Mary Engelbreit: The Art And The Artist Hardback

Description

From Publishers Weekly Self-taught artist Engelbreit, who lives in a St. Louis suburb, runs her own enormously successful greeting-card company; her illustrated books, journals and diaries (published by Andrews & McMeel) have a loyal following; and she also makes calendars, mugs and other products that sell in her own retail stores and elsewhere. This engaging scrapbook combines a biographical sketch with a perceptive discussion of her art. Her vibrantly colorful, richly detailed pictures contain familiar elements: spunky girls, straw hats, cottage roses, old-fashioned toys, well-dressed snakes, cats with angel-wings and decorative borders. Her fantasy graphics meld gypsies, dragons, spaceships, unicorns and UFOs. She also offers witty takes on childhood and hopeful images of multiethnic, multiracial cooperation. Whimsical, nostalgic and often veering to the cute or sentimental, her art nevertheless maintains a heartfelt connection to the real world in its celebration of love, faith, hope, decency and the vicissitudes of everyday life. 75,000 first printing; author tour. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. Read more From Booklist Mary Engelbreit, best known for her greeting cards, has become a favorite of millions who know her work by its distinctive decorative design elements (lots of cherries, flowers, polka dots, and checks) and her familiar characters, such as the determined girl with her hands on her hips telling us all to "snap out of it." Engelbreit has moved from cards to mugs to wallpaper and soon will have her own magazine, Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion (watch out, Martha). This book, as full of charm and cherries as her fans would expect, chronicles Engelbreit's life, both personal and artistic, explains where she got the ideas for some of her most famous images, and contains beautiful reproductions of her many cards. And for those who think all the flowers and hearts and checks and stars are just too, too sweet? Quote them the motto of the Mary Engelbreit Company: "Say it loud! We're cute and we're proud!" Ilene Cooper Read more See all Editorial Reviews