FIRST CLASS - STYLES OF PORTRAITURE

I. INTRODUCTION

Since the early 1990s, elementary students at the Heathcote School in Scarsdale, New York have been introduced to great masterpieces of art through the Learning to Look program, an art appreciation and art history curriculum that teaches children how to look at art. Kindergartners at the school study “The Elements of Art,” specially-devised lesson plans that teach children to “read” a work of art according to the artist’s use of the Elements of Art—color, line, shape, texture, light/dark, and space. Grades 1 through 5 follow a five-year sequential curriculum plan that broadly covers the development of art history from the mid-eighteenth century to the 1960s in both Europe and America as follows:

2006-2007 Late 18th & 19th century European Painting & Sculpture 2007-2008 Impressionist & Post-Impressionist Art 2008-2009 Modern Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art 2009-2010 Art of the 1950s & 1960s at the Museum of Modern Art 2010-2011 American Art: From Colonial Times to the 1890s

This year students at Heathcote School are deepening their knowledge of 19th century European Art by studying one particular art historical period: Impressionist & Post- Impressionist Art.

At the beginning of the first class, the teacher should introduce him- or-herself and welcome students to a new year of Learning to Look. Inquire if there are any students who have never had a Learning to Look class before. If so, ask some of their classmates to explain what we do together during the six times of the year that this class meets. Stress the importance of looking and of not being afraid to express one's ideas and feelings. Both the viewing and making of art should be enjoyable! In the process, everyone will also learn a great deal as well.

Remind students that we will be talking about artworks together and then doing a project or activity that relates to the artworks that we have been looking at.

What might we look for in a work of art? The elements of art—color, line, shape, texture, light/dark, space The subject matter: portrait, landscape, still life, history or genre painting The style of a particular artist

This year we will be studying a specific period in French art history--the second half of the nineteenth century. Write the dates l850-l900 on the blackboard to make this clear. We will also be focusing on a specific group of artists known as the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. Not all were born in France, but all of them lived there at some time during their careers. Have the students find France on a map. What is the capital of France? Point out Paris and explain to them that Paris was the center of much art activity over one hundred years ago. The artists we will be studying created very new styles of painting. As we look at their canvases this year, we will be asking ourselves what was new in their art. Why was it considered so modern, shocking or even revolutionary? And why are the same canvases that were severely criticized in the l870s now beloved by almost everyone and sold at auction for some of the highest prices ever paid for art--in the tens of millions of dollars.

One of the best ways to understand what was new and different in Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art is to compare it to an example of a style of art that came just before it. Thus we begin this class on portraiture with a painting by an artist who wasn't an Impressionist at all. His name was J.A.D. Ingres, and he died before the Impressionist movement had even begun.

II. EYE EXERCISES

Many children who have had "Learning to Look" for a number of years enjoy doing these simple warm-up exercises. If students are too self-conscious, the exercises may be omitted. (See earlier curriculum for instructions.)

III. STYLES OF PORTRAITURE

A. Madame Jacques-Louis Leblanc

Artist – Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres - French (l780-l867)

Year Painted - l823

Medium - oil on canvas

Props – map of France; poster of painting; magnifying glass, texture bag containing black velvet, black satin, tulle, embroidered cloth, costume jewelry

Activity - texture bag

BACKGROUND INFORMATION (for the teacher)

J.A.D. Ingres (1780-1867) was born in Montauban, France, the first son of a mediocre painter and ornamental sculptor who acted as his son's first teacher. At the age of nine, the young artist felt proficient enough to sign one of his drawings, and throughout his life Ingres produced extraordinarily lifelike and compelling drawings. As a youth, Ingres studied music as well as art, and mastered the violin well enough to play in the Toulouse Orchestra. The French expression, “le violin d'Ingres” refers to one's avocation. Painting ultimately attracted Ingres more strongly than music, so he traveled to Paris to study with Jacques Louis David from 1797 to 1799. Ingres became his most celebrated pupil and the champion of the neo-classical style in art.

Ingres's greatest inspiration, however, was not David but rather the Renaissance artist Raphael. In l80l Ingres won the Prix de Rome, a scholarship that allowed the winner to study in Italy. Because of government financial difficulties, Ingres did not receive the prize until l806. For the next l8 years he lived in Italy (largely in Rome and Florence) where he supported himself by doing portraits in pencil as well as oil, even though he yearned to paint more important subjects such as scenes from history. His female nudes and odalisques are famous for their purity of line. Ingres once commented on the liberties he took with correct anatomy, that he painted an impossibly lengthened back, as it ought to be, not as it is.

Returning to Paris in l824, Ingres received many commissions and honors, including being elected a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts and a recipient of the Legion of Honor. A decade later, however, after his paintings were repeatedly criticized in the Salon, he returned to Italy as the Director of the French Academy in Rome where he remained until 1841. Back in Paris, Ingres was lionized as the greatest neo-classical painter of his time, although his style now clashed with the new Romantic style of painting that stressed color over line and emotion over restraint. Ingres had hundreds of pupils and followers but few possessed his talent. Although Ingres' own paintings display personal idiosyncrasies such as his sensuous elongation of figures, his neo- classical style with its porcelain-like finish, clear contours, and realism of details, became the accepted mode of painting and dominated the French Academy for much of the nineteenth century.

DIALOGUE SUGGESTIONS (for classroom presentation)

Show the students the poster of Madame Jacques-Louis Leblanc without revealing its title.

What is this a picture of? A woman

Do you know what type of painting this is? Hint: what do you call a painting of a particular person? A portrait

What can they tell about the woman from merely looking at the way the artist, Ingres, presents her? Describe her clothing. She was well-to do. She wears an elegant black dress made of expensive materials, and some jewelry. She sits on a patterned cashmere shawl.

Look carefully at the shawl. Can you find the letter “E” embroidered into its design? The letter “E” stands for Grand Duchess Elisa, Napoleon’s sister. Mme Leblanc knew her, hence the shawl’s letter is a reference to her years of service at the Grand Duchesses’ court.

Can you find a purse on the sitter’s lap? It is near her left hand and is black and silver.

Use a magnifying glass to look at her jewelry up close. Can you describe it? Point out the gold chain and watch, two rings, and earrings.

Ingres painted both Mme Leblanc (née Françoise Poncelle) and her husband when he was in Florence, Italy in l823. They were close friends of the artist and supported his work financially. They both had been part of Napoleon's court before 1814. Ingres also painted their children and other paintings for them. They were important patrons of the artist.

Do you think Ingres has idealized his subject, made her more perfect than she really was? Most students think so. Notice how Ingres paints the skin on her face almost like a china doll. There are no wrinkles or imperfections.

What pose does the artist choose? Madame Leblanc is seated, in a somewhat relaxed pose. One arm drapes over the chair back and the other rests at her side, in imitation of a famous pose from classical Roman art. It is a 3/4 length pose. It doesn't show her whole body.

Where is the sitter looking? Directly at the viewer with her head slightly tilted.

What mood does the woman's pose and facial expression suggest? Tranquil, relaxed, graceful, serene, quiet, cool, imperious.

Can you imagine any noise in this painting? It seems very silent. Perhaps only soft classical music could be heard in the background.

What main compositional shape did Ingres use in this portrait? Help the students trace it with their finger. A triangle There is a large triangle made up of Mme. Leblanc's figure and the chair, as well as a smaller triangle made up of her head and shoulders.

Are triangles stable, restful shapes? Yes

Is this a formal or informal portrait? Formal

What is the setting? Inside a house. This was actually the Leblanc's own home. Point out the marble-topped table and vase of flowers.

Ingres also did a companion portrait of Mme. Leblanc's husband. They hang facing one another at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Both of these portraits were once owned by the Impressionist artist Degas, whom we met in last year’s Learning to Look curriculum.

Is it easy or hard to see the lines in this painting? Very easy. Help the students trace the clear contour lines of Mme. Leblanc's shoulders, neck, face, arms and dress. They stand out even more against the dark background. This emphasis on clear outlines was a hallmark of Ingres' neo- classical style. This style was particularly popular in France between 1790 and the 1840s. It became the accepted mode of painting by which the powerful French Academy judged all other pictures.

What element(s) of art is particularly important in this painting? Let students defend their answers. Some will mention line because of the curving, sensuous lines with which Ingres outlined her form. Others will emphasize texture. Ingres adds realism to the painting by recreating the various textures in paint with such great skill.

TEXTURE BAG ACTIVITY

Gather together as many textures as possible that are found in the painting and place them in a shopping bag. It helps if the material is the same color as in the painting. Then have each child reach into the bag, pull out a texture, describe it in words and show where Ingres has recreated it in paint. How many different textures did they find?

Do you think Ingres worked quickly or slowly in order to capture all the lines and patterns that make up the various textures? Slowly

Look especially at the way the artist represented the tulle of the dress sleeves, the embroidered shawl, and the flowers on the table and the gold chain and watch.

This carefully painted, clearly delineated style with its porcelain-like finish became the standard by which portraiture was measured throughout the 19th century.

B. The Monet Family in their Garden in Argenteuil

Artist - Edouard Manet - French (l832-l883)

Year Painted - l874

Medium - oil on canvas

Props - poster of the painting; pencils, paper, Venn Diagram

Activity - Comparison/contrast

BACKGROUND INFORMATION (for the teacher)

Edouard Manet was born in Paris in 1832, the oldest son of well-to-do, middle class parents. His father was a lawyer and government official. As a child, Manet disliked school. His uncle paid for him to take drawing lessons, but Manet was bored with copying from plaster casts and got expelled from class. He was forced to repeat a school year. Manet quarreled with his father over his choice of becoming an artist rather than a lawyer. To placate his father, he agreed to join the navy but failed the entrance exams. He went to sea to learn to sail as another way to gain admission to the French navy, but discovered he disliked sailing. Finally his father gave in to Manet's determination to become an artist.

Almost a decade older than Monet and Renoir, Manet is often considered, along with Degas, as the elder brother of Impressionism. Yet Manet never called himself an Impressionist and did not exhibit with the group. Beginning in 1850, he studied for six years with the academic painter, Thomas Couture, with whom he frequently quarreled. Yet Couture taught Manet a reverence for nature and a penchant for identifying patrons rather than competing for the Prix de Rome as the path to artistic success. In fact, Manet never wanted to forego exhibiting in the official Salons. He was strongly influenced by the Old Masters, especially the Spanish artists Velasquez and Goya, and made the obligatory trip to Italy in 1853 to enhance his artistic studies. Yet the pictures Manet painted revolutionized the art world and the way people look at art. He rejected many academic conventions in his search for a way to make painting more immediate, more a reflection of what the eye sees. For example, he painted in broad, flat areas and eliminated half-tones, the traditional way of painting based on intermediate tones progressing from dark to light. His subject matter, drawn from contemporary life, was often considered scandalous. His famous picture, Déjeuner sur l'herbe, depicts a picnic at which a seated, nude woman is surrounded by clothed males.

The Impressionists were especially influenced by Manet’s daring simplifications, his choice of subject matter from everyday Parisian existence (what the French poet Baudelaire called “the heroism of modern life”), and his new compositional devices. Yet Manet was also influenced by the Impressionists. The painting we are looking at shows this influence at its height. Manet has adopted here the lightened color and sketchy brush strokes of Monet whom he visited frequently at his country home in Argenteuil during the summer of l874. Manet painted what many consider his greatest masterwork, Bar at the Folies-Bergere, in 1882, a year prior to his death from complications of syphilis. While, by the end of his life, Manet had received the Legion of Honor and been accepted to show annually at the Salon without prior jury approval, the artist continued to create paintings that challenged accepted social and artistic mores of the period.

DIALOGUE SUGGESTIONS (for classroom presentation)

Now show the students Manet's painting of The Monet Family in their Garden without revealing its identity.

This painting by the French artist, Edouard Manet, is very different from the one we just looked at. Let's see how many ways the two paintings differ?

How many people are shown in this scene? Three

What do you call a portrait of more than one person? A group portrait

Do you think these people are related? Why or why not? They seem to be related because of their familiar poses. The boy lies against the woman.

This is in fact a family portrait of the artist Claude Monet, his wife Camille and their 7- year-old son Jean. (Write the names Manet and Monet on the blackboard and underline the one letter in which they differ.)

What is the setting for this portrait? That is, where does Manet show the Monet family? In their garden. The title of this painting is The Monet Family in their Garden at Argenteuil.

What season do you think it is? Most students will say summer. Green grass and trees, out of doors, working in garden.

Where did Manet set up his easel to paint this picture? Directly in front of Mme Monet. Out-of-doors.

The Impressionist not only sketched out-of-doors like earlier artists, they also made finished paintings out-of-doors. They painted quickly because they were interested in capturing the changing light and colors of nature and how they are rapidly taken in by the human eye. Could you tell that Monet was an artist from the way Manet shows him in this portrait? What is Monet doing? Monet is working in his garden. He loved to garden and his gardens at Giverny in France can still be visited. He appears to be holding a red flower, perhaps to pick it. Here he is shown in the garden of his rented house in Argenteuil, France in the summer of 1874.

Can you find: a watering can, a cock (rooster), a hen, a baby chick, a red fan? (Some scholars call these ducklings.)

Is this a formal or informal pose? Informal The people don't seem to be posing at all. Monet is shown bending over and his son is lying down.

What is the mood of this painting? Casual, relaxed, warm, happy.

This painting is an example of a new style of painting that developed in France in the l870s. It is called Impressionism. We will learn more about the meaning of its name in another class. Claude Monet was one of the leaders of the Impressionists. Manet was older than Monet and never really considered himself an Impressionist, but in l874 when this painting was done, Manet visited Monet a number of times at his house along the banks of the Seine River in the town of Argenteuil, northwest of Paris. Monet influenced Manet to paint in the new style.

Let me tell you a true story that will help you recapture the day this painting was painted. Manet was not the only visitor to the Monet family that summer day. The Impressionist painter Renoir also came and painted Mme Monet and Jean as they were posing for Manet. (Remind students that they looked at a painting by Renoir, Madame Charpentier and Her Children, in last year’s Learning to Look classes.) Manet teasingly whispered to Monet about Renoir, "He has no talent at all, that boy! You, who are his friend, tell him please to give up painting." Monet also painted a picture that day, one of Manet at work on this canvas. (This picture is now lost.) At the end of the day, Renoir and Manet gave their paintings to Monet as a thank you for having them visit.

Here is the picture Renoir painted that afternoon. Can you see why even jokingly Manet said that Renoir couldn’t paint? What is different about his view of the Monet family in their garden? Renoir eliminates Monet and focuses in closely on his wife and son Jean. There is no visible horizon line, which flattens the image. The tree seems to grow out of Mme Monet’s back. Notice the fan here. Renoir painted it in rainbow colors, not red like Manet. In general, Renoir’s colors are brighter than Manet’s.

Now let's see if we can figure out what the Impressionists were interested in their art by comparing this canvas to the portrait by Ingres.

Can you see the brush strokes in Manet's painting or are they all smoothed over the way they were by Ingres? The brush strokes are very clear. (Look at the grass.) Manet has applied his paints in loose brushstrokes like a sketch.

What about the contour lines here, are they as easy to see as in Mme Leblanc? Manet's outlines are blurry, not clear and detailed. Notice how when you look closely, the red flower is merely a dab of red paint. Manet eliminates many details.

Does Manet use a somber background like Ingres or are his colors bright all over? Manet's colors are bright, sunlight.

Does Manet try to re-create all the different textures in this painting as Ingres did? No, he paints all the objects with the same texture. Notice how he uses the same brush strokes for Mme Monet's dress as he does for the grass.

What texture is most important to Manet here? The texture of the paint itself.

Is this composition symmetrical (balanced on each side of the center line) like Ingres' was? No. Mme Monet and Jean are somewhat off center to counterbalance Monet and the animals on the left.

What marks the center of this composition? The red fan.

COMPARISON/CONTRAST ACTIVITY

To end this class, let's review what we've observed by listing all the ways that these two paintings differ. (Write the students' comments on the blackboard).

Ingres Manet one person three people formal pose informal pose set indoors set outdoors painted indoors painted outdoors painted slowly painted quickly smooth finish brush strokes show clear outlines blurry outlines recreates textures texture of paint many details details blurred symmetrical asymmetrical

This activity can also be done by means of a Venn Diagram which depicts two intersecting circles. In the space where the circles overlap, have students write in all the ways the paintings are alike (e.g., oil on canvas, of people, by French artists) and in the outlining circular spaces all the ways in which they differ (see above list).

WRITING ACTIVITY

Children might like to write a story about Monet's garden. Suggest that they pretend they were also visitors that day along with Manet and Renoir. What did they see, hear, smell? Did they sketch the Monet family also? Perhaps they might add a quick sketch of their own family at the bottom of their story.