Art Against the Odds: From Slave Quilts to Prison Paintings

by Susan Goldman Rubin

A fascinating exploration of the healing power of art.

Children and adults alike find comfort in making things, but never has the act of creating been so poignant as when it is done during times of duress, such as in concentration camps and prisons, during extreme drought and poverty, or while battling mental illness.

In this fascinating collection, Susan Goldman Rubin has captured the essence of creating as a way to momentarily escape horrible circumstances. From the drawings of a child imprisoned in Terezin to quilts created by slave women in the United States, history repeatedly shows us people finding solace in crafting beautiful things.

This striking introduction to outsider art is illustrated in full color with examples from each time period.

Genres: Art, History, Psychology, Childrens

64 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Susan Goldman Rubin is the author of more than forty-five books for young people, including Andy Warhol: Pop Art Painter; The Yellow House: Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin Side by Side; and Edward Hopper: Painter of Light and Shadow. A long-time instructor in the UCLA Extension Writers Program, Susan Goldman Rubin lives in Malibu, California.

Reviews

[P.]

I was excited to find a book about folk art, outsider art, naive art, prison art, etc. on the shelves of the juvenile nonfiction section here at the library. 98% of the subjects are treated seriously and the stories are all interesting. Using extreme written-out dialect to depict the way slaves speak was a jarring choice, though. I'm not sure if the author was quoting some other text and that's where it came from, but it pulled me out of the text. And learning that this guy who had set up an art program for disadvantaged teens in the Bronx made the rule that no one with babies could participate, and then banned girls from the program because "too often they followed their boyfriends to the workshop and distracted them." What??? Besides that, it's a nice introduction to these artists and types of art.

[Yaren]

This was a small book about people creating art outside of social norms: poverty-ridden children, people in concentration camps, and enslaved and incarcerated people. Thanks to the Internet Archive for offering it for free.
While I did like the overall premise of the book, I also found a few aspects of it weird, especially the wording about girls getting pregnant as teenagers and "following their boyfriends to the workshop and distracting them," in the Tim Rollins and K.O.S. project part. Again, while it has a well-meaning promise and does a rather fair job in introducing some artists and concepts to the reader, it lacks the intersectionality to understand the situation of these people better. Artworks were superb tho!

[Lisa Vegan]

I recently read another book by this author, Fireflies in the Dark: The Story of Friedl Dicker-Brandeis and the Children of Terezin, and I saw this one and it looked particularly interesting. I love the subject of art as therapy and art being made as one way to cope with dire circumstances.

I did appreciate the diversity of the artists featured in this book. Chapter 1 called Outsider Art featured 2 artists who had schizophrenia. Chapter 2 called Captured had art by prisoners in modern prisons, Japanese internment camps in the U.S., children in Terezin (the subject of the Fireflies in the Dark book), and a POW at Andersonville during the Civil War. Chapter 3 features women’s quilts as art. U.S. slave women are featured, as are African American women in more modern times, including the famous Gee’s Bend quilters. Chapter 4 features kids creating art against the odds. Modern Day children in the U.S. and around the world are featured.

Overall, it’s a beautiful book, with an attractive layout and art by the artists mentioned. I didn’t like that the first sentence in many sections started with white print on colored paper. It took some time to get used to realizing it was the start of a paragraph and not a separate bit of information. There are informative resources and references given in the back of the book, and child friendly books have an asterisk , which is helpful information.

So, I love the subject and I was completely engaged while I was reading this. I do wish it had been more comprehensive.

My main gripe is that when talking about African American slaves and others/modern “ghetto” kids, their dialect was used, but not for any other group in the book. It was sort of weird. I didn’t know whether to find it offensive – I know it wasn’t meant that way – or whether it’s just because the form of speech used by these people is known and that might not be as true of some of the other groups.

Anyway, this works well as an art book, an art therapy book, a history book, and has something to offer in the fields of sociology, education, and other subjects.

[Alice]

4 stars fascinating

[Jobiska (Cindy)]

Not extremely in-depth, but a nice overview of people who have been compelled to create art while insane, imprisoned, or otherwise challenged...I would like to learn more about some of these artists individually now!

[Mary]

This would be a great book to share with upper elementary art students. The message of the importance of self-expression in varied life situations is valuable.

[Gina]

A very short but interesting book of outsider art, with short bios and examples of each artist's work.

[Tracy]

This book is about a collection of folk art made by people in horrible circumstances, yet are still able to convey beauty.