educator resources - de young museum...venice at sunrise from the hotel europa, with the campanile...

Educator Resources

J.M.W. Turner: Painting Set Free | de Young FINE A RTS MUSEUMS OF SA N FR A NCISCO 3

Dear Educator:Thank you for supporting your students’ visit to the exhibition J. M. W. Turner: Painting Set Free.

Bringing together more than sixty oil paintings and watercolors from a host of international lenders, J. M. W. Turner: Painting Set Free is the first major exhibition devoted to Turner’s achievements during his final period of productivity, when some of his most iconic works were created. Challenging myths, assumptions, and interpretations that have grown around his later work, this show reveals a painter distinguished by the broad scope of his knowledge and imagination, as well as his experimental techniques, processes, and use of materials.

The resources assembled here will provide you and your students with tools to experiment with one of the media in which Turner most loved to work, watercolor. The assembled lessons offer K–12 students an opportunity to explore specific techniques that will deepen their viewing experiences at the museum. These resources include four basic elements:

Words to Know Images, Background Information, and Questions for Viewing Pre-Visit Art Activity Exhibition Layout

While these materials are written to support the visual art abilities within the intended grade levels, you may want to adapt them to meet the particular needs of your group.

Materials prepared by:

Heide Miller Senior Teaching Artist, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco


Words to KnowWatercolor Painting: Materials and Tools, and Techniques

Materials and ToolsBrushes:

• Flat: Bristles are cut straight across, and can be used for washes (see Techniques) or for angular lines.

• Round: Bristles can be filled with water or pigment for washes, or, using less water, can be formed into a point for detail painting.

• Mop: A very full, rounded bristle head that holds a lot of water or pigment can be used for large, uninterrupted washes.

• Brushes are numbered from low to high, indicating the width of its head (00 would be a very small, fine brush and 12 would be a very large brush).

Paints: • Tube: Today paints are regularly sold in tubes. Tubes help artists preserve and easily travel with their paints. Paint tubes were invented in 1841.

• Pan: Watercolors are commonly sold in pans. Pans help organize colors and provide a set palette.

Sponges: • Natural sponges: These sponges are made from natural materials and are often in irregular shapes. They are ideal for making organic shapes such as clouds or bushes.

• Elephant ear sponges; These are a form of natural sponge that are flat and covered with a fine texture. They are ideal for tighter lines and feathering.

• Synthetic kitchen sponges: These household sponges are very absorbent and provide very little texture effect.

Toweling:• Paper or rags: artists use paper or rags to soak up excess water or paint. Toweling can allow for quicker application of pigment.

Palette:• Palettes hold the paints and may include dividers for mixing colors.

• They may be made from plastic or china plate.


Sgraffito (see below) tools:• Pin, needle, knife, fingernail, sandpaper

Paper: • Texture: the bumpiness of the paper surface, called “tooth”

- Rough: a texture that is very bumpy, with a high degree of tooth

- Cold Press: the texture is smoother, with a medium degree of tooth.

- Hot Press: a texture that is almost smooth, with very little tooth

• Weight: the thickness of the paper, which is described by “pound”

- 90-pound paper: This quite thin student-grade paper buckles when wet and can’t endure much scrubbing for changes.

- 140-pound paper: This is the most commonly used and can be stretched (see below)

- 300-pound paper: This thick, board-like paper does not require stretching.

• Formats:

- Sheets are sold individually. Most need to be stretched.

- Pads contain sheets bound by one adhesive side or a spiral wire. Most need to be stretched.

- Blocks contain multiple sheets bound by adhesive along all the edges. Painting is done on the top sheet, allowed to dry, and then cut off of the block using a palette knife through a space in the adhesive. Paper does not need to be stretched.


Words to Know

Techniques:Loading, or to load: To fully saturate a brush with pigment.

Wet-on-wet: Wetting the area with clean water, and adding pigment with a wet brush on top. The paint will bleed and seep across the wet area in an organic way.

Charging: Introducing a strong second color into or adjacent to a still wet wash area, allowing the colors to bleed into one another.

Wash: Loading brush with paint and creating a solid area of even color.

Glazing, or layering: Painting with another color on top of an already painted area that has dried.

Sgraffito, or scrubbing: Breaking or abrading the surface of the paper, either before putting a wash on top (to allow more pigment to absorb into the scratched areas and become darker) or after the wash is dry (to expose the white of the paper)

Dry brush: Blotting a paint brush of excess water and paint and lightly dragging the pigment across the tooth of the paper to create a feathery or textured effect

Graded wash: Creating a graduated field by loading a brush with paint and painting across; then dipping brush in water and painting with a slight overlap so that the new area is lighter in color; and repeating so that the last brushstroke is done with very little pigment (mostly water)

Lifting, or pulling: Removing color from the surface while an area is damp or dry by using a sponge or towel to blot, or by using a paintbrush with clean water to re-wet the area and pull up the pigment from the paper.

Stretching: Creating a surface that will not buckle while painting by first soaking it in water, then placing it on a board, with its edges taped by brown paper packing tape. As the paper dries, it pulls taut against the board to create a smooth surface.


Images, Background Information, and Questions for Viewing These four images directly support each of the three educational themes listed above and will serve as touchpoints for your museum visit. The accompanying questions connect to the grade levels indicated and prompt open-ended investigations of the artworks.

1 2

43


The Blue Rigi: Sample Study, ca. 1841–1842Watercolor on paper, 9 x 12 3/4 in. (23 x 32.6 cm)Tate, accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856D36188

Travelling through Switzerland in Turner’s footsteps inspired John Ruskin to define the purpose of landscape art as being less concerned with the “image of the place itself, as the spirit of the place”. A powerful sense of this spirit is conveyed in Turner’s drawings of the Rigi. Lying to the east of Lucerne, its slopes descending into the lake, Turner first pictured the mountain in 1802 but in later life it became a touchstone, inspiring his most celebrated work in watercolour.

The Rigi had been a popular tourist destination since at least the beginning of the nineteenth century. Guidebooks promised “a panorama hardly to be equaled in extent and grandeur among the Alps” at the summit, which Turner painted without ever making the ascent. Far more captivating for him was the distinctive, isolated bulk of the Rigi itself, viewed in all lights across a plane of water.

—Excerpt from J. M. W Turner: Painting Set Free (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2014), 224–225

Discussion Questions:• What is going on in this picture? What do you see that makes you say that? (K–2)

• Do you notice any familiar techniques? Describe how it might feel to stand in this

painting. (3–5)

• Through his choice of techniques and colors, what does the artist tell us about this

place? (6–12)


Venice at Sunrise from the Hotel Europa, with the Campanile of San Marco, ca. 1840 Watercolor on paper, 7 3/4 x 11 in. (19.8 x 27.9 cm) Tate, accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856D35949

On more than one occasion Turner painted views looking directly out of these windows, as confirmed by an inscription on the verso of one sheet which reads “From my Bed Room, Venice.” . . . Here he worked swiftly, dropping brushloads of liquid orange and red into the surrounding wet yellow wash (a technique known as charging) to describe the effects of daybreak colours staining the sky. Further images can be pinpointed to different times of day, hinting at the artist’s compulsion to document the changing Venetian light.

Another guest staying at the Hotel Europa during August 1840 was fellow painter William Callow. He later recalled enjoying an evening cigar in a gondola, catching sight of Turner sketching the sunset from another and feeling “quite ashamed of myself idling away the time whilst he [Turner] was hard at work so late.” Even when the light failed him, Turner was hardly inactive but was preoccupied with observing, if not actually painting in situ, the mysterious impressions of nocturnal Venice.

—Excerpt from J. M. W Turner: Painting Set Free (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2014), 113

Discussion Questions:• Describe the colors you see. What might be happing in this painting? (K–2)

• Take a moment to study this watercolor. What colors did the artist use at the top?

What colors did he use in the bottom? What do you think the artist painted first?

What do you think he painted second? Why? (3–5)

• In this watercolor sketch, what essence does Turner capture about this place? (6–12)


The Dogano, San Giorgio, Citella, from the Steps of the Europa, exhibited 1842Oil on canvas, 24 1/4 x 36 1/2 in. (61.6 x 92.7 cm)Tate, presented by Robert Vernon 1847N00372

Taken from the front steps of the Hotel Europa on the Grand Canal, this view shows three Venetian landmarks together with their reflections in the water. Pictured from left to right are San Giorgio Maggiore, Santa Maria della Presentazione (known as Le Zitelle), and the Dogana (Customs House)—the latter two spelled “Citella” and “Dogano” in Turner’s title. When the critic of the Art Union (London) saw this work in 1842, he wrote, “Venice was surely built to be painted by Canaletto and Turner.”

Discussion Questions:• What are the people doing in this picture? (K–2)

• What can we learn about this place by observing the foreground, middle ground, and

background? (3–5)

• Compare and contrast Turner’s watercolor and oil paintings of Venice. What does Turner

tell us about the experience of visiting this city? (6–12)


Snow Storm—Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth making Signals in Shallow Water, and going by the Lead. The Author was in this Storm on the Night the Ariel left Harwich, exhibited 1842Oil on canvas, 36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 121.9 cm)Tate, accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856N00530

The buffeting of the small, fragile steamboat at the center of this canvas evokes mankind’s ultimate powerlessness against the forces of nature. In a claim that has been impossible to substantiate, Turner boasted to an acquaintance: “[ I ] got the sailors to lash me to the mast to observe [the storm]; I was lashed for four hours, and I did not expect to escape, but I felt bound to record it if I did.”

Discussion Questions:• Imagine you are painting this picture. How would you move your arm to paint? What types

of brushstrokes do you see? (K–2)

• In this painting Turner shows us the sea during a snow storm. Use your five senses to

describe how it would feel to be in this storm. (3–5)

• Track how your eyes move through this painting. What do you discover about how Tuner

used brushstrokes and contrasts between light and dark? What one word would you use

to describe this work?


J.M.W. Turner: PRE-VISIT ART ACTIVITYObjective: Using a variety of tools and methods, students will develop an index of watercolor techniques. Students will use this experience and the index to consider J. M. W. Turner’s work and to create a watercolor composition.

Teachers may craft the lesson for different grade levels and abilities by starting with the lessons outlined for K–2, continuing with 3–5, and then with 6–12. All parts of the lessons can be adapted to any age student.

Pertinent vocabulary words are in bold type. Discovery and reflection questions are in italics. Tips for proper tool handling are in purple. Instructions particular to K–2 students are in red. Instructions particular to 3–5 students are in blue. Instructions particular to 6–12 students are in green.

Materials:• 9 x 12–inch watercolor paper, 2 sheets per student

• Watercolor pan paints

• Watercolor brushes, round and flat, sizes 6 and up

• Water container for each student, water container with clear water for sponge work (one for each group to share)

• Paper towels for each student

• Assorted kitchen sponges, cut into 2 inch squares, elephant ear sponges, and natural sponges (one set for each group to share)

• Pencil

• Pushpins (for grades 3–5 and 6–12.)


Grades K–2Draw a horizontal and a vertical line on one piece of the watercolor paper, creating 4 quadrants. It is not necessary to do this in a precise way.

Number the quadrants, 1–4, in the corner of each space.

In quadrant 1, we will learn how to wet the brush and see how the paint reacts to water. First, dip a large brush in water, soaking the bristles (hairs) well. Look closely at how the bristles try to keep together in their original shape. You will want to use the brush in a way that allows for the bristles to maintain this shape. Now gently drag the wet bristles across the first quadrant, from one side to another. When there isn’t much water left in your brush, dip it in the water again, and keep gently stroking the water on the paper in this quadrant, getting it all wet. Practice trying to make the quadrant evenly wet. Now we will load the brush with paint. Dip the brush in water, and carefully stroke the brush on the paint cake in the pan, either back and forth or in gentle circles on top. Try to do this while keeping the bristles all together in their original shape. When the paint dissolves (or melts) into the bristles, they are “loaded” with color.

Touch the loaded brush gently onto the wet paper, and lift the brush up right away. Do this again, using your brush to make small dots and small lines.

This style of painting, with a wet brush on top of wet paper, is called wet-on-wet.

What do you notice? What does the wet color do when it touches the wet paper?

Now clean your brush: rinse your brush by swirling it in water and tapping it on paper toweling to blot the color out. Repeat this until your brush bristles are clean.

Load your brush with a different color, and dab a couple more color dots onto the quadrant.

Is this color reacting the same way as the first color did? Are the two colors meeting anywhere on the page? What do they look like?

1 2

3 4


Rinse and clean your brush again.

**Add these instructions for grades 3–5 and 6–12: Now we are going to try a special type of wet-on-wet technique called charging. Load your brush with a lighter color—yellow, orange, pink, or example—and paint a rectangle somewhere in quadrant 1. Quickly rinse your brush, and load it with a different color of paint. Paint another rectangle so it overlaps the edge of the first one.

How are the two colors reacting to one another? How is charging (letting two paints “bleed” and spread into one another) different than simple wet-on-wet ( dropping color onto a wet surface)?

In quadrant 4, we will create a wash, Dip a large brush in water, soaking the bristles well. Load your brush with paint. Using gentle strokes, paint the dry paper of quadrant 4, covering the whole area with one color. You might need to reload your brush with water and paint. Try to make this wash as evenly colored as possible, so that the whole area looks the same.

What kind of brushstrokes did you use to spread the paint evenly?

Rinse the brush well and blot dry.

In quadrant 3, we will use sponges to lift paint off of the paper. Start by soaking all the sponges in water and squeezing them out so they are damp but not heavy or dripping with water. Paint a wash on quadrant 3 with any color except yellow (load the brush and paint the area evenly).

Immediately, rub a damp sponge in small circles on the paint. Try different types of sponges. Try rubbing hard and then lightly.

What do you notice? How does the wash area change when you try lifting the color by using the sponge? Describe the sponge marks and the paint that are left on the paper. Can you see evidence of the direction of the sponge movement?

Rinse and dry the brush, and rinse the sponge in water and squeeze dry.

(K–2) In quadrant 2, we will try out different brushstrokes and marks. Dip any brush in water and load it with paint. On the dry white paper, practice using the brush to make different kinds of marks: dots, straight or loopy lines, shapes—whatever is interesting! Make sure that you are taking care of your brush bristles, keeping the hairs of the brush all together, and not “scrubbing” so hard that the hairs spread out. You can change colors to paint with as long as you continue to rinse and blot your brush between colors. You might want to try different sized brushes to see how that changes the marks you make.

What kinds of marks were fun to make? Describe the different lines and shapes, and what you notice about them.

Now check to see if the wash you painted in quadrant 4 is dry. If it is, try using a different color to paint marks on top of the wash. Adding a different color on top of a wash is called glazing.

What do you notice about the glazing marks you just made? Did the color of the paint marks surprise you? Why or why not?


At the end of a session of painting, always wash your brushes and sponges well and let them dry.

K–2 painting activity: J. M. W. Turner used some of the painting ideas you just learned in his work, too. He experimented with different ways to use tools and paper to make his paintings. Using a fresh piece of watercolor paper, create a painting of your choice—and feel free to use any of all of the tools and techniques from the lesson!

Grades 3-5Follow the basic instructions from Grades K–2. Continue with the following instructions.

In quadrant 2, take a pushpin and make scratches into the white paper. Try circular, straight, or “scribble” lines. Make sure the pin penetrates the surface of the paper but does not puncture all the way through. Paint a wash with a darker color (not yellow) over the entire quadrant.

Describe what the paint is doing to the scratched areas.

Blot quadrant 2 with a sponge or paper towel so that the area is fairly dry.

Notice that the scratched lines stay pigmented. Why might this be happening?

Take the pin and scratch into one small area of the quadrant. You also may try to tear or pull the paper surface with your fingernail. Try to remove just enough of the surface to reveal the whiteness of the watercolor paper.

These methods are called sgraffito.

Why might a painter use sgraffito in a work?

Check to see if quadrant 4 is dry. If it is, use a clean paintbrush and choose a color on which to paint a rectangle on top of the left half of the wash area. Painting a color on top of a dry color is called glazing. On the other half of the dried wash, practice using the brush to make different kinds of glazing marks: dots, straight or loopy lines, shapes—whatever is interesting! Make sure that you are taking care of your brush bristles, keeping the hairs of the brush all together, and not “scrubbing” so hard that the hairs spread out.

What do you notice about how the colors interact on the paper? What differences do you see between glazing and color mixing on your palette? What do you notice about different brushstrokes? What kinds of marks are easy to make? What kinds of marks are more challenging to make? How would a different size or shape of brush change the mark making?

When the paper is dry, use a pencil to note which techniques were used in each quadrant. Most quadrants will have more than one technique! This will serve as your watercolor technique index.


At the end of every painting session, take care of brushes and other tools by rinsing well. Make sure that the brush bristles are shaped in their original form and allow all brushes to dry. Paint cakes in the pans should be carefully blotted and patted clean so that the colors remain pure for the next time they are needed.

3-5 painting activity: J. M. W. Turner’s work often expressed movement, emotion, and his natural environment through the use of different brushstroke and watercolor techniques. Create a watercolor painting by using a combination of the techniques listed on your index.

In this project, you will be painting an outdoor scene. The first step is to think about the weather of the environment you wish to paint, whether real or imagined: Is it windy? Raining? Storming? Hot? Cloudy? How will you show raindrops, hail, or whipping winds? How can you express blazing heat?

Consider the importance of color. What colors will reflect the scene you want to paint? Can colors express weather? How? Can colors express the time of day or the season? How?

If you choose to experiment with mixing your own colors, use a plastic paint palette with dividers for mixing, or a white plastic or china plate. Load your brush with each color you want to mix and transfer the paint to the palette. Rinse your brush well before transferring each color.

On a fresh piece of watercolor paper, paint the entire page with a wash of color and use different techniques to paint the weather conditions you chose to depict. You may want to use sgraffito or lifting to help express the environment, movement, and the quality of the air. This will be the background of your composition.

When that layer is fairly dry, use glazing and brushstroke techniques to paint the rest of your scene on top, adding details, textures, and colors. Be aware that these details and shapes will provide the middle ground and foreground of your work. (For example, the first wash and sgraffito and sponging might create the background of a work that that depicts the experience of a tornado. After that layer dries, glazing shapes and details might show trees in the middle ground and slanted glazing lines might indicate grasses blowing in the foreground.)


Grades 6–12Follow the instructions for K–2 and 3–5. Continue with the following instructions.

On the back of your paper, draw lines to create another 4 quadrants, and label the spaces 5–8:

The next watercolor painting technique is called dry brush. Rinse a brush and choose a color with which to paint. Once you have loaded the brush, lightly blot with the paper towel until the bristles are just slightly damp with color. On quadrant 5, lightly graze the brush bristles over the paper, dragging the color back and forth over the tooth. Again, care for your brush by making sure to keep the bristles and hairs of the brush all together in their shape and not spread out. Try different amounts of paint on the brush, and different strokes. Also try combinations of brushstrokes in different directions, layered on top of each other.

Describe the effect of the dry brush technique. What different textures can be expressed? How is this application of paint different from glazing and washes, and what effects can be achieved? Where might a painter want to use this technique?

In quadrant 6, you will paint a graded wash. Load your brush with a lot of paint and stroke it along the top part of the quadrant. Immediately dip the brush quickly into water—just the tip of it—and paint the next stripe just below the first, slightly overlapping. Keep dipping the tip of the brush in water and painting stripes, one beneath the other. The water dilutes the paint with each new stripe, until it is very light at the very bottom of the quadrant.

Compare the effect of graded wash with that of regular wash. Discuss possible situations where an artist might choose one over another.

For the last two quadrants, you will think about the emotional impacts that can be made based on an artist’s choices of color and line.

Discuss with your classmates what the terms “warm” and “cool” might refer to as they relate to colors. Once the ideas are defined for warm tones (yellows, reds, oranges, pinks) as well as cool tones (blues, greens, purples), discuss how different colors might correlate to emotions and the ability to express them.

5 6

7 8


In quadrant 7, on one side, use your paints to explore combining warm colors. Feel free to use any of the techniques you have learned, but keeping your mark making to that side and stay with your warm color palette. On the opposite side of quadrant 7, do the same with cool colors.

Are there colors that can be used to express a variety of feelings? Which ones and how?

Discuss with your classmates how lines and shapes might express emotions.

In quadrant 8, use the area to paint different lines and shapes, being mindful of how the different marks might make a viewer respond or feel.

What can sharp zigzag lines say? What can round shapes express? Can a diagonal line express something that a curved line cannot? In what way? How can one combine colors and shapes and lines to indicate an emotion or a feeling?

When the paper is dry, use a pencil to indicate which techniques were used in quadrants 1–6. In quadrants 7–8, note what you notice about how color and line can communicate emotions. This will serve as your watercolor technique index.

At the end of every painting session, take care of brushes and other tools by rinsing well. Make sure that the brush bristles are shaped in their original form and allow all brushes to dry. Paint cakes in the pans should be carefully blotted and patted clean so that the colors remain pure for the next time they are needed.

6-12 art activity: Consider how J. M. W. Turner was able to combine different techniques and artistic choices to create four types of expression in his works: sense of place, narrative, emotion, and weather conditions. Using these categories, brainstorm ideas for painting subjects, for example:

Sense of place: high on a mountain, in a cave, on a busy street, deep in a forest

Narrative: bucolic scene, story or fable, current event, myth

Emotion: anger, sadness, joy, excitement, worry, grief, love

Weather conditions: storm, wind, drought, extreme heat, snow, sleet, fog

Decide on a composition, realistic or abstract, and choose a color palette (a plan for what colors might be effective) for expressing the subject. Carefully consider how your choice of color will help highlight your choice of place, narrative, emotion, and weather.

If you choose to experiment with mixing your own colors, use a plastic paint palette with dividers for mixing, or a white plastic or china plate. Load your brush with each color you want to mix and transfer the paint to the palette. Rinse your brush well before transferring each color.

Using a fresh piece of watercolor paper, experiment with creating a composition that touches on at least one of these four categories, using a variety of watercolor techniques. Be aware of how color choices also can serve to support your ideas.


Materials and Tools Suggested source list

Brushes If purchasing a class pack, a good choice for the desired sizes and brush shapes is the Soft-Grip Classroom Caddy 72-brush assortment that includes round brushes (12 each in sizes 3, 6, and 10; flat brushes (12 each in sizes 8 and 12); and wash brushes (¾-inch, 12).

Blick catalogue link: http://www.dickblick.com/items/06046-6072/

If you prefer to purchase a smaller quantity, use the size and brush shape information above as a guide.

Paints Pan watercolors are recommended for beginning watercolor painters, as the pigment is more intense and students can practice care of their tools and materials with greater ease. The Prang brand is a paint of good quality for student use. The sets with oval pans encourage painters to pick up paint in a circular motion, which helps to protect the brush bristles. Choose either the 8- color or 16-color sets. The interior lid of each set can serve as a palette for mixing colors.

Blick catalogue link: http://www.dickblick.com/products/prang-watercolor-pan-sets/

SpongesElephant ear sponges:

Blick catalogue link: http://www.dickblick.com/products/elephant-ear-sponges/

Silk sponges:Blick catalogue link: http://www.dickblick.com/products/white-silk-sponge/

Paper:Blick catalogue link: http://www.dickblick.com/items/10173-1023/

J.M.W. Turner: Painting Set Free | de Young FINE A RTS MUSEUMS OF SA N FR A NCISCO

Herbst Exhibition GalleriesLOWER LEVEL • DE YOUNG

ENTRANCEEXIT

1

MAP

2

3 4 5

678

9

Introduction

History and Myth

Squaring the Circle and Pairs

Continental Travels

Venice

Sample Studies

Water, Wind, and Whales

Repetition and Incompletion

The Final Works

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

9

8

educator resources - de young museum...venice at sunrise from the hotel europa, with the campanile...

Documents