Two children, Ginger and Beau, are visiting the Art Gallery which just happens to be holding a special exhibition of Frederick McCubbin’s paintings. McCubbin is one of Australia’s leading exponents of the Impressionist movement of the late nineteenth century.
Tony Flowers has created animated style drawings of the children moving through the Gallery, and these figures are soon joined by a third as ‘Polly’ from McCubbin’s 1886 painting ‘Girl with bird at the King Street bakery’. Polly was the name of McCubbin’s second sister and possibly the model for the painting. She is also bored, her family are all busy and she has no one to play with. Climbing out of the painting she sets off with Ginger and Beau to see the rest of the exhibit.
They soon discover interesting things in the paintings such as fairies that only the girls seem to spy which leads to wondering about things that exist but you cannot see. As they continue to wander and look, the paintings begin to spark the children’s imaginations and they come up with ideas for games for themselves and for Polly, so she will not be bored. These include dressing up games, making and flying a kite, with the magpies that appear in Polly’s picture or making music. They are not so sure about the paintings of the river with naked swimmers on the bank.
They talk about the paintings and how the artist has made things look different in summer and winter and determine to try and paint like that, especially Polly who hopes to cure her boredom. The book is an excellent introduction to McCubbin’s work and a useful tool for visual literacy in art.
Anne Gray was Head of Australian Art at the National Gallery of Australia and is now a guest curator. She has authored several books and numerous articles on Australian art. ‘Imagine this!’ is her second children’s book which endeavours to entice children to interact with the art in an imaginative and resourceful way. Tony Flowers’ engaging illustrations further this ambition enticing the readers to follow the adventure through the book.
Picture Books for Older Readers
