Thursday, December 2, 2010

Artist of the Month

The Artist of the Month for October is Paul Klee (1879-1940) and George Seurat (1859-1891) for November.


Paul Klee was a Swiss-German artist. His mother was Swiss and his father was German, and Klee was raised in Switzerland but spent most of his adult life in Germany. He taught at the Bauhaus School of Art and was part of Der Blaue Reiter, the avant-garde circle co-founded by Russian artist Kandinsky. He was Influenced by Cubism and drawn to the expressiveness of primitive art and children's paintings. Klee produced nearly 10,000 works in a variety of media, but is mostly known for his watercolor paintings. Some of his best-known works include; Southern (Tunisian) Gardens (1919), The Twittering Machine (1922) and Fish Magic(1925).




Southern (Tunisian) Gardens



The Twittering Machine




Fish Magic

Check out these photos of our after-school kids making Paul Klee Sugar Cookies:




After-school kids create Paul Klee animals with chalk







Georges Seurat was a neo-impressionist. His technique for portraying the play of light using tiny brushstrokes of contrasting colours became known as Pointillism. He created huge compositions with tiny, detached strokes of pure colour too small to be distinguished when looking at the entire work but making his paintings shimmer with brilliance. Seurat began to" draw at an early age. In 1875, he took a course with sculptor Justin Lequien. Several years later, Seurat enrolled at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and studied with Henri Lehmann. Seurat remained at the school for two years, during which time he discovered a book entitled Essai sur les signes inconditionnels de l'art (Essay on the Unmistakable Signs of Art) by Humbert de Superville. This discovery of the relationship between lines and images became the inspiration for Seurat's entire career. When his painting "Une Baignade, Asnieres" was refused by the Salon jury he began exhibiting with the foundation of the Groupe des Artistes Independants, who promoted the development of modern art. One of his most famous works is "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (1884-1886):



A Couple other examples of his paintings:









Afterschool practices pointillism. Check out the new artwork!



























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