1st Grade Henri Matisse Cut-Outs

For the past few weeks, first graders at Byam Elementary have been studying Henri Matisse. We focused on his Cut-Outs, which is now on exhibit at the MOMA in New York. I visited the MOMA about a month ago and was inspired by the bright colors, organic shapes, and the techniques Mattise used when creating these cut-outs. I couldn't help but imagine how my first graders would enjoy "painting with scissors" and creating a collage with brightly colored paper. Here are some pictures below from the exhibit.

First, we watched a video clip about the exhibit and talked about the different shapes and colors in his artwork. We also focused on composition, line and form. Next, we started our project with a black piece of construction paper for our background and then cut out different geometric and organic shapes. Students laid out the pieces onto their background before gluing just as Henri Matisse pinned his colorful shapes onto the wall before deciding where to place them.

After about three days of hard work, the students finished their collage. We had a class critique including a discussion about the different techniques students used. This project was a lot of fun because each student was successful in creating a unique piece of art inspired by Henri Matisse. Here are the results below!