Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Art Activity Pack: Matisse
Nonfiction Drawing Book
For ages 6 to 10
Chronicle Books, 1996 ISBN: 978-0811813105
Matisse was an artist who decided to make his art works different from everyone else’s. He began his career painting and drawing. Then, in his search for simplicity, he moved onto a different form of expression – collage.
At first Matisse drew, studying the shape and form of his subjects. Then he would do something that was new to the art world: Matisse cut figures and shapes out of colored paper. Matisse would experiment with shapes, color and the position of the shapes until he was happy with what he had created. Then he glued the pieces down. Mostly what he created only gave the essence of his subject but that was what Matisse wanted.
In this excellent activity pack readers can read about how and why Matisse chose to work with simple collage. They can also read about his life, and finally they can try making a Matisse-like piece of art themselves using the colored paper and cut-outs provided.
