1. Painting a musical instrument
William H. Johnson
Painting a musical instrument

2. William H. Johnson’s Life
17, Moved New York
Johnson got his first "training" copying cartoons such as "Mutt and Jeff“ during his early years in New York where he worked at manual labor and service jobs. It was then that Johnson decided to become a cartoonist.
At 20, he studied art at the National Academy of Design.
Born 1901 South Carolina
Trained in NY copying cartoons & at 20 studied at National Academy of Design

3. William H. Johnson’s Life
25, Paris painted & studied modernist art
29, married a Danish textile artist & moved to Denmark
In 1926, Johnson went to Paris, where he painted and studied modernist art.
In 1930, Johnson married a Danish textile artist and moved to Denmark. He and his wife also traveled throughout Norway and North Africa, studying traditional crafts and art in both cultures.
In 1933, with the gathering threat of war in Europe, Johnson returned to New York and soon was influenced by the intensity and excitement of life in Harlem.
He suffered from a mental illness and died in New York in 1970.
In the south of France, he began rapidly developing his own style, a realist- Impressionism strongly influenced by Van Gogh.
His painting style brought together his interests in modernism, primitive art, and African-American life.
His best paintings characteristically place flattened figures, in a limited and high-keyed palette, on abstracted ground, depicting scenes of daily life with great personality and intensity.
The Smithsonian first exhibited Johnson's work in 1971, a year after his death. In the years since, he has increasingly claimed a place in the history of 20th- century American art and in the cultural history of his native state.
32, returned to NY

4. Vocabulary Definitions: Shape
A flat figure created when lines meet to enclose a space
A change in color or shading can define a shape.
Shapes can be divided into several types:
Geometric (square, triangle, circle)
Organic (irregular in outline)

5. Vocabulary Definitions: Contrasting Color
“Color” or “hue” is the common name of a color in the spectrum, such as
Yellow
Yellow-Orange
Blue-Violet
Green
“Contrast” is a large difference between two things, for example
rough & smooth
yellow & violet
light & dark
Contrasts usually add excitement, drama and interest to artworks.

6. Vocabulary Definitions: Pattern
A choice of lines, colors or shapes, repeated over & over in a planned way.

7. Johnson’s “Mom Alice" (1944)
How do you think she feels?
What patterns do you see?
Describe the people in the painting (simple geometric shapes, lack of expression on their faces)
What are they doing? What kinds of musical instruments are they playing?
Who do you think they are? Where are they? (no background scene, so you can’t tell)
What is in the background (PATTERN)
Look at their clothes – how are they dressed?
Johnson used many different SHAPES – what are they? (squares, rectangles, ovals, diamonds, triangles)
Do the people look real? Why or why not? Explain the difference between organic and geometric shapes (Organic shapes are irregular shapes of freely developed curves resembling those found in living organisms like people, animals, plants; Geometric shapes are squares, rectangles, circles, etc.)
What colors do you see? (CONTRASTING COLORS are those where there is a large difference between them – warm & cool, dark & light; contrasting colors add excitement and interest to a work of art)
“If it is to be, it is up to me.” -Johnson

8. Johnson’s “Doug” (1930) How do you think he feels?
What can you tell based on his clothes?
Describe the people in the painting (simple geometric shapes, lack of expression on their faces)
What are they doing? What kinds of musical instruments are they playing?
Who do you think they are? Where are they? (no background scene, so you can’t tell)
What is in the background (PATTERN)
Look at their clothes – how are they dressed?
Johnson used many different SHAPES – what are they? (squares, rectangles, ovals, diamonds, triangles)
Do the people look real? Why or why not? Explain the difference between organic and geometric shapes (Organic shapes are irregular shapes of freely developed curves resembling those found in living organisms like people, animals, plants; Geometric shapes are squares, rectangles, circles, etc.)
What colors do you see? (CONTRASTING COLORS are those where there is a large difference between them – warm & cool, dark & light; contrasting colors add excitement and interest to a work of art)

9. Johnson’s Street Musicians (1940)
What repeating patterns do you see?
What contrasting colors do you see?
This abstract painting depicts musicians playing guitars.
The artist used repeating patterns in the background and bright contrasting colors to add interest and excitement to the painting.
Known primarily for his narrative, expressive style, and intense colors, Johnson's best-known work depicts the lifestyles of African Americans in urban and rural areas in the first half of the twentieth century.
Describe the people in the painting (simple geometric shapes, lack of expression on their faces)
What are they doing? What kinds of musical instruments are they playing?
Who do you think they are? Where are they? (no background scene, so you can’t tell)
What is in the background (PATTERN)
Look at their clothes – how are they dressed?
Johnson used many different SHAPES – what are they? (squares, rectangles, ovals, diamonds, triangles)
Do the people look real? Why or why not? Explain the difference between organic and geometric shapes (Organic shapes are irregular shapes of freely developed curves resembling those found in living organisms like people, animals, plants; Geometric shapes are squares, rectangles, circles, etc.)
What colors do you see? (CONTRASTING COLORS are those where there is a large difference between them – warm & cool, dark & light; contrasting colors add excitement and interest to a work of art)
Johnson Quotes:
"I am not afraid to exaggerate a contour, a form, or anything that gives more character and movement to the canvas."
"My aim is to express in a natural way what I feel, what is in me, both rhythmically and spiritually, all that which in time has been saved up in my family of primitivism and tradition, and which is now concentrated in me.“
What kind of music would come from this painting?

10. Art Masterpiece Project
Draw an instrument.
Make instrument FILL the paper.
Make a pattern in the background.
The background should be done in lighter colors so the instrument stands out.
Paint your instrument using contrasting colors.