WASSILY KANDINSKY (1866-1944)
Squares with Concentric Circles, 1913
Pronounced: Can-Din-Skee
Art Style: Expressionism, Abstract Art
Art Terms: primary colors, complementary colors, abstract
Activity: Paper Collage or Pastel Work
Materials: black and colored construction paper (including enough pre-cut squares for each child to cut out 8 circles), scissors, glue; variation - black construction paper and oil or chalk pastels
(*this lesson is adapted from one on Deep Space Sparkle - original lesson here)
Powerpoint Presentation Here
Meet the Artist: A couple of brief articles about the Russian Kandinsky - considered by many to be the "Father of Abstract Art" here and here.
Discussion Ideas: As you look at Squares with Concentric Circles, ask the discussion questions: (1) What's going on in this picture? (2) What makes you say that? and (3) What more can you find?
Other ideas you may want to bring out in your discussion: (1) Kandinsky thought that colors and music were very much alike and that colors had sounds. For example, to him yellow sounded like a loud trumpet. What would this painting sound like? (2) Kandinsky was a pioneer of abstract art. Abstract means that the picture doesn't have a recognizable subject. What do you think is the subject of this painting? (3) Color: using the color wheel slide you can briefly explain the color wheel. Primary colors are red, blue, yellow. Kandinsky liked to play with colors, choosing combinations that were interesting to him. Opposite colors together (complementary colors) make the other one pop out more (red/green, blue/orange, violet/yellow). Sometimes it's fun to have kids wearing these colors come up and stand back to back. Have the kids point out combinations of color in Kandinsky's painting that demonstrate this.
Activity: Kandinsky once said, "everything starts with a dot." So do these projects.
Collage option: follow Deep Space Sparkle's instructions from the link on the top of this post. See example below.
Pastel option: Have the kids draw a horizontal and vertical line on their black construction paper, dividing their paper into 4 sections. Then have them choose a color and start in one section by making a large dot and coloring it in. Then, have them draw a circle around that dot, and in another color, color that in. Have them do it again until the section is all full of colored circles. Do the same in each section. You should not see much black construction paper when they are finished. Remind the kids to experiment with their color combinations!
Student Work:
(collage variation. I strongly recommend doing 4 instead of 6... it takes longer than you think!)
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