Mini Masters script

Script

Setting: In front of the Museum of Modern Art

Henri Matisse walks out of the museum and everyone stares at him.

Reporter: I thought you were dead

Henri Matisse: I am. I’m a ghost now. But just to let you know I was born in the 31^st of December 1869 and died in the 3^rd of November 1954. And… I am French

R: Yes I know already.

HM: But do you know anything else about me?

R: Actually, no. Please tell me so I can record your life for future generations.

HM: Okay. So I was born in the Le Cateau – Cambresis in France and died in Cimiez in France. I was 85 years old when I died.

R: Okay go on. (Pretends to write stuff down)

HM: My life was quite hard because there was a world war 1 when I was just 1 years old, my family and I moved to Bohain-en-Vermandois in France.

R: Wow. I actually didn’t know you were involved in the war.

HM: Well now you know. Now… where was I… Oh yes, after world war 1 ended, I gained a high reputation and was an internationally recognized artist. But!... Before I became a famous artist I took some art courses. But!...

R: Enough with the buts! Just tell the story from the beginning and not go backwards.. thankyou..

HM: Okay, I’ll just start from when I was a kid. My father was a prosperous grain merchant and my mother was an artistic women who made hats and paints of China. I actually wasn’t very interested in art when I was growing up. My father expected me to work in their store or be a lawyer. I chose to go to law school but it was super boring.

R: So what did you do?

HM: Nothing... I was completely bored. Till one day my mom gave me a box of paints so I had something to do. Later I realized I was quite good. I soon began to love painting and drawing.

R: So you became an artist after that?

HM: Nope. I became an assistant lawyer.

R: But I thought you loved to paint.

HM: I did. I took some art courses before I went to work and I was spending more and more time with drawing and painting.

R: So you were half an artist?

HM: More than that, I decided to be a full time artist. So I went to study art in a famous art school in Paris, France.

R: That’s cool. You’re really good in art so are you liked in school?

HM: Nope. I wasn’t popular and many didn’t like me.

R: But the important thing is how the teachers teach you right?

HM: I didn’t like the way they teach art. I had my own special style and because I had my own style, one of my teachers took special interest on me. That teacher’s name was Gustave Moreau. He felt that I had great talent and I would soon become a famous artist.

R: He was right

HM: Yes. I liked to paint with dark and light colors so I went to bright and sunny places. On one of my tips I met the impressionist artist named John Russell. He liked the way I used bright colors. I painted flowers, fruits and glassware. I also used still life and used models. My wife, Amelie also modeled for me in many of my paintings. This painting (points to painting I painted) was done by oil paints on canvas. It’s called Green, blue and yellow portrait. But the proper title is called Madame L.D. The colors I used was green, dark-green, yellow, blue, grey, dark-grey, black, light grey, red and orange. This painting is mostly used with bright colors.

R: Do you have anything else to say?

HM: Yes. I was the leader of the Fauves. Fauves is a group of artists whose style emphasized intense color and vigorous brushstrokes. I believed the arrangement of colors was as important as a painting’s subject matter to communicate meaning. I avoided detail, instead using bright color and strong lines to create a sense of movement. In 1905, works by me and other Fauve painters were exhibited together. The bold forms and bright colors of these paintings shocked the Paris art world.

R: Um whoa… That’s a lot of art words…

HM: Yes, I like to express a lot of things with art words

R: (pretends to look at rist) Oh look at the time.. I guess it’s time for you to go

HM: Okay bye (waves then pretends to fly away)

Henri Matisse

Artist: Henri Matisse

Born in: 31 December 1869 Le Cateau - Cambrésis, France

Died in: 3 November 1954 Cimiez France (85 years old)

French painter and sculptor

Quotes “Creativity takes courage”

“There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter
than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first
to forget all the roses that were ever painted”

After the war of 1870 – 1871 his family moved to Bohain-en-Vermandois, France

It more in the modern times.

After World War I, Matisse had gained a high reputation and was an internationally recognized artist. In 1917 he left Paris and settled in Nice in the South of France where he remained until the end of his life. In 1925 he received the French Legion of Honor award.

The painting I painted is called the “Madame L.D” is in the Museum of Modern Art

· Notre-Dame (A Glimpse of Notre Dame in the late afternoon) 1902

· Le Lit Dans La Glace (1919)

· Self-Portrait in a Striped T-shirt (1906)

I was inspired to do this painting because the painting looked like it was done by a kid and the lady’s face on the painting was divided by blue and yellow and that looked like she had mixed emotions.

· His father was a prosperous grain merchant and his mother was an artistic woman who made hats and paints of China. He married Amelie Parayre from Toulouse, France in 1898. They had two sons.

· Henri wasn’t interested in art when he was growing up. His father expected him to be a work in their store or be a lawyer. Henri chose to go to law school but found it really boring.

· One day, his mother gave Henri a box of paints so he had something to do. Henri soon realized that he was really good at it and then he loved drawing and painting

· He got a job as an assistant lawyer.

· He took some art courses before going to work and was spending more and more time drawing and painting.

· He decided to become a full time artist.

· He went to study art in a famous art school in Paris, France

· Took up a municipal evening course in sculpture

· He was not a popular student and many didn't like him.

· Henri did not like the way they taught art in the school.

· He had a style of his own. One of his teachers took special interest in him.

· His name was Gustave Moreau. He felt that Henri had great talent and that he would become a great artist someday.

· He liked to paint with dark and light colors so he went to bright and sunny places

· On one of his trips he met the Impressionist artist named John Russell. He liked the way he used bright colors

· He painted flowers, fruits and glassware. He also used still-life and used models. His wife Amelie also modeled for him in many of his paintings.

It was done by oil paints on canvas

· The painting is a portrait of a lady

· Her face is angular

· Her eyes are outlined in black

· One of her eye brows follows her long nose

· Her lips are outlined in black

· Her Hair is puffy green-green on the left side

· Her just sort sticks out on the right side and it’s dark-green.

· Her face had blue on the left and yellow on the right.

· Her shirt looks collared.

The colors used in the painting was green, dark-green, yellow, blue, grey, dark grey, black, light grey, red and orange. The painting was a mixture of dull colors and bright colors. The feeling of this painting gives me a split emotion lady painting.

This artist REALLY liked to paint women. He paints them real or paints them with a cartoonish look.

· Conclusion: Did you as a student enjoy this project? Yes because I liked to draw the picture we picked. Did you learn something interesting about the artist? Yes. The artist REALLY liked to paint women. Was it challenging to “copy” a famous art work? No because the colors were really simple to mix and some I didn’t have to mix at all but there was also those hard colors to mix like the grey part. But I liked the drawing part better. Are you satisfied with your product? Sort of because some of the paint didn’t go the way I wanted it to go. ( This part is to be answered by you as the “student”) Do you feel you learnt about an artist and a style of work? YES he liked to paint women.Do you feel you learnt how to mix various colors? Just the grey colors. The other colors is really simple to mix Did you understand a style of art in relation to the time period?No, Not really.

Ideas for Presentation

· Be a British reporter

· Be the Artist

· Be a relative of the artist

· Have a puppet be the artist and me as the reporter

· Have a puppet be the reporter and me as the artist

He was the leader of the Fauves, a group of artists whose style emphasized intense color and vigorous brushstrokes. He believed the arrangement of colors was as important as a painting's subject matter to communicate meaning. He avoided detail, instead using bright color and strong lines to create a sense of movement. In 1905, works by Matisse and other Fauve painters were exhibited together. The bold forms and bright colors of these paintings shocked the Paris art world.

Oil Pastel -

The material I used were pencils, sharpie marker and oil pastel of course. The first thing I did was to use a pencil first and start at the edge on the paper. Then I just did twirls, circles and straight lines without lifting the pencil then ended at a different edge. I used the sharpie marker to outline the pencil then erased the pencil marks so it looked neat. After that, I drew a square in the middle which means to separate the hot and the cold colors. The square had hot colors and the outside had cool colors. It took me quite sometime to finish this.

A skill I learnt was how to blend color with oil pastel. I've never done it and when you blend the colors it turns out quite nicely. However, if you don't blend it, it'll look like blocks of color. Also, when I was coloring with the oil pastel my arm became super tired. It's as if I did a lot of push ups. :D

My oil pastel picture actually looks pretty good because it contrast with the hot and cold colors. It was balanced. It had different colors which blended nicely. I used many different ways to blend it and it turned out awesome. :)