Louise Chipley Slavicek
I.M. Pei from the Asian Americans of Achievements series
Chelsea House, 2010
Maya Lin: Architect and Artist from the People to Know series
Enslow, 1995
After reading a couple of picture book biographies, I considered trying to make a week of reviews in that genre. With limited sources for books, however, that idea quickly fizzled. I did lay my hands on a couple more biographies, both coincidentally of Chinese-American architects. These biographies are for young adults, but would be informative for adult audiences, too.
I prefer Louise Chipley Slavicek's book on I.M. Pei, not only for the color images within the book (which make an enormous difference for apprehending the architectural work as well as the for making sense of the topical sidebars), but also for the wide range of the biography. The latter may be related to Pei's long life (he was born in 1917, and continued to practice architecture around the world into his nineties). By contrast, Mary Malone's biography of Maya Lin focuses about six of ten chapters on the competition, controversy, and outcome of the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial, which launched Lin's career. Malone tries to make the case for a broader conception of Lin's practice as artist, especially sculptor, but without delving deeply into specific examples, we remember primarily her memorial works.
I will resume my focus on books for younger children, but if you have older children (or are looking ahead), the Asian Americans of Achievement series includes books on Margaret Cho, Maxine Hong Kingston, Ang Lee, Yo-Yo Ma, isamu Noguchi, Very Wang, Kristi Yamaguchi, Jerry Yang, and others.
No comments:
Post a Comment