With Love...another book review!

The wonderful Felicia at HarperCollins once again gave me the opportunity to review one of their latest offerings. This time it’s a compilation: With Love: Artists’ Letters and Illustrated Notes.

To be honest, I had no idea who most of the artists were whose letters are featured in this volume. I didn’t take Art Appreciation class in college (or, if I did, I don’t remember any of it!) I recognized Frida Kahlo and Jackson Pollock and that was about it. But it didn’t really matter that I didn’t know the artists or their work. Reading the love letters (some of them with illustrations) of people, just people who happened to be artists, was interesting.

The love letter is a dying (if not already dead) art form in itself. These letters, compiled from the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art by Liza Kirwin and Joan Lord, offer a voyeuristic view into mostly ordinary lives at different periods in American history.

They are, in effect, a history lesson delving into the innocence (or not) of times past. They offer a snapshot of how each writer was feeling at one given time. The letters speak of longing, of passion. Some border on pleading.

The authors offer short background information about the writer and recipient of each letter, and in most cases, includes notes about what became of their relationship.

Each letter and accompanying information offer a unique story so the book can be read over a period of time without worrying about forgetting integral plot. It is the perfect book to have in your car while waiting to pick up your child at school.

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Next book review: Just Tell Me What to Say: Sensible Tips and Scripts for Perplexed Parents by Betsy Brown Braun.