Artist Study: John Singer Sargent

This term's artist is...

John Singer Sargent

A painting depicting nature study...

...living books

(image courtesy of picturing america)

...and MORE nature study :)

(Click the images to see them larger)

I've already posted about how we do Artist Study... so this is not a how-to post.  This is just me getting excited as we are looking at a new term's artist!  :)  I've listed some activities we plan to enjoy over the next term.  Please refer to this post if you are looking for an Artist Study Tutorial, or for links to grab your own copies of this term's selections.

Can you believe we JUST missed his birthday?  It was January 12, 1856!

Activity: Which is the imposter?! 

Compare two versions of the same painting... Look at one print for 3 min. Try to memorize it. When the 3 minutes are up, look at the other print and point out as many differences as you can.  Look at the two pictures side by side.  Why do you think there are differences?  Read here to find out the real reason why there are two different paintings.

1. First look at this one:

• Oyster Gatherers of Cancale - John Singer Sargent's Virtual Gallery

2. Compare it to this version:

• Fishing for Oysters at Cancale - CGFA

Look up the artist in the index of A Child's History of Art, and read the corresponding chapter, which is usually pretty brief.  This case is no exception, there are all of three paragraphs... but we found out some details about Sargent which led to an interesting activity:

"When the Boston Public Library was built, Sargent was asked to decorate the walls on the third floor.  He painted religious pictures for these walls."  - VM Hillyer, A Child's History of Art, chapter 30

Activity:  Take a tour of Sargent's paintings at the Boston Public Library -

Take the tour by following this link, then right click the different links along the left side bar to open in new tabs or windows.

Activity: Look at this painting by Sargent, while listening to a short commentary on it HERE

Activity: Print this pdf file from picturingamerica.neh.gov and do the activities on Sargent's The Portrait of a Boy

Activity: Drive to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - oh, this is on my list of someday must-see places!  They have lots of exhibits that perhaps you could double up on (Ancient Egypt, Albrecht Dürer, Harry Callahan).  They also have a cool family activity program, see details here.

Hands-on Activities - Since John Singer Sargent was famous for his portrait pictures, several of the following links are along that line:

Coloring Page - Portrait of Madame X

Imitating the Masters

Cut paper portraits
Portrait Pictures - Use John Singer Sargent's painting of Theodore Roosevelt instead of suggested art.

A list of a whole bunch of portrait activities on Primary School

Links:

Squidoo on the man - John Singer Sargent

Here's an Online Gallery (I only saw one thumbnail picture with the back of a lady in the buff... please be careful!)  Here's a link to his complete works... parents will want to select specific paintings only.

*(please don't let your kids alone with any of these links, I didn't preview every single thing on these pages!)

General art study links:

Online games at the J. Paul Getty Museum website

More Online games at National Gallery of Art kids site - Interactive art that you can make online

How do you FEEL about it?! - Use the term artist's prints on this activity.

Resources for the Classroom also at Getty Museum website.

Step One and Step Two for advanced art study, by Dr. Robert Belton in Art History, A Preliminary Handbook (this would be GREAT for HEO level)

Art Speak - Eyes on Art Activity