It's My Whole Life
Charlotte Salomon: An Artist in Hiding During World War II
by Susan Wider
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Pub Date Aug 02 2022 | Archive Date Jul 31 2022
W. W. Norton & Company | Norton Young Readers
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Description
A gripping biography of Charlotte Salomon, and an ode to how art can capture both life’s everyday beauty and its monumental horrors.
Charlotte Salomon was a German-Jewish artist born in Berlin. She is remembered for her autobiographical series of paintings, Life? or Theater?, which consists of 769 individual works painted between 1940 and 1942 while she was in hiding from the Nazis in the south of France, and which has been called a painted parallel to Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl and an early graphic novel. In 1943, she entrusted her collection of paintings to a friend. In October of that year, she was captured and deported to Auschwitz, where she and her unborn child were gassed to death upon arrival.
It’s My Whole Life covers Charlotte’s remarkable life from her childhood and art school days to her time as a refugee in Nazi-occupied France, where she created the largest single work of art created by a Jew during the Holocaust. Compellingly written and accompanied by vivid color photographs of Salomon’s artwork, Susan Wider has crafted an illuminating portrait of an enigmatic and evanescent young artist.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9781324015451 |
| PRICE | $19.95 (USD) |
Featured Reviews
Jessica W, Librarian
A great read for middle school kids wanting more information about the lives of artists or what life was life during World War 2. Easy to read, great stories, loved the way the chapters were laid out and the information that was chosen to be presented here. A solid non-fiction pick for MS age kids.
meg e, Reviewer
It’s My Whole Life is an incredible biography of an artist I had never heard of, but now am so greatly inspired by. What’s great about this book is that it is accessible for children but also rich for adults. It provides hope and joy without forsaking the grim details of Charlotte’s life, like her family history of suicide, World War II and the Holocaust. When processing her family’s history of suicide, Charlotte decides to “live for them all,” that she does not have to continue the pattern of generational trauma. Her urgent need to create art is something any artist can relate to, and her unique storytelling through art is fascinating and should be taught more often in art classrooms. Despite her grandparents’ discouragement, she maintained a determined spirit to create. Charlotte’s attitude of using art as healing, and doing her best to show love even to unlovable family members, is incredibly inspiring and a great model of hope for readers. This was such a compelling read that hooked me right from the start. Great for art, history and English classrooms. Absolutely, highly recommended.
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