Opening Young Eyes To Art

In anticipation of his friend Paul Gauguin’s arrival, Vincent van Gogh decorated the guest room with his freshly painted canvases depicting sunflowers. This is among the fun facts dispensed by author Susan Goldman Rubin in “The Yellow House” (2001), an engaging account of the two months these legendary artists lived together in the south of France. The book is designed for young readers, with the text richly brought to life with illustrations. “Any kid can relate to getting a room ready for a guest,” says Rubin, a longtime Malibu resident. “They also know the emotion of being desperately lonely and needing to have friends.” Such is the sensitive narrative skill of Rubin, an author who specializes in books about art and Jewish history for young people ages 10 to 14. Her books are never a simple recounting of an artist’s life or world events-libraries are already well-stocked with these publications-but are instead absorbing stories with a distinct theme. Her angle for “The Yellow House” became clear during a meeting with curators at The Art Institute of Chicago, the museum that published the book in association with Harry N. Abrams. “Van Gogh and Gauguin were the original odd couple,” says Rubin, whose sparkling eyes tell of her relish in crafting novel approaches. Rubin’s “Yellow House” not only illuminates the differing artistic ways of the two painters-Van Gogh favored painting what he saw, Gauguin preferred working from memory-but also takes a playful look at their disparate personalities: Van Gogh was messy and talkative, Gauguin neat and quiet. Ultimately what Rubin hopes to get across to young readers is that there’s no one right way when it comes to making art. “Art is about originality, seeing the world in a new way,” says Rubin, herself an artist who first came to the publishing world as an illustrator and writer of picture books. “I thought art history contained so many words about a process that thrives on wordlessness,” Rubin recalls, remembering her days as an art student at Oberlin College. “I’m determined to get across the joy and experience of art.” Early in her career, an editor recognized Rubin’s lively, straightforward writing style, one particularly well-suited for young audiences, and recommended she focus her work in that direction. “It’s so important to find ways to amuse and awake interest without going off on a scholarly tangent,” says the author, whose keen, forthright take on art and history attracts readers of all ages. Rubin’s far-ranging enthusiasm for the creative spirit has resulted in books about Frank Lloyd Wright and photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White, and even the only authorized biography of Steven Spielberg. Her cleverly titled “There Goes the Neighborhood” (Holiday House, 2001) introduces young readers to such once controversial architectural projects as the Eiffel Tower, Philip Johnson’s Glass House and the Pompidou Center. “Degas and the Dance: The Painter and the Petits Rats Perfecting Their Art” (Abrams, 2002) provocatively uses in its title the nickname given to young ballerinas, most of whom were poor, working-class girls, in 19th-century France. Rubin’s original narrative looks at Degas’ artistic process-one involving incessant drawing of dancers, a favorite subject throughout his career-as analogous to the training of ballerinas, who practice positions over and over again. “Both disciplines require the same kind of dedication and patience,” says Rubin, who could also be describing her own diligence as a storyteller. The author prides herself in being 100 percent accurate, while also making her stories both gripping and absorbing. Quotes are always real, never fictionalized, and first-person accounts are hotly pursued: she snagged an interview with architect Philip Johnson when he was 90. “She has a fantastic knack for research,” says fellow writer and friend Sonia Levitin. “She’ll go anywhere to get every nuance. And she’s so personable, she ends up being friends with everyone she interviews.” Among these friendships is one with Ela Steinov????-Weissberger, a survivor of Terezin, the Nazi concentration camp in Czechoslovakia, whom Rubin met while doing research for her award-winning book “Fireflies in the Dark: The Story of Friedl Dicker-Brandeis and the Children of Terezin.” Steinov????-Weissberger was among the hundreds of children who studied art with Dicker-Brandeis while living in the appalling conditions of the camp. The book, filled with reproductions of the artwork created by Terezin children, most of whom later perished, serves as both a record of a remarkable teacher who provided a refuge for children in an unimaginably horrific situation as well as a message about the power of art and the resilience of human spirit. “Rubin reaches the hearts and souls of her audiences,” says friend and colleague Adaire Klein, director of library and archival services at the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Museum of Tolerance, who admires Rubin’s ability to convey difficult historical subject matter in a way that’s meaningful to young people. “It’s important to tell the truth and teach lessons of tolerance,” says Rubin, adding, “it’s important to be honest without being horrific.” Rubin strikes just such a balance with the recently published “Searching for Anne Frank: Letters from Amsterdam to Iowa” (Abrams) that chronicles the little-known pen-pal relationship Frank had in 1939 with a 10-year-old girl in Danville, Iowa. Anne’s fate was never known to her pen-pal until the 1955 production of “The Diary of Anne Frank” on Broadway. When Rubin traveled to Amsterdam to gather information, she was able to talk to one of Frank’s close childhood friends, a woman who had never before agreed to be interviewed. “I reassured her it would be a way of looking at history through the simple act of friendship,” says Rubin. “I used ‘The Yellow House’ book as my calling card to show how serious I am.” Among new titles in the works are “Art Against All Odds: From Slave Quilts to Prison Paintings,” “The Flag with 56 Stars: The Story of the Liberation of Manthausen Concentration Camp” and a still-to-be-titled book on the history of Jews in America. “She has a wonderful eye for what is possible,” says George Nicholson, her longtime New York agent. “It’s important to produce books accessible to kids,” he continues, “especially when everything about art appreciation in the schools has gone by the boards.” The passion for art Rubin hopes to ignite in children is best expressed by her own excitement. “When I leave a museum, I start to see the whole world like a photographer or artist I’ve been looking at,” she says. “That’s the magic of art.”