WebQuest

WebQuest: Henri Matisse: Color me Joyful

Jazz, Matisse

Henri Matisse (31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954)

“I have always tried to hide my own efforts and wished my works to have the lightness and joyousness of a springtime which never lets anyone suspect the labours it cost.”

Henri (pronounced On Ree) Matisse was born in Le Cateau-Cambrésis, Nord, France, on December 31 1869, he grew up in Bohain-en-Vermandois, Picardie, France, where his parents owned a farm business. He was their first son. In 1887 he went to Paris to study law, working as a court attendant. Matisse began to paint in 1889, when his mother had brought him art supplies during a period of sickness following an episode of appendicitis. Matisse found "a kind of paradise" in creating art and decided to become an artist, which disappointed his father.

In 1891, he returned to Paris to study art at the Académie Julian and was a student of William-Adolphe Bouguereau and Gustave Moreau. At first Matisse painted still-lifes and landscapes in a traditional Flemish style.

Still life, Matisse

In 1897 and 1898, Matisse visited the painter John Peter Russell on the island Belle Île off the coast of Brittany. Russell introduced him to Impressionism and to the work of van Gogh. Matisse's style began to change, and he later said "Russell was my teacher, and Russell explained color theory to me."

Matisse was influenced by the works of Nicolas Poisson, Antoine Watteau, Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, Edouard Manet, and the post-Impressionists Cézanne, Gauguin, van Gogh, and Signac, and also by Auguste Rodin, and Japanese art.

“ Woman with the Hat”, Matisse

In 1905, Matisse and a group of artists known as "Fauves" exhibited together in a room at the Salon d'Automne. The paintings expressed emotion with wild and mostly unharmonious and unnatural colors. Matisse showed Open Window and Woman with the Hat at the Salon.

In 1904 Matisse met Pablo Picasso who was 12 years younger than him. The two artists became long time friends and competitive rivals that are often compared. Matisse drew and painted from nature and liked to capture joyfulness in his work, while Picasso was more likely to work from imagination. Matisse changed his style not long after meeting Picasso to a more decorative style, which he used to create a joyful and happy mood for the viewer.

Matisse

Step 1: Answer the following questions, using the above two images, and visit sites listed.

Is it okay to use unrealistic colors?

Can you relate to the shapes and colors?

Why did the artist paint this way?

Is it alright to create art purely for decoration and to make others feel joy?

Visit this site for a gallery of Matisse’s artwork, click here.

Step 2: Compare and Contrast

Jazz (1947) is an artist's book of around one hundred prints based on paper cutouts by Henri Matisse. Tériade, a 20th century art publisher, had Matisse's cutouts made into pochoir (stencil) prints. The prints in Jazz take their theme from the theatre or circus. Matisse decided on Jazz as a title for his art print book after sensing a connection of the visual and musical through improvisation on his circus and theater theme.

Jazz, Matisse

How does Matisse’s Jazz book resemble a circus or theater scene?

How does Matisse’s Jazz book remind you of music thorough use of pattern, shape and bright and dark colors?

- Matisse creates a theater scene that shows flat shapes, patterns and bright and dark colors. Matisse has selected what he felt were the basic elements of a theater or circus scene thorough use of shapes, patterns and unrealistic color.

Step 3:

Using Matisse's style as inspiration, research his other works. Create six symbols that represent your interests and personality. Create a Matisse name cutout using six shapes and six symbols then add your name.

You can use inspiration from:

Looking at a realistic picture of a favorite object

Looking at objects or people in magazines or on the Internet and creating an outline of the object or person

Procedure:

reflect on your own interpretation of Matisse’s style and artwork

research images for your symbols and shapes

find elements in your nametag cut out you wish to emphasize, use pattern, bright and dark colors; look at Matisse's work.

lightly sketch out your final drawing of your symbols on construction paper

cut out your six shapes and six symbols and arrange them in an interesting way then add your outlined name over top of your design using glue on 11x17 paper

Conclusion / Critique:

students will be graded upon the following:

completion of project

following directions

incorporating Matisse's style

creativity

content knowledge

collage technique