Chopsy Baby is reviewing… The Artist Who Painted A Blue Horse by Eric Carle

The Artist Who Painted A blue Horse is the first new picture book in four years from Eric Carle.

Famous for his 1969 book The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Carle’s new book is inspired by the work of Expressionist painter Franz Marc.

Marc famous for painting abstract blue horses within his work was the founder of artists’ group Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider).

Carle’s own technique for producing his wonderful pictures involves creating illustrations on hand-painted sheets of tissue paper, cutting and tearing out shapes and patterns and glueing them onto an illustration board.

Eric Carle says: “When I was in high school, in WWII Germany, I was secretly shown works by the banned Expressionist painters by my teacher Herr Krauss. This was an experience that changed my life and had a deep impact on me.”

“My green lion, polka-dotted donkey and other animals painted in the ‘wrong’ colours were really born that day seventy years ago.”

‘I am an artist and I paint …’ starts the book.  A red crocodile, a yellow cow and a pink rabbit follow the blue horse. Each animal is warm in colour, imaginative and so familiar with Carle’s technique that draws us back to the first time we saw The Very Hungry Caterpillar in childhood.

‘I am a good artist’ the book concludes, and instead of sounding pompous, it sounds like the delight of a young child tumbling out of reception class with paintings of the weird and wonderful. The most creative time in their life as they draw and paint the world around them as they see it.

Eric Carle’s new book is a delight, and instead of telling a story, it is effectively your young child’s first book of art. One for young generations to treasure for decades to come.

Out 04 October 2011
Puffin Hardback
£12.99