Margaret Preston
- Our Land: Aboriginal Art Puzzle Book good for pre-schoolers and young children
- Bronwyn Bancroft also has may art works to study.
World Art
- World Masters Picture Study covers 16 of the world’s most famous artists.
This series is excellent because the commentary on each painting is done in a way children can understand.
- Come Look with Me: Animals in Art
- Come Look with Me Exploring Art with Children
- Come look with Me: Exploring Modern Art
- Come Look With Me: Asian Art (Good for your Asian studies Australian Curriculum requirement)
- Come Look With Me Exploring Landscape Art
Getting To Know The World’s Greatest Artists by Mike Venezi is another extensive series that many homeschoolers like. He also has books about musicians and other famous people.
Slightly more advanced these books include activities.
- Leonardo Di Vinci For Kids : His Life and Ideas With 21 Activities
- Monet and the Impressionists: Their lives and ideas with 21 activites
Biographies and Fictional Stories With Art
These well written biographies tell the story of these famous artists. They also include many of their works.
Strictly speaking these art resources are not for picture study but they are ways that you can introduce your child to famous art works.
Katie’s Picture Show by James Mayhew – This is the author’s first book which went on to be a series. In this book Katie visits an art gallery for the first time and steps into the frames.
Others in this series include:
- Katie and the Waterlily Pond – Artist: Monet
- Katie and the Starry Night – Artist: Van Gogh
- Katie and the Bathers – Studying pointillist paintings: includes Seurat and Pizzaro
- Katie and the British Artists – various British paintings
Laurence Anholt also has some historical fiction with the authors. He has many titles. Small Stories of Great Artists is a boxed set of 4 of his stories. I picked one of these up at an art gallery gift shop.
It includes:
- Picasso and the Girl with a Ponytail
- Camille and the Sunflowers – Artist: Vincent Van Gogh
- Degas and the Little Dancer
- Leonardo and the Flying Boy
Veronique Massenot has a few artist stories. Here are some:
- The Three Musicians – A story inspired by Chagall the French artist.
- The Great Wave – A story inspired by Hokusai the Japanese artist.
- Journey on a Cloud – A story inspired by Chagall the French artist.
Action Jackson by Jan Greenberg – Artist: Jackson Pollock. Award winning.
Meeting Cezanne by Michael Morpurgo
Pierre-Auguste Renoir: Paintings That Smile by True Kelley
The Cat and the Bird by Geraldine Elschner : A story about Paul Klee who is known for his abstract art.
The Noisy Paint Box by Barb Rosenstock – Artist: Wassily Kadinsky
Henri’s Scissors by Jeanette Winter – Artist: Henri Matisse
Sunday with Seurat by Julie Merberg
Diego Rivera: His World and Ours by Duncan Tonatiuh