Millet
to Matisse Lesson Plan: Elementary Level
Mary Cassatt's
"The Sisters"
Grade Levels:
1st
through 5th grades
Introduction
Mary Cassatt was born in Allegheny, near Pittsburgh, in 1844.
When she was seven years old her parents decided to take their
five children on a long trip to Paris, France. It was during this
time that young Mary was first introduced to the great masterpieces
of art at the Louvre Museum. Years later, when she was 22, Mary
Cassatt returned to study art in Paris and became the only American
to be accepted into a group of French artists known as the Impressionists.
The Impressionists
wanted to create an "impression", a momentary glance,
of what they were painting. They did this by focusing on light
and color, informal poses, and everyday life. The energetic brushstrokes
seen in Mary Cassatt's "The Sisters" are typical of
the Impressionistic style. Instead of trying to carefully blend
the paint on the canvas, Cassatt painted with definite, choppy
strokes, and created a mosaic of color which "blended"
together only when seen at a distance.
Mary Cassatt
was unusual for her time not only because she was an American
working among the French Impressionists; she was unusual for her
time because she was a woman. Women in the 1800's did not become
serious artists. Women of Cassatt's social standing were supposed
to get married, stay home, and raise children. Nevertheless, single
and childless, one of Cassatt's favorite subjects to paint was
children. "The Sisters", with the two girls leaning
against each other, one with her arm around the other, clearly
speaks of Cassatt's ability, perhaps more than any other artist,
to show a tenderness and intimacy between her subjects.
Objectives/Classroom
Activities:
- Compare
and contrast "The Sisters" to "L'Enfant",
which is a Cassatt painting owned by The Speed Art Museum. Keep
in mind the subject matter, the poses, which colors seemed to
be used the most and how colors are blended, how light is shown,
the areas of high contrast, the skin tones, the backgrounds,
and the types of brushstrokes.
- Write a
short story based on "The Sisters". Your story could
explain why the girls are dressed in white, at what or whom
they are looking as they look off to the side, why they are
having their portraits painted, what the setting is like, etc.
Use your imagination.
- With pencil,
paper, and crayons, draw a picture of yourself and one of your
brothers or sisters or best friend. Let the drawing show how
you feel about each other.
Vocabulary:
- Impressionism
- Portrait
- Brushstrokes
- Contrast
- Background
Core Content
Links:
AH-E-4.1.31, AH-E-4.1.32, AH-E-4.1.33, AH-E-4.1.37, AH-E-4.1.39,
AH-E.4.2.31, AH-E-4.2.32, AH-E-4.2.37
Motivational
Tools:
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