Reviews for My Name is Georgia: A Portrait by Jeanette Winter

The average rating for My Name is Georgia: A Portrait by Jeanette Winter based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-06-18 00:00:00 Gloria Birdsall This is a sample, gentle introduction to the life and art of Georgia O'Keefe. I liked it but feel it might be a bit dull for little kids unless they are already pretty interested in art. The illustrations are good but do not have the same feel as O'Keefe's work, which is I assume what Winter was trying for. I did like the way they break the implicit frame of the square. I was a bit puzzled by the omnipresent brown striping on O'Keefe's face. One thing I didn't like was the emphasis on O'Keefe's difference, especially as contrast with her sisters, who are presented as all the same, conformist little girls who care only about their hair and clothes. Winter seems overly influenced by the woman-defying-convention trope; in fact O'Keefe's mother encouraged all her children to study art, and her sisters had careers of their own. Georgia's sisters were the ones who encouraged her to return to art school. I'm sorry that the author didn't think a close, supportive family was interesting.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-07-16 00:00:00 Jean Paul This is a lovely introduction to Georgia O'Keeffe's art but, even though I liked the illustrations, I'd actually rather have had her actual paintings be the illustrations. Winter seemed to try to mimic O'Keeffe's style, and sort of got it, but I found the differences distracting. I guess for readers who haven't seen O'Keeffe's actual art works, these illustrations could work okay. This did make me (and not for the first time) want to read about O'Keeffe's life. Was she really that much of an introvert? That unconventional? But, while I didn't find this telling of the artist's life story boring, I think some children will find it boring, or at least not all that interesting. O'Keeffe is made to seem so different. Maybe kids who are artistic and feel very different from their peers might get some solace from it. I do like how it was shown how O'Keeffe went where she wanted to go, and painted what she wanted to paint, and brought her inspiration to fruition.