Grade: 2.2 Print: Tropical Forest with Monkeys (1910) oil on canvasOriginal Size: 51 x 64 inchesArtist: Henri Rousseau

*NOTE FOR THIS LESSON YOU WILL REVERSE THE USUAL STEPS – FIRST HAVING KIDS DO STEP ONE OF THE ART, THEN PRESENTING THE ARTIST/WORK, THEN FINISHING THE PROJECT (to provide drying time). YOU COULD ALSO DO THIS PROJECT OVER 2 DAYS/SESSIONS IF IT WORKED FOR THE TEACHER/YOU.

Materials:

Watercolor paper Tempera paints Thick, soft brushes for painting washes Watercolor brushes for painting leaves and animals Containers of water for rinsing brushes Trays or Styrofoam plates for mixing paint colors Paper towels – at least one sheet for each child.

Biography:

Rousseau, Henri (on-ree roo-so) is one of the most celebrated of naïve (untrained) artists. He is known for painting from his imagination. He painted rich works from places he had never even been! He took up painting as a hobby and accepted early retirement from his job at the Paris Customs office in 1893 so he could devote himself to art.

His character was extraordinarily ingenuous and he suffered much ridicule (although he sometimes interpreted sarcastic remarks literally and took them as praise) as well as enduring great poverty. However, his faith in his own abilities never wavered. He tried to paint in the academic manner traditionalist artists, but it was the innocence and charm of his work that won him the admiration of the modern artists of the day. Rousseau is now best known for his jungle scenes, the first of which is Surprised! (Tropical Storm with a Tiger) and the last The Last Dream. These two paintings are works of

great imaginative power, in which he showed his extraordinary ability to retain the utter freshness of his vision even when working on a large scale and with loving attention to detail. He claimed such scenes were inspired by his experiences in Mexico, but in fact his sources were illustrated books and visits to the zoo and botanical gardens in Paris.

His other work ranges from the jaunty humor of The Football Players (Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1908) to the mesmeric, eerie beauty of The Sleeping Gypsy (MOMA, 1897). Rousseau was buried in a pauper's grave, but his greatness began to be widely acknowledged soon after his death.

Suggested Presentation + Questions to ask the children: Where does this painting take place? How do you know? Is this painting realistic? What is the dominant color you see? What is happening in the painting? Does the artist use the whole canvas for the painting or does he leave

some blank space? What do you see in the front, middle, back of the painting? Could you draw a picture of an animal or place you’ve never seen in

real life? Why?

Reiterate that Rousseau was different from many artists because he painted from his imagination. He never visited the jungles he painted. He visited the botanical gardens in Paris to get ideas of how to paint the jungle plants and visited the zoo and books to learn how to draw animals.

Point out the characteristics of Rousseau’s paintings, such as the many shades (darkness), and tints (lightness) of each color, especially green; the abundance of scenery with animals in the foreground (closest to the viewer) and lush plants in the background (farthest from the viewer); the detailed painting of each individual leaf and blade of grass; the disproportionately large wild flowers; the sun or the complete orb of the moon in the sky.

Tell the students that they are going to create their own jungle using their imagination. They are going to fill their piece of paper with different shades of green and create a foreground, middle-ground and background.

Related Art Project: Advance docent prep:

In class with children: While the students are working consider playing part of the audio from the book called Panther Dream: A Story of the African Rainforest available on iTunes (you can expense the cost). Awesome rainforest sounds accompanied by music. The book and music is a collaboration by Bob Weir (Grateful Dead) and his sister Wendy.

1. Set out mixing trays, tempera paints, thick paint brushes and watercolor paper for each child.

2. Explain to the children that they will be creating a jungle scene in the likeness of Henri Rousseau. But before we can begin our discussion or jungle scene, they need to apply a thin layer of color called a WASH on their paper by mixing paints together and with water so that they are see-through or transparent. This will be the background for their own imaginary jungle scenes.

3. Point out the many shades and tints of greens used by Rousseau. Encourage the children to create a variety of greens by mixing their paints - add blue or black for the darker shades and add yellow or white for the lighter tints.

4. Kids apply the wash, to their papers. Show them that washes are made by adding water to the paint until it flows easily across the paper, providing an almost transparent layer of color. The children should make their washes on the mixing trays and cover the whole paper, using different colors to delineate areas for sky and grass. Be sure the children understand that the plants and trees will be painted on top of the dried wash in the next step.

5. Present the artist and the work of art per info. above. 6. Children return to their desks and using smaller brushes, they first add

plants, trees, and leaves to their paintings – this creates a middle-ground. YES they should paint over their background so as not to hide but overlap it. Demonstrate how they can use the brushes to paint leaves by filling the brush with paint, gently laying it flat on the paper, and lifting it up. Repeat this process for each leaf.

7. Children add wild animals and flowers to the foreground. Discuss the variety of wild animals and flowers which might be seen in a jungle, and the sun or moon which often appears in Rousseau’s paintings.

Have the children fill their papers with lots of jungle scenery, wild animals and flowers, and optional suns or moons.

Vocabulary: Texture, Shape, Imagination, Foreground/Background/Middle-ground, Paint Wash

Finished project: