Portraits

The 5th grade students are learning about the artist Amedeo Modigliani. He was influenced by African masks as Europe began to open the trade route with Africa, China, and Japan. He used ideas from the masks in his portrait paintings. Evidence can be seen in the elongated features and necks. Often he left out the eyes in his portraits just as the eyes in a mask are open and waiting to assume the personality of the wearer.The portrait on the left is thought to be of our technology teacher, Tony Molnar.

The 5th graders are currently making clay masks influenced by what we learned about African masks and the emphasis on features of the face. The students are to be exaggerating parts of their masks to convey personal meaning.