Puzzle Portraits of
Arcimboldo
Today's Snack: Italian artist Giuseppe (jih SEP pee) Arcimboldo (ar
chim BOLD o) made collage-style portraits as a masterpiece - but you can make
an EDIBLE collage portrait as a SNACK!
Take
a plain rice cake, and choose a spread for it - peanut butter, almond butter,
softened cream cheese or hummus are all tasty.
Using
a knife or the back of a spoon, apply the spread to one whole side of a rice
cake. Then add small bits of food for eyes, nose, mouth, eyebrows and other parts
of the face.
Examples:
raisins, banana slices, carrot shreds, dry cereal, chocolate chips,
butterscotch chips, grated or shredded cheese, coconut shreds, or bits of
cut-up pear. Now eat your edible masterpiece with a glass of milk.
--------------------
Supplies:
If possible, show this
on a large screen for a group:
http://cartelen.louvre.fr/cartelen/visite?srv=rs_display_res&nbToDisplay=5&langue=en&x=0&y=0&critere=arcimboldo&operator=AND
Magazines or catalogs
for collage pictures
(gardening, cooking, agriculture,
travel, nature, wellness, etc.)
OR items collected on
a "nature art scavenger hunt"
(grass, flat pebbles,
pine cones, etc.)
Kid-safe scissors |
Cardstock | Gluesticks, glue, or tape
For
this activity you will need to track down a set of four paintings by Giuseppe
Arcimboldo (also spelled Arcimboldi). They are called Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter from the Four Seasons series that was commissioned in 1573. They
represent an early example of the art form know as "collage" (co LAHJ) and are
very innovative and imaginative.
All
four paintings are in the Louvre museum in Paris. You can find images of the
paintings at the link, above, or in an encyclopedia article on Giuseppe
Arcimboldo. Look at his paintings and start getting ideas, because you are
going to get to make a portrait the same way Giuseppe did!
Here's
a look at "Spring":
"Spring" from "Four Seasons" by Guiseppe Arcimboldo, 1569
Giuseppe
was the son of a painter. He grew up learning to paint in Italy in the 1500s. When
he was a young man, an emperor from a northern land invited Giuseppe to become
his court painter. Giuseppe accepted the invitation and worked for the emperor
in the cities called Vienna and Prague.
The
emperor asked Giuseppe to paint a series of four paintings, each related to one
of the four seasons - spring, summer, fall and winter. The emperor planned to
give these paintings as gifts to one of the noblemen in his land.
After
you have found images of the paintings on the Internet or in a book, can you
guess why Giuseppe painted them the way he did?
The
emperor was one of the leading collectors of his time. What did he collect? You
name it, he collected it!
Because
the emperor had vast amounts of objects on hand, Giuseppe had many objects to
examine and paint.
The
emperor did not have just one category of things that he collected. He collected things that come from nature
and things made by humans. The things from nature included gems, fossils, nuts,
dried plants, antlers, shells, husks, and corals. The things made by humans included many kinds of art, like
paintings, sculptures, textiles, jewelry, coins, books, and drawings.
The
emperor kept the small pieces of his collections in furniture called "curiosity
cabinets." They had drawers with partitioned sections, kind of like a drawer
that you might have in your kitchen that has different sections for the forks,
spoons, and knives.
Because
the emperor had so many objects that were carefully classified into categories,
it is not hard to imagine that Giuseppe pictured the objects in his mind like
puzzle pieces, and then painted them in the shape of people.
Art
that makes an impression of what a person looks like, or that pretends to copy
what a person looks like, is called a portrait.
Now
let's make our own art! You can make your own puzzle portrait just like
Giuseppe.
First,
ask an adult to help you find some old magazines and cut out pictures from the
magazines. Or, if you'd prefer, take a walk outside in nature and collect items
such as small pine cones, flat rocks, flat flowers, pretty rocks, etc. You can
call it a "nature art scavenger hunt."
If
you're looking in magazines or catalogs, look for some pictures of objects from
nature, and some pictures of objects made by humans.
Next,
lay out all of your pictures or nature items on a large surface like a table or
the floor. While you are looking at the collection of pictures that you have just
collected, decide what category of things will make up your puzzle pieces for
your portrait.
Will
the pieces be pictures of vegetables? Or flowers? Or jewelry? Or something
else?
Next,
take a blank piece of cardstock and draw the outline of a person with a
pencil. If you draw an outline of
yourself, that's a special kind of portrait called a self-portrait.
Once
you have the outline drawn, you can glue your puzzle pieces onto the cardstock
to finish your puzzle portrait.
Bravo! (That's
how Giuseppe would say "good job!" in Italian.)