Henri Matisse Collage

First grade has spent the last two weeks studying the life and artwork of a well known french artist, Henri Matisse. 

He would then cut beautiful, organic, free-flowing shapes with scissors. He rarely threw away any scraps.

When Matisse was nearly seventy-two years old, he became ill and it was difficult for him to stand and paint. His illness did not restrict his creativity. He began a new technique, which he called, "painting with scissors", which was painting large sheets of paper with different colors using gouache, an opaque watercolor.

Snow Flowers, 1951

He would then cut beautiful, organic, free-flowing shapes with scissors. He rarely threw away any scraps.

The first graders focused on organic and geometric shapes, and fine motor hand development in cutting out each shapes. Check out our fantastic examples below.

Beautiful example of organic shapes

Lovely composition

Well planned out and neat