Transcript Franz Marc Handout & Board - Rosa Parks Elementary PTSA

Franz Marc
1880—1916
German painter and
Printmaker. He is one of
the key figures of the
German Expressionist
movement.
Franz uses color to tell
stories about how
animals see the world.
Two Cats by Franz Marc.
(1912)
Oil on Canvas (18 x 24 in.) Kunts Museum, Basel
In this painting Franz is trying to tell you a story about a day in the life of a
cat. Or in this case, a night, since cats usually sleep most of the day and play
at night. Notice the darker color of sky behind the house.
Marc explained his choice of subject matter in these words: “From an early
date I felt humankind to be 'ugly'; animals seemed to me possessed of a
greater beauty and purity.”
In this painting it looks like the cats have just left their house, which you
can see in the distance. There is more than one cat on this composition,
telling us that cats like to play together at night. Also notice that the cats
take up almost all of the space in the composition. These subjects are
clearly the focal point of the composition.
Franz painted the cats doing what they love to do:
The yellow cat is playing with a green ball of string
The blue cat has been hunting and has half a red mouse in his belly
Marc was known for giving an emotional meaning to the colors he used:
blue is used for spirituality
yellow represented joy
red captures the sound of violence
The Blue Horse, by Franz Marc.
Colored by:_________________
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Franz Marc
(1880—1916)
Franz Marc and Color
Franz Marc was born in 1880,
in the German town of Munich.
His father, Wilhelm, was a
professional landscape painter.
In 1900, he began study at the
Academy of Fine Arts, Munich.
November 15, 2013
Today we learned
Marc developed an important friendship with the artist
August Macke in 1910. In 1911 he formed the Der
Blaue Reiter artist circle with Macke, Wassily
Kandinsky, and other artists.
Franz Marc became known principally for his images
of animals: blue horses, yellow tigers, red fawns. Marc
was deeply dissatisfied with the world, and in his art he
tried to create a better one. The techniques Marc used
to create a better world include:
 Using pure colours highly charged with symbolic
values
 adopting strikingly clear shapes
 absorbing the influence of Cubism
 using increasingly abstract compositions
In 1916, Franz Marc died in the Battle of Verdun.
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