This vibrant art collection will provide a stimulus for your oral and visual communications along with writing activities by using these paintings produced by Nationally Acclaimed African American Artists.
Materials
15 reproductions of African American Artists, Black Artists in America Booklet - contains information on each painting
Activities
Use the biographical material to discuss the artists' life: birthplace, family or environment in which he or she lived, worked, studied, or where they were educated.
Discuss the different techniques used in the reproductions: Expressionism (Thompson), Surrealism (Lee-Smith), Collage (Bearden), Cubism (Alston), Primitivism (Pippin), and Romanticism (Tanner and Duncanson). How does the technique compliment the subject matter?
When you study each reproduction, ask yourself the following: What is happening in this painting? Is the artist making a social comment? Is he describing a very personal vision or experience? How does the artist feel toward his subject?
How does the painting make you feel? Does it have special meaning? Would you like to be inside this scene? If you were, how would you look at things around you? What would you fear, desire, or hope for? Does this painting please you on an aesthetic level? Why or why not?
Discussion Points
Look at Boy with a Tire by Hughie Lee-Smith. How do you react to this boy and this painting? How do you feel about a city street when all the people have disappeared? Do you think this painting would be as disturbing if there were no one here at all, that is, if the boy were removed from the scene?
Look at Family, No.1, by Charles Alston. Notice that Alston has done a drawing of the room and figures, and then added color, so that the lines of the mother's legs are still visible through her dress. He has not felt it necessary to make the color areas correspond exactly with the drawn lines. Contrast the feeling that is derived from this picture with the one imparted by Lee-Smith's Boy with a Tire.
What are some of the elements that make these paintings different in feeling? (One is interior, one an exterior. One has four figures crammed into a narrow space; the other has one figure in a seemingly unending amount of space.) How do these differences affect the feelings the viewer gets from these paintings?
Look at Parade by Jacob Lawrence. What elements stand out most in this painting? How has the artist used the elements of color and repetition to make us feel that we are almost inside this parade? Does this scene seem to parallel musical rhythms? Compare this with Parade on Hammond Street by Alan Crite. Both are pictures of parades, yet the emphasis is quite different. Does Mr. Crite seem more concerned with the parade or with Hammond Street and the people that live there?
Look at Summertime by Romare Bearden. This picture is a collage -where the artist pasted objects he has found and pictures cut from magazines and integrated them with sections that he has painted or drawn. What do you feel when looking at this picture? Hot? Lively? Tired? How do you think each of the figures feels? Are the textures and objects represented here true indications of a city street in the summer?
Look at The Banjo Lesson by Henry Tanner. What kind of feelings do you have when you look at this picture? Have you ever had someone older try to teach you something? How did you feel? How do you think the older person would feel? How do you think the older person felt in this picture? What do you think the artist is trying to tell us?
Write an essay, poem, story, narrative, or dramatic dialogue describing yourself as a character inside the scene portrayed in one of these paintings. Would the experience be similar to the one you know or would it be vastly different?
Arkansas Standards
Visual Art Appreciation
R.1.VAA.1: Describe the elements of art in artistic compositions
R.1.VAA.2: Describe the principles of design in artistic composition
- balance(e.g., asymmetrical, radial, symmetrical)
- contrast(e.g., color, form, line, shape, space, texture, value)
- emphasis(e.g., dominance, focal point)
- movement(e.g., depth, flow, overlap, placement, repetition, size, time)
- pattern(e.g., formal, informal, repetition)
- proportion(e.g., exaggeration, scale)
- rhythm(e.g., pattern, repetition)
- unity(e.g., repetition, order)
- harmony(e.g., similarity, wholeness)
- variety(e.g., difference, diversity)
CN.3.VAA.1
Describe various influences on art (e.g., social, cultural, geographical, environmental, political, spiritual, economical, technological, literary, musical, dramatic, contemporary media) throughout history
CN.3.VAA.2
Describe the historical and current impact of works of art
CN.3.VAA.3
Analyze various contexts (e.g., understanding of human experiences, aesthetic characteristics, various environments) of works of art
Visual Art K-8
P.6.K.1
Discuss the manner in which exhibited art communicates ideas
P.6.1.1
Analyze how exhibited art(e.g., local murals, statues, temporary exhibitions) communicates ideas about the community
P.6.2.1
Examine the ways that the presentation of artwork can communicate cultural stories and history (e.g., cave paintings, Egyptian pyramids, Toltec mounds)
P.6.3.1
Discuss the manner in which people (e.g., curators, docents) who work in facilities that display art add meaning to the exhibited artwork
P.6.4.1
Discuss the differences in meaning conveyed when art is displayed in a variety of traditional venues (e.g., museums, galleries, private collections)
R.7.3.2
Identify the message communicated by a visual image (e.g., poster art, art prints, graffiti, advertisements)
R.7.4.2
Analyze the manner in which a message is communicate by a visual image (e.g., advertising, brochures, pamphlets, maps)
R.8.K.1
Identify art by subject matter
R.8.1.1
Identify art by subject matter and form
R.8.2.1
Identify art by subject matter, form, and mood
R.8.3.1
Interpret art by considering a variety of components
- subject matter
- form
- mood
- traditional and/or new media
R.8.4.1
Interpret art by considering a variety of components
- subject matter
- form
- mood
- traditional and/or new media
- relevant context information
R.9.K.1
Explain reasons for choosing preferred artworks
R.9.1.1
Categorize artworks according to reasons for preferences
R.9.2.1
Express preferences about artwork using art vocabulary
R.9.3.1
Evaluate an artwork based on teacher-provided criteria
R.9.4.1
Evaluate multiple artworks based on teacher-provided criteria
CN.11.K.1
Discuss reasons people make art (e.g., recordkeeping, hobbies, professions)
CN.11.1.1
Identify a variety of reasons that people from different cultures make art
CN.11.2.1
Compare and contrast artwork from different times and places in a cultural context
CN.11.3.1
Explore ways in which cultural context impacts the viewer’s response to art
CN.11.4.1
Determine the time, place, and culture in which an artwork was created
R.7.5.1
Compare interpretations of a work of art with one’s own interpretation through discussion and/or research
R.7.5.2
Analyze ways that various cultures are represented by visual images (e.g., celebrations, masks, costumes, traditions)
R.7.6.1
Examine the influence of the context of an artwork on its perception and value (e.g., Keith Haring art in subways, Claude Monet in museums)
R.7.6.2
Analyze ways that cultural images (e.g., celebrations, masks, costumes, traditions) influence artistic ideas, emotions and actions
R.7.7.1
Examine works of art that provide knowledge of other cultures and their values
R.7.7.2
Analyze contexts in which viewers encounter images that influence ideas, emotions and actions (e.g., Mona Lisa on a mug vs. Mona Lisa at the Louvre)
R.7.8.1
Examine the effect of culture and environment on aesthetic choices and on the artistic message
R.7.8.2
Evaluate contexts in which viewers encounter images that influence ideas, emotions and actions (e.g., Starry Night online, in a museum, as a print)
R.8.5.1
Analyze art by considering a variety of components
- subject matter
- form
- mood
- traditional and/or new media
- relevant context information
- visual elements
R.8.6.1
Analyze art by considering a variety of components
- subject matter
- form
- mood
- traditional and/or new media
- relevant context information
- visual elements structure
R.8.7.1
Evaluate art by considering a variety of components
- subject matter
- form
- mood
- traditional and/or new media
- relevant context information
- visual elements
- structure ideas conveyed
R.8.8.1
Evaluate art by considering a variety of components
- subject matter
- form
- mood
- traditional and/or new media
- relevant context information
- visual elements
- structure
- ideas conveyed
R.9.5.1
Differentiate criteria used to evaluate works of art(e.g., style, genre, media, cultural context, historical context)
R.9.6.1
Evaluate works of art based on personal interest, themes, and venues
R.9.7.1
Distinguish an evaluation based on personal criteria as opposed to an evaluation based on established criteria
R.9.8.1
Formulate a personal response which defends the evaluation of art
CN.11.5.1
Examine the manner in which art is used to inform or change society or an individual
CN.11.6.1
Investigate the manner in which art and the public’s response to it reflect changing times, traditions, resources, and cultures
CN.11.7.1
Analyze the manner in which responses to art reflect changing times, traditions, resources, and cultures
CN.11.8.1
Evaluate the manner in which responses to art reflect changing times, traditions, resources, and cultures
