NORTON SIMON MUSEUM Student Preparatory Packet The Art of France Introduction to the Norton Simon Museum The Norton Simon Museum is known worldwide as one of the most remarkable art collections ever assembled. Seven centuries of European art dated from the Renaissance to the 20 th century are on permanent display, including works by Raphael, Botticelli, Rubens, Rembrandt, Zurbarán, Fragonard, and Goya. The Museum also boasts a celebrated Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collection—with paintings by Manet, Renoir, Monet, Degas, van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec and Cézanne—as well as works by Picasso, Matisse, and the German Expressionists. Moreover, the Museum also has one of the premier collections of South and Southeast Asian works of art in the country, spanning a period of some 2,000 years. Curriculum Materials To prepare your students for the tour, we have enclosed overhead transparencies of paintings and sculpture in the Museum’s collections. Included in the packet are the following: • a lesson plan for each featured artwork, along with vocabulary and pronunciation guide • a CD that covers pre-visit curricula for other tours offered by the Education Department • a DVD, “The Art of Norton Simon,” to familiarize your students with the Museum, its founder and its collections. Lessons Overview Each lesson provides brief background information about the artwork and artist, followed by questions that promote observation and discussion. Suggested classroom activities present students with the opportunity to explore the collection through research, writing and art-making projects. Learning Objectives Students are encouraged to: • take time to look closely • describe what they see • connect the visual arts with historical periods and religious traditions through research and writing projects • create original artworks focusing on themes and formal elements of art found in works from the Norton Simon collection. Curriculum Standards The materials address Content Standards for California Public Schools in Visual Arts, History–Social Science and English-Language Arts for grades 5–12. In addition to studying the enclosed preparatory packet, you may find it helpful to visit our website, www.nortonsimon.org Sincerely, Manny Guardado Education Assistant Norton Simon Museum Tel: (626) 844-6903 Fax: (626) 796-4978 411 West Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena, California 91105-1825 phone 626.449.6840 fax 626.796.4978 www.nortonsimon.org Happy Lovers , c. 1760–1765 Jean Honoré FRAGONARD, French, 1732–1806 Oil on canvas The Norton Simon Foundation FRAGONARD AND THE ROCOCO When Louis XIV died in 1715, France lacked a strong ruler. Freed from the constraints of court life, aristocrats enjoyed increased social and economic influence. Having abandoned Versailles , the court of Louis XV moved to sophisticated Paris. Here the nobility built luxurious townhouses (called hôtels ), filling them with art that reflected their pleasure-filled lives and tastes. The Rococo style emerged to suit their interior decoration needs. Combining visual elements of the Baroque with lighthearted subject matter, the art of the Rococo is marked by its highly decorative lines, soft palette of colors, dreamy ambiance and asymmetry. Courtly love is a common theme in Rococo art. The artist Jean Honoré Fragonard focused on this very subject, and as a result enjoyed tremendous success as a painter, draftsman and printmaker. As one critic commented, “Everything of his exudes pleasure and happiness.” It may seem ironic given the sweet and delicate nature of his work that Fragonard was born in the small city of Grasse, the perfume center of southern France. An only child, he moved to Paris with his family in 1738. In his teens, the artist served as apprentice to the celebrated still-life painter Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin before working in François Boucher's studio. At the young age of 20, he won the prestigious Prix de Rome and continued his studies at the Académie de France in Rome from 1756 to 1761. Fragonard's submission to the Salon of 1765 earned him membership in the highly competitive Académie Royale . Turning his back on the more traditional path of history painting, he chose instead cheerful, sentimental subject matter. The artist’s contemporaries accused him of compromising his artistic integrity by catering to the frivolous tastes of the noblemen and financiers who were his patrons . His successful career came to an abrupt end with the onslaught of the French Revolution. A CLOSER LOOK AT HAPPY LOVERS Two young lovers have escaped the restraints of the court for a secret rendezvous in a secluded, rustic retreat. They gaze adoringly at one another. Has the young damsel captured the heart of her suitor in much the same way that the lovebird, in the young man’s grasp, is about to be caged? This study of feminine wiles typifies the “intrigue” picture popular in late Rococo painting. This charming scene is richly embroidered with patterns of branches, leaves and flowers as exuberant as the subject itself. Pastel colors glow in the foreground , while the background disappears in a cloudy haze. The soft atmosphere and delicate lines epitomize the decorative nature of Rococo painting. But Happy Lovers also demonstrates the Rococo’s connection to the preceding Baroque period, which relied on strong diagonals and sweeping curves to animate paintings. The angles of arms and legs, reinforced by the slope of the landscape, create a dynamic pyramidal composition that leads the viewer’s eye to the cage in the young maiden’s hand. Rhythms in the drapery of clothing, echoed in the arc of flowers above the figures, enliven an already playful scene. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS : • Describe what colors the artists uses in the painting. • What kind of mood do these colors create? • What class of people do you think the main figures represent? • What is the female figure holding in her hand? What is the male figure holding in his hands? • What do you think these items signify? SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES IN THE CLASSROOM : • One of the social complaints that precipitated the French Revolution was legal class stratification. By birthright, not individual effort or choice, people were divided into three main classes: clergy, nobility, and commoners. Enlightenment -era philosophers like Rousseau and Voltaire wrote about the effects of these social constructs, while searching for an explanation of man’s true nature. As a class, read and dissect the following statements: “In our unhappy world it is impossible for men living in society not to be divided into two classes, the one the rich that commands, the other the poor that serves; and these two are subdivided into a thousand, and these thousand still have different gradations.” – Excerpt from the essay “Equality” from Voltaire’s The Philosophical Dictionary “Every man being born free and his own master, no-one, under any pretext whatsoever, can make any man subject without his consent. To decide that the son of a slave is born a slave is to decide that he is not born a man.” – Excerpt from Rousseau’s Social Contract Present an array of 18 th -century images depicting the upper class and peasant life. Focus on how the artist depicts status: by clothing, body language, size of artwork. How are myths of class reinforced by the artworks? Next have students look for images in modern newspapers and magazines that depict contemporary “classes.” Have students collect three images of each class and explain either verbally or in writing how these images represent the class. Explanations should be focused on what students see in the image (e.g. color, line, and environment) and its implied meaning. • Pastel became a new medium for finished works of art during the Rococo, and was very popular among both artists and patrons. Paintings during this period often have a lofty soft color scheme reflective of the pastel chalks. Working with pastel chalks creates a work of art that captures the Rococo sentiment. Keep in mind the overriding factors that molded the period, including subject matter, color scheme, sweeping curves and animated characters. AT THE MUSEUM : • While standing in front of this painting, ask students to write down four or five words that they think of when they look at the painting. In groups of four or five, ask students to compare their words and create a poem or story about the scene. RELATED STANDARDS : • Visual and Performing Arts: Grades 5–8, 2.0, ; Grades 9–12, 3.3 • Language Arts: Grades 7–12, 3.0 (Literary Criticism) Portrait of Theresa, Countess Kinsky , 1793 Marie-Louise-Elisabeth VIGÉE-LEBRUN, French, 1755–1842 Oil on canvas, 4.5 x 3.3 feet Norton Simon Art Foundation VIGÉE -LEBRUN : ÉMIGRÉ EXTRAORDINAIRE Marie-Louise-Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun was the daughter of a portrait painter who died when she was merely thirteen. After his death, she taught herself to paint and rapidly gained success. At the age of twenty-three, the artist was summoned to Versailles to paint Queen Marie-Antoinette’s portrait. She became a close acquaintance of the Queen who, five years later in 1783, ensured her entrance into the Académie Royale , where she was one of only four female members. Fearful for her life at the onset of the French Revolution , Vigée-Lebrun prudently fled the country with her daughter on October 5, 1789—the very day the Queen and King were placed under house arrest. She remained a loyal monarchist her entire life through the course of many regimes . The artist headed to Italy and Russia with prolonged stops in Vienna, Prague, Dresden and Berlin, living as an émigrée for twelve years. At each stop Vigée-Lebrun, preceded by her reputation, was flooded with invitations from members of the local nobility and aristocracy to paint portraits and stay as a guest in their palatial homes. According to her autobiography, the artist was not a mere social butterfly but also a hardworking, devoted painter who found uneducated and idle socialites dull.