Lesson: Fauve1 Fish a la Matisse
Anticipatory Set and Vocabulary
 Flat painting
o Matisse did not try to have painting look 3D
 Drawing Lesson
o Fish = Circle + Triangle
 Primary colors = red, yellow, blue
 Secondary colors: red+yellow=orange; blue+red=purple;
blue+yellow=green
 Gouache: opague watercolor paint
 Watercolor resist: Something put on the paper to prevent the
watercolor from touching the paper such as oil pastel, wax, or masking
tape
 Watercolor wash: When a color is painted on the paper with horizontal
brush strokes from the top to the bottom of the paper
Materials
 Watercolor (“wc”) paint in red, yellow & blue (primary colors),
white gouache, brush, spray water bottle, tissues, q-tips, wax, black oil
pastel, and cotton makeup rounds
 Watercolor paper taped to cardboard “easel” with masking tape
Studio Working Session:
 Plan it Out: Decide how many fish you want in your painting; an odd
number is appealing.
 Lay it down:
o Fish
 Draw fish with black pastel---overlap fish
 Add a black shadow behind some fish with black pastel
 Outline some fish with wax---press hard with wax
 Rub some wax inside of some fish
1
Fauvism: A style of painting with vivid expressionistic and nonnaturalistic use of color
that flourished in Paris from 1905. Matisse was regarded as the movement’s leading
figure. (Source: wikipedia)
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Color Theory: red+blue=purple; red+yellow=orange;
blue+yellow=green
Paint it:
o Background-Ocean colors
 Spray the wc paper with water
 Paint blue on paper from the top to bottom as a “wash”
 Drop salt on the wet paint; not inside fish
o Fish – inside body
 Wet cotton rounds with clear water to lift the paint inside
fish; use clean cotton round each time you remove paint.
 Paint red/blue/yellow inside fish & let the colors mix
o Let the painting dry or dry with hairdryer
o Fish eyes & lips
 Dip the back of your brush in the white gouache and add
eyes to the fish
 Use your paint brush and white gouache to add a mouth
to the fish
Henri Matisse (1869-1954)
 One of the most influential artists of the twentieth century
 Fundamentally altered the course of modern art
 Affected the art of several generations of younger painters
 Spanned almost six and a half decades
 Initially trained as a lawyer, Matisse developed an interest in art only at
age twenty-one
 Matisse wanted to discover "the essential character of things" and to
produce an art "of balance, purity, and serenity.” ("Notes of a Painter"
by Matisse, 1908)
 He studied Monet’s work (Monet 1840-1926)
 His vast oeuvre encompassed
o Painting
o Drawing
o Sculpture
o Graphic arts (as diverse as etchings, linocuts, lithographs, and
aquatints)
o Paper cutouts
o Book illustration
 His varied subjects comprised
o Landscape
o Still life
o Portraiture
o Domestic and studio interiors
o Female figure

The crowning achievement of Matisse's career
o Chapel of the Rosary in Venice (1948–51)
o He created all the wall decorations, Stations of the Cross,
Furniture, Stained-glass windows, Vestments and Altar Cloth
o The beauty and simplicity of this project constituted Matisse's
spiritual Gesamtkunstwerk and attested to his creative genius
By Henri Matisse
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