The body: inspired by the collage cut-out drawings of Henri Matisse
Last week, both on-line and when we returned to school, we furthered our exploration into our understanding of the body through the paper cut out drawings of Henri Matisse!
Last week we drew the body inspired by Picasso and his continuous line drawings. This week we were inspired by the paper cut out collages of Henri Matisse. Henri Matisse used painted paper (that he painted himself) and cut out large paper figures of the body and then often attached them to his wall. This week students used their own reflections to create a continuous line drawing. They noticed how their body felt in the pose. They considered the lines in their drawing. They reflected on whether they were straight or curvy, wavy or sharp, light or dark, thick or thin, or long or short. They noticed how their body was feeling, where their body felt most relaxed and where the weight of the body lay. This helped them understand where each part of their body was held in the space. Once these things were considered and registered, they set about creating a Matisse inspired paper cut out of the drawing using coloured paper.
Using the images of collages by Henri Matisse as inspiration, students, began the process of seeing the parts of their drawings as separate collaged pieces. Sometimes Matisse cut each part of the body separately and then collaged these parts together on either the wall or onto a plain piece of paper. Students took these separate parts and considered the relationship of one part to another when gluing them to the paper. This is where they considered proportion. They thought about one part next to another part. They played around with the separate collage pieces until they felt the parts works well together.
This week, back on-site, students furthered their understandings of the body and the shape and proportion of the body by exploring further the body in motion using just collage as their medium of expression. Henri Matisse, used scissors as his drawing tool. “Drawing with scissors”…
They used the artist mannequin as inspiration for their collages. Students inquired into the history of the artist’s mannequin, what it was used for, how it was used and they unpacked how it was made. Using the above collages as inspiration, and the artist mannequin for technical information, students created collages of the body based on their most loved Olympic athlete! The artist mannequin providing a wonderful guide to how the body is positioned in space.
Here are a few of their amazing mannequin inspired cut-outs!
Over the next few weeks, students will be making their own versions of artist mannequins and exploring their own 3D creations using beads wire and wooden figures. They used the work of Alexander Giraud as inspiration for colour, pattern and characters.
This week, students created a series of drawings of ideas they had for their models. Below are a series of working drawings that exemplify the year 1 and 2 students’ thinking and planning preparation for next week.
The prep and year 1 students also went into the garden to collect pieces of wood and seeds to attach to their miniature models in preparation for next week’s constructions.