LESSON IDEAS: Henri
Rousseau - Art and Science
Middle School
Ideas | Elementary Ideas |
Lesson Plans
Begin your lesson with
Where's the Tiger?
- Mp3 song about Rousseau by
Greg Percy. Get the kids acting out the song. Have some fun!
Brief Biography
Rousseau, Henri -- known as Le
Douanier Rousseau (1844-1910). French painter, the most celebrated of naïve
(untrained) artists.
His nickname refers to the job he held with the
Paris Customs Office (1871-93), although he never actually rose to the
rank of `Douanier' (Customs Officer). Before this he had served in the
army, and he later claimed to have seen service in Mexico, but this story
seems to be a product of his imagination. He took up painting as a hobby
and accepted early retirement in 1893 so he could devote himself to art.
His character was extraordinarily ingenuous and he
suffered much ridicule (although he sometimes interpreted sarcastic
remarks literally and took them as praise) as well as enduring great
poverty. However, his faith in his own abilities never wavered. He tried
to paint in the academic manner traditionalist artists, but it was the
innocence and charm of his work that won him the admiration of the
avant-garde: in 1908 Picasso gave a banquet, half serious half burlesque,
in his honor. Rousseau is now best known for his jungle scenes, the first
of which is Surprised!
(Tropical Storm with a Tiger) (National Gallery, London, 1891)
and the last The Dream (MOMA, New York, 1910). These two
paintings are works of great imaginative power, in which he showed his
extraordinary ability to retain the utter freshness of his vision even
when working on a large scale and with loving attention to detail. He
claimed such scenes were inspired by his experiences in Mexico, but in
fact his sources were illustrated books and visits to the zoo and
botanical gardens in Paris.
His other work ranges from the jaunty humor of The
Football Players (Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1908) to the
mesmeric, eerie beauty of The
Sleeping Gypsy (MOMA, 1897). Rousseau was buried in a pauper's
grave, but his greatness began to be widely acknowledged soon after his
death. (This biography is copied from Web
Museum. Permission was not obtained to copy it - bio will be removed
upon request)
Internet Links:
- Know
the Artist: Henri Rousseau links page
- Jungle
Interactive - create your own Rousseau style jungle on line. New
from National Gallery of Art.
- School
Art: Imaginary World of Henri Rousseau - Biography
and a close look at Tropical Forest with Monkeys, 1910 - from
National Gallery of Art
- Art
and Ecology Lesson -
Tropical Forest with Monkeys
- from National
Gallery of Art
- Music Integration: "Foliage"
by Riverdale Ensemble A tribute album to Henri Rousseau.
-- features Rousseau's "Clemence
Waltz" and interpretations of three of Rousseau's works of
art, "Merry Jesters," "Carnival Evening," and
"Sleeping Gypsy."
- Excellent Video: Dropping in on Rousseau
Video. A cleverly animated video of the artist
Henri Rousseau for young viewers. A bird, Puffer, in an entertaining
manner, interviews Rousseau giving him the opportunity to explain how he
developed his unique style of painting birds, animals, and plant life
after viewing them at the Paris Zoo and Botanical Gardens. Rousseau
describes some of his paintings as actual examples are shown. Written by
Pam Stephens and animations by Jim McNeill.
Middle School Ideas
Submitted by: Judy Decker
Unit: Art of Haiti, Rousseau, Science Integration
Project: Haitian
Landscape - Markers
Grade level: middle school (6th grade)
Extension: Foil
tooling lizard (inspired by Haitian steel drum lizards)
Extension; Shadow box poster board frame
Concepts: Elements and Principles of design, perspective using
overlapping and scale, Science - biomes and adaptations.
Elementary
Ideas
Submitted by: Mary
Lathron - Caledonia-Mumford Elementary, New York.
Lesson: Printmaking - 3-D layered print (2 plates)
Grade Level: 2nd grade through grade 6
Click images for larger views
The prints are made from Styrofoam
printing plates (NOTE- Not sure what product Mary is talking about. She might mean Polyprinting Plates
or E-Z-Cut Printing Blocks
- or even Styrofoam Trays - Ken)
... they used one color of ink (actually, I use
Chromacryl
) - they had a choice of light or dark green for the foliage
prints. They printed multiple copies on white paper. The animal image
was printed in the same manner - they could use red, orange or yellow
ink. When the prints were dry, they hand colored their prints using
Sanford plastic markers (they are very crayon-like, but you can sharpen
them in a regular pencil sharpener...they are "kind-of"
erasable and they are hollow inside....I love them!) [NOTE- There are probably hundreds of different plastsic markers out there. Perhaps the author of this lesson is talking about Sanford China Markers
?]
They cut out their animals and mounted them to the foliage prints using the foam
3D-O's
.
I use the Dropping in on Rousseau
video and book in the beginning stages of the lesson to introduce the
lesson/artist etc. While the students are working I play part of the
audio from the book called Panther Dream: A Story of the African Rainforest.
Awesome rainforest sounds accompanied by music. The book and music is a
collaboration by Bob Weir (Grateful Dead) and his sister Wendy. At some
point in the lesson I will read the whole book to them....they love it!
Note: for 6th grade, you might want to
do some reduction printing - reduce plate and print in multiple colors
rather than coloring one color prints. Reduction prints will make it more
of a challenge for them.
Submitted by: Jeannette Anthos, J.
H. House Elementary, Conyers, GA
Lesson Idea: Peaceable
Kingdom
Lesson
Plan available (on Artsonia)
Grade level: elementary (this was fourth grade)
Lesson Focus: Elements: color, line, shape
Principles: repetition, rhythm, unity
Historical period: Henri Rousseau, Edward Hicks
Materials: white drawing paper, Sharpie markers, crayons or oil pastels
Present a couple
different versions of Edward Hick's "Peaceable Kingdom"
painting to the students. Can they find differences in the works?
Present a couple of Henri Rousseau's jungles. Can they find
similarities? Talk briefly about the biomes in which animals live
(connect to science). Have students select animals for their won
"Peaceable Kingdom". They may draw plants from life (bring in
a few house plants for examples). After they have drawn approximately
1" (2.5 cm) border all around - using Rulers - draw animals and plants.
Outline with Sharpie Markers and color with selected media (Colored Pencils, Crayons, or Markers). Design a border using repeated pattern. Lesson
Plan now in Incredible Art Department.
(Left above) Submitted by Tracy Albert, May
Whitney Elementary
Lesson idea: Bugs
- a close look
Grade Level: elementary (these are second grade)
Lesson focus: Drawing from life - Scientific illustration, shape, line,
color plan, overlapping
Materials: actual bugs (from bug collections - if available), pictures
of insects, Pencils, Erasers, Sharpie Markers (or black crayons),
Markers (or Crayons), Watercolors, Brushes, 9 x 12 (23 x 30.5 cm) Drawing Paper(or 12
x 18 / 30.5 x 46 cm).
Sharpies and watercolors. 2nd grade studies
bugs. Tracy spent time talking about the various parts of a bug (science
integration). Students zoom in on details of bugs. Draw several - making
some go off the page. Repeat some of the bugs but also show variety. Add
a variety of leaves/plants - overlapping. Outline with black crayon or Sharpie and
color bugs (leave wings the white of the paper for contrast). Paint the
leaves and negative space with watercolors. Resources for insect art
below. See watercolors by
Lucy Arnold - many nice butterfly paintings.
Submitted by: Christine Sumner
Lyman
Lesson Idea: Pop -up Jungle - using 3D-O's or Foamboard scraps
Another idea would be a 3-D pop-up jungle. I have made
them using small pieces of
Foamboard. Another teachers has used
3-D's. Students create overlapping layers using 3 do's. or small
Foamboard squares. Students
drew plants, trees and animals on larger white white Drawing Paper or
Construction Paper. They
cut them out and arranged their jungle on 9 x 12 (or larger) (23 x 30.5 cm) construction paper
using over lapping (I did mine 12"x 18") (30.5 x 46 cm) To create a 3-D effect - 3-Do's
or foam core squares are glued. Note from
Judy: I have found that the 3-Do's work better if they are also glued.
The adhesive didn't hold up when I used them with elementary students.
Submitted by: Judy Decker
Lesson Idea: A Bug's Eye View- Garden Scene
Grade level: second grade
Lesson focus: drawing from life - plants /science - overlapping -
color
Materials: actual plant leaves & vegetables, plant pictures,
pictures of vegetables, Pencils, Erasers, 12 x 18 (30.5 x 46 cm) white Drawing Paper,
Crayons (or Oil Pastels), Watercolors, Brushes, water dishes.
Show students jungle paintings by Henri Rousseau
- discuss different greens - overlapping - drawing plants from life. Talk
a little about plants and the parts of a plant. Show different
types/shapes of leaves. Have students draw plants growing in the garden
- up close - show cross section so you can see vegetables that grows
underground (like carrots, radishes and beets). Have students draw the
roots of the plants below the surface of the ground. Draw foliage and
vegetables above ground - use overlapping to create a crowded garden. .
Plants should go off the top of the paper- draw large. Add bugs
and worms (earthworms below ground). Color vegetables and plants heavily
with crayon. Obtain a variety of greens by layering colors (more yellow
greens and more blue greens -- add some red to green, too). Color the
ground. Paint the background all the way down to the ground line (blues
or yellow work well for the background). Paint the ground with brown.
Discuss how the student work is similar to Henri Rousseau and how it is
different. This is a good project for the start of the year (especially
if you teach in a rural school district where many of the students have
gardens). I took in many different plant clippings from my garden when I
did this lesson.
Submitted by: Tracy Albert May, May
Whitney Elementary
Lesson Idea: It's
a Jungle Out There (Henri Rousseau)
Grade level: Elementary - middle school (these are 5th grade)
Lesson Focus: Science, overlapping, color, shape, line, texture,
pattern, unity
Materials: animal handouts, 9 x 12 (23 x 30.5 cm) bright Construction Paper (or 12
x 18 / 30.5 x 46 cm), Pencils/Erasers, black Crayons (or Sharpies), Oil Pastels (Construction Paper Crayons
could be substituted), black tempera (dishwashing liquid added)
These works are awesome! Start by showing students several works by
Henri Rousseau (Haitian works can also be used). Draw jungles on bright
colored construction paper - include border design. Outline with black
Sharpie or black crayon. Color heavily with oil pastels (build up a good
layer). Brush over with black tempera with a little soap added (picture
underneath barely visible). Paper clips scratched through the tempera to
reveal the picture underneath (could also use scratch tools). All
students had success - a sure fire winner. Good for grade 4 thru 6.
From Laraine Galloway: One year I did jungle scenes in the
style of Rousseau. I took the class to the Norton Simon Museum to
study a Rousseau. Each student was given a gift, a print of the
Rousseau painting from the museum. The project they did was done on
black mat poster board (about 24" x 20" / 61 x 51 cm) - because I had some
that was donated - and oil pastel. The requirements were: 3
animals and one of the animals had to be a tiger and lots of vegetation.
I did demos of basic plant and leaf designs, horizon lines, overlapping,
working background to foreground, and provided lots of animal and plant references.
Rousseau's style was very simple for them to emulate. They turned out
great!
See
also: 4th Grade Symmetrical Paper Masks
4th Iguana masks. Focus was on symmetry although we were studying
Rousseau.
Colored markers.
Works by Rousseau (Believe it or not but these cost only 1¢ each at the time of this posting)
Additional
Lesson
Plans for Henri Rousseau
Submitted by Jan Hillmer:
Unit: Plant Cycles - Ceramics
Lesson: Ceramic pinch/coil pots with "earth" worms
Grade level: second
Jan Hillmer needed a lesson to go along
with 2nd grade science - plant cycles. Student will be planting seeds in
science class and watching them grow. They will transplant them into
these earthen ware ceramic pinch and coil posts decorated with worms.
Worm aerate the soil to help the plants grow.
Submitted
by: Judy Decker
UNIT: Art and Science - Sculpture
Lesson: Cearmic flower pots with polymer clay (Sculpey)
Purchase
some inexpensive ceramic pots. Students will make Sculpey flowers and
leaves to glue onto the outside of the the pot. They will make some fun
worm pot sitters to sit on edge of pot - or stick on dirt out of Sculpey
clays. Plant seeds in your flower pots and watch them grow.
Alternate idea - Larger Worm Sculptures - whimsical.- worms in action -
What do worms do underground? What are some activities for worms to do?
Make props for sculpture (worm school - etc).
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Submitted by: Theresa Parker, Discovery
Elementary, Gig Harbor, Washington
Unit: Drawing - Science - Eric Carle
Lesson: Underground drawings with textures
Theresa presented the artist/illustrator
Eric Carle
to her students. In cooperation with the classroom teacher,
Theresa chose to show what happens underground in the plant life cycle (a
unit of study for 2nd grade in science class). Student brainstormed on all
of the things the worms could be doing down there. They created underground
cross section with texture panels and added Eric Carle style painted
collage.
Students could choose a vertical composition
or horizontal. More worms ideas to come!
Submitted by Anne Clarie- Dinosaur
Diorama. See
more Dinosaur ideas on her web site. (Archives)
Anne Claire adapted a lesson she found on Enchanted
Learning web site.
Older students may get into doing wire and
tooling foil dinosaur sculpture inspired by John
Payne.
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Submitted by: Betsy Larson
Night Time Landscapes with Owls
This site came in handy today - Owl
Pages. We read "Owl Moon"
and did night time winter landscapes.
Then we listened to a great horned owl. There are pictures of owls, too.
It dawned on me that many students would probably never hear one of
these sounds in real life.
Submitted by: Jeryl Hollingsoworth, Lesson: Ceramic Owls
Jeryl's first graders make a paper collage owl -
working on symmetry and textures. Her next lesson is a ceramic owl with
textures. See lesson plan.
Here is more Science fun from Crayola (now
you will need to register to get some of the lessons)
Insects
in Art - Resources
Nature -
Wildlife Art
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" and that of Henri Rousseau.
Comparisons were also drawn between the work of Rousseau and that
of the Haitian painters. Students created a composition drawing
from live house plants and handouts of various animals. They wrote
about the biome in which the animals lives and any adaptation they
would have to make to live in that environment. 
| Paul Brent- 
