How to Love the Whole World: A Story About Artist Agnes Martin

Martin’s sensorial lines and Hampe’s pale mixed-media illustrations quietly capture the spirit of the art of Agnes Martin (1912–2004) in this softly told exploration of her work and life. Loose third-person descriptions of Martin’s evolving creative practice (“Agnes’s ordered and controlled grid paintings of joy became translucent and expansive band paintings of happiness”) alternate with italicized first-person reflections (“Today I feel happiness./ Today I feel gratitude./ Today I love the whole world”). Touching on Martin’s embrace of solitude and wanderlust, and emphasizing her appreciation for the natural world, text effectively weaves in quotes from the artist. Stylized visuals successfully echo their subject’s style, while layering mediums to lend pages an appropriate emotive depth. The result exalts in Martin’s ability to express her feelings about the world with a loving minimalism. Background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Further information concludes. Ages 4–8. (Feb.)