Self-Portrait Based on a Famous Artist
Theme and general description:
In this unit students will create a self-portrait based on the styles and techniques
of a famous artist in history. This unit offers a variety of instructional strategies as
well as a variety of choices and decisions they have to make.
Goals:
 Students will participate in an artist’s style examination activity
 Students will choose an artist to focus on
 Students will conduct research on their chosen artist
 Students will create a self-portrait based on the styles and techniques of a
famous artist.
Lesson 1: Artist’s Style Examination
 Each Student will receive a hand-out with a list of artists and aesthetics
that can be found in their self-portraits (attached).
 The teacher will project images of the artist’s self-portraits and
students will have to guess which artist created each image based on
their descriptions.
 Students will choose one of the artists presented to focus on for the
unit.
Lesson 2: Research
 Students will conduct research on their chosen artist based on the
research worksheet (attached).
Lesson 3: Presentation
 Students will present the findings of their research to the class
accompanied by at least one image of the artists work.
Lesson 4 +: Art Making
 Students will take the knowledge of their chosen artists and create a selfportrait using a similar style and/or technique
 Students will be asked to complete at least two concrete sketches of their
project before they begin the final.
Artists and their Self-Portrait Styles
Egon Schiele: sketchy dark lines, neutral colored backgrounds
elongated body parts
Van Gogh: bright vivid colors, visible brushstrokes, textured
backgrounds
Matisse: black and white contour line drawing
Marlene Dumas: smudged appearance. Muted colors in contrast to
one bright color. Mostly made up of blacks whites and grays
Francesco Clemente: gridded background, washy colors, cartoonlike face
David Hockney: different pieces making one figure from head to
toe. Includes solid colors without much detail.
Helene Schjerfbeck: Pale, asymmetrical face. Muted colors.
Character looks confused or scared.
Chuck Close: several different squares of color making one picture
Robert Rauchenberg: x-ray looking figure. Background looks like a
sketchbook
Jasper Johns: photographic image contrasted be bright-colored
hand-drawn frame
Andy Warhol: multiple contrasting color photographic images
Edvard Munch: abstracted figure, visible brushstrokes, swirls of
naturalistic color. Composition shows a lot of movement.
Frieda Kahlo: central figure in the foreground with symbolic imagery
around them.
Man Ray: sculptural piece with realistic 3-D face.
MC Escher: life-like pencil drawing.
Self-Portrait Based on a Famous Artist
Assignment:
You will be creating a self-portrait based on one of the artists we looked
at in class.
 Choose one artist from the artists we looked at (or one you come up
with—must be OK'd by Ms. Lytle):
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Egon Schiele,
Vincent Van Gogh
Henri Matisse
Marlene Dumas
Francesco Clemente
David Hockney
Helene Schjerfbeck
Chuck Close
Robert Rauchenberg
Jasper Johns
Andy Warhol
Frieda Kahlo
MC Escher
Roy Lichtenstein
Jacob Lawrence
Georges Braque
Salvador Dali
Rene Magritte
Marc Chagall
Sandro Boticelli
 You will be researching your chosen artist based on the
questions of the assignment sheet attached to get to know your
artist and his/her style.
 You will create a self-portrait based on this artist’s style. You will be
using a photograph of yourself and grid enlargement technique to
start the self-portrait process.
EXPECTATIONS:
 Identify and incorporate elements of your chosen artist’s style into
your own self-portrait.
 Use of grid enlargement technique is carefully and mathematically
applied
 Craftsmanship with attention to art details including elements: line,
shape, color, texture value AND principles: Harmony, variety,
balance, order, proportion, rhythm, and movement are apparent.
 Completion of artist research
Artist Research
Once you have chosen the artist you would like to research, choose at
least one of their art works to examine in addition to the one we have
looked at in class. Have a printed image, or a digital file of the work(s) to
show the class when you share the following information:
Name of chosen artist:
Date of Birth:
What are some of the visual characteristics of this artist’s style? What
types of lines, or colors does this artist use, what is the overall mood of
their work, etc.?:
What ideas are central to this artist’s work?:
Name/ date of artwork(s) you have chosen to examine:
What intrigues or inspires you about this/ these work(s):
What is an elements of this artist’s work did you incorporate into your own
self-portrait?:
Sources: