My dear readers, hello! Today I propose to talk about beauty - about art. When I was in school, almost everyone loved art lessons. There wasn't much need to strain your brain there. Even those who were not famous as artists could quite easily scribble and scribble for a decent “4”. The main thing is to be careful.
The teacher usually asked the topic “out of the blue,” without instilling in us any special knowledge about landscapes and still lifes. And we didn’t have textbooks on fine arts. Just an album and paints.
Today the situation has changed radically, and in a stack of school textbooks there is a textbook for a drawing lesson. I open it. I didn’t find anything there! And how to shade with a pencil, and how to paint with watercolors, and about the genres of fine art (exactly what we were given extremely concisely, and some were not presented at all) - everything is welcome to you, so that you can learn to distinguish at least a portrait from a cartoon, and if try, then show off your knowledge of the differences between vedata and capriccio.
I decided to help our children master the theory (with practice, I think they can do an excellent job themselves) and show with examples what types of drawing are present in the fine arts. So as not to blush later, looking at paintings and sculptures in museums.
Species diversity in fine art
Before proceeding directly to the wealth of genres, I propose to consider what types of fine art generally include. If you are used to perceiving fine art only as drawings, then I will now disappoint you, since fine art contains:
- Painting. Perhaps the main block to which we are accustomed and which we know best. These are paintings, frescoes, murals. Painting means “painting life” and “painting alive,” which is what it corresponds to. Through works of art we awaken our thoughts and feelings.
Painters convey reality to us with paints - watercolor, gouache, oil or tempera. - Architecture. It originates from the Greek “chief” and “to build”. That is, it is a construction art that covers religious buildings (churches and temples), public buildings (schools, shops, theaters), industrial buildings (plants and factories) and others.
This also includes landscape structures - numerous gazebos, bridges and fountains that are built for parks, squares, boulevards, and summer cottages. According to the general rules of fine arts, we will include urban planning here, that is, the art of building cities. - Sculpture. Derived from the Latin “to carve”, “to cut out”.
Sculptors, by cutting, sculpting, casting and chasing, create three-dimensional figures-images from plasticine, wood, clay, stone and even metal. - Graphic arts. From the Greek “I write, I draw.”
Graphic drawings appear from lines and strokes and are often black and white, but this does not mean that graphics cannot be colored, made with colored pencils and even pastels and watercolors. - Decorative and applied arts. Derived from the Latin “I decorate.” What does it have to do with it? These are stained glass windows made from fragments of colored glass, these are everyday objects that carry aesthetic pleasure.
We encounter DPI more often in everyday life. Look around your home, and you will find many examples of DPI around in the home interior - decorative items and beautiful dishes, designer furniture and even clothes.
Well, we seem to have sorted out the species.
Let's move on to genres
All types of fine art are usually divided into genres. More often this is done in relation to paintings, since some of them are difficult to translate into other forms, for example, sculpture or architecture.
Let me start with the fact that each visual genre appeared as history as such developed.
People tried to reflect events from their lives in different eras, giving rise to more and more new directions.
Many of them were created within previously existing ones, gradually becoming independent branches. Some died out over time, as having become obsolete and no longer in demand. There are also those who have firmly established their position in fine arts for many years.
Do you know that?! A genre is a collection of works that are similar to each other in terms of the subjects depicted or the author’s attitude to something or the way of perception and interpretation.
Now let’s list the main ones by name and give them brief characteristics. Let's start with the most famous and simple ones.
Scenery
The word comes from the French “terrain” and therefore the basis of the landscape is nature. This genre can be divided into several branches:
- marine - it depicts sea views, the most prominent representative of such landscapes is a lover of the sea element Aivazovsky;
- urban, which depicts the streets and buildings of cities;
- rustic – dedicated to the countryside.
Landscapes can also be divided by seasons.
Portrait
On it, artists depict a person, trying to convey his inner world through his gaze, gestures and other subtleties. Portraits can be group or individual. There is a self-portrait - this is when the artist draws himself.
Parsuna stands out separately - it is an outdated transitional genre of the 17th century, occupying an intermediate position between icons and secular portraiture.
Still life
The most delicious and aesthetically pleasing genre, because among the objects on the canvas when painting a still life, fruits, vegetables and flowers appear, as well as household items and dishes.
Animalistics
This genre allows us to smile warmly once again, because its subject for drawing is animals.
I think that the ippic movement, which was once identified as an independent branch, can be fully attributed to animalism, where the main motif is horses.
Domestic
It’s simple – what we live is what we draw. On the canvases of the everyday genre there are simple scenes from everyday life, without any embellishment.
Historical
From this genre we can learn about events that took place in domestic and international history and find details and phenomena important for society in a certain historical epoch-making period.
Religious
The main plot in these paintings is biblical and evangelical episodes.
Mythological
In this genre they draw mythological heroes from the legends of ancient peoples.
Epic
This direction in fine art is losing its popularity, as it is turned to scenes from epics and folklore, undeservedly forgotten by modernity.
Nude
In the nude style, they paint the naked body, trying to convey the ideal of beauty of a particular era and even country.
Caricature
A modern trend in the humorous portrayal of people, when the real is combined with the fantastic, and the gaze is focused on certain features of the face, figure, and clothing. It is often used to trick someone.
A type of caricature is a cartoon, it is a little kinder and is often used as a gift for friends.
The following genres of fine art are rare and deep in meaning, often difficult to perceive, since they are tied to certain events that happen in different eras.
Allegorical
At root it has a Greek meaning - allegory. This is the whole essence of this direction, in which the meaning lies in secrecy and secrecy. It is intended to reveal the concepts of good and evil, justice and power, strength and love through the characters of the picture with symbolic attributes. The main thing here is to find associations.
In the allegory, we can highlight vanitas, a genre that has left us - the genre of the Baroque era, when everyone was worried about the transience of life, the futility of pleasures and the inevitability of death.
In such still lifes you will find in the center of the canvas its main difference - the image of a human skull.
Fine art for preschoolers: still life, landscape, portrait. For working with children 4-9 years old
Guidelines
In the first part of the lesson, when discussing the painting, tell the children what the artist’s name was, when and where he lived, what place the landscape occupied in his work.
In a conversation with children 4-5 years old, emphasize the beauty of the landscape, discuss the time of year, time of day, state of nature and weather in the picture; Discuss in detail what exactly the artist depicted, what elements of the landscape he attached the most importance to. Ask the children if they would like to be in the place that the artist wrote, what they would do there, why exactly they like this landscape, and if they don’t like it, then why.
With children 6-7 years old, additionally discuss why this landscape attracted the artist, what he felt, what thoughts might have arisen in him, what feelings and thoughts this landscape evokes in the children. Ask what artistic means the author achieved the beauty and expressiveness of the landscape (composition[1], color, drawing[2]), discuss them using specific examples in this work. It is imperative to compare this landscape with the landscapes discussed in previous lessons, to pay attention to the similarities and differences.
The second part of the lesson is held after the break and includes two stages. First, on a small sheet of paper (A5 or A6 format (1/2, 1/4 A4 format)) with a felt-tip pen (not a marker!) of any one color (except yellow), they make a simplified sketch of the landscape, trying to convey the composition - the relative position and relative sizes of the main parts of the image (preliminarily discuss with the children which parts of the picture are main and which are secondary). It is strictly forbidden to use several colored felt-tip pens or paint over individual parts of the drawing with a felt-tip pen. A reproduction of the landscape should always be in the children’s field of vision.
Children complete several of these quick simplified sketches (but no more than 10), showing each to the teacher, so that the comments received can be taken into account in each subsequent drawing. Constantly remind children: before drawing a line, you need to look at how the line goes in the picture. The main attention is paid to the composition, and not to the drawing, that is, not to a more accurate drawing of a tree, ship or house. If the child has more or less mastered the composition, the last sketches can be devoted to refining the drawing, without paying attention to the small details of the image and without drawing them. In each sketch, be sure to show your child not only mistakes, but also successful moments. This stage takes up about half of the second part of the lesson.
At the second stage, children make a highly simplified, very free copy of the reproduction with paints.
Materials required for work:
• one sheet of thick white paper A3 size (30x40 cm);
• paints—art gouache (set of 12 colors, preferably “Master Class” from the St. Petersburg Artistic Paints Factory);
• round brush, No. 9 or 10, made of “ear hair” material;
• unbreakable water jar with a capacity of about 1 liter;
• rag;
• 20 sheets of white A6 paper (10×15 cm) for preparatory sketches;
• 3 plastic knives or 3 flat wooden sticks. Use flat sticks to remove light paints from the jars:
white, yellow and light ocher, the rest of the paints are taken with a brush, after rinsing it in water and squeezing it with two fingers.
No pencils, erasers or palettes required! To mix paints, lids from jars of paints are used; when mixing, lighter paint is first applied to the lid, and then darker paint is added to it in small portions. Remind children to wash their brushes in a jar of water as often as possible, squeeze out excess water from the brush with two fingers, and blot their fingers with a rag. The brush should not be dry, but not too wet, the consistency of the paint or paint mixture should resemble good sour cream.
When starting to paint, looking at the reproduction and at his best (not necessarily the last) sketch, the child repeats this sketch on a large sheet of paper with a thin brush, even interrupted by a line of any one color[3]. Obvious errors must be corrected by drawing a second, more correct line nearby. As a last resort, you can start the drawing again on the back of the sheet.
After making the corrections recommended by the teacher, you can begin painting, that is, working with color. Help the children open the paint cans and arrange everything conveniently on the table. Keep in mind that children’s first painting experiences are a big psychological burden, monitor their condition, and try not to discourage interest in art.
Discuss with the children the color of the main, largest spots - parts of the landscape (usually the sky and earth or water, trees, etc.). This is where you need to start.
Help the children dilute the first mixtures of paints in jar lids, taking into account each child's wishes regarding the choice of paint and color. Having diluted the color, for example, for the sky, you need to make one stroke with this color on the paper or directly on the sky in the drawing, if necessary, clarify the color of the mixture or change the paint. At first, the children can paint individual fragments of the landscape with “open color,” that is, paint straight from the can, and only for light parts (sky, water, etc.) mix paints with white.
Advise children not to be distracted by the small details of the image, periodically show the teacher how the work is going, and not to correct anything until the entire sheet is filled with color: the bad part will dry out and it can easily be rewritten again (only gross mistakes need to be corrected and only after the teacher’s advice) . Don’t force your children to match the color of the drawing and the reproduction - don’t forget, they are creating a free copy! But it is desirable to at least approximately reflect the basic color relationships: warm - cold, dark - light. The main task of an adult is to get children interested in painting.
At the end of the lesson, be sure to praise each work, finding something good in it.
Before starting classes with children, we recommend that parents and educators, using the method outlined above, try to independently make several free copies of the reproductions given in the manual.
