Talking to Women in Art

 

https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/self-portrait-with-fish-and-cat-joan-brown/WAGjEYFx_yCjFw

Self-portrait with a fish and a cat, by Joan Brown, 1970

Shared by Mª Pilar Montejo:

After Katherine’s inspiring talk, I have used some of her ideas in some of my lessons. This is one of them:

Having already worked in class the use of modal verbs and the reported speech, I showed my students some portraits, most of them women, as March is said to be “momen’s month”. They were all paintings from different centuries, so that they could choose the one they liked or inspired most. The task was divided into several parts:

https://contemplalaobra.blogspot.com/2011/06/obra-marilyn-monroe-autor-andrew.html

Marilyn Monroe, by Andy Warhol, 1964

1. Look at the portraits very carefully and try to guess as much information as you can: personal evidence, her job and what she had just been doing before the artist painted her. 

Beware that you are speculating, so you might use modal verbs such as might, could, can’t, must, may.

Example: 

-This woman must be in her thirties

-She can’t be a fishmonger

-She may be rich.

2. Now it’s time for “reality”: Imagine you could interview one of these women. Choose one painting and write down at least five questions which can provide you with the real information for your previous speculations. 

Make direct questions as if you were speaking to her. Don’t forget to ask the woman about what she had been doing immediately before she was painted by the master of the work of art.

Example: 

-How old are you? 

-Do you live alone? 

-What were you doing when the painter arrived?

3. Look at the painting you chose very carefully again and ask her your written questions. Try to “listen” to what the woman on the painting is telling you: she should be informing you about who she is, where she is from, which her job is, what she was doing before the painter surprised her… Write down her answers close to your questions before you forget them!

Example: 

-“I am a painter myself”

- “I come from the USA”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89lisabeth_Vig%C3%A9e_Le_Brun

Marie Louise Élisabeth Vigée Lebrun, Self-portrait, 1782

4. Finally, this is your homework for next class: with the information you have just got from the painting, you are going to write a short article for our school website. Use the reported speech to write about who the woman in the painting was and what she was doing when the artist surprised her and painted her.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dante_Gabriel_Rossetti#/media/File:Rossetti_lady_lilith_1867.jpg

Lady Lilith, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1867

5. Extra-work: You can search on the Internet for some information about the artist who painted the portrait of the woman you “interviewed” in class. Write a short biography of the painter.

https://www.wikiart.org/en/philip-de-laszlo/portrait-of-a-lady-1920

                   Portrait of a Lady by Philip de Laszlo (1920)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sofonisba_Anguissola

, Self-portrait by Sofonisba Anguissola 1556

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_Bia_de%27_Medici#Bia_de'_Medici

Bia de Médici by Bronzino, 1536

The Dessert:Harmony in Red, by Henri Matisse

 

https://www.henrimatisse.org/the-dessert-harmony-in-red.jsp

Shared by Yolanda Arribas:

The Dessert:Harmony in Red, by Henri Matisse(1908)

To explain the colours and their possible combinations and mixtures we can start by remembering all the colours, and then:

1. We can start making a colour wheel where we can reflect different colours visually and observe the interrelation among them. It is divided into three groups of colours: primary, secondary and tertiary.

2. Later we can explain the colour palettes like are sets of colours with similar characteristics. 

For example: cold and warm palette.

-Blues, purples and greens form the cool palette. Cool colours are soft, calm and serene.

-Tones such as red, orange and yellow form the warm palette. Warm colours are stimulating, dynamic and aggressive.

3. Finally we can talk about creating colour mixtures like the harmony colour and colour contrast.
A harmony is a combination of colours that produces attractive and balanced colour effects.

For example the work: The Dessert: Harmony in Red by Henri Matisse.
Contrast is produced when the colours in a composition do not have anything in common with each other or any similarity. Contrast between cool and warm colours.

For example the work: Pigs, by Franz Marc.

https://www.wikiart.org/en/franz-marc/pigs