Reading Archival Materials as Art: Pierre Bonnard

Part 1: Close Looking at Art

Teacher Note: Prepare a piece of chart paper divided into three columns: See, Think, Wonder. Throughout Part 1, you will be facilitating a Think, Share. Have students first jot down their ideas on Looking Closely at Early Spring Resource Sheet. As students share their ideas, summarize responses on the chart paper.  

Introduce: IDENTIFY

• Display the reproduction of the painting Early Spring by Pierre Bonnard provided on slide 2 of the “Close Looking: Art and Archives” slide deck.
• Explain to students that they will have 30 seconds to look at the work. Encourage them to notice as many details as they can. 
• After 30 seconds, remove the image. 
• Ask students: What did you see?
  • Students can record details on their own copy of the Looking Closely at Early Spring Resource Sheet before sharing with the whole class.   
  • Have students share what they wrote down. Make sure that they share concrete details rather than trying to interpret, make connections, or uncover meaning. Instead, they should just name what they see.  
  • Jot down student responses in the SEE column of the class chart.

Explore: CONNECT

• Share the image of the artist Pierre Bonnard and background information provided on slide 3 of the “Close Looking: Art and Archives” slide deck.    
• Reshare Early Spring and choose one detail that students noticed to consider more carefully.
  • Ask students: What does this detail make you think about?   
  • Model a response:
    • “I see a young person in red at the front of the picture. I think they are pushing a wheelbarrow with the red and purple flowers and that this is one of the chores they have to do on the weekends. It looks like their eyes are closed and they aren’t really smiling. I think they are bored because they push and plant a lot of flowers in early spring.” 
• Have students choose one detail and record their own thoughts about it in the THINK column of their copy of the Looking Closely at Early Spring Resource Sheet before sharing with the whole class.
• In a whole class discussion, ask students: 
  • What does this detail remind you of?  
  • How does it connect to the title Early Spring?  
• Invite students to share, and add their responses to the THINK column of the class chart.  

Reflect: SYNTHESIZE

• Ask students the following question: Why do you think it is important to look closely at details in an artwork?
  • Jot down student responses and then summarize. 
  • Teacher Note: Make sure that students understand that noticing details in an artwork can help them to interpret what the artist created and why they may have created it. Explain to them that sometimes this process of looking closely leads to answers, but often it leads to even more questions. These questions can be further explored in their own art.
• Ask students: What are you left to wonder about?   
  • Have students record their questions in the WONDER column of their copy of the Looking Closely at Early Spring Resource Sheet.  
  • Invite students to share, and record their questions in the WONDER columns of the class chart.   
• As a whole class, discuss some of the wonderings students shared. Specifically:
  • Identify questions that lead to more close looking at details and discussion.
    • Example: “This question says ‘Is it going to rain?’ We may not know for sure, but I’d like to hear what you think and why.”
  • Identify questions that students could research to find answers.
    • Example: “Are those Pierre Bonnard’s children?”

Part 2: Close Looking at Archival Material

Introduce: CONNECT

• Explain to the students that they have been looking at a reproduction of Early Spring. The Phillips Collection, a museum in Washington, DC, owns the original version painted by Pierre Bonnard. In 1926, Bonnard visited the museum and saw his painting hanging in one of the galleries. 
  • Ask students: How would you feel if you saw your artwork hanging on the wall in a museum?
  • Teacher Note: More information for teachers and students is provided on slides 4 and 5 of the “Close Looking: Art and Archives” slide deck.
• Explain to the students that they will use their close looking skills to find details just like they did with Early Spring. But instead of looking at a painting, they will look at a letter that was written by Bonnard in 1931. The letter has evidence that will help them to determine how Bonnard might have felt the first time he saw his work on view at The Phillips Collection. 
• Share with students that the letter and its envelope are examples of archival materials.  

Explore: IDENTIFY, CONNECT

• Provide students with a copy of the envelope (page 1) that contained Bonnard’s letter. Explain to students that they will have 30 seconds to look closely at the envelope and notice details. With the whole group, discuss the details by asking: 
  • What did you notice first?  Why did that stand out to you?
  • What information is important?  How do you know?
• Provide students with copies of the Looking Closely at Archival Material Resource Sheet to record the 5Ws information that students have gathered from the envelope. Let them know that there may be some information (i.e. Why) that they might not be able to answer until they read the letter.
• Provide students with a copy of the letter and the translation (pages 2 and 3) and give them time to read the translation. Explain to students that they will annotate the text using three symbols (Teacher Note: You can put these up on the board for students as a reminder.): 
  • Star: Important or interesting
  • Arrow: Connects to something already known
  • Question Mark: Wonder or uncertainty 

Reflect: EMPATHIZE, SYNTHESIZE

• In small groups, have students discuss what they learned about Bonnard by reading the letter. 
  • Ask students:
    • How do you think Bonnard may have felt about his artwork? How do you know?
    • How does his reaction compare to how you might feel in the same situation?
• Explain to students that they may understand the painting in a new way after reading the letter so they will look at the painting once again. 
  • As a whole class, discuss ways to reinterpret the painting with the structure “I used to think… but now I think… because…” Refer back to the ideas recorded in the THINK column of the class chart during Part 1.
  • Example: “I used to think that the person pushing the wheelbarrow full of flowers was bored with their chores. But now I think the person is worrying about getting the work done perfectly because I read that Bonnard worried that his work was never good enough. I think the character in this painting might feel the same.”
• Reshare Early Spring and have students refer to their See/Think/Wonder chart from Part 1 as they synthesize their thinking to complete the final section of the Looking Closely at Archival Material Resource Sheet.

Part 3: Artmaking

Option A: Make a Collage

Introduce: CONNECT

• Share with students that when Bonnard visited The Phillips Collection, he asked Marjorie Phillips to borrow her paints to revise part of his painting Early Spring. He echoed those sentiments in his letter to Duncan Phillips: “I always work with the hope of correcting my style or way of painting…”

Explore: EXPRESS

• Explain to students that they will have an opportunity to do what Bonnard did not: make a change to the artwork! They have artistic license for this revision; they can make small changes or plan a major overhaul. 
  • For example, a student may want to use materials to make the sky sunnier, while another might choose to cut up the artwork to reinterpret it abstractly.
• Provide students with a copy of the Artmaking Option A Resource Sheet and an overview of the materials available for the project.  
  • Suggested materials: reproductions of Early Spring, scrapbook paper, tissue paper, magazines, sequins, buttons, beads, ribbons, materials from nature, washi tape, and reproductions of other artworks.  
  • Students may want to build their collage on a sturdy material (cardstock, poster board, cardboard).
  • Sample projects on slide 9 and 10 of the Close Looking: Art and Archives Slide Deck.

Reflect: SYNTHESIZE

• Explain to students that they will reflect on their artwork by completing an artist statement, on page 2 of the Art Making Option A Resource Sheet.
• Students can display their work to show their classmates how they changed the artwork. During a gallery walk, students can complete the See/Think/Wonder chart about another student’s artwork on page 3 of the Art Making Option A Resource Sheet.

Option B: Sketch a Seasonal Landscape

Introduce: CONNECT

• At the beginning of the lesson, students identified details that they noticed in Early Spring. 
  • Ask students: Which details in the painting show us that it is springtime? 
• Explain to students that Pierre Bonnard loved to paint his home and the nature that surrounded it. In this art making activity, students will sketch a scene of their own home, school, or neighborhood during a particular season. They may choose to show early spring like Bonnard did or a different time of year such as late fall, mid-winter, or beginning of summer.  

Explore: EXPRESS

• Provide students with the Art Making Option B Resource Sheet so they can decide on the season they will depict and brainstorm the details that will provide the viewer with clues about that time of the year.
  • Teacher Note: As an extension, students can challenge themselves by including a detail from Bonnard’s original work, adapted to fit their season.  
• After sketching their scene on blank paper with a pencil, students can add color using their chosen medium.
• Sample projects on slide 12.

Reflect: SYNTHESIZE

• Explain to students that they will reflect on their artwork by completing an artist statement on page 2 of the Art Making Option B Resource Sheet
  • In their artist statement, students reflect on the connection between their work and that of Pierre Bonnard, as well as the significance of their artistic choices.  
• Students can display their work to show their classmates how they created their seasonal scene.  During a gallery walk, students can complete the See/Think/Wonder chart about another student’s artwork on page 3 of the Art Making Option B Resource Sheet.