Artist Study: Henri Matisse

  We took a long break since our last Artist Study on Vincent Van Gogh, but we got back on track with our goal of covering 3-4 artists this school year.  Henri Matisse has been a favorite of mine since I was a little girl.  I can vividly recall seeing his masterpiece, One Thousand and One Nights, on a visit to the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh.  I was eager to share my love for his vibrant paintings and bold collages with the boys.

  We began our study much like the last one, but without the helpful Simply Charlotte Mason portfolio of pictures, because there is not one available for Matisse.  Luckily, there are so many great resources appropriate for children.  One of my favorite is the Usborne Book of Famous Paintings (disclaimer, that link is to my Usborne store, I finally became a rep after buying so many amazing homeschool books).  You can see the book below; it is open to the page about Matisse's Harmony in Red.  It has been a lifesaver for starting discussions about what to notice in paintings.  Here we discussed the painting within the painting and how no one really know if it is a picture or a window because of the frame.

  We set up our own still life with a table, a chair and lots of fruit.  I encouraged the boys to add in some patterns in the style of Matisse rather than painting our plain gray walls.  They also inserted a window/picture just like Matisse after a quick demo in which I illustrated the geometry Matisse used to make the three dimensional frame (two nesting rectangles with 45* lines at each corner). 

  We also used the Matisse from the Taschen collection as a reference book to view the vast illustrations of his work.  Other than that we used picture books, and, boy, are there some fantastic ones out there on Matisse!  The Iridescence of Birds by Patricia MacLaughlin was instantly deemed worthy of purchasing for our home library.  

  Another favorite picture book was Drawing with Scissors by Keesia Johnson and Jane O'Connor.  This delightful book is told from the point of view of Keesia; she selected him to do school project on and the information about his life and art is relayed in a very engaging style.  

  We also read Colorful Dreamer by Marjorie Blain Parker and Henri's Scissors by Jeanette Winters.  These both enhanced our study and were enjoyed by all.

  I had every intention of ending our unit with a cutout collage project and we just ran out of steam.  Our unit lasted about a month of twice weekly reading or painting, and everyone was ready to move on before we tackled it.  Will requested Leonardo da Vinci for our next artist, so we will have a combo artist/scientist study next!

Art Appreciation: Van Gogh

  With a background in art history and a lifelong passion for creating and enjoying art, it really surprised me when I realized we were more than halfway through our first year of homeschool without ever having studied any art. Certainly, we had made a great deal of art, we just had not spent any time really studying famous painters or works of art.  Somehow I happened upon a lovely book, Vincent's Starry Night and Other Stories by Michael Bird, and we began incorporating art history into our weeks.

 
  I love how each chapter (arranged chronologically) highlights a masterpiece, from a cave painting to a Byzantine mosaic, and tells the story of its creation.  These tales quickly became an integral part of our morning circle time, and they still are, but this year I was determined to do more.

  I decided to try a picture study from Simply Charlotte Mason and ordered the Van Gogh portfolio. I really wasn't sure if a guide and eight nicely printed art prints were worth the price, but the quality is very good and I don't regret the purchase at all.  So far we have used the biography as well as the talking points and information for three of the works and plan to study a few more. I must have had sunflowers on the brain because I bought a bouquet at Trader Joe's and then realized they would be the perfect prop for our own still life painting session.

  We also have been reading some picture books from the library about Van Gogh.  Camille and the  Sunflowers is the hands down favorite.  It's such a sweet story and teaches the importance of accepting and loving people that seem "different."

  We fit art into our rhythm by incorporating it into our morning story time; just ten minutes once or twice a week.  Painting is such a soothing thing for my boys that we tend to do that in the afternoons when it can be hard to start up school again after a lunch and free play break.  They are eager to paint their own versions of Starry Night, so we will attempt that this week. Van Gogh will remain our focus for a few more weeks, so if you have any resources to share please do so.