What is a portrait? - Madame Tussauds

More documents

Recommendations

Info

A self-portrait is a piece of artistic work, in which the artist creates a likeness of themselves. Self-portraits can often tell us a lot about how an artist perceives themselves, or how they would like to be perceived by others. Activity 1 Can you name three famous artists who have created self-portraits? Talk about it with the person next to you if you need to. Activity 2 Look at the self-portraits to the right . What can we tell about the artists and their lives from their work? Look at the background, the artist’s clothes and the way they have used their materials. Activity 3 Choose a self-portrait that you like and study it in detail. Look at the following aspects of the work and make notes under each heading. Content - what is shown in the portrait? Form - How are they posed? What angle has the artist chosen to paint themselves from? How are they positioned in relation to the background? How the artwork has been made – what kind of techniques, materials and processes has the artist used? Effect – how does the self-portrait make you feel? Self-portrait Content Form Marc Chagall: Self-portrait. Credit: Luisa Ricciarini / TopFoto Key words Technique Collage Scrap-book Self-portraits Vincent Van Gogh: Self-portrait with cut ear. Credit: Roger-Viollet / TopFoto What can we tell about: their personality their mood and emotions how they perceive themselves what time in history the painting was produced in what they were trying to show? Art top tips Collect photographs and items that are important to you (e.g. pictures of friends and family, images of your hobbies and interests). Use them to make a creative collage. This will help you to build a ‘picture’ of yourself to support your work around self-portraits. Refer to artists such as Rauschenberg or information on the craft of scrap-booking to guide you. Materials Processes Worksheet
Activity 1 How would you describe the shape of your face? What shape are your eyes? Describe your nose and mouth. Activity 2 Developing a self-portrait Describe your face as you see it in a mirror. On a separate piece of paper, record the following details: What is your hair like? What is your skin tone? Describe what colours you might use to mix it as a paint colour. At Madame Tussauds, the sculptors use tape measures and callipers to measure every part of their subject’s face and body before creating their wax figure. You will have to rely on your powers of observation to make sure that your self-portrait is accurate. Use a mirror to help you draw a self-portrait. Follow instructions 1 – 4 below to help you. 1 2 Draw a horizontal line to show the level of your eyes. Draw a second line to mark the bottom of your nose. Eyes are always halfway between the top of the head and the bottom. 3 4 Draw five ovals across the eye line. Draw a vertical line of symmetry. Draw a third line to show where your mouth appears. The mouth is around halfway between the nose and the the bottom of the face. Draw in the shape of your face. Draw in the shape of your face. Worksheet
Page 1 and 2: What is a portrait? A portrait is a
Page 3: Activity 1 What do you think the po
Page 7 and 8: Investigating portraits - sculpture
Page 9: Activity 1 Once you have developed

What is a portrait? - Madame Tussauds

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?