Artist Study - Renoir

“Why shouldn’t art be pretty?  There are enough unpleasant things in the world.” 

-Renoir

This week Emily and I have been studying, impressionist artist, Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Self-Portrait – Pierre Auguste Renoir

One of our favorite books was Renoir and the Boy with the Long Hair.

Jean, this story’s long-haired little boy, happens to have a very famous father – the artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir.  But Jean also has a problem.  Despite his many protests, his father thinks Jean’s hair is too beautiful to be cut short.  The artist loves to pose his son as a model for many of his paintings, and Jean’s long hair is an important part of those fine pictures.  Meanwhile, other kids of Jean’s age often tease him because of his hair, and that makes him quite angry.  Even worse, well-meaning adults are sometimes attracted by his beautiful long hair and mistake him for a pretty girl.  That annoys and embarrasses him.  Jean simply has to convince his father that the time has come for him to wear his hair short like the other boys.

Portrait of Jean Renoir

I found the complete works of Renoir here (some of his paintings are rather revealing) and Emily picked out a few of her favorites:   

The Children of Martial Caillebotte       

   

Spring Bouquet  

 

Madame Renoir With A Dog

We choose to do a mixed media still-life.  I wanted Emily to pick an unusual container to put the flowers in, such as a boot, but she looked at me as if I had lost my mind. 

She painted a canvas with tempera paint, sketched the flowers, then painted them using watercolors. 

The finished masterpiece!

I can see such an improvement in Emily’s artwork and I LOVE that she is enjoying the process and becoming more confident in her artistic abilities.