Henri Matisse Cut-outs: Collage

Henri Matisse was a French artist working from the late 1800s into the 20th century. In the later part of his career, he made “cut-outs”; large colored paper cut out into shapes and arranged on surfaces. Using this process, he created beautiful images filled with repeated shapes and bright colors.

Follow along with Mr. Deron, but following these basic steps:

1. Think about the type of image you’d like to create. Draw shapes in pencil, near the edge, on colored construction paper (you can also use any magazines, wrapping paper, wall paper, etc. you might have around the house). Cut out those shapes with scissors.

2. Arrange the shapes in a pleasing way on another sheet of paper (can be a whole piece of colored construction paper).

3. Glue down the shapes onto the whole sheet of paper. Make sure you place background shapes that will be overlapped by other shapes first. The order you glue things down is important.

4. Try to put as much detail with small pieces of cut paper as possible. Use marker or crayon if you must.