You don’t have to be royalty to raise worldly, cultured kids. Check out these art history cheat sheets for quick reference and level up your homeschooler or elementary-aged child’s knowledge of art history.
Art History Cheat Sheets: Hacking Education
I’m going to let you in on a little secret: If you encourage your homeschooler or child to memorize a few basic facts about a new subject, it makes committing deeper knowledge so much easier.
After 10 years of teaching kids, this is one of my favorite hacks.
That’s why I love infographs. Infographs are image-based, bite-sized chunks of knowledge that are easy to digest and memorize.
This works with almost any subject, but it’s especially useful when studying history.
Today, I am sharing with you 6 infographs to jumpstart your homeschooler’s art education.
Famous Artists for Kids
Michelangelo: Renaissance sculptor, painter, and architect; renowned for the Sistine Chapel ceiling, David sculpture, and masterpieces in various artistic disciplines.
Vincent van Gogh: Influential post-impressionist painter, known for vivid colors, emotional intensity, and iconic works like “Starry Night.”
Edvard Munch: Norwegian expressionist painter, “The Scream” creator, explored themes of anxiety, mortality, and emotion through powerful and evocative artworks.
Hokusai: Japanese ukiyo-e artist, best known for “The Great Wave off Kanagawa,” prolific in landscapes, portraits, and vibrant woodblock prints.
Banksy: Anonymous street artist, political and social commentary through distinctive stencils, murals, and public art installations worldwide.
Art Vocab Cheat Sheet
Art Medium: The materials and tools used by an artist to create an artwork. This encompasses a wide range of physical substances, such as paint, clay, ink, or digital software, and the techniques employed in their application to produce visual or tactile expressions of creativity.
Genre: A category or style characterized by common elements, themes, or techniques.
Art Portfolio: A curated collection of an artist’s best works, showcasing skills, creativity, and artistic development for presentation or evaluation.
Curator: Manages, organizes, and oversees art collections and exhibitions in museums.
Commission in Art: A request for a customized artwork, often tailored to the client’s specifications, preferences, and requirements, for compensation.
Art Genre Cheat Sheet for Kids
Renaissance: A period in European history (14th to 17th century) marked by a revival of interest in classical art, literature, and learning, leading to significant cultural and artistic developments.
Impressionism: An art movement in the late 19th century characterized by the use of light and color to capture a fleeting moment, often through loose brushwork and a focus on atmosphere.
Cubism: An early 20th-century art movement pioneered by Picasso and Braque, characterized by the fragmentation of subjects into geometric shapes and the representation of multiple perspectives simultaneously.
Surrealism: An artistic and literary movement emerging in the 20th century, emphasizing the expression of the unconscious mind, dreams, and fantasy, often through bizarre or fantastical imagery.
Pop Art: Mid-20th century art movement, embracing mass media imagery, consumer culture; characterized by bold colors, irony, and popular iconography.
Art Mediums Cheat Sheet
Oil painting: Pigments mixed with drying oil, usually linseed, allowing for rich colors, diverse textures, and intricate details.
Watercolors: Transparent pigments dissolved in water, applied to paper, creating luminous and delicate artworks known for their fluidity and subtlety.
Charcoal Drawing: Utilizing charcoal sticks for expressive and versatile rendering, achieving rich, dark lines, and allowing blending for varied tones and textures.
Photography: captures moments through light-sensitive materials or digital sensors, conveying emotion, storytelling, and diverse perspectives, shaping visual narratives across genres.
Sculpture: transforms materials into three-dimensional art, exploring form, texture, and space, conveying narratives and expressions through diverse techniques and mediums.
Georgia O’Keeffe: (1887-1986): American modernist painter, pioneer of precisionism and large-scale flower paintings, expressing a unique perspective on nature.
Nan Goldin: (1953-Present) Contemporary American photographer, renowned for candid, intimate portraits documenting her life and the LGBTQ+ community, addressing personal narratives.
Yayoi Kusama: (1929-Present) Japanese contemporary artist, renowned for immersive polka-dot installations and avant-garde contributions to pop art and minimalism.
Frida Kahlo: (1907-1954): Mexican surrealist painter, celebrated for vivid self-portraits depicting pain, identity, and indigenous culture with symbolic intensity.
Faith Ringgold: (1930-Present) African American artist, renowned for narrative quilts, paintings, and children’s books, addressing race, gender, and social issues.
Andy Warhol: A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol is famous for his colorful and iconic works, including the Campbell’s Soup Cans and Marilyn Monroe portraits.
Jean-Michel Basquiat: A prominent figure in the Neo-expressionist movement, Basquiat’s graffiti-influenced art gained recognition in the 1980s.
Cindy Sherman: A contemporary artist and photographer, Sherman is renowned for her conceptual portraits in which she often appears as different characters.
Edward Hopper: An influential realist painter, Hopper captured the solitude and melancholy of urban and rural scenes. His iconic work “Nighthawks” is one of the most recognizable American paintings.
Jackson Pollock: A pioneer of Abstract Expressionism, Pollock is known for his “drip painting” technique, creating large canvases with energetic and expressive splatters of paint.
