Material and a lesson plan I made to address the common argument about expressive modern and contemporary art: a child can do that. The slides include open ended questions to ask when looking at the images.

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Why are some artists interested in
children's drawings?
Some artists draw and paint like
small children, why?
What are they trying to achieve by
doing so?
What do the childrens' drawings
have that adults lack, what adults no
longer have?
Do you remember what it was like to
draw when you drew these images
you brought here?
What has happened to us adults?
Joan Miro: Ladders Cross the Blue Sky in a Wheel of Fire (1953)
A CHILD CAN DO THAT

2. •
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In what way the
children's
drawing are
different from
adults?
Mention at least
3 things, e.g.
(realism
details
overall execution)
Joan Miro: Muodonmuutos * Metamorphosis (1936)
A CHILD CAN DO THAT

3. CLOSE LOOKING AT ART
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Look at the images in
following slides:
How do they differ from
children's drawings?
What similarities can you
observe? Describe.
Pay close attention to the use
of colour, line, placement of
different object, characters in
the pictorial space.
What changes have artists
made to the style?
– e.g.simplified, closed forms, flat
color surfaces, thick outlines,
etc...
Jean-Michel Basquiat: Boxer ( 1982)

4. A CHILD CAN DO THAT
Karel Appel: The crying crocodile is trying to catch the sun (1956)
Karel Appel> Hip Hip Hooray(1949)

5. A CHILD CAN DO THAT
Paul Klee: A destroyed place (1920)
Paul Klee: Contemplation (1938)

6. A CHILD CAN DO THAT
Jean Dubuffet: It flute on the Bump (1947)
Jean Dubuffet: Subway (1943)

7. ASSIGNMENT : CHILDREN'S PARTY
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Find your own drawings,
made when you were
about 2-5 years old.
Take photos of them or
bring them to school
Choose a few characters
from them and develop
them a little further in a
way discussed earlier.
Divide into groups of 3-5
Groups make a
collaborative painting,
theme is children's party.
Paint your work with
Poster paints on
cardboard or
construction paper
Joan Miro: Harlequin’s carnival 1924-1925

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