Chapter 5
Painting
Instructor’s Manual
Overview
In this chapter, introduce Painting. Speak to paintings as valued place among all art
forms. Discuss how painting is more complicated a process than drawing. Discuss the
history of painting.
Sub Headers:
• Encaustic
• Fresco
• Tempera Panel
• Oil Painting
• Watercolor and Gouache
• Acrylic
• Contemporary Approaches to Painting
• Unique Materials
Terms:
acrylic
airbrush
collage
egg tempera
encaustic
fresco
glazes
gouache
ground
impasto
mixed media
tempera
underpainting
watercolor
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Lecture #1
Discussion:
In Lecture #1, introduce encaustic, fresco, and oil painting. Use examples from the text
and from life to show the different textures that can be achieved with each of the
mediums.
Class Questions/Prompts:
1. Time Consuming How long does a painting take to create? Some paintings can be
completed in a few hours or a day, while others take months or even years to complete.
Does the painting medium dictate how long it takes? Not necessarily—in fresco, it took
Michelangelo 4 years to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling and Raphael 2 years to complete
the School of Athens, but Diego Rivera was able to complete his wall fresco, The Making
of a Fresco, Showing the Building of a City, in three months. Remember, though, the
painting must be done while the plaster is wet. For oil paint, Georges Seurat took 2 years
to paint A Sunday La Grande Jatte, but Vincent van Gogh could create a painting in a
day’s time. Does size matter in how long it takes to create a painting? Again, not
necessarily. The works The Making of a Fresco, Showing the Building of a City (figure 5-
3) by Diego Rivera and Bakasura Disgorges Krishna (figure 5-8) both took months to
create, but Rivera’s work is measured in feet (over 18′ × 26′) and the Indian gouache
painting is measured in inches (only 8″ × 12″). Does the amount of time an artist took on
creating a painting dictate the quality or worth of the art work?
2. Oil Paintings Since the innovations in oil painting by Flemish painter Jan van Eyck
(among others) in the mid-fifteenth century, oil painting was the painting medium of
choice for many artists. Its ability to produce a variety of textures, for subtle color mixing
and blending, and slow drying time make the medium very flexible to set different effects
and moods. Chapter 5 introduces Jan van Eyck and J.M.W. Turner and how they use oil
paint. Compare and contrast how those two artists control the medium, and analyze the
effects of oil with three other works by artists who paint in oil from different chapters in
the text. Evaluate the different moods, effects, and textures that oil paint can produce.
Exercise #1
1. Analysis
a. Have students make observations on materials, methods,
cultural and historical context.
Figure 5-2 Herakles and Telephos, detail, Herculaneum, c. 70 ce. Wall
painting, approximately 7’ 2” x 6’ 2”. Museum Nazionale, Naples, Italy.
2. Compare and Contrast
Figure 5-5 Rachael. The Alba Madonna, c. 1510. Oil on panel, transferred
to canvas, 37 3/16” diameter. National Gallery, Washington, D.C.
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Figure 5-6 J.M.W. Turner. Snow Storm: Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s
Mouth, 1842. Oil on Canvas, 36” x 48”, Tate Gallery, London, Great
Britain.
Lecture #2
Discussion:
In Lecture #2, introduce watercolor, gouache, and acrylic and discuss contemporary
approaches to painting and unique materials. Show examples from the text and from life.
Class Questions/Prompts:
1. Politics and Art Jean-Michel Basquiat began his career as an artist by painting
graffiti in New York during the 1980s. His art pieces included topics ranging from his
Haitian and Puerto Rican heritage, political issues, pop-culture icons, and Bible verses.
He quickly gained the attention of several celebrity artists, including Andy Warhol, with
whom he collaborated several times. He died tragically in 1988 from a drug overdose, but
his artwork continued to bring in millions even in the 1990s. One of his more well-known
art pieces is Slave Auction.
2. Advantages/Disadvantages Discuss each process of painting medium. What are the
advantages to each process? What are the disadvantages? What difficulties might an artist
face if a particular process is used?
Exercise #2
1. Analysis
a. Have students make observations on materials, methods,
cultural and historical context.
Figure 5-13 Vik Muniz, Action Photo 1 (from “Pictures of Chocolate”),
1997.
2. Compare and Contrast
Figure 5-8 Bakasura Disgorges Krishna, page from a dispersed Bhagavata
Purana manuscript, India, c. 1690.
Figure 5-9 Helen Frankenthaler, The Bay, 1963.