Category Archives: Abrakadoodle Matisse Artist Widget

Fauvism: It’s all about the color

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Woman with a Hat by Henri Matisse

We are all drawn to color but none more so than the Fauvists of the early 1900′s, who created art that focused more on powerful colors than on the subjects of their artworks. In French, fauves translates to “wild beasts.” Many believe that fauvism grew out of the impressionism movement. The fauvists used wild brush strokes, intense colors and abstraction. Henri Matisse is a favorite artist featured in Abrakadoodle’s art program for children. His work, “Women with a Hat” (right) is said to have given rise to the Fauvism movement. Matisse simply loved art and over his life he experimented with many styles, ending his career with wonderful paper cutouts, which students in Abrakadoodle art classes love to explore. Our students create original, Matisse-inspired artworks from their own imaginations.

Colorful landscape by Andre Derain

Andre Derain was another French artist, who was a leading painter with the Fauves. Derain became friends with Matisse. He once said, “The colors were even dynamite cartridges to us.” His artwork featured bright, flat colors with spontaneous brush strokes. He often painted landscapes.

Encourage your child to create a piece of art that is very colorful. You might add to the creative adventure by saying, “If you could make your tan colored dog or cat a color, what color or colors would you choose?” Let your child’s little inner color beast out for some arty fun!

Matisse Artist Widget

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Henri Matisse was a twentieth century French artist. His characteristic style included flat, brilliant colors and fluid lines. Later in his career, Matisse concentrated on a technique called papiers découpés (paper cutouts). Try making your own painting with Matisee-like paper cutouts:

*Choose cutouts and drag to the canvas
*See what changes you can make by clicking on the buttons below the canvas
*Print your design.
*Have fun!

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Artists for Kids
Marvelous Matisse
(Left is one of his most famous works, “The Joy of Life”)

Known as the greatest colorist of the twentieth century, Henri Matisse was a painter and sculptor recognized internationally for his use of color, expressiveness and unique form. He was about 20 years old and recovering from appendicitis when his mother bought him art supplies to keep him busy as he recuperated. He refers to this time as discovering “a kind of paradise.” Within two years, he left his legal career to pursue art. His early works were influenced by post-Impressionist Paul Cezanne, in particular. Matisse had famous friends, too, including Pablo Picasso, a fellow modern art pioneer.

What kids can learn from Matisse?

(Art for Kids)
Matisse created colorful pictures that helped show how he was feeling. He also liked to use scissors and cut out a wide variety of shapes in all sizes and would make collages with them. Matisse was inspired by nature.

There are many ways to promote creativity in children. Make sure they get outside to gain an appreciation for nature, just as Matisse did. Children can enjoy the idea of Matisse’s shape collages by experimenting with Abrakadoodle’s Matisse Artist widget. Widgetbox™ helps people express, connect, create and inform using web widgets that can be easily shared and distributed anywhere on the web. The best part is: it’s free! Visit Matisse Artist and check out other inventive applications at http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/MatisseArtist

Kids can also use colorful paper or create their own colorful designs on white paper and cut out interesting shapes in all sizes. They can use these cut-outs to make a collage or a card with interesting overlaps or with white space as they envision it. Encourage children to express their emotions using color, shapes and style. Perhaps they will find the comfort that Matisse did when he made art in his own style!