Last project, 1st graders learned that geometric shapes had straight sides and names (except for ovals and circles!). We learned that abstract artwork doesn’t show objects realistically, like Henri Matisse’s The Snail.
We learned that Henri Matisse started to lose his eyesight and as a result, he started to make collages instead of paintings. We looked at Matisse’s Betes de la Mer (Beast of the Sea) and learned that he used organic shapes, which have curvy sides and no names. Students compared the organic shapes in Betes to the geometric shapes we saw in The Snail.
Ms. Baird's Art Class 