Henri Mattise
Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of color and his fluid and original draughtsman
ship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter. Matisse is
commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso and Marcel Duchamp, as one of the three artists who
helped to define the revolutionary developments in the plastic arts in the opening decades of the
20th century, responsible for significant developments in painting and sculpture. Although he was
initially labeled a Fauve (wild beast), by the 1920s he was increasingly hailed as an upholder of the
classical tradition in French painting. His mastery of the expressive language of color and drawing,
displayed in a body of work spanning over a half-century, won him recognition as a leading figure
in modern art.
Project Idea’s
Project 1:
Materials Needed
Construction Paper
Glue Sticks
Scissors
What You Do
1. Gather up a bunch of colored paper....the brighter the better.
2. Cut out a variety of shapes, if you have younger children help them with the more
intricate cut-outs.
3. Show them how they can use the “negative" of their cut-out as well.
4. Arrange the bigger pieces in the background. Show them how to overlap.
5. Add in more and more pieces to your paper.
6. Cut around the edges to clip any overhanging paper. If you like you can provide
representations of Matisse for children to add to their work (like have pink horse
or dancing silhouette)...something that is common throughout each students work.
http://www.thecraftyclassroom.com/CraftArtistMatisse.html
Project 2:
Materials Needed
Assorted Wallpaper
Glue
Pencil
What You Do
1. I first gave each student a 12" square of chip board for mounting. I passed a variety of
wallpapers cut in 12" squares.
2. I asked the students to first choose one main wallpaper for their background and glue it to
the chipboard with heavy use of a glue stick.
3. The next step was to choose a ground color and cut a horizon to glue over the
background paper.
4. I showed the students how to draw a tree trunk on the back of the wallpaper to cut out
and glue it over the ground and background. Tree tops were drawn on another piece of
wallpaper to cut out and glue over the top of the trunks. Repeat this step in various sizes.
Simplicity of all the shapes is encouraged.