Classroom use of the art print.

Classroom use of the art print. Alberto Giacometti Noun 1. Alberto Giacometti - Swiss sculptor and painter known for his bronze sculptures of elongated figures (1901-1966)Giacometti (Swiss; 1901-1966). The Palace at 4 a.m., 1932.Wood, glass, wire and string; 25" x 28.25" x 15.75". TheMuseum of Modern Art, New York New York, state, United StatesNew York,Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . THINGS TO KNOW * Alberto Giacometti was born in Switzerland to an Italian-speakingfamily. He was the eldest child of Giovanni Giacometti, aPost-Impressionist painter. Alberto displayed talent at a young age andgrew up in an artistic environment. He was extremely close to thefamily's next oldest sibling, Diego, who was also an artist. Diegooften assisted his brother in the studio and the two often collaboratedon design and furniture projects. * Giacometti attended art school in Geneva Geneva, canton and city, SwitzerlandGeneva(jənē`və), Fr. Genève, canton (1990 pop. 373,019), 109 sq mi (282 sq km), SW Switzerland, surrounding the southwest tip of the Lake of Geneva. , Switzerland, and Paris,France. While in Paris, he briefly made sculptures inspired by Cubism cubism,art movement, primarily in painting, originating in Paris c.1907.Cubist TheoryCubism began as an intellectual revolt against the artistic expression of previous eras. and primitive and African sculptural forms. Around 1927 he beganexhibiting sculptures that reflected his association with theSurrealists. This month's Clip & Save Art Print, The Palace at4 a.m., falls in Giacometti's Surrealist period, which lastedthrough 1935. From 1935-40 he turned to figurative realism, creatinghighly textural heads with intense gazes, many of which depict hisbrother, Diego. * During World War II, Giacometti lived and worked in Switzerland,where he made furniture and accepted interior design commissions. InGeneva he lived very simply, opting to live in and work out of a smallhotel room. Giacometti eschewed materialism and the trappings of fameand success. He once said, "Establishing yourself, furnishing ahouse, building up a comfortable existence, and having that menacehanging over your head all the time--no, I prefer to live in hotels,cafes, just passing through." (Source: Edward Lucie-Smith John Edward McKenzie Lucie-Smith (born 27 February 1933) is a British writer, poet, art critic, curator and author of exhibition catalogues.He was born in Kingston, Jamaica, moving to the United Kingdom in 1946. , Lives ofthe Great 20th Century Artists, Thames & Hudson, 1999.) * After the war, Giacometti returned to Paris and began making thethin, textural figures he is best known for. He began to show in bothEurope and America, and in 1948 had an exhibition of his new work at thePierre Matisse Gallery in New York City New York City:see New York, city. New York CityCity (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. . Jean-Paul Sartre, the writerand philosopher, wrote a portion of the exhibit catalogue, referring toGiacometti's new work as grounded in "existentialreality." * Although less well-known, Giacometti was also a painter. His famegrew, and in 1962 he was awarded an important prize for sculpture at theVenice Biennale Venice BiennaleInternational art exhibition held in the Castello district of Venice every two years and juried by an international committee. It was founded in 1895 as the International Exhibition of Art of the City of Venice to promote “the most noble activities of . Toward the end of his life he became more accepting ofhis fame, saying, "I refused the intrusion of success andrecognition as long as I could. But maybe the best way to obtain successis to run away from it. Anyway, since the Biennale The name Biennale is Italian and means "every other year", describing an event that happens every 2 years. One of the most important Biennales is an art exhibition that takes place for three months in Venice — the Venice Biennale — but there are numerous others: it's been muchharder to resist. I've refused a lot of exhibitions, but onecan't go on refusing forever. That wouldn't make anysense." (Source: www.artchive.com.) In 1965, the artist was given aretrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. One yearlater, Alberto Giacometti died of heart failure and was buried inSwitzerland, near his parents. THINGS TO DO * Primary. Share the Art Print with students, but do not share therifle. Ask students to describe what they see in the picture, or offeran opinion about its meaning or story. Next, share the title: The Palace at 4 a.m. Explain that the artistwho made this construction was interested in dreams and the pictures themind makes during sleep. Explain to students that dreams often containpictures that don't always seem to go together or make sense. Toillustrate this idea, have students identify the objects in the artwork.To incorporate a literacy component, challenge students to generate aclass word list of adjectives that describe the image. Give students the opportunity to create a "dream house"inspired by The Palace at 4 a.m. Using craft sticks and white glue,model how to construct a two-dimensional house on heavy paper. Afterstudents have "built" their house, they can fill the roomswith images either drawn or clipped from magazines. As with Surrealistimagery, the pictures should not be related in a literal way. Givestudents time to present their work to the class. Display the finishedhouses alongside the Art Print. * Elementary. Repeat the first part of the primary activity. Forthe hands-on portion, give students time to design and build a dioramadream world inspired by the Art Print. * Middle School. Before presenting the Art Print to students, givethem a week-long assignment to create a dream journal. Over the courseof one week, students should make a written entry each morningdescribing their dreams. (Have a discussion about what is and is notappropriate to record, as these journals may be shared with the class.)The next week, share the Art Print and generate a discussion about howthe Surrealists mined imagery from dreams and the subconscious subconscious:see unconscious. assubject matter. Give students time to review their journal entries as a way tobegin generating imagery and ideas for a collage. Using mixed media,students will create a three-dimensional piece inspired by The Palace at4 a.m. and passages from their dream journals. This activity would alsobe appropriate as part of a study of Magritte, Dali and Surrealism surrealism(sərē`əlĭzəm), literary and art movement influenced by Freudianism and dedicated to the expression of imagination as revealed in dreams, free of the conscious control of reason and free of convention. . * High School. In this activity, students will learn to criticallydiscuss a work of art. Show students the video on the smARThistory Website (www.smarthistory.org), which features this month's Art Print,The Palace at 4 a.m., as a model of how a dialogue can be generatedaround a work of art. Show the video in its entirely, and then replayit, stopping to open discussion around the comments made by the two arthistorians. Given this model, have students choose a work of art,perhaps a previous Clip & Save Art Print selection featuring timesof day, to create a short video. Allow time for students to share theirfinished video. Post to your school's Web site or on YouTube.