DOCUMENT RESUME ED 398 169 SO 026 883 AUTHOR Andre, Linda; Casey, Douglas, Ed. TITLE Landscape Painting: Artists Who Love the Land. INSTITUTION Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. PUB DATE 96 NOTE 17p. AVAILABLE FROM Smithsonian Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Arts and Industries Building 1163, MRC 402, Washington, DC 20560 (free). PUB TYPE Collected Works Serials (022) Guides Classroom Use Teaching Guides (For Teacher) (052) JOURNAL CIT Art to Zoo: Teaching with the Power ofObjects; March-April 1996 EDRS PRICE MFOI/PC01 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Art; Art Activities; *Art Education;*Artists; Elementary Secondary Education; Geography Instruction; Integrated Activities; *Painting(Visual Arts); Social Studies; *United States History;Visual Arts IDENTIFIERS Bierstadt (Albert); Catlin (George); Homer(Winslow); *Landscapes; Moran (Thomas); *Westward Movement (United States) ABSTRACT Through the study of several works of artby Albert Bierstadt, George Catlin, Winslow Homer, and ThomasMoran, this resource explores the way thatpeople felt about their growing nation during the period of westward expansion untilthe end of the 19th century. It introduces students to basicprinciples of landscape painting and has students practice geographyskills to gain appreciation for the physical characteristicsof different regions of the United States. Lesson plans andsuggestions are provided. Black and white reproductions of work by severalartists are provided for use with suggestedactivities. (MM) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the bestthat can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** t i L.4 4 U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION PERMISSION TO REPRODUCEAND Offc of EduCatanai RaSoarcn ano improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL CENTER (ERIC) HAS BEEN GRANTED BY This document has been reproduced as NDSCAPE PAINTING: eceived from the person or organization originating it 1 O Minor changes have been made to Artists Who Love theLand improve reproduction quality .fl;" ', Points of view or opinions stated in this TO THE EDUCATIONALRESOURCES document do not necessarly represent official OERI position or policy INFORMATION CENTER (ERICI . -. 4 . ; $. `Itti'' ..Y .'Le§son PI. - Take-Home Page - " . ' in English/SpanIsh IV/ V. t4 Art tie.= otrtve . , tit1:. to Geographyr Language Arts U.S. HistOry )( till 0' I. '".s.?*).p 4-9 flu _=Alidilif Publication of Art to Zoo is made possible through the generous .10.11111. support ofthe.PaCificl:::". Mutual Fatiridatioii:-4...::j. Timm orktiv AM Ill A DT Me Introduction Lesson Plan Step 1' i Activity Page Activity Page 1B - , : '='; Activity Page 1C . _. ; .., ..:-.,..--...,. ,.. Activity Page....1.p :./f, ,......?,..ii, .. Lesson Plan Step 2 -i,--e.... 1 ft,.......1.-,--.,-;.--.; - ." ..'-' :A' 1:i''':.i.. ' . .- "; :- ''''ts-i. -.1..- -_,.;-.41j,; '' !.'.' t *-15.446:....,-,'..;- - ..i.!.:_,...-r: if- 0.7'..._..... /---',",....4:t./ f 1. 411.:-.9' 4Bakigs1.4461.9144.r-.1.-Vsernft...*.9S''''''13... :,..,1,,,...t,.. ,.... ,.:.,................-.4,,,4..:i....e.,f.; ..:7447-' .?,, : ty .,...,,v...y.., a,. e :t? ,-.' ': '14...'.::,3-A-4.21-,, 4. i-:...;:,.4.'-''.,: ..g.1-7,:' :.. 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The Smithsonian invitet techerS toduplicate -. BEST COPY AVAILABLE Art to Z;;47* Material§ z 3 LANDSCAPE PAINTING: Artists Who Love the Land How does an artist create a landscape?A landscape artist is a sort ofmagician who can create a whole world on apiece of flat canvas. This world, of course,is made of paint. Trees that seemthick with foliage are made with afew flicks of a paintbrush. Lakes that shine, waterfallsthat splash. grasses that bendin the wind, and dark clouds that promise rain areall made of colors squeezed outof a paint tube. How amazing it is that smalldabs and smears of color can createplaces for us to go in ourimagination: a placid river winding,around hills, a rocky shoreline where we can almost hear thecrashing waves, an enormous canyonthat seems to stretch miles deep into the distance. can enter the painting and Air is an important part hill, he can leave some of colors of naturethe soil. continue walking for miles. of any landscape as well. them out of his picture. If he the clouds, and the reflec- Landscape artists know although we seldom aive it thinks the trees are in the tions on water. He can study that there are certain tech- much thought. An artist has wrong place. he can move the patterns of sunlight and niques that work. Five "space to paint the air so skillfully them around. If a riverbank shadow that change with On tricks" that students can try that we seem to feel the heat looks too empty, he can every passing moment. out for themselves are of the sun and the rush of the add a few rocks that aren't the other hand, if he chooses described in this Art to Zoo: wind. He or she has to make really there. to paint inside his studio. A landscape artist also he can work more slowly, us believe that it might take 1. A winding path. has to decide what she rearrange the composition. hours for a bird to tly from Apath or river that winds wants us to see. If she is and adjust the colors and one side of the picture frame through the landscape from painting a field, she has to shapes to his own way of to the other. All of this is foreground to background decide whether she wants us seeing. Many artists find hard to do. There are no can make us believe that the to see each blade of grass or both methods useful. They paint tubes for sale labeled picture describes a deep whether she wants us to see make sketches outdoors and "sunshine." "frosty air." space. "gentle breeze." or -gloomy the field as a smear of color. then do the actual painting back in their studio. day." An artist has to create She can paint her landscape 2. Changes in size. the win J. the sunshine, and so that we see the field from A tree that is close to us the mist with the paint at the above, as if we were looking appears much larger than a end of the brush. down from an airplane. or CREATING ILLUSIONS tree of the same size that is It is important to remem- from the ground, as if we far away. No matter where the land- ber that a landscape artist is were lying flat on a picnic scape artist chooses to set not a camera that records blanket. 3. Overlap. whatever happens to be in Before making any of up his easel, he will have to A boulder that is close to us front of the lens. He is not these decisions, the land- confront the central problem overlaps and partially hides a required to paint exactly scape artist must decide posed by all landscapes much larger cliff behind it. what he sees. If he feels that whether to work outdoors creating the illusion of deep When there are too many trees on a on the land or indoors in the space on a flat canvas. studio. Working outdoors done well, the effect can be allows him to observe the spellbinding. Wc feel that we 4. Changes in clarity. seacoast of Maine. All four ABOUT THE ARTISTS A distant mountain range painters helped Americans appears more hazy and less see and love their land in a George Catlin Albert Bierstadt distinct than a mountain that time when photography was George Catlin was an east- Albert Bierstadt went to is closer. still in its infancy and travel erner who had been fascinat- California in 1859 with a films did not exist. Today ed with Native Americans land-surveying team after the 5. Diagonal composition. television floods us with since boyhood. When he gold rush had aroused the Land that moves away from images, and we can easily was thirty-four years old, he curiosity of the entire nation. us on the diagonal appears to travel by car, train, or plane decided that painting pictures At that time, easterners had move back into space. to whatever river, mountain. of Native Americans would to learn about the magnifi- canyon, or seacoast we wish be far more interesting than cent California wilderness George Catlin. Thomas to visit. Yet the silent paint- being a lawyer. So. in 1830 from small black-and-white Moran. Albert Bierstadt, and ings of these artists still he headed west. For six photographs brought home Winslow Homer were four speak to us of the majesty years. he moved from village by land surveyors. But American artists who used of our land. to village, using the Missouri Bierstadt was an artist these techniques well. Their Through the study of River as a means of travel. with a shrewd business ultimate purpose was not so several works of art, this He painted portraits of tribal sense.