Background
Jan Greenberg was born on December 29, 1942, in St. Louis. She is the daughter of Alexander Schonwald, a manufacturer, and Lilian Schonwald (Rubenstein), an advertising executive.
Mike Starn, Jan Greenberg and Anne Pasternak attend AMY & JOHN PHELAN host wineCRUSH 2009 for the ASPEN ART MUSEUM at Phelan Residence on August 5, 2009 in Aspen.
Sue Hostetler, Jan Greenberg, Angela Westwater and Helen Molesworth attend Sue Hostetler & Beau Wrigley Host Cocktails To Honor The Anderson Ranch, Sarah Arison And Helen Molesworth on December 2, 2019 in Miami Beach, Florida.
1 Brookings Dr, St. Louis, MO 63130, United States
In 1964 Jan Greenberg received a Bachelor of Arts from Washington University.
470 E Lockwood Ave, Webster Groves, MO 63119, United States
In 1971 Jan got a Master of Arts in Teaching from Webster University.
(The authors introduce young readers to an appreciation of...)
The authors introduce young readers to an appreciation of the magic of art through conversations with the artists themselves, while providing them with the necessary tools to begin a lifetime appreciation of paintings.
https://www.amazon.com/Painters-Eye-Sandra-Jordan/dp/038530319X/?tag=2022091-20
1991
(Reproductions of thirty-four post-World War II American s...)
Reproductions of thirty-four post-World War II American sculptures accompany a text that introduces young readers to the world of art, discussing the principles and elements of art.
https://www.amazon.com/Sculptors-Eye-Looking-Contemporary-American/dp/0385309023/?tag=2022091-20
1993
(Illustrates the life and struggles of American artist Chu...)
Illustrates the life and struggles of American artist Chuck Close, who overcame learning disabilities as a child and fought paralysis as an adult to become a celebrated portrait painter with works appearing at New York's Museum of Modern Art.
https://www.amazon.com/Chuck-Close-Up-Jan-Greenberg/dp/078942486X/?tag=2022091-20
1998
(Recounts the life of the twentieth-century African-Americ...)
Recounts the life of the twentieth-century African-American collage artist who used his southern childhood, New York City, jazz, and Paris to influence his bold and meaningful art.
https://www.amazon.com/Romare-Bearden-Memories-Jan-Greenberg/dp/0810945894/?tag=2022091-20
2003
(Introduces the life of renowned modern artist Louise Bour...)
Introduces the life of renowned modern artist Louise Bourgeois, who is known primarily for her sculptures.
https://www.amazon.com/Runaway-Girl-Artist-Bourgeois-Nonfiction/dp/0810942372/?tag=2022091-20
2003
(This biography of contemporary artists Christo and Jeanne...)
This biography of contemporary artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude is a story of the power of collaboration, and vision, and of the creation of the spectacular Gates and other renowned artworks.
https://www.amazon.com/Christo-Jeanne-Claude-Through-Gates-Beyond/dp/1596430710/?tag=2022091-20
2008
(A picture book about the making of Martha Graham's Appala...)
A picture book about the making of Martha Graham's Appalachian Spring, her most famous dance performance.
https://www.amazon.com/Ballet-Martha-Appalachian-Outstanding-Nonfiction/dp/1596433388/?tag=2022091-20
2010
(Looking at the life of legendary photographer Cindy Sherm...)
Looking at the life of legendary photographer Cindy Sherman, Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan have created an unconventional biography, that much like Cindy Sherman's famous photographs, has something a little more meaningful under the surface.
https://www.amazon.com/Meet-Cindy-Sherman-Photographer-Chameleon/dp/1626725209/?tag=2022091-20
2017
(The inspiring true story of the Giacometti brothers, one ...)
The inspiring true story of the Giacometti brothers, one an artist, the other a daredevil, both devoted to their craft... but even more devoted to each other.
https://www.amazon.com/Two-Brothers-Four-Hands-Greenberg/dp/0823441709/?tag=2022091-20
2019
Jan Greenberg was born on December 29, 1942, in St. Louis. She is the daughter of Alexander Schonwald, a manufacturer, and Lilian Schonwald (Rubenstein), an advertising executive.
In 1964 Jan Greenberg received a Bachelor of Arts from Washington University. Seven years later she got a Master of Arts in Teaching from Webster University.
Graduating with a degree in English in 1964, Greenberg worked for several years as a teacher. In the 1970s, Greenberg and her husband, Ronald Greenberg, began collecting contemporary American art, and soon their house was filled to overflowing, the walls "with bright canvases, the yard with large steel sculpture." The couple eventually opened an art gallery in their Midwest community that quickly became a center for young artists and musicians.
Greenberg’s first novel, A Season In-Between, is the story of a thirteen-year-old girl who must face the illness and death of her father while engaged in a host of adolescent worries, fears, and concerns. Published in 1979, it was followed a year later by An Iceberg and Its Shadow. In 1982 she released one of her most popular novels, The Pig-out Blues, which introduces Jodie as she struggles with weight fluctuations as well as a tense relationship with her ultra-thin mother. As a coveted part to play Juliet opposite a dishy Romeo in her school’s annual play becomes available, a crash diet is the order of the day, with unforeseen consequences.
Just the Two of Us, released in 1988, also finds a young teen coping none too well with the minefield of everyday life.
Beginning in the 1990s Greenberg paired up with Sandra Jordan, and the two began to publish books in the field of art. The first, 1991’s The Painter’s Eye: Learning to Look at Contemporary American Art, describes the basic elements of artistic composition amid a wealth of visual examples and interviews with artists. A companion volume, The Sculptor's Eye, was released two years later. In American Eye: Eleven Artists of the Twentieth Century, Greenberg and Jordan present biographies of such major artists as Thomas Hart Benton, Stuart Davis, Jackson Pollock, and Georgia O’Keeffe, and describe the significance of several modern masterworks. Individual artists Vincent Van Gogh, Chuck Close, and Frank O. Gehry also benefit as the subject of highly praised biographies by Greenberg and Jordan.
In 1999’s Chuck Close up Close, the life and work of the artist known in the 1960s for his oversized, highly detailed, and often outrageous neck-up portraits are examined.
(Looking at the life of legendary photographer Cindy Sherm...)
2017(Illustrates the life and struggles of American artist Chu...)
1998(The authors introduce young readers to an appreciation of...)
1991(This biography of contemporary artists Christo and Jeanne...)
2008(Reproductions of thirty-four post-World War II American s...)
1993(Recounts the life of the twentieth-century African-Americ...)
2003(The inspiring true story of the Giacometti brothers, one ...)
2019(A high school senior with cancer learns some new percepti...)
1983(Introduces the life of renowned modern artist Louise Bour...)
2003(A picture book about the making of Martha Graham's Appala...)
2010(The first children’s book about Dale Chihuly, the world-r...)
2020As the author of teen fiction, Jan Greenberg finds writing to be a process of discovery, as her young protagonists develop life skills by facing life’s problems. In recent years Greenberg has expanded her writing for young people to include books that reflect her passion for contemporary American art and has paired up with coauthor Sandra Jordan to provide several well-received overviews of modern art as well as biographies of individual artists.
Quotations:
"I write books with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Most of my stories take place in the Midwest. But... my books could take place in suburbia almost anywhere in America."
"The fact is, that trauma is the business of adolescence, and along with these traumas, large or small, come negative feelings... After my first novel, some people told me how courageous I was to admit weakness and negative feelings in print. But writing is an act of sharing. A book is never a total figment of the imagination. It begins as a stomach ache, a slight quiver of discomfort. It’s like falling in or out of love. If the feeling is strong enough, a book may evolve. Or maybe not. But when something happens and a year later I’m holding a new novel in my hand, I want to jump up and down, throw confetti, and stop everyone on the street and say, 'Look what I’ve done.'"
Jan Greenberg is a member of PEN, Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and Missouri Arts Council.
Jan Greenberg married Ronald Greenberg, an art dealer, on August 31, 1963. They have three children - Lynne, Jeanne and Jacqueline.