Expressive

1. Expressive Portraits More then meets the eye.

2. How does the use of colour in this portrait make you feel? Why would the artist choose to use such unrealistic colors? Henry Matisse, Madame Matisse

3. Matisse is able to convey a love of his wife through the carefully chosen combination of colors, as well as the different aspects of his wife’s personality. The yellow on her face seems to portray a harder, unemotional (and perhaps sickly) personal trait when contrasted with the warmer orange and pink, which emit a loving warmth, opposite the dividing green line. The line itself seems to serve as a neutral point at which the two personalities are divided. At the same time, the hotter colors that are placed on the yellow side of the face seem to express lively, passionate moods that she experienced from time to time. Here, the contrast may indicate that her nature was one of varying degrees of expressiveness, ranging from love and energy to collected, dispassionate coldness

4. How do the pink tones in the face affect the overall feeling of the picture? What if the artist chose a different color pallet?

5. Compare the two paintings. How does the color affect the mood of the scene?

6. How does the roughness and darkness of colour choice and application say about M. Gustave Coquiot?

7. Picasso painted this portrait of M. Gustave Coquio. • M. Gustave Coquio was an art critic. • What do you think is going on in this painting? • Why do you think Picasso chose to represent him this way? Dressed for debauchery- sitting in front of a mirror reflecting a cabaret show

8. How does the strong lighting affect change how we perceive the sitter, as compared to more even lit portraits? As this is a self-portrait, what might this choice of lighting say about the artist? The use of musical instruments is common across European painting for centuries prior to Beckmann, symbolizing the arts, creativity and in Germany particularly linked to folk songs. Here, the absence of an audience for creativity is particularly poignant, as this painting was made when Beckmann was already in exile in Holland. His striped outfit seems to combine a harlequin’s costume with a convict’s uniform – he equated exile with incarceration. An earlier stage of this work showed Beckmann in a more relaxed and smiling pose but he changed the whole composition to create a more tentative and isolated portrait.

9. The colors are very artificial, how does this affect the scene? Where do you think this woman might be?

10. Amedeo Modigliani, Portrait of Madame Hayden Mondigliani used of line, proportion and flattened colors. What feeling does that give the portrait?

11. Compare the two images. Both portray the same woman looking sad. Do the elongated proportion add to the sense of sadness? What else does the elongation add to the portrait?

12. What do you think this artist is trying to say about himself?

13. How about this artist? Is he a shy, quite man? How can you tell?

14. How does the artist here emphasis her emotions in these two artworks? Are they different media? How can you tell? What media was used?

15. Look carefully at this painting. • Where is the artist? • Do you think he is happy there? • What is he doing? • Do you think he would rather be somewhere else? • Where might that place be?

16. Use these links to further you study of expressive self portraits. These are just starting off points. Follow the links and see where they take you http://www.gis.net/~scatt/self_portraits.htmlLots of links to other sites • http://www.portrait-artist.org • http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html • http://www.writedesignonline.com/resources/design/rules/color.html#psych http://portrait-painting.suite101.com/article.cfm/painting_a_likeness http://poynterextra.org/cp/index.html Don’t forget to check out the links on the Advanced 2D Design page .