Magnificent Modern Art - Henri Matisse

This summer a tutoring client and I are going through the Magnificent Modern Art course from Art History Kids together. It's been really interesting so far. Art History isn't something I ever really learned about, so it's new to me. And so, of course, I'm going to keep some notes here as we go along!

Last week it was Post Impressionism and the artist Vincent van Gogh.

This week we are studying

Henri Matisse
Fauvism (1899 - 1908)

sample artwork from the art movement

André Derain
Westminster Bridge
1905

Raoul Dufy
Boats at Martigues
1908

Piet Mondrian
Windmill in Sunlight
1908

sample artwork from this artist

Woman with a Hat
oil painting
1905

Zorah on the Terrace
oil painting
1912

Arab Coffeehouse
oil painting
1911-1913

Landscape Viewed from a Window
oil painting
1913

The Sheaf
ceramic
1953

The Snail
paper collage (gouache)
1952-1953

focus piece of art from this artist

The Cat with Red Fish
1912

element & principle of art and design

COLOR

other notes (my suggestions)

Stockmar Concentrated Watercolor Paint - Vermillion

I think the vermillion goldfish are swimming in green water because green is the color vermillion is craving to balance it out. What would it be like to paint a large swath of vermillion and then see what color it would like best to be surrounded by?


The Iridescence of Birds: A Book About Henri Matisse
by Patricia MacLaughlan


A Bird or Two: A Story About Henri Matisse
by Bijou Le Tord


Henri's Scissors
by Jeanette Winter

lay under a table and draw faces on the underside of the table with a piece of chalk tied to a long stick


Matisse's Garden
by Samantha Friedman

Matisse was one of the artists we featured in our Great Artists class play a few years ago (2018), and my students created a wonderful cape as one of the costumes. It is covered in beautiful paper cutouts!



Matisse often compared "the rhythm of cutting paper to the spirit of jazz music"

read books from my Fun with Music Part 2: Jazz Musicians booklist and, of course, listen to music from those musicians!

note: vermillion (02) is also found in the Stockmar watercolor box (these paint cups snap in and are replaceable when they run out)

and more...

Discovering Great Artists: Hands-On Art for Children in the Styles of the Great Masters
by MaryAnn Kohl and Kim Solga
Henri Matisse - "Story Color Collage," p.58
available online as a FREE PDF from Bright Ring Publishing



Using Art to Create Art: Creative Activities Using Masterpieces
by Wendy Libby
Henri Matisse, pp.125-132
Georges Rouault, pp.183-186

we did "Free-Flowing Rhythm Block Design" on p.132

we also did "Cutouts" on p.129, looked at Les Codomas (from Jazz), and listened to the album Monk's Mood by Thelonius Monk & Guests

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