Grades:		High School (9–12)
Subjects: 		Visual Arts, English-Language Arts
Time Required: 	Six or more class periods
Author: 		J. Paul Getty Museum Education Staff

Featured Getty Artwork
Study of a Monument to Alexandre Dumas père by Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse
http://www.getty.edu/art/collections/objects/o1464.html
	
Lesson Overview
Students will examine artworks, research literature, and create study drawings and a 3-D model for a monument to a literary figure. 

Learning Objectives
Students should be able to: 
- discuss and analyze the sculpture Study of a Monument to Alexandre Dumas père by Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse. 
- compare Study of a Monument to Alexandre Dumas père to monuments with which they are familiar.    
- create studies in 2-D and 3-D for a monument to a literary figure of their choice. 
- research, and read about, the life and works of the literary figure they choose.
- articulate in writing the processes they went through to create their monument. 

Materials 
- Transparency of Study of a Monument to Alexandre Dumas père by Carrier-Belleuse 
- Drawing paper
- Drawing pencils 
- Air-drying sculpting clay
- Modeling tools 
- Literary novels and short stories
- Looking at Portraits Glossary

Lesson Steps
(Collaboration between the visual arts teacher and language arts teacher would work well for this lesson. The lesson could be taught without the sculpture component.)

1. View the image and follow the Questions for Teaching for Study of a Monument to Alexandre Dumas père. Both can be found in the Image Bank for the Looking at Portraits unit in the Education section of getty.edu, or by clicking on the thumbnail of the image from the Web page where you downloaded this lesson. 

2. Discuss what makes a good memorial sculpture or monument. What would you need to know about an author to create a monument that communicates who the person was and what their writing is like? Although a friend of Dumas’s, Carrier-Belleuse created this monument study after the author’s death. Discuss what sources the artist probably used to create the monument to Dumas. (To compare Carrier-Belleuse’s portrait of Dumas to how the author actually looked, look at the photograph of Dumas by the French photographer Nadar at http://www.getty.edu/art/collections/objects/o44765.html.)  

3. Students will then choose an author to create their own monuments to (the list could come from authors you have chosen for your students to read). Have students research the author’s life, read a novel or short story, and look up other likenesses of the author, in order to understand who they were and what would be the best way to represent them. 

4. While they are beginning their research and formulating ideas, have students think about the following questions: What attributes or props would you include so that people will easily recognize the author and his or her profession? How important is an accurate likeness to the monument? What will be the setting for their monument?   

5. Students will look at works by other artists as well as photographs and sculptures in order to capture a likeness of the person to whom their monument is dedicated.  

6. Students will create at least three drawings for their proposed monument. This will also include what the setting for their proposed monument will be.   

7. Students will use air-drying sculpting clay to create a 3-D version of their monument. 

8. Students will write a description of the process they went through to develop their monument. 

9. Discuss the following questions with the finished projects in a class critique: What were the challenges and successes of working in 3-D with clay? What were the challenges and successes of working in clay? How successful were the students in conveying something about the author and his or her work in the sculpture? How did the sculpture project change from the study drawings to the finished work? 

Assessment
Students will be assessed on their ability to complete the assignment, their three drawing studies for their monument, clarity of the subject of their monument, and their written assignment outlining their process and research. 

Standards Addressed
Visual Arts Content Standards for California Public Schools
Grades 9–12
2.1 Create original works of art of increasing complexity and skill in a variety of media that reflect their feelings and points of view.
2.5 Use innovative visual metaphors in creating works of art.
4.1 Describe the relationship involving the art maker (artist), the making (process), the artwork (product), and the viewer.

English—Language Arts Content Standards for California Public Schools
Grades 9–10 
2.4 Synthesize the content from several sources or works by a single author dealing with a single issue; paraphrase the ideas and connect them to other sources and related topics to demonstrate comprehension.
3.12 Analyze the way in which a work of literature is related to the themes and issues of its historical period. (Historical approach)
Language arts formulate judgments about the ideas under discussion and support those judgments. 

History—Social Science Content Standards for California Public Schools
Grade 10 
Describe the emergence of romanticism in art and literature. 

Visual Arts Content Standards for California Public Schools
Grades 9–12
Students perceive and respond to works of art...use the vocabulary of the visual arts to express their observations. Analyze composition.