Trompe l'oeil, Post‐Impressionism, Genre painting, Visual literacy
Art and design
- Evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design
- Know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms
- Produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences
- Become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques
Art and design
- Look at and talk about the work of artists, designers and craftsworkers from their own and other cultures; appreciate methods used in the resource materials and use their appreciation to stimulate personal ideas and engage with informed art making
- Develop their understanding of the visual elements of colour, tone, line, shape, form, space, texture and pattern to communicate their ideas
- Evaluate their own and others’ work and how it was made, explain and share their ideas, discuss difficulties and review and modify work to find solutions
Art and design
- I can create and present work that shows developing skill in using the visual elements and concepts (EXA 2-03a)
- Through observing and recording from my experiences across the curriculum, I can create images and objects which show my awareness and recognition of detail (EXA 2-04a)
- Inspired by a range of stimuli, I can express and communicate my ideas, thoughts and feelings through activities within art and design (EXA 2-05a)
- I can respond to the work of artists and designers by discussing my thoughts and feelings. I can give and accept constructive comment on my own and others' work (EXA 2-07a)
Art and design
- Describe and make comparisons between their own work and that of others
- Experiment with and examine the methods used by other artists from different periods, places and cultures
- Evaluate the methods and results of their own work and that of their fellow pupils
- Pupils should be stimulated and inspired by: other artists; methods and processes; media; styles; ideas
- Explore, experiment with and apply the elements of the visual, tactile and sensory language of art, craft and design which include: line, tone, colour, pattern, texture, shape and form
Expressive Arts
Exploring the expressive arts is essential to developing artistic skills and knowledge and it enables learners to become curious and creative individuals.
Progression step 3:
- I can explore the effects that a range of creative techniques, materials, processes, resources, tools and technologies have on my own and others' creative work.
- I can explore how creative work can represent, document, share and celebrate personal, social and cultural identities.
- I can explore and describe how artists and creative work communicate mood, feelings and ideas and the impact they have on an audience.
Responding and reflecting, both as artist and audience, is a fundamental part of learning in the expressive arts.
Progression step 3:
- I can give and consider constructive feedback about my own creative work and that of others, reflecting on it and making improvements where necessary.
- I can apply knowledge and understanding of context, and make connections between my own creative work and creative work by other people and from other places and times.
- I can reflect upon how artists have achieved effects or communicated moods, emotions and ideas in their work.
This is one of the lessons in The Superpower of Looking on scenes of everyday life. It focuses on William Gillies' 1938 painting Interior.
These resources are also in the everyday theme:
To teach this lesson, download the teachers' notes on a separate device or print them off. Have this webpage open on your screen or whiteboard and use the prompts in the teachers' notes to guide your students through the lesson.
Scenes of everyday life are known by art historians as 'genre' paintings. They usually focus on ordinary and unidentifiable people doing normal, everyday things. This is the opposite of what art historians call 'history' paintings where the artist shows a specific scene from history or myth.
Interior (1938)
William Gillies (1898–1973)
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: H 127 x W 173.5 cm
William George Gillies is one of Scotland's best-known twentieth-century artists. He taught at Edinburgh College of Art where he inspired generations of young painters.
Gillies took inspiration from Post-Impressionism and European modern art to develop a uniquely expressive painting style. In Interior, he brings landscape, still life and portraiture together for this scene painted in his family home. The painting was made two years after the death of Gillies' sister Emma, whom he was close to, and reflects his family, their identities and relationships in the context of this loss.
Gillies places himself in the centre of the composition, between his mother and his sister Janet. He has presented Janet some 20 years younger than she would have been at the time Interior was painted. A small red squirrel, a ceramic made by Emma, can be seen behind his mother's head to the left.
At first, it looks as if Gillies is standing in a narrow space between two rooms, but in fact, he has painted a reflection of himself in a tall, narrow mirror. If you look closely, you will see that he has treated the reflected space behind him in the mirror differently from the space in the rest of the painting. He uses the mirror to explore the idea of visual illusion. By placing a reflection of himself painting the picture we are looking at, he makes the artist and the act of creation a part of the painting itself.
Open a full-screen version of the zoomable image in a new window.
Ask your students to describe the artwork, encouraging them to simply say what they can see.
You can start by showing the whole image, and then use the zoom feature to explore details of the painting. Or you might like to start by using the zoom feature to show a detail from the image, and then zoom out to see more.
Encourage your students to look carefully – this is their superpower! It's best to not give too much background information about the artwork at this stage, so students can develop their own ideas and opinions.
Now when looking at the painting, ask more specific ('nudge') questions:
Now we can start to explore the 'elements' of the painting.
For this artwork, you will focus on:
Ask your students to evidence their points:
You can introduce knowledge from the contextual background for teachers while asking these bespoke questions with helpful responses which can be found in the teachers' notes.
You can find out more about The Superpower of Looking SEND/ASD/ALN/ASN approach on the Superpower homepage.
Now it's time to explore the artwork in different ways. This list of sensory activities encourages students to apply their learning and can suit a variety of learning needs.
Make
We suggest creative activities for all learners, including a tactile option to support students with vision impairment: these activities explore the tactile qualities of materials or involve gestural mark-making to further explore the artwork.
Experience
Communicate
Ask your students to:
Congratulations!
You have now completed this lesson resource on The Superpower of Looking.
There are more resources in this theme to try – have a look at the 'next lessons' section below.
