Saturday, April 17, 2010

Guiseppe Arcimboldo; Fruit and Vegetable Artist


The Fruit and Vegetable Artist.


As part of a lesson I was teaching once to my third grade art students, we studied Italian artist Guiseppe Arcimboldo (1527-1593) The one to the right is one of his most famous. The kids had a great time with this. They got quite excited about turning "food into faces". I got into the spirit myself and did a couple of colored pencil portraits. I also had the students use colored pencil, which was a new medium for them.

Giuseppe Arcimboldo (also spelled Arcimboldi; 1527 - July 11, 1593) was an Italian painter best known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of such objects as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish, and books - that is, he painted representations of these objects on the canvas arranged in such a way that the whole collection of objects formed a recognisable likeness of the portrait subject.

Arcimboldo was born in Milan in 1527, the son of Biagio, a painter who did work for the office of the Fabbrica in the Duomo. Arcimboldo was commissioned to do stained glass window designs beginning in 1549, including the Stories of St. Catherine of Alexandria vitrage at the Duomo. In 1556 he worked with Giuseppe Meda on frescoes for the Cathedral of Monza. In 1558, he drew the cartoon for a large tapestry of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, which still hangs in the Como Cathedral today.

Here are the two that I did. I think they are rather comical, yet artistic. Very fun to do, you might want to try it sometime.


7 comments:

  1. These DO like so much fun! I may have to try this.
    I know how the kids must have loved doing this. You are a good teacher.
    And thanks for the info also.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your talent never seems to end, you are constantly discovering more exciting way to do art. You are an excellent artist.
    And for kickers you are my sister!!!!!
    Brother

    ReplyDelete
  3. Gosh! I LOVE your interpretation!...So clever and fun...:) I have seen the original pieces before but never thought to try it myself...The kids must have had a ball! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Very cute. The bottom guy looks a little scary or reptilian (still scary). Thanks for dropping by my blog.

    ReplyDelete
  5. what a fun way to make sure you get your fruits and veggies every day!!! hee hee thanks for introducing us to guiseppe......i wasn't familiar with his art, it's wonderful!!! :))

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow ... this is wild. Looks like you had fun doing some of these images!

    P.S. Hope your son got to Paris safely. Thanks for dropping by my blog too.

    ReplyDelete