Drawing with Whitman & Art History for Kids!

 Drawing with Whitman 📖📕

Art History Lesson #1: 🎨 Paul Cézanne

Paul Cézanne: (French, 1839-1906) was among the first artists to paint in the Post-Impressionistic style. Still Life with Fruit Dish, 1879–80

Reading from Drawing with Whitman:

“Cat had the board with the drawing paper clipped to it and a pencil and was ready to begin drawing. It was the beginning of another art lesson. When she came into the studio, Benton was standing beside the work table with a satisfied grin. He had cleared a corner of it and placed there a large white cloth with a ceramic bowl on top filled with oranges, apples, and lemons. “This is a still life. I modeled this one after a Paul Cézanne still life. I’d like you to draw it with a pencil, then we’ll move on to paint.” (pg. 88)

 Art style: a recognizable pattern, form, or technique that an artist or group of artists incorporate into their artwork

 Canvas: a durable woven fabric stretched over a wooden frame, then painted on

Art History Lesson #2: 🎨 Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh: (Dutch, 1853–90) was a major artist who used pure, intense color and thick brushwork called impasto; although still popular today, he allegedly he sold only one painting during his lifetime; he lived with depression. The Starry Night, 1889

Reading from Drawing with Whitman:

Catalynd turned to the bottom half of the tree, which had survived the car slamming into it. She studied its shape, its injured sides and ragged crown. It reminded her of a form she’d seen recently. She squinted to try to remember. It escaped her, so she returned to her sketching. A few moments later, her head shot up. “I know.” The girl took out her phone and brought up the image that had finally come into her mind. “Yes.” She passed it to Benton, who nodded again. “It looks like the tree in van Gogh’s Starry Night.” (pg. 112)

Hue: a color or shade; a color’s position on the color wheel in relationship to white

Impasto: a technique in which a heavy layer of paint is applied with a loaded brush onto a painting, leaving a thick surface when it dries; used by Vincent van Gogh in his paintings

Art History Lesson #3: 🎨 Thomas Hart Benton

Thomas Hart Benton: (American, 1889–1975) was mainly known for painting rural scenes of American; Benton also painted murals; Homestead, 1934

 Reading from Drawing with Whitman:

“First, tell me about Thomas Hart Benton. Please?”

“First off, Thomas Hart Benton was my mother’s favorite artist, so that’s why she named me Benton. Thomas Hart Benton was a famous American artist. His style is very recognizable with its swirling figures and landscapes. Here is a picture of his Cradling Wheat. It’s one of my favorites. It’s often in my mind when I’m drawing in a rural area like this one.”

“Why do you like it?” Cat asked.

“It’s a rural scene . . . a rhythmic scene. You could look up Grant Wood too. It demonstrates his passion for hard work. And can you see? Everything’s dancing. Because of the lines he makes. The workers, the wheat, the trees, the hills, the clouds, the air. The scene could be on a stage. It could be a set for a musical on Broadway. Every line Benton made creates a highly dramatic movement. Can you see that? Nothing is relaxed, stable. All of life in this painting is in constant vibration. His mind must have felt a constant twanging. His strokes are very musical. I think it’d be easy to compose a tune for this painting.” (pg. 57-58)

Canvas: a durable woven fabric stretched over a wooden frame, then painted on

Genre: a specific subject matter, such as a still life, landscape painting, or picture depicting the activities of everyday people

Art History Lesson #4: 🎨 Grandma Moses

Grandma Moses: (American, 1860–1961) was an untrained landscape painter. Moses captured a simpler rural lifestyle. She began her career at the age of seventy-eight, and soon received national attention for her late entry into the art world. The Old Checkered House, 1944

 Reading from Drawing with Whitman:

“Your great-grandma painted this of the farm and Sourland Mountain, right?”

“My great-great-great-grandma Jewett—I don’t know how many greats. We just refer to her as Great-Grandma Jewett. See the date down there on the right? It was painted in 1856. My mom told me it’s in the style of the artist Grandma Moses. And look, there’s Uncle Hal. My mom painted the picture of him when he moved into the original farmhouse three years ago…(pg. 26)

Hattie took a few steps back to better examine the entire picture.

Cat rolled herself closer to the mural. “In the back is Sourland Mountain. And those hump-like shapes painted in light blues and greens are the Backwoods.”

“Standing to the left of the mural, he said, “Now, let’s look at this picture. What do your eyes see first?”

“I see the two giant pine trees first, in front of the red-and-white checkered house. Two more tall pine trees are on the side of the horse stables, and then there are four more behind the other part of the stable and behind the barn (which is the one we’re in now). This is what I noticed first.” (pg. 77)

Landscape art: a type of genre painting popular in American art in the mid-nineteenth century

Mural painting: a painting on a wall

Art History Lesson #5: 🎨 Andrew Wyeth

Andrew Wyeth: (American, 1917-2009) was a naturalistic painter. Wyeth’s paintings have meticulous detailed style. 

 Reading from Drawing with Whitman:

“Andrew Wyeth’s best-known work is Christina’s World,1948. Christina was his neighbor. She had a degenerative disease, which meant that she had lost almost all of her ability to walk. She refused to use her wheelchair, so she would drag herself hundreds of steps to the site of her parents’ graves; it took her a long time to do this…Wyeth depicts her dragging herself down the slope to the grave site, which the viewers can’t see in this picture. Her house is on a hill there in the distance. Christina is looking at her house, and it looks like she’s about to or has begun crawling back there, which would be quite tiring. But this is Christina’s world. According to what I’ve read about the painting, she did not allow anyone to feel sorry for her or help her. She hated her wheelchair…As you can see, obviously, I’m still in mine. I don’t hate my chair. It’s fun rolling around in it. I mean, driving it around. It doesn’t roll me around.”

Genre: a specific subject matter, such as a still life, landscape painting, or picture depicting the activities of everyday people

Hue: a color or shade; a color’s position on the color wheel in relationship to white