Monkey Photo

Folk art usually adorns vessels or textiles, but here it’s a powerful vehicle for a story. Indian painter Chitrakar’s indigenous folk-style animals gape and twirl; their huge eyes are always wide open, and their red tongues curl out of their mouths, exposing rows of white teeth. Their coats are adorned with stripes and dots and thin lines, or with layers of scales or feathers. Wolf’s story, by contrast, is almost incidental. A monkey grabs a camera from a tourist and begins to shoot pictures of his friends. The animals react just as humans might; some are angry—“Go away, Monkey! No photo!”—but others vie for his attention: “Look at us, Mr Monkey! Monkey, photo!” At the end, the animals view Monkey’s photos hanging in a tree; they’re all closeups, crammed into their frames. There are moments of light humor to be found in the animals’ outsize expressions as they mug for the camera, but several animals will simply be unidentifiable to kids and parents. While some will find the artwork challenging, others will marvel at its visual power. Ages 8–up. (May)