MASTERPIECE ART GRADES K-2 2012-2013 Monet Kandinski Dali Artist: CLAUDE MONET
Claude Monet was a French artist who is considered to be the leader of the Impressionist movement. Monet was born in Paris in 1840. As a child, he moved to the town of Le Havre, which was right on the sea. His love of the water inspired many of his paintings when he became an artist. Boats, oceans, ponds and lakes were some of his favorite subjects. He loved the way colors reflect in water, and the way that water makes the clouds and sky look. As a child, Monet had a very good sense of humor, but didn t do very well in school. He liked to draw funny pictures of people and eventually began a career as a caricaturist. Another well-known artist of the time, Eugene Boudin, eventually convinced Monet to paint. He encouraged him to paint outdoors, not in studios like most artists of the time. In 1862, Monet left Le Havre to study art in Paris. He became friends with many artists and together they painted out in the countryside. After the invention of oil paint in tubes, it was easier for artists to transport their supplies and paint outside. Monet even used a boat as a floating studio, stopping to paint wherever he liked. Monet s style of painting did not catch on for quite a while. At the time, people wanted to see paintings that told a story about an important battle or historical event. They were used to paintings where everything looked clear and sharp, and the colors were dark and moody. Monet and his friends were more interested in how pretty something looked when the sunlight was on it. They painted ordinary things, like a boat on a lake or rocks by the ocean. Their style was based on the observation that objects take on color from their surroundings, from varying light and from other objects placed near them. Using large brush strokes, they painted directly on the canvas without mixing colors to capture the scene immediately. Monet and his friends became known as impressionists for this unique style of painting. Only later in his life did people begin to appreciate Monet s paintings. He settled down in the French town of Giverny, and built a wonderful water garden there. Claude Monet lived to be 86 years old. He spent the last ten years of his life painting scenes of his water garden which became some of his most famous works. Prints: The White Water Lilies (1899) Depicts Monet s garden, with water lilies and Japanese bridge he built. His garden is still in bloom today. Regattas at Argenteuil (1872) Example of Monet s style of painting reflections. Tulip Fields at Sassenheim (1886) Depicts rows of Holland s tulips. Shows movement in the sky and the yellow tulips in the foreground floating down the canal.
A copy of the book The Magical Garden of Claude Monet is also available for you to read to students if time permits. Project Monet Style Sponge Painting Students will sponge paint their own Monet garden scene. Volunteers: Please bring newspaper to cover the desks. Materials Needed: - 9x12 white watercolor paper - Black construction paper (for background) - Tempura paints in assorted colors - Sponge brushes - Q-tips - Small paper bowls for individual colors - Glue sticks - Paper towels - Newspaper to cover desk Assignment: Using Monet s White Water Lilies print and samples as reference, have students use their sponge brushes to paint a Monet-like garden scene. The best technique is for students to dip the sponge brush (separate brushes for each paint color) into the paint sparingly and blot on paper towel before applying to the paper. They can use all sides of the brush for different effects. Students should cover the entire paper with color. If students choose to paint a bridge (shown in one of the samples), they can use the tip of the brush and go across. Also, they should layer it on top of what they ve painted after it has had a few minutes to dry. (The tempura paints do dry quickly if not applied too thick.) They can also use the Q-tips to make flowers or lily pads, if they choose. Students can use their glue sticks to adhere their painting onto the black construction paper, then glue artist mini-bio to the back. Finishing touch: Please take a group photo at the end to share with parents and for the teacher to put on website! Artist: WASSILY KANDINSKY
Wassily Kandinsky was a Russian painter who is considered the father of abstract painting. Abstract art does not try to show real things or people; but instead uses shape and color to express a feeling or idea. He is best known for his abstract paintings of bright, colorful shapes. He was also a teacher who inspired many other artists with his ideas, thereby changing the direction of art in the early 1900 s. Kandinsky was born 1866 in Moscow, Russia. As a child he showed some artistic talent and, because of his excellent photographic memory, he could reproduce other paintings from memory. However, as an adult he went on to study and then teach law at the Moscow University. Throughout this time he still had some interest in painting, but it wasn t until he was 30 years old that decided to give up his career in law and become an artist. He was inspired to do this by the creative and technical advances he saw taking place in music and art, and he wanted to become part of it. In 1900, when Kandinsky was 34, he began to study art in Munich Germany. In those days, people thought that a drawing or painting had to look like its subject the more realistic, the better. But Kandinsky was always looking for new ways to see things and new ways to paint. The Impressionist painters had started to paint pictures that didn t look exactly real. Kandinsky took the final step away from realism; he painted the first totally abstract paintings, paintings that were pure designs, and believed that colors and forms had meanings all their own. He was a musician as well as a painter, and thought of colors as music. He called many of his paintings Compositions or Improvisations, terms which usually refer to pieces of music. Kandinsky also experimented with writing poetry, as well as books and articles about art. By 1913 Kandinsky had decided to do only abstract paintings, using shapes and blocks of color rather than real objects. As his style developed he began focusing on the circle which he thought was the perfect shape. In 1921 Kandinsky began teaching at the Bauhaus, a famous art school in Germany. There he had a large influence on other artists such as Paul Klee, and formed a group of artists called the Blue Four. Their goal was to challenge assumptions about what art should be and to develop new artistic styles. Unlike many artists, Kandinsky did achieve recognition for his artistic achievements during his lifetime. With the growing interest in abstract art in the 1930 s and 1940 s, Kandinsky s work was shown in New York and Paris. This helped build his reputation as a leader in this new art form. In 1933 he moved to Paris where he lived until he died in 1944 at age 78. The styles of abstract art that he developed continue to inspire and influence other artists even today. Prints Squares with Concentric Circles (1913) - One of his earlier abstract paintings, this shows his daring use of bright colors. This work still has some structure,
with a repeating pattern of squares and circles, and uses colors to create the excitement in the painting. Yellow, Red and Blue (1925) This later work, from Kandinsky s Bauhaus days, shows the progression that his work took, moving to completely unstructured designs. He used a variety of shapes, lines and colors, arranged to create a composition that conveys a mood or meaning to him. He would have viewed this work as a symphony, a complex work with many different elements working together. Weiches Hart (1927) This work painted two years later is a good example of an unstructured design that relies on the simplicity of basic geometric shapes and primary colors to convey its message. Project Using Shapes and Color to Create a Composition Students will create art in Kandinsky s abstract style using shapes, colors and lines Materials Needed: 9 x12 White Bond Paper 12 x 18 Black construction paper Pre-Cut Multi-colored shapes Glue Sticks (students should have these but MPArt also has a supply) Crayons, markers and/or colored pencils (supplied by students) Boombox (volunteers to supply check with teachers they usually have one too) CD with classical music selections (provided in MP Art folder) Kandinsky Bio information copy for each student Assignment: Play a selection from the CD and have students listen for several minutes. Discuss how the musical sounds can feel like shapes or colors. While continuing to listen to music, students select about 8-15 pre-cut shapes and glue to the white paper in and arrangement or composition that relates to how they feel about the music. (Please stress that the end product should be abstract and does not have to look like something.) Students then use crayons, markers and/or pencils to add lines to their composition. Encourage them to use a variety of types of lines (straight/curvy, wide/thin) to give their composition a certain mood or feeling. Students glue their finished composition to the black construction paper creating a frame. On the back of the finished piece, students write their name and glue on the artist bio information. Finishing Touch: Please take a group photo at the end to share with parents and for the teacher to put on website!
Artist: SALVADOR DALI Salvatore Dali was one of the most famous and unusual modern artists of the 20 th century, best known for a unique style of art known as surrealism. Dali was born in Figueres, Spain in 1904. When he was just 8 years old, he made an art studio for himself in the attic of his home. Instead of reading children s book and comics, Dali read books about art history. By the time he was in his teens, he was showing his own paintings in an art exhibition. Later, Dali studied art in Madrid but soon tired of the old-fashioned way he felt art was being taught. He became interested in the exciting art world in Paris, France. He greatly admired Picasso, another Spanish artist who lived in Paris. Some of Dali s early works were similar to Picasso s cubism style of that time. In 1929, Dali joined a group of artists and writers in Paris known as Surrealists. Surreal was a made-up word, meaning more than real or better than real. The Surrealists disliked much of the art of their time because they felt it was boring and too comfortable. The Surrealists wanted to shock and unsettle people who looked at their pictures, forcing them to think rather than just look. They explored the world of dreams and imagination and painted anything that popped into their head, no matter how silly, weird, or scary it seemed. They changed they way we see ordinary things by mixing everything up in a sometimes humorous way. Dali called his paintings hand-painted dream photographs, meaning the things he painted looked very real but, at the same time, were impossible or improbable, like dreams. In 1934, Dali married Gala Eluard, the former wife of a Surrealist poet. He thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world, and used her for a model in many of his paintings throughout his career. Dali lived to be 85 years old. He had a unique personality and accomplished many things during his lifetime. In addition to art, he also made sculptures, films, photographs, clothing, jewelry, and illustrations, and wrote about his life and ideas. Dali s signature long, curly moustache became as famous as he was, even writing a book about it in 1954! Like the surrealists of his time, Dali s art was controversial but served to open our imagination and help us see the world in a new way. Prints: The Persistence of Memory ( 1931) o Discussion points: -Clocks seem to be melting* (theme in many of his paintings) -All clocks tell different times -One clock is attracting ants
-What is object in the center of the painting? Dali s face in profile? (eyelashes and tongue), an animal (horse with a clock for a saddle?) -Painting gives you the feeling of being in a dream and is painted with great detail o Story behind the melting clocks: Dali had finished painting the background, showing the beach near his hometown, but the foreground was empty. It needed something exciting in it. One evening after Dali had eaten some very good Camembert cheese that had gone soft and runny, he couldn t stop thinking about the gooey cheese. He went back into his studio and decided that melting clocks were the answer to what the foreground needed. He finished the painting two hours later. This became one of Dali s most famous pictures a picture that shows us that time never stands still. Face of Mae West (1934-35) - Dali dreamt of making a set of rooms in which the furniture and walls when seen from a certain position would look like the actress Mae West, who was popular at the time.. Later he made his dream come true when he designed a portrait of the actress which you could live in. (Further information can be found on the back of this print.) Swans Reflecting Elephants (1937) o Depicts Dali s double images, which he used often. The three swans in front of the trees are reflected in the lake so that the swans heads become the elephants heads and trees become the bodies of the elephants. o Man in painting possibly is Dali Project: Have Fun with your Imagination! Volunteers please bring old magazines to cut up! Students will create Dali-inspired art by combining realistic images of everyday objects in an unusual or surreal way. Materials Needed: Torn out magazine pages showing different images (3-5 per child) Glue sticks Markers, colored pencils, crayons (supplies they have at their desk) Scissors (students should have at their desks) 9 x12 white bond paper construction paper 12 x 18 Black construction paper Dali Bio information copy for each student Assignment: Students select 3-5 magazine pages with interesting images/objects they that they will use in their Dali-inspired art. (Suggestion: distribute a stack of pages to each group of students for them to choose from.) Students cut out images from selected magazine pages, then glue onto construction paper.
Using their crayons/markers and glued images, students can make their own unique picture. It can be funny, silly or strange, similar to Dali s art that often reflected his dreams. (Show samples as reference.) Students glue their finished art to the black construction paper creating a frame. On the back of the finished piece, students write their name and glue on the artist bio information. When they are done, they can share their art with the class, if they choose. Finishing touch: Please take a group photo at the end to share with parents and for the teacher to put on website!