Morandi-Inspired Still Lifes

Students explore the work of artist Giorgio Morandi in historical context by comparing him to his contemporaries …

… the Abstract Expressionists.

A Venn Diagram organizes information for students to compare Giorgio Morandi to other artists of his generation.

The program, ReadWriteThink, allows students to submit their response to the writing prompt on the computer.

Overlearning – For this project students completed a contour drawing of their shoe, contour drawings of the still life, a value scale, a color wheel, and the value study shown above. The preparation gave the students confidence and helped each student produce two outstanding paintings.

A novel approach – The painting Flag (Moratorium), by Jasper Johns, offers a different take on complementary colors. Not sure what the complements of these colors are? Stare at the dot in the center of the flag and look away to see the American flag in its natural colors.

An extension for this lesson is for students to experiment with a splatter paint technique.

Student Example #1

Student Example #2

Student Example #3

Student Example #4

Student Example #5

Student Example #6

Student Example #7

Student Example #8

Teacher:  Michael Read

Class Length: 90 minutes

Grade Level: 8th

Number of Classes: 5

 

Title:  Giorgio Morandi-Inspired Still Life

 

 

 

Concept: Students will paint with a full range of values and in a complementary color scheme from a still life inspired by the work of painter Giorgio Morandi.

 

SOL:

8.1 The student will create works of art that emphasize specific color relationships.

8.11 The student will provide evidence of the critical and artistic processes used to achieve final art solutions in personal works of art by documenting preparation, rough drafts, and final solutions.

8.14 The student will describe and place a variety of works in historical and cultural contexts.

8.17 The student will investigate and discuss the use of social, cultural, and historical context as they contribute to meaning in a work of art.

 

Vocabulary:

 

Contour line– A line depicting the outside edge of an object

Complementary Colors – Colors across from each other on the color wheel that are pleasing when seen together

Value – How light or dark a color is

Intensity- How bright or dull a color is

Hue– A variety of color

Giorgio Morandi – Italian painter who focused on still life as his primary subject who lived from 1890-1964

Still Life– A subject matter in art that focuses on the depiction of inanimate objects

 

Background Information:

 

Giorgio Morandi is remarkable for his almost exclusive concentration on the subject of still life painting and landscape throughout his career.  Morandi lived from 1890 to 1964 during the time Abstract Expressionism was at the height of its popularity.  Morandi, an Italian, is famous for his assertion that, “there is nothing more abstract than reality.” His work features subtle gradations of tone and takes as precedent the still life paintings of Cezanne and Chardin.  Morandi was a prolific painter who also produced a large volume of watercolors and prints.

 

Visuals/Resources:

ReadWriteThink online resource

Visual examples of still life paintings by Giorgio Morandi.

Teacher examples showing the stages of the project including: contour drawing, value scale, color wheel, and finished painting in full-color in a complementary color scheme

Images of famous and lesser-known artwork using a complementary color scheme

Image of Jasper Johns, Flag (Moratorium) Lithograph

 

Materials:

Pencils

Tempera Paint

Objects for still life

Brushes

Palettes

Art Paper

 

Procedure:

 

Day One

After watching a PowerPoint about the artist Giorgio Morandi have students complete a quick write activity using the web resource: ReadWriteThink.  Ask students, ” Based on what you learned about Giorgio Morandi compared to the other artists of his day, use the ReadWriteThink organizer to write 3-5 points explaining why you think his work is original or not.  Cite specific characteristics of his work in your answer, and give descriptions of the work of his contemporaries. “Discuss responses.

After seeing examples of the stages of the project, students will execute a contour drawing of their shoe to introduce them to contour drawing before they draw the still life. Earlier finishers begin their contour drawing of the still life and reproduce the drawing two times.  Look at student work and hear feedback about how this was similar or different from work they have been doing that is tonal.

 

Day Two

 

Students will spend today’s class working to complete their contour drawing of the still life arrangement, and also trace two copies of it they will be using for painting.  Earlier finishers may make an additional copy and complete a tonal drawing.

 

Day Three

 

Today students will look at examples of paintings done in black and white and make their own value scales.  As an assessment tool, hand out a black and white photocopy and have students number from 1 to 7 the values in the picture from lightest to darkest.  Students begin working on their still life paintings done in black and white after completing their value scales.  Distribute rubrics to students and go over the required 5 values for their black and white still life and 3-5 mixtures for their complementary color still life.

 

Day Four

 

Begin the class with a critique of the finished black and white paintings.  Ask students to point out examples of paintings they like, and effects they would like to achieve in their paintings.  Students will create color wheels and learn how to mix paints not only to achieve secondary and tertiary colors, but also neutrals via mixing complementary colors.  Students will begin working on their final paintings in a complementary color scheme.

 

Day Five

Students have all class to work on their finals in full color in a complementary color scheme.  Review the color wheel as a tool and complementary colors.

 

Day 6-7

As students are drawing to a close and some are finishing, make it a time to inspire them with exemplary paintings using a complementary color scheme.  Show Jasper Johns’ Flag (Moratorium) and have students sit for twenty seconds until they see the afterimage of the flag. Discuss the implications of the experiment for using complementary colors in students’ paintings.

 

Closure:

 

Students should matte both their black and white painting and complementary color painting.  Conduct a critique of the complementary paintings asking students again to point out paintings they like, and to make a comparison between the experience of painting with value only versus a complementary color scheme.

 

Rubric

Grading Criteria	4	3	2	1
Value	Student demonstrates mastery of mixing value with paint via a value scale and painting that shows 5 or more gradations from black to white.	Student shows strong ability to mix values with paint via a value scale and painting that shows 3-4 gradations from black to white.	Student displays ability mixing value with paint via a value scale and painting that shows 2 gradations from black to white.	Student displays incomplete ability mixing value with paint via a value scale and painting that shows 1 or 0 gradations from black to white.
Complementary Color Scheme	Student demonstrates mastery of mixing complementary colors via a painting of two complementary colors and four or more mixtures of those complements.	Student shows strong ability of mixing complementary colors via a painting of 2 complementary colors and 3 mixtures of those complements.	Student displays ability mixing complementary colors via a painting of 2 complementary colors and 2 mixtures of those complements.	Student displays incomplete ability mixing complementary colors via a painting of 2 complementary colors and 1 mixture of those complements.
Participation	Student is highly motivated and exceeds expectations with a strong work ethic and consistently scores 4’s on their daily participation grade.	Student is motivated with a strong work ethic and consistently scores 3’s and 4’s on their daily participation grade.	Student has room for improvement and consistently scores 2’s and 3’s on their daily participation grade.	Student motivation and work ethic is an area to improve and he/she consistently scores 2 or below on daily participation grades.