Henri Matisse
October lesson Plan for Second Grade
Stained Glass
Biographical information
Henri Matisse was born in France in 1869. His father sold seeds and grain and his
mother was a dressmaker. At the age of 20 Henri was studying to be a lawyer when he
became very sick. Matisse had surgery and was confined to his bed for a long time. Henri
was very bored just lying around so his mother gave him a box of paints and brushes so
he would have something to do. When he recovered he discovered that he had a new
passion for art and would pursue art school.
Matisse only attended art school for a little while because he did not feel that he was
learning many new things As a result, Matisse decided to open his own school and show
other artists his painting techniques. Art critics thought Henri and his friends painted like
"Fauves" (a French word for wild beasts) because they used bold bright and unusual
colors. Critics thought the "Fauvists" would never be successful artists, but they were
wrong. Henri Matisse worked on his art for over 60 years and became one of the greatest
artists of all time!
Matisse was married and had three children. He loved to travel and explore other
countries and often was influenced by those cultures and their folk art. He died in 1954
when he was 85. Henri Matisse is considered the most important French artist of the 20th
century. While much of Matisse’s career was focused on drawing and painting, he also
worked with lithographs, sculpture, collage, and stained glass.
Today we are going to be focusing on his stained glass works. As a material stained
glass is glass that has been coloured by adding metallic salts while it is being
manufactured. The coloured glass is crafted into stained glass windows in which small
pieces of glass are arranged to form patterns or pictures, the pieces of glass are held
together by strips of lead and supported by a frame. Painted details and yellow stain are
often used to give details to the design. The term stained glass is also applied to windows
in which the colours have been painted onto the glass and then baked onto the glass in a
kiln.
Matisse used his knowledge of paper cut outs (collage) in the creation of his stained glass
projects. Before creating an image in stained glass, he would first create it by arranging
paper cut outs onto paper. The cut outs were glued to the paper using the decoupage
technique. Once completed, the decoupage paste left the artwork with a glass like
appearance. Matisse was commissioned to help design the Chapelle du Saint-Marie du
Rosaire (Chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary), often referred to as the Matisse Chapel or
the Vence Chapel is a small chapel built for Dominican nuns). Everything from the
stained-glass windows to the priests’ robes were meticulously designed and made by
Matisse for the Dominican nuns who nursed him back to health after a serious illness.
Henri Matisse devoted four years of his life to designing the Vence Chapel, his
"crowning achievement," as he himself stated on several occasions.
Today you are going to be creating your own stained glass image. Using markers and
water you will be able to create the effect of stained glass. Your stained glass will be
glued to the back of a piece of black paper where you have already cut out different
shapes or images. Once all of the project’s steps have been completed, you will have
created your own stained glass artwork.
Vocabulary Words
Shape: In art, a shape is formed when a line meets itself and can be geometric or organic.
Collage: an artistic composition made of various materials (e.g. paper, cloth, or wood)
glued on a surface.
Design: a preplanned arrangement of shapes
Fauves: (translated as wild beasts) a group of artists who painted with bold and unusual
colors
Discussion Questions
Here are a few questions to ask the students while showing examples of Henri Matisse’s
works of art. Scroll to the end of this document for artist examples.
Do you see any repeating patterns?
What shapes has Matisse used and what ideas do you see in his shapes?
How has Matisse used color? Are the colors contrasting or the same?
Here are some questions to ask the students after they have completed their project. If
time allows, they can even use their own works of art to answer the following.
How did this project make them feel?
How is your artwork like Matisse’s? How is it different?
What title would you give your stained glass?
Did they like creating art this way?
Basically a brief reflection on what they had created. This is designed to be a fun activity
that introduces children to a new style of art.
Stained Glass Project
Materials: coffee filter, markers (students can use their own), scissors, black
construction paper with circle traced on top, glue, water spray bottle, scratch paper to
cover surface when spraying.
Read – Matisse, the King of Color by Laurence Anholt (if time allows)
PAPER STAINED GLASS INSTRUCTIONS
1. Color the filter with a variety of colors, do not overlap colors.
2. Place filter on piece of paper and have adult spray about 4 mists of water on filter.
The water will allow the colors to mix. Place another piece of paper or paper towel on
filter to soak up additional water.
3. Fold circle in half.
4. Leaving paper folded, have students cut out different shapes from center of circle.
I make a point to demonstrate cutting interesting "freeform" shapes, and remember to
instruct them to cut along the folded edge, staying well within the traced circle line.
5. Once finished, open paper and using small amounts of glue, glue filter onto black
paper.
6. Refold and cutting around the outside, I follow along the shapes of the internal cuts,
but every so often delineate with an outside freeform shape.
Now...we will open the project up, and point out to the children how that by turning it
one way or another it can give a completely different feel as we shall see here. Same
form, but a different aesthetic impression.
Henri Matisse, making cutouts
Vence Chapel, interior stained glass
Vence Chapel, picture of stained glass windows created by Matisse
Alternate view