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

A powerful, poetic picture book biography about artist Agnes Martin and how she painted to show her love for the world

How to Love the Whole World is a powerful, poetic picture book biography about fine artist Agnes Martin and how she painted to show her love for the world from international art scholar Henry Martin and author/illustrator Shelley Hampe.

Like her contemporary Georgia O’Keeffe, Agnes was deeply inspired by the New Mexican landscape and lived a solitary life there, painting what she loved. And what did Agnes love? She loved an eggshell blue sky at sunrise, and she loved the cotton candy pink sunset. Agnes loved the whole world. She said, ＂If I paint the things I love, then my paintings will be about love. And you will feel love when you look at them.＂ She even painted a painting called I Love the Whole World--twice. But some days, Agnes did not love the whole world. Not everyone understood her art, or her, and she felt it all. Agnes painted solace in pale, barely-there, mercurial hues and painstakingly simple lines and squares.

In simple, poetic language, How to Love the Whole World tells a story of an artist and answers the question, ＂How do we love the whole world?＂ We slow down, pay attention, seek beauty and truth, feel it all, maybe even joy.

Henry Martin is a writer, lecturer, researcher, the author of Agnes Martin: Pioneer, Painter, Icon, and narrator of the award-winning documentary Agnes Martin: Before the Grid. Henry’s scholarly focus includes 20th-century American women art dealers, biography studies, as well as the history of exhibitions, art collections, and museums. He has written on art history for Phaidon, among others. Recently he was a Fulbright Creative Fellow at the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian, and is currently a visiting doctoral student at the University of Oxford. He is based in the United Kingdom. Shelley Hampe is an author-illustrator based in Dallas, Texas. She illustrated the Merlin Raj series and has collaborated with professionals from Harvard University to illustrate a groundbreaking social-emotional learning program developed for children. Henry and Shelley met over their shared loved of Agnes Martin and created How to Love the Whole World, their debut picture book, together.