1st Grade: Lesson 1 (November)

Art Masterpiece: Elephant, Horse, Cattle, Winter by Franz Marc

Keywords: Color, Shape, Emotion

Activity: Create Your Own Animal Puzzle

About the Artist:

• Franz Marc was a German painter and printmaker, and one of the key figures of the German Expressionist movement. In Expressionism, the focus is on expressing feelings and moods rather than reproducing reality. Distortion of color and form is common. • Franz Marc was born in 1880 in Munich, Germany. His father, Wilhelm, was a professional landscape painter. • In 1900 Marc began to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. In 1903 and 1907, he spent time in Paris, France, visiting the city's museums and making copies of the paintings he saw. Copying the great artists’ work was a traditional way for artists to study and develop technique. He was greatly inspired by the work of Vincent van Gogh. 1st Grade: Lesson 1 (November)

Marc became close friends with the artist August Macke, and also associated with Wassily Kandinsky and Robert Delaunay. • Marc served in the German Army as a cavalryman in WWI. He also painted camouflage canvas covers (for hiding artillery from aerial view). He died tragically in 1916 in the war when hit by enemy fire. • Marc made at least 60 prints in woodcut and lithography. Most of his work portrays animals, usually in natural settings. His work is characterized by bright primary color, an almost cubist portrayal of animals, stark simplicity and a profound sense of emotion. Even in his own time, his work attracted notice in influential circles. • Marc gave an emotional meaning or purpose to the colors he used in his work: blue was used to portray masculinity and spirituality, yellow represented feminine joy, and red encased the sound of violence.

About the Art:

• Elephant, Horse, Cattle, Winter was painted by Franz Marc in 1914, and is an oil painting on canvas. As the name describes, there are three animals in the painting, and the scene is in winter. • In looking at the painting, you can see brightly colored geometric shapes comprising the majority of the painting. • The three animals overlap, implying a harmonious relationship. All three animals eat by grazing on the grasslands (herbivores).

Possible Questions:

1) What colors do you see? Which colors are primary colors? (red, yellow, blue) Which colors are secondary colors? (orange, green, purple) 2) What animals do you see? Why do you think he chose those animals for his painting? What animals would you choose if you were the artist? 3) What shapes do you see? How do the shapes combine to form the outlines of the animals and their grassland environment? 4) What kind of emotions do you feel when looking at the painting? 1st Grade: Lesson 1 (November)

Activity: Create Your Own Animal Puzzle

1) Explain to the students that they will be creating their own animal puzzle and will be given a white paper bag to keep their puzzle in. 2) Begin by passing out a piece of cardstock copied with 3 animals to each student. There are 3 different choices of copies. Have them color their animal pictures with crayons, taking no more than 10 minutes or so to save time for cutting. Encourage them to use bold, bright colors. 3) After students are finished coloring, have them turn over their page to reveal the puzzle template. Pass out the scissors and have the students cut out their puzzles along the puzzle piece lines. It is not necessary for the students to cut perfectly along the lines, so encourage them in their cutting. Any shape of line, no matter how rough, will suffice. However, it is important that they do not discard any of the cut paper so the puzzle will fit together properly. 4) While the students are cutting, pass out the white paper bags, and have the students write their name on the top of the bag with a crayon. Students can place their cut puzzle pieces in the bag as they go. Pass out one small copy of the corresponding 3-animal puzzle to each student, and have them glue it onto their bag with a glue stick. 5) After cutting is complete, students can color the small picture on their bags with crayons and practice putting their puzzles together. 6) Collect the scissors and instruct the students to clean up any trash.

Materials Needed:

• Cardstock copied with 3-animal pictures on one side, and puzzle outline on the other side • Crayons • Scissors • White paper bags • Small copies of 3-animal pictures (corresponding to large pictures) • Glue sticks 1st Grade: Lesson 1 (November)

Artwork Examples: