This is one of the most popular lessons on my blog,
See my original post of this lesson HERE.
Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928 – 2000) was an Austrian architect and painter. I first became aware of his work when I was travelling through Austria and saw his architecture in Vienna- it was so original and unlike anything I have ever seen, though it did remind me a bit of Gaudi's work in terms of outright originality. The vibrancy of his colour, the lack of straight lines and recurring motifs make him a good choice for students of any age to study.
The common themes in his work include bright colours, organic forms, love of nature, individualism, spirals, onion domes, 'lollipop' style trees, windows of different shapes and sizes and rejecting straight lines. He called straight lines "the devil's tools" and considered them 'ungodly'. He also disliked the monotany of the colour grey saying "Colourfulness, variety and diversity are by all means better than the grey, the average grey."
Although Hundertwasser first became well-known for his boldly-coloured paintings, he is more widely known for his individual architectural designs. Ecology and fantasy were very important in his works and he created his buildings in a way that nature and human beings could live together, including having live trees in and on the rooftops of his buildings.
Grade 7-9 students started by sketching their fantasy buildings on
long wide paper (poster paper cut in half)
Then, using black glue and a bamboo stick, they outlined all the pencil lines. This is very tedious and the kids hate this step, lol. But it makes a really cool organic line full of energy and line variety.
I let these dry a week.
Student painted them using either pan or liquid watercolours.
Liquid watercolours are more vivid.
Some of the finished artworks:
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