Click a book or video within a section to read about or buy it at Amazon.com
This section is devoted to art by animals and children and from prehistory.
A related metagallery of web links and resources is here.
The rating system used is as follows:
5 Melted Elephants: Mind-bogglingly excellent. All that will remain of your elephant will be a bubbling grey liquid.
4 Melted Elephants: Truly remarkable. The eyes looking out from the seething mass which was your elephant will alarm small children.
3 Melted Elephants: Interesting and worthwhile. Your elephant's features will swirl as though the world were the reflection in a glassy lake.
2 Melted Elephants: Has redeeming features. Your elephant will be sticky to the touch.
1 Melted Elephant: Not up to snuff. If you even attempt to test the consistency of your elephant it may trample you or turn away in disgust.
Wishes, Lies, and Dreams : Teaching Children to Write Poetry
by Kenneth Koch (Afterword), Ron Padgett
3 Melted Elephants
"I used to have a baby but now he's a dog." - from a poem by a 3rd Grader.The bulk of this book is writings by children.
Monkey Painting
by Thierry Lenain, Desmond Morris (Introduction)
3 Melted Elephants
An interesting and not overly preposterous survey of the history and interpretation of monkey painting, with a number of illustrations.
Why Cats Paint : A Theory of Feline Aesthetics
by Heather Busch (Contributor), Silver Burton, Burton Silver
3 Melted Elephants
Interesting images somewhat spoiled by the tongue-in-cheek text, which creates doubt as to the authenticity of what still seem to be real paintings by cats.
Painted Dreams : Native American Rock Art
by Thor Conway, Gerry Ellis (Photographer)
3 Melted Elephants
Ink blots from the past for the art historians of today