This activity prepares students for the Guided Lesson at the Getty Center, Connecting History and Art. Students will look at Jacques-Louis David's Telemachus and Eucharis and Dorothea Lange's photograph of a migrant mother and consider how artists communicate ideas across time. This activity will get your students thinking, wondering, and asking questions about what they see so that they can understand the message the artist is trying to communicate. |
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Works of art in a museum may be beautiful to look at, but they are also artifacts or objects made and used by people in the past and filled with clues about those people and the world in which they lived. Looking at art is an active, not passive, experience. Unlocking the meaning in a work of art takes time. As preparation for their gallery lesson, it will be important for your students to learn how to slow down, look closely, and think about what they see.
Step 1: Before displaying the images, ask students to think about what a person can learn by looking at art. Make a list of their responses. Discuss their ideas as a group.
Step 2: Divide your students into two groups. Display an image of Jacques-Louis David's painting The Farewell of Telemachus and Eucharis, and Dorothea Lange's photograph Human Erosion in California (Migrant Mother). Divide the students into pairs and ask them to spend a quiet minute just looking closely at the images. Explain to your students that the original painting by artist Jacques-Louis David (pronounced jhaak loo-EE dah-VEED) was created in France in 1818, almost 200 years ago. By comparison, Dorothea Lange's black and white photograph was made in 1936—less than a century ago—in California. Both original works of art are in the Getty Museum collection.
Step 3: Ask your students to look closely at their image. Depending upon their grade level, ask them to answer some or all of the following questions:
Questions about Jacques-Louis David's The Farewell of Telemachus and Eucharis, 1818:
• Who is in this picture? What is their relationship? What do you see in the picture that gives you clues as to the type of relationship they have?
• How would you describe how the woman is feeling? What clues tell you about her emotional state?
• How would you describe the man's facial expression? What is he thinking? Look closely at the position of his body. What messages is he communicating through his body language?
• Describe what the dog is doing in this picture. Why do you think David chose to include it in this scene?
• What do you think is going to happen next?
• Describe the clothing. What does it tell you about the figures?
• Describe the background. Where are they?
• Why do you think the artist made a painting of this subject?
• Does this image remind you of anything you have seen or experienced in your own life?
• What title would you give this picture? Does it need a title?
• What do you want to know about this image or artist? Make a list of three questions.
Questions about Dorothea Lange's Human Erosion in California (Migrant Mother), 1936:
• Who is in this picture? Do you think they are related? What do you see in the picture that gives you clues about how they are related?
• How would you describe the woman's expression?
• What does the woman's gesture tell you about how she is feeling?
• Look closely at children's poses and clothing. What do you imagine they are thinking and feeling? Why are they hiding their faces?
• If you could ask the woman one question, what would it be?
• Why do you think the photographer took this picture? What was her goal? What do you think she was trying to convey?
• Does this photograph remind you of anything you have seen or experienced in your own life?
• What title would you give this picture? Does it need a title?
• What do you want to know about this image or artist? Make a list of three questions.
Step 4: Ask students to share their thoughts and observations as a group. Encourage them to cite specific visual evidence from the images to back up their opinions.
Step 5: Share some of the background information found on this Web site about each piece that you think would be relevant for your students. As a group, discuss how knowing more details about the artwork and artist changes, or adds to, their previous understanding. Pose additional questions:
Questions about Jacques-Louis David's The Farewell of Telemachus and Eucharis, 1818:
• How did David show that this story takes place in antiquity? What did David do to make the scene relevant to the time in which he created it?
• One of the goals of Neoclassical painting was to depict a virtuous life that emphasized loyalty and productivity. How does this painting reflect these values?
• David and other Neoclassical artists used their artwork to illustrate the morals and lessons they believed were important in society. What do you think the lesson or moral is of this painting?
Questions about Dorothea Lange's Human Erosion in California (Migrant Mother), 1936:
• Between 1935 and 1939 Lange worked for the Farm Security Administration, a government agency that developed programs to help impoverished farmers. What message do you think Lange was trying to convey in this photograph? Why do you think Lange made this image?
• This image, and many like it, was published in the 1930s in newspapers and magazines. How do you think the public responded when they saw pictures like this?
• Throughout her career, Dorothea Lange was assigned to document important historical and social events, such as the situation of farm workers during the Depression and Dust Bowl era. These assignments required Lange to photograph people she did not know. What challenges might this have presented for both the photographer and her subjects? Lange often interviewed her subjects. Why might she have done this?
• Art historians and critics often describe Migrant Mother as being "iconic" or "emblematic" (i.e., symbolizing the Depression era or even greater and more timeless ["universal"] themes). What universal themes could the image represent? |
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| The Farewell of Telemachus and Eucharis, Jacques-Louis Davis |
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The following content standards will be covered in your Guided Lesson at the Getty Center.
History—Social Science Content Standards for California Public Schools
Historical and Social-Science Analysis Skills
Grades 7, 8
Historical Interpretation
1. Students explain the central issues and problems from the past, placing people and events in a matrix of time and place.
Grades 9–12
Historical Interpretation
3. Students interpret past events and issues within the context in which an event unfolded rather than solely in terms of present-day norms and values.
Visual-Arts Content Standards for California Public Schools
Grades 7–12
Artistic Perception
1.0 Processing, Analyzing, and Responding to Sensory Information through the Language and Skills Unique to the Visual Arts
Students perceive and respond to works of art, objects in nature, events, and the environment. They also use the vocabulary of the visual arts to express their observations.
Historical and Cultural Context
3.0 Understanding the Historical Contributions and Cultural Dimensions to the Visuals Arts
Students analyze the role and development of the visuals arts in past and present cultures throughout the world, noting human diversity as it relates to the visual arts and artists.
Aesthetic Valuing
4.0 Responding to, Analyzing, and Making Judgments about Works in the Visual Arts
Students analyze, assess, and derive meaning from works of art, including their own, according to the elements of art, the principles of design, and aesthetic qualities.
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