THE CRITICAL APPRAISAL Writing about Artist’s work

LEARNING OBJECTIVE How to use artistic language and vocabulary to write about artist’s work LESSON AIM Write a critical appraisal on a portrait by a German Expressionist

WHY DO WE HAVE TO WRITE ABOUT ARTISTS’ WORK? It fulfils AO1 which counts as 25% of your marks It provides evidence that you understand the artist’s work and the artist’s intentions It will help you towards creating a final piece (response to German Expressionists’ portraiture work - AO4) which is also 25% of your marks

BY THE END OF THE LESSON….. All of you will have written about a portrait produced by a German Expressionist Most of you will have written about the artist’s work and will have used some artistic language and vocabulary Some of you will understand the artist’s intentions and will have expressed this using artistic language and vocabulary

WHAT QUESTIONS DO YOU NEED TO ASK ABOUT THE IMAGE TO FIND OUT MORE? Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?

CONTENT What is happening in the image? What can you see? Who is the person in the image? Is the image figurative or abstract? Is the image realistic or stylised? Where or what is the location? When was it painted? What was happening at the time it was painted?

COMPOSITION Is the image flat or three dimensional? What causes you to focus on certain areas of the image? What is in the foreground, background and middle ground? Are there any lines that lead your eye into the painting? Is the image on one scale? Does the artist use perspective or is the image on a flat plane?

TRIANGULAR

CIRCULAR

COLOUR How do the colours used in the painting make you feel? Describe the colour palette Are the colours harmonious, complementary subtle or harsh? Are the colours realistic? What effect do the chosen colours have on the artwork?

THE COLOUR WHEEL PRIMARY COLOURS: red, blue, yellow Primary colours are made from a SINGLE pigment and can not be made by mixing SECONARY COLOURS are made from mixing TWO primaries Red and yellow = orange Blue and yellow = green Red and blue = purple TERTIARY COLOURS are made from mixing each of the three primaries

The 3 sets of complementary contrasts are: RED + GREEN BLUE + ORANGE YELLOW + PURPLE COMPLEMENTARY CONTRAST Complementary contrasts are the primary put with the secondary made from the other two primaries. When put together they create maximum clash (green is the secondary with no red) (orange is the secondary with no blue) (purple is the secondary with no yellow)

HARMONIOUS COLOURS Harmonious colours are close to each other on the colour wheel

WARM AND COLD COLOURS The colours used in the face on picture left are cold The colours used in the face on picture right are warm

EMOTION How does the painting make you feel? Is the person in the painting showing any emotion? Is colour used to express emotion? How do you think the artist was feeling when he made the painting? Does the artist’s technique express any emotion?

KEYWORDS Content Composition Technique Colour Emotion Impasto Sgraffito Brushstrokes Expressive Media Surface

PLENARY Have you used artistic language and vocabulary to write about the artist’s work? Do you think you are on red, amber or green? If you are on red or amber, what do you need to do next time to be on green?

RESEARCH TASK HOMEWORK Task: Research a portraiture image from German Expressionism and information to support the image Use the Research Task help sheet Hand-in Date:

Max Beckmann

Otto Dix

Conrad Felixmuller

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

August Macke

Emil Nolde

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff

Alexei Von Jawlensky

Henri Matisse

Vincent Van Gogh