MASTERPIECE:
Head of a Man (1922)
ARTIST:
Paul Klee (1879-1940)
CONCEPT:
Collage
GRADE:
First
LESSON:
Abstract Texture Collage
Objectives:
Students will perceive differences
in works of art that portray faces of people and will create a collage of a face
using different materials
Vocabulary:
Portrait, Texture, Abstract, Collage
Materials:
White construction paper for background
Tissue paper
Foil
Colored construction paper
Glue, Scissors
About the Artist: Paul Klee was an artist and a teacher born in Switzerland in
1879. He played classical music every day. He started a career in music and was
particularly proficient at the violin. When he was 20 years old he decided to
pursue art and studied at the Munich Academy. He admired masks from all over
the world and loved to travel and go to puppet shows. He was one of the first
modern artists to recognize the importance of children’s art. He envied their
freedom to create and respected their innocence and directness. He often
borrowed images and concepts directly from children’s drawings. Klee liked to
work on many different paintings at the same time, sometimes as many as twelve.
He lived in Switzerland when he died in 1940.
Process:
1.
Briefly discuss the life of Paul Klee (pronounced CLAY).
[Suggestion: Klee played classical music every day. For added
atmosphere, have classical music playing in the background
during the project.]
2.
Define portrait and explain life before cameras.
3.
Display prints of “Mona Lisa” by Leonardo Da Vinci and/or
“American Gothic” by Grant Wood. Ask questions to help with
the discussion:
Does the painting look like a real person?
What tells you it is real?
What is she/are they thinking about?
Could this be a picture from a camera?
[Consider showing a photograph, as well.]
4.
Explain that you are going to show them a very different
kind of portrait. Define abstract. Display “Head of a Man”.
Questions:
What do you see in this painting? (a person’s face, neck
and shoulders)
Does this look like a real person?
Do the colors look real?
What shapes did the artist use? (circles, squares,
triangles)
Have you ever seen faces like this on dolls or puppets?
5.
Explain that students will be making an abstract collage
of a face. Explain that the head does not have to be round, and
they must use at least three different shapes and three
different colors. Explain how the different materials and
colors create texture. They can share scraps with their
neighbors. It is OK if theirs looks different from everyone
else’s.
6.
Distribute materials to students. Make sure their name
is on the back. Demonstrate how to trim the corners and edges
of a folded paper to create a large face quickly. (The shape can
be glued down so the crease from the fold is vertical and used
for a center guide for placing the nose, mouth and eyes.) They
should plan their portrait on white paper. Glue down the face,
then add eyes, nose, ears, etc.
Vocabulary Definitions:
Portrait: Any form of art that resembles a specific person or animal.
Self-Portrait: Any work of Art where the artist portrays himself or herself.
Texture: Texture is perceived by touch and sight. Texture refers to the way a
surface feels to the sense of touch (actual texture) or how it may appear to the
sense of sight (simulated texture). Textures are described by words such as
rough, silky, pebbly.
Abstract: An abstract artwork is usually based on an identifiable subject, but the
artist leaves out details, simplifies or rearranges visual elements. Abstract works
that have no identifiable subject are called nonobjective art.
Collage: A work of art created by gluing bits of paper, fabric, scraps, photographs
or other materials to a flat surface.
“Head of a Man”
Biographical Information:
http://www.paul--klee.com/
Additional Klee Works:
http://images.google.com/images?q=paul+klee&hl=en&btnG=Search+Images
Paul Klee
Münchenbuchsee/Schweiz 1879
- Muralto/Locarno 1940
Paul Klee was born in Münchenbuchsee near Bern on 18 December 1879. In 1898 he decided
to move to Munich, where he studied etching and drawing under Heinrich Knirr. Two years
later Klee began to study painting at the Munich Art Academy under Franz von Stuck. His
first travels took the painter to Rome in 1901/02 and, in 1905, to Paris. Participating in 1908
in the exhibitions mounted by the Munich and Berlin Secessions, Klee met Wassily
Kandinsky, Franz Marc and Hans Arp, who would exert the formative influences on his work.
Taking part in the second 'Blauer Reiter' exhibition in 1912, Klee met more distinguished
contemporaries, such as the artist Alexej von Jawlensky, the poet Rainer Maria Rilke and the
writer and composer Herwart Walden. The following year Klee showed work at the First
German Herbstsalon. At that time he also did his first watercolours. From 1914 he
increasingly devoted himself to working in this medium, most notably during the trip he took
to Tunisia with August Macke and Louis René Moilliet. After a two years' stay there, Klee
returned to Germany, where he was invited in 1920 by Walter Gropius to teach at the
Bauhaus in Weimar. There he worked at first as a Formmeister (Master of Design) and later
taught in the free-form painting class. In the years that followed the artist exhibited
increasingly both in Germany and abroad: in 1924 he showed work in New York; in 1925 he
took part in the first group show of 'painture surréaliste' in Paris, where he shared the honours
with Max Ernst, Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso et al. The following year he founded the 'blaue
Vier' group together with Kandinsky, Lyonel Feininger and Jawlensky. By then Klee was
painting chiefly constructive and absolute pictures. Friendship with Kandinsky and his wife as
well as trips to Paris, England and Egypt were a welcome change from teaching at the
Bauhaus, an activity which came to restrict the artist's creative powers. An appointment as
professor at the Düsseldorfer Academy in 1930 released Klee from his contract with the
Bauhaus. Three years later, however, pressure from the National Socialists brought about
Klee's dismissal from the Düsseldorf Academy and he moved to Bern. In 1937 the National
Socialists removed 102 works by Klee from German museums and that same year 17 of his
works were shown at the notorious exhibition of 'Degenerate Art'. This was the period of the
Beam-Stroke pictures and the tragic, demonic figurations which indicate Klee's premonitions
of death. Not long after the Zurich Kunsthaus devoted a one-man retrospective to him, Paul
Klee died at Muralto (Ticino) on 29 June 1940.
Art Masterpiece – November – 1st Grade – Paul Klee – Head of a Man
Today your first grader had Art Masterpiece and studied the artwork of Paul Klee. Your
child created an abstract portrait in Paul Klee style cutting and gluing scraps of paper to
create a face. Paul Klee (pronounced Clay) was born in Switzerland in 1879. He
studied in Germany and was a proficient violinist. He was one of the first modern artists
to recognize the importance of children’s art and often traveled all over the world to see
puppet shows.
Art Masterpiece – November – 1st Grade – Paul Klee – Head of a Man
Today your first grader had Art Masterpiece and studied the artwork of Paul Klee. Your
child created an abstract portrait in Paul Klee style cutting and gluing scraps of paper to
create a face. Paul Klee (pronounced Clay) was born in Switzerland in 1879. He
studied in Germany and was a proficient violinist. He was one of the first modern artists
to recognize the importance of children’s art and often traveled all over the world to see
puppet shows.
Art Masterpiece – November – 1st Grade – Paul Klee – Head of a Man
Today your first grader had Art Masterpiece and studied the artwork of Paul Klee. Your
child created an abstract portrait in Paul Klee style cutting and gluing scraps of paper to
create a face. Paul Klee (pronounced Clay) was born in Switzerland in 1879. He
studied in Germany and was a proficient violinist. He was one of the first modern artists
to recognize the importance of children’s art and often traveled all over the world to see
puppet shows.