The Art of Tasha Tudor

Although I am 64 years old, I just learned of Tasha Tudor and her amazing life's work. I have purchased several books that she has written and illustrated, and others that were written about her. As I contemplated getting this book, I saw that there was some controversy over this book when it was printed. . . The author was a friend and business associate of Ms. Tudor's. He spent a tremendous amount of time with her, and knew her well. When he wrote this, he stated on page 139, "I knew our time together had come to an end." Thus this book was written after their business association was ended. If he had stuck to the title of the book and discussed the amazing art of Tasha Tudor, I doubt there would have been any controversy. Unfortunately, he shared family information that he had no right to share, and had absolutely nothing to do with her art. . .It seems that she was a very private woman, I'm sure that she was hurt. It does give a history of her work, and pictures of art from several of her books, and also several unpublished paintings of hers. That is what I like about the book. She was known for the borders in her paintings. They range from simple to very ornate. It is a unique touch to her paintings. She was a tremendously talented woman.

I do not understand the review by the person who panned this book. The author was very respectful of Ms. Tudor and kept raving about her genius. I thought the choice of reproductions was wonderful. I'm a Tudor fan and have several of her books but many of the illustrations I had not seen before. I have not read the whole book yet, but if you are a fan of Tudor's quaint and romantic style I highly recommend adding this book to your collection and ignoring the gossip.

I bought this book with a bit of trepidation given the controversy between Harry Davis and Tasha Tudor. I'm so glad I did. It is a beautiful book containing many, many illustrations on thick enough paper that I'm tempted to matte and hang a few. I thought Harry Davis was very respectful of Tasha Tudor--this wasn't a "tell-all" book at all. My only problem is that the book has whetted my appetite for all things Tudor and I'm having to fight down the impulse to order a list of old favorites.....for the children, of course.

When I bought this book I had no idea of its supposed 'unauthorized' status due to a parting of the ways between Tasha Tudor and the author; her agent Harry Davis. I wasn't made aware of this until after I had read the book, enjoyed the artwork and deemed it a worthwhile purchase. In fact, I felt that I appreciated Tasha more after reading the biographical portions of this book because it made her seem more human than some of the other books published about her. I felt that Harry Miles did a very fair job.This book is NOT a scathing, gossipy smear of 'Dear Tasha'. It is a lovely overview of her work and the life that was being lived when that work was created.