UE: Abstract Still Life

Brooke

Kata

Kevin

Jordan

I have heard of Cubism, but I've never heard of Orphism. I came upon Robert Delaunay's paintings recently and was drawn to his color palette and abstract shapes. I thought students could understand his work better in the context of Cubism, the greater movement that Orphism stemmed from. We first looked at Georges Braque's Woman and a Guitar and discussed characteristics of Cubism, such as intersecting planes, multiple viewpoints, and monochromatic colors. Then we looked at examples of Orphism and saw that they were abstract but much brighter and colorful. I thought this would be an interesting way of drawing a still life since it required students to perceive the objects from different angles. I set up different objects on each table that students drew. After, they divided the composition into several planes and visually pulled apart the object, looking at it from different perspectives and repeating elements of the shape. It was a fun variation from the standard still life.