后印象派艺术家的大幅绘画

像艺术家一样偷师：临摹后印象派大师作品

本次工作坊中，我们挑战自我，临摹艺术史上的大师杰作——这是掌握技法、笔触与运笔方式的一项基础性艺术实践。我们的灵感源自美国艺术家奥斯汀·克莱翁（Austin Kleon）于2012年出版的著名著作 《像艺术家一样偷师》（“Steal Like an Artist”）。克莱翁在该书中指出：没有任何作品是完全原创的；创造力正源于对他人影响的再加工与再混编。

通过临摹往昔巨匠之作，我们体会到：模仿绝非一项简单练习，而是通往作者敏感性的路径，亦是将他人技法内化为己用的过程。正如我此前在题为 “临摹作为认知工具”（点击此处查看） 的活动中已有体会，本项目帮助八年级学生提升了色彩控制能力与协作能力；引导他们深入理解后印象派风格；并作为公民教育中一项“真实任务”，美化了校园空间。

所需材料：

• 所选画作的放大复印稿（使用 Poster Razor 软件制作）
• 大幅复写纸
• 彩色卡纸（作绘画基底），尺寸 50×70 厘米
• 各种型号画笔
• 蛋彩或丙烯颜料
• 油画棒
• 黑色或棕色卡纸（作画框），尺寸 50×70 厘米

活动伊始，我们以三至四人为一组，选取高更、梵高、塞尚等后印象派大师的标志性作品。我们借助网站 Poster Razor 将原作放大打印，并拼接复印稿，使长边达 70 厘米。随后，我们用复写纸将构图的主要轮廓线转印至最终画底上。

我们未选用传统白纸，而以彩色卡纸为基底：这一技法常被职业画家采用，可避免从“空白真空”起步，且能从色彩层面影响后续步骤。为在复印稿上描线并将痕迹压印至下方卡纸上，我们使用彩铅；如此一来，哪些线条已描、哪些尚未描，便一目了然。

完成轮廓线描摹后，我们分工调制蛋彩颜料。挑战在于尽可能精准还原原作的色调。每位组员专注绘制画面某一特定区域（如天空、人物、地面或田野），并细致研究所选艺术家典型的笔触方向与厚度。

为实现典型如梵高《椅子》般的肌理感与鲜活感，我们在部分画面收尾时使用了油画棒。这一最终处理强化了笔触表现力，为蛋彩层增添色彩深度，使作品更为丰富、结构更趋完整。

经过约六小时创作，我们裁切画作边缘，并将其粘贴于黑色或棕色卡纸上，制成典雅画框。这批大幅绘画承载着特殊使命：装饰我校新建的教师休息室，将空荡墙面转化为一座小型永久性艺术画廊，令全班同学倍感自豪。

文森特·梵高

本次实践中，我们力求模仿他标志性的厚重而鲜活的笔触。梵高并非均匀平涂色彩，而是以短促、厚实的颜料堆叠出追随物象走势的笔痕。为呈现其强烈轮廓线与浓烈色彩对比的效果，我们结合使用油画棒，成功再现了其作品中典型的漩涡式动感。我们临摹了其名作：《梵高的椅子》（1888）、《奥维尔教堂》（1890） 与 《柏树麦田》（1889）。

保罗·高更

临摹高更时，我们聚焦于其分隔主义（cloisonnism）技法：即以锐利轮廓线围合出扁平而浓烈的色块。我们着力探索非自然主义的暖色调，努力还原其画作中特有的异域风情与象征主义氛围。此处的难点在于均匀铺陈色彩，并强调线条与形式的概括性。我们临摹了其 1891–94 年间创作的 《午睡》。

保罗·塞尚

研习塞尚时，我们发现其绘画更具“建构性”。我们尝试模仿他不依赖素描、而借由小色块叠加来塑造体积的方式。我们运用不同明度的色块构建物体与空间结构，探究这位艺术家如何以宽厚的色块笔触，赋予自然物象坚实而几何化的形态。我们选择临摹其 《静物：汤锅与水果》（1894）。

Large paintings by Post-impressionist artists

Steal Like an Artist: Copying the Post-Impressionist Masters

In this workshop, we challenged ourselves by copying the Great Masters, a fundamental artistic practice to master techniques, marks, and brushstrokes. We drew inspiration from the famous book “Steal Like an Artist,” written in 2012 by the American artist Austin Kleon. In this essay, Kleon argues that no work is completely original and that creativity comes from reworking and remixing the influences of others.

By copying the greats of the past, we understood that imitation is not just a simple exercise, but a way to connect with an author’s sensitivity and make their techniques our own. As I had already experienced with the activity titled “Copying as a Tool for Knowledge” (which you can find HERE), this project allowed 8th-grade students to develop skills in color management and cooperative work. It guided them toward a deep understanding of the Post-Impressionist style and contributed, as a “reality task” for Civic Education, to the beautification of our school spaces.

Materials needed:

• Enlarged photocopies of the chosen paintings (using Poster Razor)
• Large sheets of carbon paper
• Colored cardstock (as a base for the painting) 50×70 cm
• Brushes of various sizes
• Tempera or acrylic paints
• Oil pastels
• Black or brown cardstock (for the frame) 50×70 cm

To begin, we divided into small groups of three or four students and chose an iconic work by the Great Masters of Post-Impressionism, such as Gauguin, Van Gogh, and Cézanne. We used the website Poster Razor to enlarge the paintings, printing and assembling the photocopies so that the longer side reached 70 cm. We then transferred the main lines of the composition onto the final support using carbon paper.

Instead of the classic white sheet, we chose a colored cardstock as a base: this technique, often used by professional painters, allows you to avoid starting from a “blank vacuum” and chromatically influences the subsequent steps. To draw over the photocopy and impress the mark onto the cardstock below, we used colored pencils; this way, we could easily see which lines had already been traced and which remained.

Once the outlines were traced, we divided the tasks to create the tempera mixtures. The challenge was to obtain shades as faithful as possible to the original. Each group member focused on a specific area of the painting (the sky, the figures, the floor, or the fields), carefully studying the direction and thickness of the brushstrokes typical of the chosen artist.

To achieve the textured and vibrant effect—typical, for example, of Van Gogh’s chair—we finished some parts of the painting with oil pastels. This final touch emphasized the marks and gave chromatic depth to the tempera layers, making the work richer and more structured.

After about six hours of work, we trimmed our paintings and glued them onto black or brown cardstock to create an elegant frame. These large paintings were designed for a special goal: decorating our new teachers’ lounge, transforming empty walls into a small permanent art gallery that brought great satisfaction to the whole class.

Vincent Van Gogh

In this work, we tried to imitate his famous textured and vibrant brushstroke. Van Gogh did not apply color evenly but used short marks thick with paint that follow the flow of the shapes. To render the effect of his bold outlines and the strength of the color contrasts, we integrated the use of oil pastels, which helped us recreate the swirling energy typical of his works. We reproduced his famous “Van Gogh’s Chair” (1888), “The Church at Auvers” (1890), and “Wheatfield with Cypresses” (1889).

Paul Gauguin

To copy Gauguin, we focused on the technique of cloisonnism: flat and intense areas of color enclosed by sharp outlines. We worked hard on researching non-naturalistic and warm colors, trying to reproduce that exotic and symbolist atmosphere that characterizes his paintings. The challenge here was to apply the color evenly, giving importance to the line and the synthesis of forms. We reproduced his 1891-94 painting titled “The Siesta.”

Paul Cézanne

Working on Cézanne, we discovered a more “constructed” type of painting. We tried to imitate his way of defining volumes not through drawing, but through the overlapping of small patches of color. We used different shades to create the structure of objects and space, trying to understand how the artist managed to make the forms of nature solid and geometric using wide brushstrokes of color. We chose to reproduce his “Still Life with Soup Tureen and Fruit” (1894).