Key Stage 3 art and design · History of art, craft, design and architecture

KS3 art history: modern and contemporary art

The Key Stage 3 curriculum asks pupils to study the history of art, craft, design and architecture right up to the present day. In modern and contemporary movements, many artists stop trying to copy the world and start questioning what art can be: Cubism, abstract art, Surrealism, Pop Art, and today’s installations, photography and digital work. This topic helps pupils make sense of art that may seem puzzling, and judge it with reasons.

Modern and contemporary art, explained

The curriculum names no artists, movements or dates, so schools choose, and the grouping of art into eras is an editorial convenience rather than a statutory category. Modern art is usually taken to start in the later nineteenth century and run through much of the twentieth century. Contemporary art means work made in recent decades, up to today. In Years 7 to 9 pupils typically meet a handful of movements chosen to show how many different ideas exist about what art is for, so the list will differ from one school to another.

Common examples include Fauvism, in which Matisse and others used wild, non-realistic colour, and Cubism, in which Picasso and Braque broke objects into flat shapes seen from several angles at once. Abstract artists such as Kandinsky and Mondrian made art from colour, line and shape without any recognisable subject. Dada artists, including Marcel Duchamp, questioned what counts as art, and Surrealists such as Dalí and Magritte painted dreamlike images. After the Second World War came Abstract Expressionism, with large paintings made with energetic gestures, and Pop Art, which used the imagery of comics, advertising and mass-produced goods. Schools often include British artists too, for example Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, Bridget Riley or David Hockney.

Contemporary art is even more varied. Artists work in installation (whole rooms or spaces), performance, video, photography, textiles, sculpture and digital media, and many address identity, the environment or social issues. Pupils are taught that art can be about ideas as well as about skill with materials. They may find some of it hard to like, and teachers encourage them to say why without being dismissive: what is the artist trying to do, and does the work succeed?

In practice, pupils often make work in the style of a movement before developing something personal. That might be a Cubist still life, an abstract composition in a limited palette, a Surrealist collage, a Pop Art print, or an installation made from recycled materials. They are expected to link their analysis to their own work and to explain choices using the language of art, craft and design.

Words your child will hear

Abstract: Art that doesn’t try to show things as they look, using colour, shape and line for their own sake.
Cubism: A style that breaks objects into flat shapes and shows them from several viewpoints at once.
Surrealism: A movement that explores dreams and the unconscious, often by placing unexpected things together.
Pop Art: Art from the 1950s and 1960s that used images from advertising, comics and popular culture.
Installation: An artwork that fills a space, which the viewer can walk into or around.
Conceptual art: Art in which the idea matters more than the way the object looks or is made.
Movement: A group of artists who share ideas, styles or goals during a period of time.

What the National Curriculum says

The programme of study for Key Stage 3 says:

Pupils should be taught about the history of art, craft, design and architecture, including periods, styles and major movements from ancient times up to the present day
Pupils should develop a critical understanding of artists, architects and designers, expressing reasoned judgements that can inform their own work.
Aim: pupils know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Try it: making sense of an abstract painting

A pupil is shown Piet Mondrian’s Composition II in Red, Blue, and Yellow (1930) and asked, “Why might this be considered art, and what was he trying to do?”

Describe what is there, without judging. A white canvas is divided by thick black horizontal and vertical lines into rectangles. A large red square sits at the top right, with a small blue rectangle at the bottom left and a small yellow one at the bottom right. Most of the other spaces are white.
Describe what is not there. There are no people, objects, curved lines or shading, and no suggestion of depth. Everything is flat, and the only colours are red, yellow, blue, black and white.
Analyse the composition. The rectangles are different sizes, so the picture is balanced rather than symmetrical. The large red area is the focal point, and the small areas of blue and yellow balance it. The black lines hold everything together and most run right to the edges, so the pattern seems to continue beyond the canvas.
Consider context and intention. Mondrian believed that reducing art to straight lines and pure primary colours could express a kind of universal harmony that didn’t depend on the look of any particular thing. His ideas influenced architecture, furniture and graphic design.
Make a judgement with evidence. “It may look simple, but the balance depends on very careful decisions about size and position. If I moved the red square, the picture would feel different. It works as art because of this control, even though it doesn’t show anything recognisable. I will try a balanced composition of my own using only three colours.”

The painting is considered art because the artist made deliberate decisions about colour, line, shape and balance to express an idea about harmony and order. A strong answer describes what is and is not there, uses terms like composition and focal point, explains the artist’s aim, and supports a personal judgement with evidence from the painting.

Common mistakes and how to help

“My little brother could have done that”

Abstract and conceptual works can look simple, and pupils judge art by how hard it appears to be to make.

What helps: Invite your child to try to copy a Mondrian or a Pollock. Most people find that the result feels wrong, because balance, rhythm and proportion are hard to get right. Ask what decisions the artist made.

Thinking modern artists couldn’t draw or paint “properly”

Pupils assume that unrealistic work means a lack of skill.

What helps: Show early work. Picasso, for example, painted and drew very realistically as a teenager, years before he and Braque developed Cubism. Many modern artists chose to break the rules after learning them.

Believing there is one correct meaning that the artist intended

Pupils think surreal or abstract work is a puzzle with a single solution.

What helps: Look for what the artist said about the work, but also accept that a reading is valid if it is supported by what can be seen. Ask what in the work makes your child think that.

Thinking contemporary art is only about shocking people

News stories tend to focus on the most unusual or expensive pieces, which hides the range of what artists are doing.

What helps: Look at a variety of contemporary work, such as portraits, photography, textiles and community projects. Ask what each is trying to say, and whether the idea comes across.

How to help at home

Cube a still life. Draw a simple object such as a mug from the front, then from above and from the side, in one picture, using flat shapes. This is the Cubist idea of seeing from several angles at once.
Colour that is not real. Draw a familiar scene, such as your street, but choose the colours for mood rather than realism: a purple tree, an orange sky. Ask how the feeling of the picture changes.
Pop Art from the kitchen table. Choose a simple image, such as a cartoon face or a bold shape. Repeat it four times on paper in different bright colour schemes. Notice how colour alone changes how it feels.
A dream collage. Cut images from old magazines and combine unexpected things, such as a staircase in the sky or a giant bird in a kitchen. Talk about what mood or story it suggests, in the Surrealist spirit.
Debate it. Look at a work together and each give one reason it works and one reason it might not. The aim is not to agree but to give evidence for each view, which is the skill pupils are taught.

Builds on

Key Stage 2: Great artists in history
Key Stage 2: Great architects in history
Key Stage 2: Great designers in history