fame 4.1 • William Harnett My Gems • Edward MacDowell To a Wild Rose

(Put materials on desks before beginning the lesson. Place paintings/posters facing backwards on whiteboard.)

Welcome to the first of six FAME art program lessons we will bring you this year. (Introduce yourself and other

volunteers). If you’re a returning FAME student can you tell me about one of the artists we studied last year?

Would anyone like to share their favorite part project? Allow for a few answers or share some highlights (3.1

Cassatt/Debussy/Color Wheel; 3.2 van Eyck/Bach/salt birch trees; 3.3 Matisse/Gershwin/patterned pastel still life;

3.4 Gainsborough/Mozart/tin foil shadow sculptures; 3.5 Rembrandt/Bizet/ opera fans; 3.6 Dali/Liszt/surreal faces).

We’re looking forward to another exciting year of FAME and when we do FAME we make sure we are ARTSY! Use

ARTSY poster in portfolio. Introduce to younger students and have older students share rules as a reminder.

The artist for today’s lesson is American painter

William Harnett. He lived from 1849-1892 and

had a short life but completed over 250 paintings

in his career. He mastered the still life and

worked very hard to make the objects look

exactly like they do in real life. Can anyone recall

what this style of painting is called? Realism. Last

year, we looked at a wedding portrait by Jan van

Eyck and a portrait of the Militia Men of

Amsterdam by Rembrandt (you can share these

paintings if you like) which were also Realist

paintings. But Harnett’s paintings were not only

realistic, they were so real that they fooled the

eye into thinking they were real! This technique is

called Trompe L’Oeil. See Text box and samples

in binder.

OBJECTIVE: Introduce still life

paintings of William

Harnett and concepts of

realism and trompe l’oeil.

Review art elements that

make a COMPOSITION.

Listen for MELODY in “To

a Wild Rose.” Have

students create drawing

inspired by My Gems.

“A painting has been added to the Art Gallery, which has created a furor....”

“Visitors will need no guide post, they will find it by following the crowd.”

— Cincinnati newspapers, 1886 on the Installation of William Harnett’s The Old Violin

INTRODUCTION:

Introduce FAME

Highlights from

FAME 3

ARTSY Rules

ARTIST: American Painter

William Harnett

(1849-1892)

Completed 250

Paintings in career

Master of Still Life

Used Realism

o Jan van

Eyck

o Rembrandt

Master of Trompe

L’Oeil: “fooling the

eye” into thinking

something is real

VOCABULARY: TROMPE L’OEIL

SOUNDS LIKE: TROMP LOY

FRENCH FOR: “To Fool or Trick the Eye”

DEFINITION: Art technique that uses realistic imagery to create the optical

illusion that the depicted objects exist in three dimensions.

FUN FACTS: Harnett painted pegs on a wall so real that people tried to hang

their hats on! Many of his paintings hung in saloons where people would make

bets as to what was real and what was fake! In galleries his paintings would

have to be roped off so that patrons wouldn’t try to grab the objects. He was

even arrested on a felony charge for making counterfeit money!

Now let’s look at Harnett’s painting My Gems. Why do you think he called his painting that? He included some of

his favorite items that appeal to all 5 senses: books and a lamp to read them by, a flute and sheet music, a pipe, a

jug. Does it look like William Harnett just dropped the objects on the table? Why didn’t he just line them up in a

straight line? He has arranged the items to look interesting. In FAME when we look at a painting we talk about the

ART ELEMENTS the artist uses. Show ART ELEMENT visual. The way an artist arranges items in a work of art has a

name. What is it? COMPOSITION.

You can be an art detective and figure out two other art elements by squinting your eyes. When you squint your

eyes and look at the painting what items stand out most? You may need to model this for younger grades.

Students will probably mention the jug, sheet music, ivory on the flute, book and quill. What art element makes

you notice those items first? Indicate ELEMENTS visual. The amount of LIGHT on them and the COLOR he chose.

For K-2 ask: “What could be coming from a window that is making these items look bright?”. Why didn’t I notice

the books in the back, or the blanket first? They have a darker COLOR and have more SHADOW. What about

LINE? Harnett uses directional lines to move the viewer’s eyes through the painting. K-2 can discuss the basic

shapes seen in the painting. What about TEXTURE? (You can remind students of the velvet dress, wiry dog hair,

shiny brass in van Eyck) How does Harnett use texture to make the items look like the real thing? The torn and

folded edge of the sheet music, the shiny metal, the chipped vase, ash from pipe, broken match sticks etc.

Today we will create a “still life” similar to “My Gems”. Our volunteers will arrange objects into a COMPOSITION

using a pumpkin, witch’s hat, feather and books on top of a colorful tapestry. Note the shapes of the objects: the

pumpkin (sphere), witches hat (cone), feather (arc) and book (rectangle).

While you work you will be listening to “To a Wild Rose” composed to celebrate nature by popular American

composer Edward MacDowell (1861-1908). See if you can hear the repetition of the MELODY, the part of the

music you can hum along to. And if you listen carefully you can hear two melodies that repeat in a pattern.

(Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is a good example.)

When you go back to your table you will find sighting squares, a white piece of paper, a tray of colored pencils to

share and a pencil. A cart with the still life composition will be placed nearby Using a sighting square you will

decide what your composition to be. Do you want your picture to be horizontal or vertical? Do you want a close

up view or lots of background? Do you want to crop some of the objects or let them bleed off the paper? Once

you have decided on your composition you may begin to lightly sketch your shapes. Be sure to sketch a horizon

line (table) for your objects to rest on. You may erase where you need to. You will be using your pencils for

sketching (not detail) and then your colored pencils to color and add detail. Notice the different colors in the

pumpkin (orange, yellow, hints of green, brown) the texture of the tapestry, the shape of the hat etc. Let’s get

started!

PAINTING: My Gems

Still life of his

favorite objects

appealing to all 5

senses

Interesting

arrangement of

items is

COMPOSITION

ART ELEMENTS: Show

Visual

LIGHT AND COLOR

SHADOW

LINE

TEXTURE

MUSIC: “To a Wild Rose”

Edward MacDowell

Celebrates Nature

Listen for MELODY

Art Project: Fall still life

inspired by “My Gems”

Use sighting square

to plan your

COMPOSITION

Sketch horizon line

Use pencils for

sketching

Colored Pencils add

detail, color and

depth