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Artworks that Show Line

I don’t know about you, but I often find myself needing to teach a lesson on one of the elements and principles of art, but it takes a bit of digging to find good examples of art that teach that particular element. To help those in that situation, I have created an elements and principles series that includes lists of example artworks you can use in your elements and principles of art lessons.

Finding the right artwork to teach the elements of art can take time. That’s why I created this Elements & Principles series—to help you skip the endless search and get straight to powerful, conversation-starting artworks.

Below, you’ll find artworks that clearly demonstrate the many types of line—perfect for your next lesson or student project.

👉 Want a printable to go with it? Grab the free Elements & Principles Pack below. Click the yellow “Download” button.

Free Resource!

* Elements & Principles Printable Pack *

The Elements & Principles of Art are the foundation of every artwork, but teaching them can be a bore. Wake your students up and engage them with full color artworks, easy to understand definitions, and thought-provoking higher level thinking questions. This versatile resource can be hung in the classroom or used as an art manipulative.

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Inside: A curated list of artworks that show the different types of line in art—including implied lines, gesture lines, contour lines, expressive lines, and more. 

👉 This post is part of the Elements of Art series—explore them all to build a complete foundation for your classroom.

Download the Free Elements and Principles Printable Pack

This pack of printables was designed to work in a variety of ways in your classroom when teaching the elements and principles of art. You can print and hang in your classroom as posters/anchor charts or you can cut each element and principle of art in its own individual card to use as a lesson manipulative.

Examples of Types of Line in Art

The Art Curator for Kids - Example Artworks the Show Types of Line in Art - General

Artworks that Show Line, General

The Art Curator for Kids - Example Artworks the Show Line - Horizontal and Vertical Lines in Art

Horizontal and Vertical Lines in Art

The Art Curator for Kids - Example Artworks the Show Line - Diagonal Lines in Art

Diagonal Lines in Artworks

The Art Curator for Kids - Example Artworks the Show Line - Contour Lines and Outlines

Contour Lines and/or Outlines

Gesture Lines, Lines that Show Movement

Want to explore how line leads the eye and creates movement in art? Check out these rhythm in art examples to see visual flow in action.

Lines that Help Guide The Viewer’s Eye through the Picture and/or Implied Lines

Lines that Show Feeling/Emotion, Expressive Lines

The Art Curator for Kids - Example Artworks the Show Line - Repetition and Pattern

Repetition of Line, Pattern Using Line, Decorative Line

The Art Curator for Kids - Example Artworks the Show Line - Lines in Architecture

Lines in Architecture

Lines in Sculpture

Lines that Show Texture and/or Shading

Lines that Show Space and/or Linear Perspective

Lines the Show Emphasis

💡 Want more done-for-you lessons like this?

The Curated Connections Library gives you full access to hundreds of art appreciation resources, trainings, and classroom-ready materials.
👉 Click here to learn more.

Elements and Principles Teaching Bundle

This extraordinary bundle includes the best resources for teaching each of the elements and principles—37 worksheets/handouts, 15 lessons (with accompanying PowerPoints and Handouts), 3 ready-to-go art analysis activities, 3 art analysis videos, and 13 elements and principle PDF articles.

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There you have it! The best types of line in art examples for your elements and principles of art lessons. Want more elements and principles of art teacher resources? Check out the below posts.

The Art Curator for Kids -Example Artworks that Show Space - The Elements and Principles of Art Series-300The Art Curator for Kids - Example Artworks that Show Line - The Elements and Principles of Art - 300The Art Curator for Kids - Example Artworks that Show Emphasis - The Elements and Principles of Art SeriesElements and Principles of Art - Artworks that Show Proportion in art and ScaleThe Art Curator for Kids - Elements and Principles of Art Series - Artworks that Show Shape - 300The Art Curator for Kids - Why I Hate the Elements and Principles But Teach Them Anyway - 300The Art Curator for Kids - How Artists Depict Space - Masterpiece Monday - John Sloan , South Beach Bathers, 1907-1908, Art Lessons for Kids - Elements of Art Lessons

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Kollwitz & Cassatt: Two Views of Motherhood in Art

Inside: Comparing and contrasting two views of motherhood in art with the work of Käthe Kollwitz and Mary Cassatt, including four free Mother’s Day worksheets.

May is the month that we turn our attention to those that bring us into this world. Our mothers.

It’s been called the hardest job, but also the most rewarding. This duality is plain in the two artworks we’re exploring: Mary Cassatt’s Reine Lefebre and Margot before a Window and Käthe Kollwitz’s Worker Woman with Sleeping Child.

Most schoolchildren will celebrate Mother’s Day by bringing home a craft from art class, a little memento of their shared love. But there is another gift we can give the mothers of our students–the gift of being seen. It is difficult for any child to see their mother as an independent person. They are mom, mommy, mama. They’ve been there from the beginning. How can a child ever see the person their mother was before they existed, the person she continues to be?

Using depictions of motherhood in art is a powerful way to bridge this gap without ever having to address it directly. Cassatt and Kollwitz have both been recognized for the way they showed motherhood in art. Mary Cassatt did not have children and said, “There’s only one thing in life for a woman; it’s to be a mother. A woman artist must be…capable of making primary sacrifices.” Käthe Kollwitz was mother to two sons, one of whom died in World War I, a loss that resonated in her work.

That is a compelling difference to share with your students as they analyze these artworks. Which artwork do they think was created by a mother? Does knowing change their interpretations?

motherhood in art
On the left: Mary Cassatt, Reine Lefebre and Margot before a Window, c.1902
On the right: Käthe Kollwitz, Worker Woman with Sleeping Child, 1927

Comparing and Contrasting Motherhood in Art

These artworks are perfect for a classroom discussion. They are captivating on their own. One is sweet and relaxed while the other is bleak and tired. Placed side by side, a narrative of motherhood is created. Use these discussion questions to dive into these artworks with your students:

  • What’s going on here, and what do you see that makes you say that?
  • How do you think these people feel? How do you feel looking at this artwork?
  • How do the expressions of the people influence the mood of the two artworks?
  • What are they thinking about?
  • How are the figures united?
  • How did the artists use the elements and principles of art?
  • How do the bright, complementary colors contrast with the black and white piece? Would you feel differently if the colors were switched?
  • What do you notice about the lines in each of the artworks?
  • How does the background (or lack of one) contribute to the overall feel of the artwork?
  • What is the same about the two mothers? What’s different?
  • What is the same about the two children? What’s different?
  • Why are the mother on the right’s hands dark?

Free Worksheets!

Free Art Worksheets! Motherhood in Art

Four worksheets to analyze two views of motherhood in art with the work of Käthe Kollwitz and Mary Cassatt using narrative writing, character analysis, and compare/contrast.

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Free Mother’s Day Worksheets

We’ve created four worksheets that give students a chance to use their language arts skills while exploring motherhood in art.

In the Motherhood & Art narrative worksheets, students choose one of the artworks and craft a story using context clues from the artwork. You can instruct them to write from the mother’s point of view, the child’s point of view, or let them choose. When they’re done, they can read them aloud and discuss how their stories are alike and different and how they came to their conclusions.

The Compare/Contrast worksheet is a great primer for a classroom discussion or as a standalone activity for students to focus on the differences in style and mood.

Now Tweet This! is always a hit with older students. On the worksheet, they create a Twitter dialogue between the mother and daughter in Cassatt’s work, including hashtags and unique handles/usernames. Here’s more character analysis via Twitter.

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The Art of Käthe Kollwitz

The Art Curator for Kids - The Art of Käthe Kollwitz - Analysis and Lesson Ideas

My favorite type of art is art that expresses feeling–art that makes my breath catch in my throat, makes me gasp or cry, or makes my heart churn. These expressions of humanity and raw human emotion can be created in so many different ways by so many different artists from different times and places. One artist who work does this for me is an expressionist artist from the late 1800s and early to mid 1900s, Käthe Kollwitz. Experiencing art like hers is why I love art and dedicate my life to helping others experience art the way I do.

The Art Curator for Kids - Käthe Kollwitz, Self Portrait, Etching, 1921
Käthe Kollwitz, Self Portrait, 1921

Some of the below images are small. Please click them to view a larger image.

Käthe Kollwitz lived in Germany from roughly 1883 to her death in 1945 and dedicated her life to documenting the pain, suffering, and trauma of war. Even before World War I and World War II, which she lived and suffered through, she documents other hardships and human suffering such as the German Peasants’ War and others. She lost her son in World War I, and this solidified her stance as a pacifist and socialist.

The Art Curator for Kids - Käthe Kollwitz, The Survivors, 1923
Käthe Kollwitz, The Survivors, 1923

It is my duty to voice the suffering of men, the never-ending sufferings heaped mountain-high. — Käthe Kollwitz

Her art is so simple, but so incredibly powerful. Her work is often drawings or prints of individuals or groups of people. There is often no setting or context, but you don’t need it. The expressions on the faces, the quality of the lines, the texture, and the absence of color capture the deep emotion of the figures in such a compelling way.

The Art Curator for Kids - Käthe Kollwitz, Young Girl in the Lap of Death, 1934
Käthe Kollwitz, Young Girl in the Lap of Death, 1934

Lesson and Activity Ideas

In my mind, there are three tracks of lessons you can take in your classroom with her work: using her art to support lessons on the World Wars, discussing her work to teach about expression in art, and using her work among others to teach about different elements of art and principles of design.

Expressionism Lesson

As I have mentioned, her artwork displays amazing expression of emotion. Have students study the work to analyze the artist’s choices. What artist choices did she make and how do the impact the emotion? Have students practice drawing different emotions using Kollwitz’s work as a guide. Give the students mirrors and let them practice expressing emotion on their own face.

You could also so some character analysis activities or creative writing exercises to analyze the emotions even further.

The Art Curator for Kids - Käthe Kollwitz, Killed in Action, 1921
Käthe Kollwitz, Killed in Action, 1921

While I drew, and wept along with the terrified children I was drawing, I really felt the burden I am bearing. I felt that I have no right to withdraw from the responsibility of being an advocate. — Käthe Kollwitz

Art Analysis with the Elements and Principles

Kollwitz’s work is masterful in its use of elements and principles of art. Have students analyze the works using the elements and principles worksheets in my Art Appreciation Printable Worksheet Bundle.

Art Appreciation Worksheet Bundle

This art worksheets bundle from the Art Class Curator includes 25 ready-to-use art worksheets for use with individual works of art. The worksheets for art in this document are designed to work with lots of different types of artworks, so you can just pick an artwork, print a worksheet, and start the activity. Each has instructions at the top and plenty of space to do the activity.

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Here are some talking points for this activity and things your students may point out with this activity. Of course, let them discover these for themselves. I was looking at a large grouping of her work as a whole for this, so you could have students look at several of her works and look for commonalities with the use of elements and principles.

  • Line — The artist uses a variety of thick and thin lines to create texture, form, and expression. She varies the value of the lines as well.
  • Texture — The artist uses lines and shading to create on the faces to both add form.
  • Value — Dark areas highlight special focus areas like hardworking hands or sunken sad eyes.
  • Space — The negative space along the edges focuses our attention and doesn’t distract us from the main figure. She presses figures together in her artworks that include many figures leaving no personal space between them.
  • Color — The absence of color intensifies the emotion.
  • Emphasis — The artist uses line, value, and space as described above to emphasize the emotions of the figure.
  • Unity — The color and texture lines create a sense of unity. The whole artwork works well together.

History Integration

Art is a great way to study the impact on people and the emotions of history. Use these works when studying World War I and World War II. I’ve also written a post about Franz Marc’s Fate of the Animals which goes along with World War I. Have students look at both artworks and talk about how the different artists took the same emotions and themes and expressed them in two very different ways.

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5 Artworks about Love

I’m so excited today to be guest posting on the 31 Days of Love series which started today on Red Ted Art, an amazing blog I greatly admire! Hop on over to my post called “5 Artworks About Love” to learn about some new art and be inspired just in time for Valentine’s Day. Each lovely artwork has some information about it as well as some looking questions to help guide your discussion about the art with your kids.

5 Artworks About Love
the Art Curator for Kids - 5 Artworks about Love from Art History - Art About Love - Valentine's Day Art History