SURREALISM & COLOR PENCIL
- Grade: Introduction to Drawing (9-12)
- Time: 2 months of (45 min.) periods
Week 1
- Focus: Surrealism Introduction, Introducing René Magritte, Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Salvador Dalií, and M.C. Escher
- NJCCCS: 1.3, 1.4
- Objective: Students will participate in a powerpoint presentation about Surrealism, its frame of reference, and several Surrealist artists. The concept for the final assignment will then be given.
- Materials: LCD projector, paper, pencils
- Activity: The students will engage in automatic writing as a stimulation activity, where they will clear their minds, then write down the first five words that come to mind. They will then create a sentence using all of the words. This will serve as an introduction to Surrealism.
- Explain what the Surrealists were reacting to; give a brief historical background
- Discus how commonplace objects were used to create dream-like scenes due to their placement
- Focus on the artists’ mastering of realism before they began to render their subjects unrealistic
- Why would Magritte choose to replace the bird with an egg in Elective Affinities?”.
- ”How does the background affect the dream-like quality of the artists’ works?”
- What is it about Reptiles that makes it seem believable?”
- ”How can you tell that they are clocks in Persistence of Memory even though they are misshapen? What else do you think Dalí studied to create that shape?”
- Method: Presentation, Discussion, and Prompting questions.
- Assessment: Participation in the discussion, participation in the activity, thoughtful responses to prompted questions, and an exit slip with the name of an artist discussed during class and a description of his unique approach to Surrealism.
Please use the following links to download the weekly lesson plans for this assignment.