Don't Hold Me Back: My Life and Art

Book Overview

Winfred Rembert grew up in the 1950s in rural Georgia as the child of sharecroppers whose lives were little better than slavery. As a young man, he was nearly lynched, and served seven years in jail and on a chain gang. Yet he constantly found ways to create, to invent, to uplift. As a child, he made toys from pieces of junk at the town dump. In prison, he watched a leather worker and learned to carve and paint the leather himself. Now, in his own voice and through his powerful paintings, he shares with a new generation of young people his story and his passionate commitment to self-improvement. Reminiscent of the work of Jacob Lawrence and Horace Pippin, the paintings? rich, deep colors and poignant details powerfully narrate a story of personal courage and exceptional talent. At the same time, Rembert shows how the civil rights movement was not just a matter of famous speechs and marches, but was a product of the bonds of the black community and the unbreakable spirit of individuals

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812627032
• ISBN13: 9780812627039
• Release Date: October 2003
• Publisher: Cricket Books
• Length: 48 Pages
• Weight: 0.96 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 8.1" x 10.6"
• Age Range: 10 to 13 years
• Grade Range: Grades 5 to 8

Customer Reviews

Winfred Rembert's remarkable life and art

This book pairs Mr. Rembert's remarkable paintings of his life with a poem by Nikki Giovanni. Winfred Rembert, an African-American artist originally from Georgia, incises scenes from his early life story on panels of leather, creating an unusually effective art form. The 3-D quality of his works, with forms molded through leather working techniques and colorfully dyed in precise areas, is difficult to capture in photographs, and some of the illustrations in this book only hint of the depth of his images. Mr. Rembert narrates the scenes in an approachable style. He has lived a life of epic proportions; he describes being given away as an infant by his mother to a relative, picking cotton in the rural south in near slave conditions, the good times at "colored corner," his civil rights struggle, surviving a near lynching, and his imprisonment, partly spent on a chain-gang. In prison he was introduced to the leather working techniques that he now employs in his art. In spite of his struggles, Mr. Rembert never lost his sense of himself or his optimism. A selection of his paintings was exhibited at the Yale Art Gallery in 2000, but this is the first book on his life and art. It is an important source for people interested in African-American life and art, or in folk art today.

Winfred Rembert's remarkable life and art

This book pairs Mr. Rembert's remarkable paintings of his life with a poem by Nikki Giovanni. Winfred Rembert, an African-American artist originally from Georgia, incises scenes from his early life story on panels of leather, creating an unusually effective art form. The 3-D quality of his works, with forms molded through leather working techniques and colorfully dyed in precise areas, is difficult to capture in photographs, and some of the illustrations in this book only hint of the depth of his images. Mr. Rembert narrates the scenes in an approachable style. He has lived a life of epic proportions; he describes being given away as an infant by his mother to a relative, picking cotton in the rural south in near slave conditions, the good times at "colored corner," his civil rights struggle, surviving a near lynching, and his imprisonment, partly spent on a chain-gang. In prison he was introduced to the leather working techniques that he now employs in his art. In spite of his struggles, Mr. Rembert never lost his sense of himself or his optimism. Now living in New Haven, CT, he first exhibited his paintings at the Yale Art Gallery in 2000. This is the first book on his life and paintings. "Don't Hold me Back" is a must buy for anyone interested in African-American life and art, or in folk art today.