The birds of George Braque lesson 1

This is lesson one about George Braque. Click here for the second lesson. 

What do you need?

• large white drawing sheet 
• smalle white drawing sheet 
• linoleum*
• lino knife*
• lino press
• lino roller
• tempera paint
• brushes
• scissors and glue

* or choose to make a foamprint

About the artist

George Braque (1882-1962) was a French painter and sculptor. Together with Picasso he was founder of cubism.
After his cubist time, Braque painted simplified landscapes and still lifes with musical instruments and bottles. Remarkable are the letters and nummers he added to his works.
When Braque became ill, he turned to making color lithographs of simple bird silhouettes. The same birds that can also be seen in one of the ceiling paintings of the Louvre in Paris.

About his artworks

View the lithographs of birds and discuss the artwork:

• simple shapes (silhouettes) 
• background is often blue
• few colors in the artwork
• birds are black or white
• birds are painted or printed 

What should you do? 

1. Draw a silhouette of a bird on the small sheet.
2. Copy it to the linoleum. 
3. Cut away the background to make the bird stand out. 
4. Paint or stamp a background on the large sheet. 
5. Make some prints of the bird in black and/or white and let dry. Be sure to get birds in several color nuances by not rolling the lino every time.
6. Cut the printed birds and paste them on the background.

Elements of art: form, space, nuance, color

Techniques: printing, painting, cut&glue

Artworks made by students of grade 5. 

The birds of George Braque lesson 2

You need:

• blue construction paper 
• colored paper
• scissors
• glue

George Braque (1882-1962) was a French painter and sculptor. Together with Picasso he was founder of cubism.
After his cubist time Braque painted simplified figurative paintings of landscapes and still lifes with musical instruments and bottles. Remarkable are the letters and numbers Braque added to his works.
When Braque became ill, he was no longer able to paint. He turned to making color lithographs of simple bird silhouettes. The same birds that can also be seen in one of the ceiling paintings of the Louvre in Paris.

Look at the artwork Les oiseaux of George Braque.  

• simple shapes (silhouets)
• white outlines
• blue background
• geometrical shapes: stars and moon 

What should you do? 

1. Draw at least three silhouettes of birds on colored paper. 
2. Cut them. 
3. Cut geometrical shapes out of paper scraps. 
4. Paste everything on a blue sheet.  

Artworks made by students of grade 4.

Elements of art: shape, space.

Techniques: drawing, making a collage, cut and glue 

Cubist portrait like Pablo Picasso

What do you need?

• blue or brown construction paper A4 size
• oilpastels
• white chalk pastel

Instruction

Show some cubistic works of Picasso. What do you see? What does the face look like? What happened with eyes and noses? From what point of view do you see the facial parts?

What should you do ?

1. Draw a portrait in cubistic style with white chalk pastel; eyes, nose or mouth should be drawn from another point of view.
2. Divide face and hair in several parts and color them with oilpastels.
3. Outline face, hair and facial parts with black. 

Artworks made by students of grade 6.