Hearts and Trees Still Life Art Show Mini Unit Studyharmonyfinearts.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Still-Life-Mini-Unit... · Hearts and Trees Still Life Art Show Mini Unit Study

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Hearts and Trees Still Life Art Show Mini Unit Study

These notebooking activity pages are designed to get you and your children looking at art. You are encouraged to print these notebooking pages to review with your children. Each artist has a short biography that you can consider together. Some pages include easy art activities that you might want to spend some time completing after you have studied the painting.

You can consider the questions included on the notebooking sheets orally or have your chil-dren write down their responses. These questions are to help you take a deeper look and gain a deeper understanding of the artist’s work, subject and style.

You can view all of these works online at www.heartsandtrees.blogspot.com using the link to the Still Life Art Show on the sidebar.

If you have any questions about these pages, feel free to contact Hearts and Trees through our blog (www.heartsandtrees.blogspot.com).

Feel free to print as many copies of these pages as needed for your personal use. Please do not distribute or sell these pages. Thank you.

All the paintings included on these notebooking pages are in the public domain. Works of art generally enter the public domain 70-100 years after the death of the artist. As Lichtenstein and Botero’s works have not entered the public domain, they are not included in these notebooking pages.

©2008 Amanda McCoy www.heartsandtrees.blogspot.com

What is a still life?

A still life is a drawing, painting or sketch of objects that are not alive. Flowers and fruit, tableware, books and newspapers, and musical instruments are common items in a still life.

An artist might set up a still-life in his or her studio to do a ‘study’ of the objects. The artist then studies the objects. He would examine their shape, where the light falls, where the shadows the objects make fall and how different objects appear to overlap. The artist also might paint the same still life over and over again with different lighting or using a different style.

List some things below that you could find around your house to include in your own still life:


Which is your favorite still life from the Hearts and Trees Still Life Art Show? Why?

How many candles do you see in this painting?

What do you see reflected in the mirror?

What words would you use to describe this painting?

Do you like this painting? Why or why not?

Still Life with Candles and MirrorMax Beckmann1930 Oil on canvas 28 5/8 x 55 1/4 in.Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe

Set up and sketch a still life that includes a mirror reflecting a part you want to draw attention to. ©2008 Amanda McCoy www.heartsandtrees.blogspot.com

Max Beckmann was a German painter. He also worked as a writer, a sculptor, a print-maker and a draftsman. He enjoyed painting self-portraits. Beckmann lived the last three years of his life in America and painted many American landscapes and cityscapes during that time.

Paul CézanneStill Life with Apples1893-4 Oil on canvas 25 3/4 x 32 1/8 in.

Paul Cézanne was a French painter. He lived after the Impressionist painters, such as Monet, Degas and Renoir, so he is called a Post-Impressionist. Cézanne like to experiment with color and composition. He painted many still lifes using the same jars, bowls and fabric, but varying the fruit and where the items were located in the painting.

How many apples can you find in this painting?

What part of the painting is your eye drawn to when you first look at it?

What colors do you see in this painting?

How would you describe the texture of the blue cloth in the bottom right hand corner?

Color your own Cézanne still life (found on the next page). Will you use the same colors as Cézanne?


Paul

Céz

anne

Stil

l Life

with

App

les

Gustave CourbetStill Life: Fruit1871-2 Oil on canvas 23 1/4 x 28 3/8 inShelburne Museum, Vermont

Gustave Courbet was a French painter. He was part of the Realist move-ment, which means he tried to paint things as they really appear to the eye. People that saw Courbet paint said he was really rough with his canvas and would scrape paint off to make interesting textures.

What fruits do you see in this painting?

What is the tallest thing in this painting?

Can you identify any of the flowers in the vase?

What is your eye drawn to in this painting?

On a separate piece of paper draw a tall vase of flowers. ©2008 Amanda McCoy www.heartsandtrees.blogspot.com

Ambrosius BosschaertBouquet of Flowers on a Ledge1620 Oil on wood11 x 9 in

Bosschaert was a Dutch painter who specialized in floral still lifes.

Can you find the butterfly and dragonfly in this painting?

What did Bosschaert paint on the ledge?

Which is your favorite flower in the vase? Why?

What do you think is the most important part of this painting?

On a separate piece of paper sketch a still life with something interesting in the background like Bosschaert did in Bouquet of Flowers on a Ledge.


Pieter ClaeszA Vanitas Still Life1645 Oil on panel15 x 24 in.

Pieter Claesz was a Dutch painter. He specialized in painting still lifes. He often used monochromatic color schemes in his paintings, which means he would use different shades of the same color throughout the piece. A vanitas is a type of still life, where every object in the painting symbolizes something.

What things can you identify in this painting?

How would you describe the mood of this painting?

How would you describe the colors in this painting?

Can you tell which direction the light is coming from?

What do you think the feather in this painting could symbolize?


William Harnett Still-life with Violin1888 Oil on canvas 20 x 24 in.New Britain Museum of American Art, Connecticut

William Harnett was an Irish-American painter. He specialized in trompe l’oeil, which means “fool the eye.” That is a style of painting where ordinary objects are painted in such a way that the painting can be mistaken for the objects themselves. Often things in the painting are arranged on a ledge or hanging from a nail and appear to not be a part of the canvas.

What is hanging off the table in this painting?

What color is used most in this painting?

What interests you most about this painting?

How would you describe the brush strokes Harnett used on the back wall?

To view a slide-show of more trompe l’oeil paintings, visit:http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2002/slideshow/slide-176-1.shtm


Paul Signac Still Life with a Book and Oranges1885 Oil on canvas 12 3/4 x 18 1/4 in.Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Nationalgalerie

Paul Signac lived in France. As a child he saw the paintings of the French Impressionists Monet and Degas. Signac liked to experiment with different brush strokes. He is best known for his work in the pointillist style. Pointil-lism is the use of small dots of paint, instead of brush strokes.

How would you describe the brush strokes in Still Life with a Book and Oranges?

What is the thing furthest away on the table in this painting?

What colors do you see in Still Life with Pitcher?

Do you like the style of Signac’s Still Life with Pitcher ?

Using a pencil or permanent marker, sketch a still life like Signac’s Still Life with Pitcher. Then go back over the sketch with watercolors like Signac did.


Paul Signac Still Life with Pitcher1919 Watercolor and graphite 11 7/8 x 17 5/8 in.The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Fernando Botero is a painter and sculptor from Columbia. Some people compare his style to Picasso’s. He is best known for his portraits, paintings of people and animals, where the figures appear blown up like a balloon. Botero likes to use bright colors and interesting shapes. To see an example of Botero’s portrait paintings, see: http://www.artchive.com/artchive/b/botero/botero_family.jpg

What can you see reflected in the mirror?

What do you notice out the window in this painting? (Can you spot the volcano?)

What colors did Botero use in the painting?

Does this painting look realistic to you? Would it look like this in real life?


Look at Fernando Botero’s painting Still Life with Watermelon at www.heartsandtrees.blogspot.com.

In the space above, draw your own version of this painting with crayons or colored pencils.

What are the three puppies doing in this painting?

Where do you think the puppies are? On the floor? On a table?

Do you think the puppies are supposed to be drinking the milk in the pan?

How do you think the person who left the milk in the pan will feel when he or she sees the puppies lapping it up?

Paul Gauguin Still Life with Three Puppies1888 Oil on canvas 34 3/4 x 24 5/8 in. The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Paul Gauguin was a French painter. He liked to experiment with color in his paintings. As a youth Gauguin was a friend of the painter Pissaro who introduced him to other famous painters like VanGogh and Cézanne. Some of Gauguin’s most famous works were inspired by his trips to the tropics. Gauguin also painted many self-portraits.


On a separate piece of paper sketch your pet getting into trouble. If you don’t have a pet, sketch an imaginary dog or cat misbehaving.

You can also color your own version of Gauguin’s Still Life with Three Puppies using the coloring sheet on the next page.

Paul Gauguin Still Life with Three Puppies

Henri Matisse Still Life with Blue Tablecloth1909 34 5/8 x 46 1/2” Oil on canvas The Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg

Henri Matisse was a French painter, print-maker, scultor and collage-maker. He is known for his use of very bright colors and orignial compositions. In his later years, Matisee became too sick to paint so he began “painting with scissors” and would make intricate paper collages. To see an example of a Matisse cut-paper collage see: http://www.abcgallery.com/M/matisse/matisse121.html

How would you describe this painting to a person who could not see it?

Which objects seems closer to you in this painting? Further away?

What questions would you Matisse about Still Life with Blue Tablecloth, if he was here?

What do you think it would be like to live in this painting?

On a separate piece of paper sketch a still life using very bold, bright colors like Matisse used.


Roy Lichtenstein was an American painter. He painted pop art, which means that it was inspired by what was popular at the time. A lot of his work looks like images from comic books because that was one thing that inspired him. In his work Lichtenstein used thick lines, bold colors and Benday Dots. Benday dots are small dots of color that blend in the viewer’s eye to create a new color.

What color did Lichtenstein use in this painting?

How does this painting look different if you squint your eyes or stand far away from it?

Does this painting remind you of a comic from the newspaper? Why or why not?

How did Lichtenstein show light and shadow in Still Life with Lamp?


Look at Roy Lichtenstein’s painting Still Life with Lamp at www.heartsandtrees.blogspot.com.

In the space above, draw your own version of this painting with pencil or a black marker.

Look at a color photo or a colored comic in a newspaper using a magnifying glass. If you look very closely, you’ll discover that the photo or comic is actually made up of lots of small dots. Can you see the small dots of blue, yellow, red and black? These are Benday Dots.

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Hearts and Trees Still Life Art Show Mini Unit Studyharmonyfinearts.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Still-Life-Mini-Unit... · Hearts and Trees Still Life Art Show Mini Unit Study