Classroom use of the art print.

Classroom use of the art print. THINGS TO KNOW Henri Rousseau was born in France and lived there all his life,despite spending four years in the French army in his early 20s. Afterhis brief stint in the army, he got a job with the French customsoffice, where he worked as a toll collector, a job he would hold untilhis early retirement at age 50. Although he lived by modest means as atoll collector, his decision to retire early in order to devote himselffull time to painting drove him into poverty. Rousseau is also known asLe Douanier, or Douanier Rousseau, a term that literally means"customs officer customs officern → aduanero/a, funcionario/a de aduanascustoms officercustoms n → douanier mcustoms officer" in French. The nickname is actually anironic reference to Rousseau's rather pedestrian position as apublic servant. Rousseau is considered a primitive or naive painter, meaning onewho lacks formal and/or technical art training. According to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. arthistorian John Canaday in his reference Mainstreams of Modern Art(Wadsworth Publishing; 1981), Rousseau's "earliest paintingshave all the characteristic naivetes of style inherent in the work ofbeginners feeling their way with intense interest but technicalinnocence" (pps. 374-75). This month's Clip & Save ArtPrint, Carnival Evening (1886), is an excellent example ofRousseau's early experimentation with paint and canvas, with itstendency toward outline, absence of Albertian perspective, skewedproportions and a tendency toward a flattened, stiffly posed treatmentof the human figure. Rousseau would spend hours at the botanical gardens and parks ofParis studying plant structures that he would include in the junglepaintings he is most known for, such as The Snake Charmer (1907) and TheDream (1910). While many critics of the day treated Rousseau's work as ajoke, some young members of the avant-garde, including Pablo Picasso andRobert Delaunay Robert Delaunay (1885-1941) was a French artist who used orphism, similar to abstraction and cubism in his work. Delaunay concentrated on orphism, while his later works were more abstract, reminiscent of Paul Klee. , admired the childlike child��like?adj.Like or befitting a child, as in innocence, trustfulness, or candor.childlikeAdjectivelike a child, for example in being innocent or trustfulAdj. 1. yet modernistic vision of LeDouanier. Pablo Picasso held a banquet for Rousseau two years prior tothe elder artist's death in 1910. It was Delaunay who oversaw theremoval of Rousseau's body from the pauper's graveyard to arespectable cemetery. Constantin Brancusi Noun 1. Constantin Brancusi - Romanian sculptor noted for abstractions of animal forms (1876-1957)Brancusi created his tombstone Tombstone,city (1990 pop. 1,220), Cochise co., SE Ariz.; inc. 1881. With its pleasant climate and legendary past, Tombstone is a well-known tourist attraction. The city became a national historic landmark in 1962. . In 2006, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., mountedthe retrospective Henri Rousseau: Jungles in Paris. To view the webpages devoted to this exhibit, visit:www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2006/rousseau/index.shtm. THINGS TO DO * Primary. Art teachers know there are certain artists who youngchildren tend to respond to with enthusiastic delight: Monet, van Gogh,Picasso, O'Keeffe, Lichtenstein, to list just a few. Thismonth's featured artist, Henri Rousseau, certainly belongs in thatlist. Share the art print, Carnival Evening, (1886) with students andlead a discussion about what is visible in the scene. Ask students totry to identify mysterious elements in the picture, such as the face (ormask) that appears on the upper right wall of the shed to the left ofthe couple in the foreground. Brainstorm with children to create a shortnarrative based on this image. Questions that might generate creative ideas could include: Why isone person dressed like a clown and not the other? Are they on their wayto a carnival, and if so, what will they do there? Are they coming fromthe carnival, and if so, what was it like? Why are they walking throughthe woods in the dark? After a group-generated story has been described,give students time to illustrate a scene from the class narrative.Display all illustrations alongside the art print. * Elementary. In 2006 the National Gallery of Art in Washington,D.C. mounted Henri Rousseau: Jungles in Paris, a major retrospective ofthe artist's work. The Web site accompanying the exhibition isloaded with interesting classroom tools that can be accessed by visitingwww.nga.gov/education/elassroom/results.mhtm?search3=37&imgSubmit.x=65&imgSubmit.y=7. Spend some time atthe school computer lab to let students peruse pe��ruse?tr.v. pe��rused, pe��rus��ing, pe��rus��esTo read or examine, typically with great care.[Middle English perusen, to use up : Latin per-, per- this site, or if yourclassroom is equipped with a Smartboard, prepare a presentation usingselections from the site to help acquaint your students with the work ofHenri Rousseau. During another class session, share the art print withstudents and challenge them to identify some of the elements of the workthat are characteristic of Rousseau's primitive style. * Middle School. Carnival Evening is a good example of times of dayin art because it captures the moment of a clear winter evening as themoon is rising and reflecting a clear, white light. Rousseau often usedlighting for dramatic effect, even though the light is not alwaysrendered true to nature. Instead, the backlighting helps create the moodand aura of mystery that pervades this month's selection. Give students time to study and discuss Carnival Evening, focusingparticularly on the how the light is depicted and its effects on thescene. Provide students with heavyweight paper and paints to create anight scene, inspired by Carnival Evening, where light plays a majorrole in achieving the picture's mood. If necessary, give studentstime to search images of the night sky in various seasons and times ofday to glean glean?v. gleaned, glean��ing, gleansv.intr.To gather grain left behind by reapers.v.tr.1. To gather (grain) left behind by reapers.2. ideas for color choice and to study the effect of shadows. * High School. One of the most intriguing elements ofRousseau's style is the way in which he depicts the human figure.As an untrained artist, Rousseau would not have been schooled inanatomy, would not have taken life drawing classes and would not havelearned how to model to create the illusion of form. As such, hisfigures appear flattened and stiff. The couple featured in Carnival Evening is Pierrot, the tragicclown from the Commedia dell'Arte commedia dell'arte(kōm-mā`dēä dĕl-lär`tā), popular form of comedy employing improvised dialogue and masked characters that flourished in Italy from the 16th to the 18th cent. , and Columbine columbine, in botanycolumbine(kŏl`əmbīn), any plant of the genus Aquilegia, temperate-zone perennials of the family Ranunculaceae (buttercup family), popular both as wildflowers and as garden flowers. , the woman heyearns for. Give students time to research these characters inliterature. After they have completed their research, challenge eachstudent to create a painting featuring Pierrot and Columbine, inspiredby Carnival Evening and the naive style of Henri Rousseau. Go to artsandactivities.com and click on this button for links toWeb sites related to and mentioned in this article.