Edexcel A level Art exam, Variation and Similarity, Interior and exteriors, observational drawing

1. Variation
and
Similarity

2. Pierre Bonnard
The Studio at Le
Cannet,
with Mimosa.
1938-46
oil on canvas
127.5 x 127.5 cm
Discuss
Warm/
cool colours.
Composition.
Framing.
Perspective.

3. Pierre Bonnard
La pore-fenêtre avec chien
oil on canvas, 107.3 x 63.2 cm
Matisse

4. Henri Matisse
Open Window, Collioure
1905, oil on canvas.
55 cm x 46 cm
Look, Bonnard is doing the
same thing as Matisse.
Discuss:
What are
they doing?

5. Pierre Bonnard, The Studio at Le Cannet, with
Mimosa, 1938-46, oil on canvas, 127.5 x 127.5 cm
Howard Hodgkin, Out of The Window,
Bombay, 2012 – 2014, Oil on wood.
57.5 x 66cm
Look at the time period it took for Bonnard to
make this painting. 8 years. Who takes such a long
time to make a single painting?
What is going on here?
Here’s Howard Hodgkin doing the
same thing. Inside looking outward.
Looking through a window out to a
landscape.
Hodgkin talks about Pierre Bonnard's 'The Bath'

6. Howard Hodgkin, For Matisse, Oil on wood, 2011 – 2014, Oil on wood. 116.2 x 139.4cm
In this
instance
Hodgkin
makes a direct
reference to
Matisse. He
uses the motif
of a window,
the ideas of
seeing
through and
beyond.
In addition,
Hodgkin also
does
something
that Bonnard
does. He takes
years to
complete a
work.

7. How to Draw a Room in 1-Point Perspective:
The inside bit:
This film goes on a bit, but it tells you everything you need to know about
drawing an interior and getting the perspective right.
The exterior follows the same rules, but there’s a shift in colour.
To do TASK:
Make drawings that show an interior opening up into and exterior.

8. Look here’s David Hockney doing the same thing
In this painting Hockney playfully explores the idea of interior and exterior.
He takes us on a journey through the house and out into the landscape.

9. TASK 1a
Pick a location that has an interesting interior as well as an interesting exterior space.
Photograph the both the interior and exterior so that you can use the images to create
a collage that represents the experience of the two environments coexisting.
Use your collage to the produce a painted version.
Look at the centre of the painting.
Hockney is quoting Matisse. Research
this bit and include the Matisse
painting that Hockney is referring to.

10. TASK
Dawn Clements does it again in some of her works.
She picked locations and described interiors and exteriors. She chose to describe the
exterior through windows, and by using curtains to frame the exterior view, like a
theatre. Part of her drawing practise was based on watching old films and them
making drawings of scenes she remembered. She used memory, its fuzzy edges and
lack of precision to tell a story. (Like Bonnard, but a differently).
Take photographs, make a collage, pick a location that has fancy curtains and use
that location to frame a view, landscape, location that says something about your
choices.

11. Detail.