Henri Rousseau (Lions, and Monkeys, and Jungles. And a bunny too, oh my!)

Henri Rousseau was famous for his jungle scenes. Below are monkeys and lions and JUNGLES!

Apes In The Orange Groves
- How many monkeys are in the trees?
- Do you like oranges?
- How many oranges do you think are in those trees?

 
Exotic Landscape  (1908)
- MORE monkeys!

- Do you see the bird in the middle of the picture?

Landscape with Monkeys (1908)
- Does the bird in this picture look like the bird in the picture above?
- Do you see the orange sun behind the big leaves?

 
Exotic Landscape  (1910)
- What are the monkeys in the tree doing?

- Do you think monkeys like oranges? 
 


Rabbit  (1908)
- How many carrots is the rabbit eating?

- Do you like carrots?

 
The Monkeys In The Jungle (1909)
- MORE monkeys!
- Do you see the big leaves on the trees?

Tiger In A Tropical Storm (Surprised)  (1891)
- How do you think the tiger feels?
- What is the weather like?

Tropical Forest With Apes and Snake  (1910)
- Do you see the snake behind the white flowers?
- How many monkeys are in the painting?
- Do you like the patterns of all the different jungle leaves?

 

Woman In Red In The Forest (1907)

Woman Walking In An Exotic Forest (1905)

Do these 2 pictures look similar?
Why do you think so?

Mandrill in the Jungle (1909)
-Does this monkey look like the monkeys in the other paintings?

Henri Rousseau
SHORT BIOGRAPHY
Born: 21 May 1844; Laval, Mayenne, France
Died: 02 September 1910; Paris, France

• Henri Rousseau was completely self taught.
• Best known for his naïve, or primitive, childlike jungle scenes
• Good at painting and music as a child
• Spent most of his life as a customs officer. Because of this, he was also referred to as "Le Douarneir", or the “Customs Officer.”
• Started painting seriously at the age of 40. By the time he was 49, he retired from his job to paint full time.
• Mainstream painters did not embrace his style
• BUT he was highly regarded by "outsider artists", such as Picasso, Jean Hugo, Leger, Beckman
• He was unaware he was considered untrained, and regarded himself very highly. In his opinion, Picasso and he were the only two great living artists.
• Many of his paintings were jungle scenes, although he had never been to a jungle (he actually never left France!) but he made many trips to botanical gardens, read picture books, and studied taxidermy animals
• He interviewed many soldiers who had served in the jungle in Mexico about their travels through the subtropics.
• His work has also been an inspiration for the contemporary animated film “Madagascar.”

Self Portrait from L'ile Saint Louis (1890)

What is Moppet Masters?

These posts are meant to take around 5 to 10 minutes as a basic exposure to art for kids ages 2 to 6.

This came about because my two year old asks me to show her things when I'm on the computer. There are only so many YouTube cartoons one can watch, so I began Googling different artists and pulling up paintings of different topics. She'll sit with me and we talk about what is going on in the pictures.

I would have to search all over the place, or there were things I didn't want her to see (yet) that would pop up, so I wanted to make a blog where things are already grouped together and quickly accessible.

Activities may accompany some posts, but between getting home from work , dinner, bath-time, and bed-time, sometimes just looking at the pictures and talking is enough.

I find for myself I like learning about the artists and the paintings as well. My hope is something about art sticks in my daughter's mind and her interest is sparked by what she sees. 

In general I will not be including any artwork that has violence (hunting, fighting, etc), religion, or nudity. That is a parent's pergoative on what they feel thier child can handle.