Gustav Klimt
Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) was a Viennese symbolist and founding member of the Vienna Secession Movement. He studied architectural painting at the Vienna Kunstewerbeschule with his brother. They began to get commissions to paint interior murals in important buildings such as the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Burgtheater. When his brother died, his style became more personal (it must have been pretty impersonal before–I find his work more decorative than emotive).
With friends, he founded the Wiener Sezession movement, which hoped to create a style that owed nothing to historical influence. Apparently without irony, they chose Pallas Athena to be their patron. In 1904, he and friends collaborated on an Art Noveau house, the Palais Stoclet. Fulfillment is in the dining room, and shows his lavish use of gold leaf (which marks his Golden Period. Not all of his work looked like this.)
He loved to paint women and also to screw. He had at least 14 illegitimate children. His preferred dress was a monkish robe with sandals and no undergarments. He died during the Spanish Influenza epidemic.
I went to an exhibit of Klimt and the Wiener Sezession this spring: http://www.venezia.net/venice-italy/1732/gustav-klimt-in-the-sign-of-hoffmann-and-the-secession/. It was inspirational, partly because up close, his monumental paintings look quite human. You could see pencil marks, clumsy lines, and overpainting. Somehow that appeals to me more than the shiny look some of his paintings have from a distance.
For children, I think the massive decorative chunks that he fills his spaces with are really appealing, partly because they’re possible to re-create, and partly because of their harmony. Somehow, despite the juxtaposition of different patterns, the whole has integrity.
With friends, he founded the Wiener Sezession movement, which hoped to create a style that owed nothing to historical influence. Apparently without irony, they chose Pallas Athena to be their patron. In 1904, he and friends collaborated on an Art Noveau house, the Palais Stoclet. Fulfillment is in the dining room, and shows his lavish use of gold leaf (which marks his Golden Period. Not all of his work looked like this.)
He loved to paint women and also to screw. He had at least 14 illegitimate children. His preferred dress was a monkish robe with sandals and no undergarments. He died during the Spanish Influenza epidemic.
I went to an exhibit of Klimt and the Wiener Sezession this spring: http://www.venezia.net/venice-italy/1732/gustav-klimt-in-the-sign-of-hoffmann-and-the-secession/. It was inspirational, partly because up close, his monumental paintings look quite human. You could see pencil marks, clumsy lines, and overpainting. Somehow that appeals to me more than the shiny look some of his paintings have from a distance.
For children, I think the massive decorative chunks that he fills his spaces with are really appealing, partly because they’re possible to re-create, and partly because of their harmony. Somehow, despite the juxtaposition of different patterns, the whole has integrity.
The Kiss
This is possibly Klimt's most famous painting. A man and a woman give themselves over to anticipation. They're going to kiss, and it's going to be so overwhelming that their figures will merge entirely in a golden shimmer of patterns.
As you look closer, things become a bit more disturbing. The man totally dominates the woman, holding her in a headlock that looks just a tiny bit kung-fu. They're on a meadow filled with blooming flowers, but her feet curl over its edge. Are they on a cliff?
The strange mix of erotic and creepy and lovely is what makes this work a masterpiece.
As you look closer, things become a bit more disturbing. The man totally dominates the woman, holding her in a headlock that looks just a tiny bit kung-fu. They're on a meadow filled with blooming flowers, but her feet curl over its edge. Are they on a cliff?
The strange mix of erotic and creepy and lovely is what makes this work a masterpiece.
Klimt and Patterns
Lesson Title: Klimt and Patterns
Grade: K - 9 self-contained classroom
Key Vocabulary: Motif, pattern, rhythm, decoration
Visuals/Resources: Klimt paintings
Connections to Prior Knowledge: Quilts, wallpaper, Mexican tiles
Content Objectives: 1. Identify repeating patterns.
2. create some patterns
3. create a finished Klimt-style painting.
Meaningful Activities: 1. Klimt mini-lesson. Find repeating patterns. What changes? (color, size, detail) What stays the same? (overall feel)
2. 15-minute stations: Patterns to copy with paint, cutouts, stencils. Patterns to create.
3. 30-minute masterwork session: Create a piece using repeated patterns.
Supplies: Teacher-made exemplars.
Review/Assessment: Art journal
Language Objective: Use appropriate vocabulary when sharing journal.
Grade: K - 9 self-contained classroom
Key Vocabulary: Motif, pattern, rhythm, decoration
Visuals/Resources: Klimt paintings
Connections to Prior Knowledge: Quilts, wallpaper, Mexican tiles
Content Objectives: 1. Identify repeating patterns.
2. create some patterns
3. create a finished Klimt-style painting.
Meaningful Activities: 1. Klimt mini-lesson. Find repeating patterns. What changes? (color, size, detail) What stays the same? (overall feel)
2. 15-minute stations: Patterns to copy with paint, cutouts, stencils. Patterns to create.
3. 30-minute masterwork session: Create a piece using repeated patterns.
Supplies: Teacher-made exemplars.
Review/Assessment: Art journal
Language Objective: Use appropriate vocabulary when sharing journal.
Klimt and the Tree of Life
Lesson Title: Klimt and the Tree of Life
Grade: K - 9 self-contained classroom
Key Vocabulary: Tree of Life, Spiral, Clockwise, Counter-clockwise, balance, composition.
Visuals/Resources: Klimt Tree of Life paintings, wikipedia.
Connections to Prior Knowledge: Mona Brooks' spiral, Constable's tree lesson.
Content Objectives: 1. Understand balance and composition.
2. develop facility with pastels
3. create a finished piece using spirals and other motifs
Meaningful Activities: 1. Klimt mini-lesson Discussion on tree of life
2. 15-minute stations: Draw Celtic spirals, Klimt-style spirals from exemplars. Create original designs.
3. 30-minute masterwork session: use pastels to create a piece using spirals.
Supplies: Teacher-made exemplars. Chalk or oil pastels
Review/Assessment: Art journal
Language Objective: Use appropriate vocabulary when sharing journal.
Grade: K - 9 self-contained classroom
Key Vocabulary: Tree of Life, Spiral, Clockwise, Counter-clockwise, balance, composition.
Visuals/Resources: Klimt Tree of Life paintings, wikipedia.
Connections to Prior Knowledge: Mona Brooks' spiral, Constable's tree lesson.
Content Objectives: 1. Understand balance and composition.
2. develop facility with pastels
3. create a finished piece using spirals and other motifs
Meaningful Activities: 1. Klimt mini-lesson Discussion on tree of life
2. 15-minute stations: Draw Celtic spirals, Klimt-style spirals from exemplars. Create original designs.
3. 30-minute masterwork session: use pastels to create a piece using spirals.
Supplies: Teacher-made exemplars. Chalk or oil pastels
Review/Assessment: Art journal
Language Objective: Use appropriate vocabulary when sharing journal.