Thomas Gainsborough 1727-1788Our school district has a great program called Art Literacy. Anyone else have this program? For the past two years I have helped coordinate the program at my girls' elementary school. With all the funding cuts that have happened to schools over the past decade, it's nice to have a program like this that not only allows the students to create inspiring works of art but to learn about different artists as well. Each year we study six artists and one culture. Recently we learned about Thomas Gainsborough. He lived in the 1700's in England and was a painter of landscapes and portraits.
The above picture is of his two daughters who he dearly loved. They were often the subjects of his work. The girls were born one year apart. Which one do you think is older? This painting is so realistic that you can tell that one is a wee bit older. And they do look a little different yet enough the same to know they were sisters.
He is most known for his painting titled "The Blue Boy" (above). I can't say that I love it enough to put it in my home but I certainly have come to appreciate his talent for creating realistic texture with paint and a canvas. He created more than 700 paintings in his lifetime and is considered one of the great English masters. At an early age he knew he wanted to be an artist and moved to London at age 13 to study art. He depended on a rich uncle to support him who had told him he better be good at what he did or he wouldn't get any money. That probably helped inspire him to be one of the best at what he did!
For our project, each student was given a piece of warm brown paper, a mirror, and a choice of several different drawing utensils. Graphite sticks were the most popular. They then did a self portrait. This was one of the easier projects we've done. Usually there is a lot of prep time and supplies but this one was relatively simple.
I hope you enjoyed your mini lesson on Thomas Gainsborough.
8 comments:
Thanks for the mini art class. Love it. Art History was one of my favorite electives I took at BYU. I really admire artists who have such amazing talent. I have none whatsoever.
Thanks for the art class. I love our art lit programs. It keeps us as parents involved and the kids inspired. Thanks for sharing. Paula
That is so neat! I always enjoyed Judy Nielsen's mini-lectures in Relief Society about the great composers of the day. So keep making posts like this. I love it!
Thanks for the art lesson. I love the art programs at the schools. We do one here called Art Masterpiece. It is basically the same thing. Our last one was on a Navajo artist named Baji Whitethorn.
The self portrait project sounds like a fun one. I would love to see a picture of your daughter's finished art work.
I miss this program... We had this program in Beaverton. Thanks for this lesson. Jeremy's mom has the Blue boy hanging in her hime and I never knew why.
What a great program. I wish I had had something like that growing up. What a great way to learn about so many different artists. Thanks for the mini lesson ;)
I love your blog and love learning...thank you! You have done a fantastic job...I love your topics and the music. :-)
I love this post. Can I steal this idea?
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