DLTK's Crafts for Kids
Famous Art Work by Russian Artists

Contributed by Leanne Guenther, artwork by Kazimir Malevich and Wassily Kandinsky

The section includes examples of artwork painted by Russian artists for you to enjoy.

Here are some different activities you can do with these pages:

• Hang the artwork around the room as inspiration to paint your own geometric art.  You can put simple shapes together to make a recognizable picture like in the "Half-Figure in Yellow Shirt" or you can arrange your shapes in a pleasing but abstract way like in the "Blue rectangle over the red beam".
• Discuss some basic information about the artist and the painting (there is some included on each worksheet).
• Pick one style and use it as an inspiration to paint a picture based on that style.
• Have fun with the coloring pages inspired by the artwork.
• Ask yourself questions about your own artwork -- you can use the analysis worksheet included below to help.

---

Special Art Project for Kids - Kazimir Malevich:

"Blue rectangle over the red beam" is an example of abstract geometric art and is the most valuable painting by a Russian artist, having sold for $60 million American dollars. 

It is also a terrific art project for children.  Have the kids cut out geometric shapes from construction paper, card stock or scrapbooking paper and glue a collage on a sheet of white paper to create their own abstract geometric art. 

This piece was done all in rectangles -- you can follow this example or use your creativity to make a piece of art from circles, triangles or a combination of shapes!

---

Special Art Project for Kids - Wassily Kandinsky:

"Color Study: Squares with Concentric Circles" was painted in 1913 by Wassily Kandinsky. It makes a great scissor practice skills art project for young children!

Materials:

• Squares of construction paper in a variety of colors including white and black (I would prepare the squares before hand).
• Circular objects for tracing (lids in various sizes or cardboard templates)
• scissors
• pencil
• glue

Directions:

• Talk to the children about types of colors.  You can even show them a color wheel.  Some colors are cheerful and bright, some are dark and moody, some are pastel and relaxing.  There are primary colors (red, blue and yellow).  There are secondary colors (orange, green and purple).  And there are favorite colors (what are some of yours?).  Ask them to take some time to consider what types of colors they would like to use when the make their color study.
• Provide them with construction paper, scrapbooking paper and/or card stock in a variety of colors.
• Let them trace two to five different sizes of circles onto different colors of paper.
• Have them carefully cut out their circles (this is terrific scissors practice!)
• Have them sort their circles from largest to smallest.
• Glue the circles onto the square starting with the largest on the bottom and the smallest on the top.
• If doing the project with a group of children, you can display them like a quilt so it looks similar to the Kandinsky painting!

Famous Works of Art by Russian Artists and coloring pages:

	artist:  Kazimir Malevich "Blue rectangle over the red beam" (color)   or   (B&W)		artist:  Kazimir Malevich "Half-Figure in Yellow Shirt" (color)   or   (B&W)
	artist:  Wassily Kandinsky "Color Study: Squares with Concentric Circles" (color)   or   (B&W)		artist:  Wassily Kandinsky "Several Circles" (color)   or   (B&W)

Art Worksheets:

Create your own art color   or   B&W	Artwork Analysis color   or   B&W	Make your own Kandinsky Circles
Artwork Analysis color   or   B&W	Artwork Analysis Venn Diagram Russian Artists	Artwork Analysis Venn Diagram Russian Artist: Kazimir Malevich	Artwork Analysis Venn Diagram Russian Artist: Wassily Kandinsky