AOy2, Term 1 Artist Study: Renoir

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

 As we read through Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists, we learned that Renoir and Monet were quite good friends and painted a lot together. They actually worked together, along with a handful of others, to invent impressionism, where they would use quick brush strokes and would incorporate the natural light in the out-of-doors. Although this style of painting was not well-received at first, obviously it has become widely regarded as one of the most enjoyable genres of painting. 

We focused on several weeks of picture study, looking at and getting familiar with a few selected prints, the heart of our artist study. I agree with, and am always amazed at, Miss Mason's wisdom in her method of teaching...a short, focused time of study proves most fruitful in education. And in studying art, we should do just that: study the art! 

We recognise that the power of appreciating art and of producing to some extent an interpretation of what one sees is as universal as intelligence, imagination, nay speech, the power of producing words. But there must be knowledge...of what has been produced; that is, children should learn pictures ... by reading, not books, but pictures themselves. -Vol 6, p. 214

We tried free-hand drawing...

watercolors... 

drawing markers...

and map pencils to color in the famous work: Luncheon of the Boating Party.

And isn't it always interesting to discover, of the feast we present to our young learners, what little morsels they take away and enjoy for themselves the most? Royal, on his Term 1 Exam, after being asked to describe his favorite painting from the past 12 weeks, answered with this:

The Clown

He described it quite simply with the description of color; however, he also noted the boy's expression because we had read a little of the story behind this painting. He latched onto the fact that Claude (this young boy who is Renoir's son), was not in a happy mood because his dad was making him wear this hideous clown costume!

As in a worthy book we leave the author to tell his own tale, so do we trust a picture to tell its tale through the medium the artist gave it. -Vol 6, p.216