What makes a Raphael a Raphael?

School Library Journal

Gr 5-8-Mhlberger offers bits of biographical information, comments on the artists' social environments, and discusses the subjects they painted. However, he devotes most of the space in these titles to telling youngsters what they see in the dozen full-color reproductions included. After such unnecessary descriptions, he concludes with a note on the artist's intention. The simplified discourse is limited to a page or two per picture. Compare this Rembrandt with Gary Schwartz's book (Abrams, 1992), in which he tells his readers up front that ``Most of all, you will have to use your imagination...to picture his situation in the various stages he went through.'' The emphasis here on formal analysis leaves little room for idiosyncratic response or readers' interpretations. Facts are indeed necessary, and the most useful are the enlargements of details to disclose the painters' processes and allow for comparisons that stimulate insight. But art deals as much, if not more, with emotions. Overintellectualizing too easily turns off such aesthetic appreciation.-Kenneth Marantz, Art Education Department, Ohio State University, Columbus