Post-modern Portraits

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Lesson Plan: Post-modern Portraits

This lesson explores the varied inspirations and reasons for the production of portraits. Students will compare and contrast two portraits and conclude by creating a portrait of a friend or family member.

Objectives: 

Student will… 

  • Identify the varied reasons for creating portraits 
  • Create a portrait of a friend or family member 
  • Explore the ELA core by discussing elements of character including physical and personal characteristics and traits 
  • Engage in academic talk

Grade level: 3–6, extensions for secondary 

Duration: 30–60 minutes depending on age group and educator intent

Materials: 

  • Students should view a large print or projection of Study for the Red Smile (UMFA1978.410) 
  • Drawing paper and colored pencils 
  • Multi-colored paper, including a wide range of colors 
  • Scissors 
  • Glue sticks 
  • It is helpful if students have some prior experience illustrating a portrait, or a guide of the classroom teacher’s choice

Vocabulary/Key Terms: 

  • Modern art refers to a period from the late 1800s to the 1970s, artists were focused on experimentation, questioning the purpose of art, and trying new techniques including those driven by new technology 
  • Abstract art does not try to represent realistic visual images; instead, artists use shapes, colors, and other markings to achieve their desired effect 
  • Abstract expressionism is an art movement that followed World War II through the 1950s. Art during this period tends to be large, non-representational, and commonly focuses on the process of painting itself. Abstract expressionists felt this style was as powerful at depicting emotions and feelings without using recognizable images. 
  • Portrait: artwork that depicts a person 
  • Characteristics: a feature that belongs to a person, they can be physical traits or part of someone’s personality

Activity

First, let students explore the large projection or reproduction of Study for a Red Smile. 

Consider questions that begin a dialogue: 

  • What does this portrait seem to tell you about this person? 
  • This UMFA has a study for this painting that is pretty large on the wall, but the full painting was six-and-a-half feet tall and ten-feet wide. Why do you think Alex Katz made the portrait this large? 
  • If you were to guess, who is this person? What are they thinking about? 
  • What physical characteristics do you see? What other personality traits might be implied? Why do you think these ideas come to mind? 
  • Do you think the bold red color changes the mood of this portrait? If you swapped the red background with the blue headband, what might change about the mood? 
  • Do you notice that her head is turned in one direction? Why do you think the artist might have used this angle instead of having the subject face us?

Once you’ve shared that this portrait features the artist’s wife, Ada Del Moro Katz, invite students to think about a friend or family member who they would like to illustrate and why. 

Other questions to extend the dialogue: 

  • Why do you think Alex Katz wanted to paint his family? What are other reasons an artist might paint a portrait? 

Before beginning the art activity, return briefly to color. Ask students to think about the color they’d like to have in the background of the portrait they are planning, remembering that color impacts mood. 

Students should sketch a portrait of the person they’ve chosen, keeping in mind that this example does not include a large amount of detail, and that it is a study for something that could become larger or more detailed. 

After they have had 10-15 minutes to sketch, students can take 3-5 more minutes to complete their drawing. Next, they will cut out their portrait and use a glue stick to place it on a colored sheet of paper, considering again how color impacts the mood and how the viewer sees the characteristics of the person they are illustrating. 

If students have not had prerequisite experience drawing a portrait, they may benefit from a guide on portraiture, as preferred by the classroom teacher. 

Methods for Assessment 

Teachers will know a student was successful when: 

  • They contributed positively to the discussion by offering feedback and/or listening and responding to peers 
  • They productively used the materials to create a portrait of a person they selected. 

Teachers will know a student is approaching a successful lesson when: 

  • They strived to participate either by speaking or listening. 
  • They strived to use materials appropriately to create a portrait, but could not complete their work in one session. 

Teachers will know a student was not successful if they were not able to participate in the discussion or use materials appropriately. 

Additional Resources

A portrait of a woman with short, brown hair and a blue headband, red lips in front of a red background.

Artwork Spotlight: 

Alex Katz (American, born 1927), Study for The Red Smile, 1963, oil on canvas. Purchased with funds from Friends of the Art Museum, UMFA1978.410 

  • The Abstract Expressionist movement of the 1950s was followed by a number of diverse art movements. Many artists reacted to Abstract Expressionism by choosing to paint in a highly representational style making a direct challenge to the principles of modern art. In some cases, this includes a return to portraiture. 
  • Alex Katz was born in New York City in 1927. He studied at the Cooper Union Art School and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. His art resists classification by combining both the abstraction and realism found in post-World War II American art. In his work, the viewer can find the Abstract Expressionist consideration of space and Pop Art’s use of vivid color. Alex Katz began as a representational painter, and in his work, modern images are rendered in an idyllic and simplified world. “I like life to be pleasant and simple,” he said in the Village Voice (March 15, 1976). Katz filled that idealized world with large, billboard sized portraits of the people who meant the most to him, including his wife Ada and his son. Katz simplifies images, reducing them to a few flat color areas with skin tones shown by shadows and highlights. The way he uses space is more like abstract art, and the size of his paintings implies heroism or dramatic subjects, but his subject matter is always ordinary life.

Additional Resources Continued

This lesson was created for the UMFA’s Global Contemporary Gallery (2026), using resources from the 1996 lesson developed by Bernadette Brown.