The Better Stick Figure, Gesture Drawing and Collage …a la Matisse Produced by: San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools Visual and Performing Arts Coordinator: Bonnie Tillotson Additional material from Robert Bullwinkel Self portrait In a Striped T-shirt 1906 Henri Matisse

The Better Stick Figure

Anatomist Physician Author/artist De Humani Corporis Fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body) I am not accustomed to saying anything with certainty after only one or two observations. …A. Vesalius ANDREAS VESALIUS 1514 – 1564

The Better Stick Figure

Drawing is like making an expressive gesture with the advantage of permanence. --Henri Matisse Gesture Drawing

Wild Beasts & Matisse Fauve is a French word that means “wild beast,” a term applied to Matisse and several other painters in the early 20 th century who used color in bold new ways. Self Portrait, 1918 Henri Matisse Henri Matisse is considered the most important French artist of the 20th century and, along with Pablo Picasso, one of the most influential modernist painters of the last century. Matisse began studying drawing and painting in the 1890s. A student of the masters of Post-Impressionism, Matisse later made a reputation for himself as the leader of a group of painters known as Les Fauves. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia

When I put a green, it is not grass. When I put a blue, it is not the sky. --Henri Matisse Game of Bowls 1908 Oil on Canvas Henri Matisse

Seek the strongest color effect possible… the content is of no importance. --Henri Matisse

Triads

“To maximize the intensity of his colors—and achieve the light he was looking for— Matisse organized his picture with pairs of complements. Orange masts rise from blue hulls. Potted plants on the balcony sprout red blossoms amid green foliage. Reflections oppose pink and turquoise, and in the walls these colors are reversed and deepened. Isolated by bare areas of canvas, these combinations generate a sort of visual vibration.” National Gallery of Art Open Window, Colioure 1905 Henri Matisse

Put a colour upon a canvas – it not only colours the part of the canvas to which the colour has been applied, but it also colours the surrounding space with the complementary. --Henri Matisse

Complementary Colors

The Negress Gouache 1952, Henri Matisse Do you see any complementary colors? Collage

The Sorrows of the King Gouache on Paper on Canvas 1952, Henri Matisse How about here?

Your Artwork: Create a collage with paper cutouts using your gesture drawn figure(s). You may use repeated symbols or blocks of color as Matisse did. Use examples of two paired complements to create “visual vibration.” Think about how you want to fit the pieces together. Fit the parts together, one into the other, and build your figure like a carpenter builds a house. Everything must be constructed, composed of parts that make a whole. --Henri Matisse Mount your cutouts on white paper.

Criteria for success: What skills did you learn in these activities? What content knowledge did you use?

How successful were you in doing and showing that knowledge? Not quite? 1 Limited? 2 Proficient? 3 Advanced?4 What would you do differently if you could do it again? Criteria Advanced 4 Proficient 3 Limited 2 Not Quite 1 Missing 0

This work was created by Bonnie Tillotson, VAPA Coordinator for the San Bernardino Superintendent of Schools with additional material by Robert Bullwinkel, VAPA Coordinator for the Fresno County Office of Education. This work was funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation through a grant to the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association’s Arts Initiative. All images used in this presentation are non-restricted. This work may be used free of charge for all non-commercial applications. Please give appropriate credit as listed above.

The Better Stick Figure, Gesture Drawing and Collage …a la Matisse Produced by: San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools Visual and Performing Arts Coordinator: Bonnie Tillotson Additional material from Robert Bullwinkel