BLOCK 2 ASSIGNMENT: ABSTRACT ART

MODULE 4
ASSIGNMENT  BLOCK 2 

Topic: Abstract art

Area: Arts

Grade: 6º

Aims:   

To enable learners to...

• Know different types of abstract art.
• Understand different characteristics of these movements.
• Recognize characteristics belonging to each one of the movements.

Learning outcomes:

At the end of the lesson, learners will be able to:

• Identify characteristics of 4 different types of abstract art (Abstract expressionism, neoplasticims, constructivism and informalism).
• Describe these characteristics.
• Distinguish between the characteristics of these 4 types of abstract art.

 

Key contents:
Abstract expressionism, neoplasticims, constructivism and informalism.

Language: 

• Past simple
• Nouns related to art
• Nouns related to sensations

1-Activating:

  

-Wordcloud: Children are presented this wordcloud and asked some questions like:

• Can you guess the topic?
• Which words do you know?
• Which words you don't know?
• Would you add other words?

 

 -Carousel: Children are divided into 6 different groups and they have to answer each one of these questions with their ideas. Then the whole class compare the answers and put all of them in common with the teacher's participation and guiding who is introducing and clarifying some aspects of abstract art.

1-Which sensations are transmitted to you when looking a picture with cold colours? 

2- Which sensations are transmitted to you when looking a picture with warm colours? 

3- Which sensations are transmitted to you when looking a picture with 3D forms?

4- Which sensations are transmitted to you when looking a picture full of geometric figures? 

5- Which sensations are transmitted to you when looking a picture full of curves? 

6- Which sensations are transmitted to you when looking a picture with spots?

2-Exploring: 

Firstly, children are presented four adapted text about four different types of abtract art talking about the style, artists... 

They have to read and reflect each text and join each one with four different pictures related to these arts movements.

Here we are the original texts and the adapted ones (We can see the pictures that are going to be used below each one of them):

Abstract expressionism:

"It was the product of an extraordinary time...

Abstract Expressionism was born from the common experience of artists living in 1940s New York. Two World Wars, the Great Depression, atomic devastation and an ensuing Cold War prompted early works reflecting the darkness of these times, and fed into the movement’s concerns with contemplation, expression and freedom."

 Source: 

https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/abstract-expressionism

Abstract expresionism: 

"It was the product of an unusual time...

Abstract Expressionism was born in the 1940s in New York. A group of artists with common experiences joined their ideas. At that time, the situation was bad. Two World Wars, the Great Depression, atomic devastation and the Cold War affected the society. These artists reflected the darkness and devastation in their pieces."

 

Jackson Pollock, Blue poles, 1952.

Neoplasticism:

"Neoplasticism was in fact an ideal art in which the basic elements of painting – colour, line form – were used only in their purest, most fundamental state: only primary colours and non-colours, only squares and rectangles, only straight and horizontal or vertical lines. Mondrian had a profound influence on subsequent art and is now seen as one of the greatest of all modern artists."

Source:

http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/n/neo-plasticism

Neoplasticism:

"Neoplasticism was an ideal art. The artists used the basic elements of painting, such as colours and lines in the most pure and fundamental way. They used only primary colours and non-colours, only squares and rectangles, only straight and horizontal or vertical lines. Piet Mondrian is the most famous artist of this movement."

 Piet Mondrian

Constructivism:

 "Constructivists proposed to replace art's traditional concern with composition with a focus on construction. Objects were to be created not in order to express beauty, or the artist's outlook, or to represent the world, but to carry out a fundamental analysis of the materials and forms of art, one which might lead to the design of functional objects. For many Constructivists, this entailed an ethic of "truth to materials," the belief that materials should be employed only in accordance with their capacities, and in such a way that demonstrated the uses to which they could be put"

Source:

http://www.theartstory.org/movement-constructivism.htm

Constructivism:

"Constructivists created and art focus on construction. They did not use objects to express beauty, ideas or to represent the world. They analysed the materials of art. They gave importance to objects’ function. These artists called this: “truth to materials”. They believed that materials have to be used only for their real use. These materials have some capacities and the artist wanted to transmit these real capacities."

 

Vladimir Tatlin,1914

Informalism:

"He emphasized spontaneity, irrationality, and freedom of form. He sought out "rebellious" tools and paints, capable of producing things accidental and unexpected. He strove to escape at any price a "prison" of the "well-made" traditional art works."

Source:

https://mekoart.jimdo.com/english/influences/informalism/

Informalism:

"Informalists transmited spontaneity, irrationality and freedom of form. They did not use traditional materials, they use “rebellious” and different ones. They believed that these materials produced accidental and surprise things."

 

Antoni Tapies

Secondly, children are going to use a visual organizer: "Divergent and convergent thinking web" 

In the center they will  write the topic: "Abstract art", and next the four subtopics, in this case the different movements belonging to it. Then, they have to complete with the different characteristics and ideas of these types of art. They will be guided by the 

teacher and they can share ideas to make their webs.