Artists Paint Pictures

Kindergarten Art Docent Program - Earhart Elementary School

Henri Rousseau[1844 -1910]was born in France. He loved to paint horses and carts, and especially liked to paint red wheels. He also liked to paint people he knew. He taught himself to paint, and critics and public laughed at his works and made fun of him, but other artists liked his works and learned from him. His works show a great deal of imagination.

Father Juniet’s Cart

Do you think the people are happy?

Do you ever go for a ride with your family like this?

Does this painting have a quiet feeling?

Does it remind you of a dream?

Was the cart parked or moved while the people pose? [Parked]

Andrew Wyeth[1917 - 2009]was a visual artist, primarily a realist painter. He was one of the best-known U.S. artists of the middle 20th century. His favorite subjects were the land and people around him. His painting, Christina’s World, currently in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

The Scarecrow

Did you ever see a real scarecrow out in a field?

Can you see all of the details that he painted to make it look so real? [Old brown coat tips to the left and the hill slants down to the right]

What time of year do you think that this would be? [Tress with bare leaves]

Which color is the most important one in this artwork?

James Whistler[1834 - 1903]was born in Massachusetts but lived most of his life in England and France. His famous butterfly signature first developed in the 1860’s out of his interest in Asian art.

Artist’s Mother

Can you see why it was called “Arrangement in Black and Gray? Are there any other important colors used?

Can you find any rectangles?

Does she look young or old?

What does the way she is sitting tell you about her?

Wassily Kandinsky[1866 - 1944]was born and raised in Moscow, Russia. He loved to draw from the time he was a child, but he studied law in school. He moved to Germany and began to work as an artist. He was the first artist to paint pictures with no real subject matter.

Improvisation #31

Have you looked at clouds and had fun finding shapes reminded you of animals, castles or familiar things?

What do you see in this pictures?

He painted this with an emotion or feeling by using colors, shapes, and lines, rather than showing real or easily recognizable objects.

August Macke[1887 - 1914]was born in Germany and spent his childhood there before studying art in Dusseldorf. He went to North Africa where he painted landscapes in jungle greens, deep blues, and wine reds.

Cows and Camel

What do you see when you first look at this brightly colored painting? [The sun seems to have broken through the clouds and spotlighted the center of the composition]

What animals do you see?

Does it seem strange to see cows and camels grazing together?

What part of the world might this be?

Do you see any outlines around the animals or trees or mountain shapes?

Vincent van Gogh[1852 - 1890]We have learned about him during the last two lessons. Remember the Landscape - the Orchard with houses and cloudy sky; and La Mousme - the young girl in red & blue dress?

Boats

The artist used strong complementary colors together. Can you find any of the pairs of colors in this picture? [Blues & oranges, purples and yellows, and greens and reds]

Can you find the horizon line?

Have you ever gone somewhere like this?

Next time you go on a trip, perhaps you can take some paper and pens or crayons and make a picture about what you see and do there.

Henri Matisse[1860 - 1954]was born in France. He was one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century. He quit law school to study art. He also designed furniture and buildings and stain glass.

Dahlias

This is a still life painting. Some artists like to arrange objects that don’t move on a tabletop and draw and paint them. What objects do you see here?

Do you see any outlines around anything?

What objects could you arrange on a tabletop and paint?

How about some of your toys or doll, some fruit, a book? What else?

Examples