“Reading” Portraiture Guide for Educators

Portrait “reading” encourages the visual analysis of a piece of art as if it were a historical document.

Here at the National Portrait Gallery, we use the visual clues found in our objects (painting, photography, drawing, and sculpture) to learn about the individual featured in the artwork. Do you want your students to learn about John Brown? Your first inclina-tion might be to have them read something about Brown, and this is certainly a valid way for them to gain information. But we are asking that you turn that notion on its side and have students “read” a portrait prior to reading an essay or biography. This guide will encourage you and your students to look at the visual image first. Although you will want to supplement the visual reading with some actual reading, we are confi-dent that this new technique of “learning to look” will produce a richer—and possibly more memorable—examination of the individual.

This simple exercise revolves around asking students, “What do you see?” Below you will find some probing questions to familiarize students with the concept of “reading” portraits and some follow-up questions to ask after they have exhausted the looking exercise.

Use the “Learning to Look” strategies in this exercise to direct all conversations back to the object and to what the observations might say about the sitter’s life and the era in which that person lived.

Before asking the questions, define “portrait,” “sitter,” and “symbol” with your students.Portrait: A likeness or image of a person that is created by an artist.Sitter: The person or people who are in a portrait. Symbol: Something representing something else by association; objects, characters, or other concrete representations of an abstract idea, concept, or event.

Please note: As the facilitator of this activity, you will want to be well versed with the sitter’s identity and accomplishments, as well as what you want your students to take away from the exercise.

“Learning to Look” Strategies

Thirty-Second Look-

onds. Then have them turn away from the image. Conduct a conversation with students about what they saw.

tions.

What Do You See?

they see in the portrait, saying, “I see a . What do you see?” Each person must name the previous observations and add a new one: “I see a and a . What do you see?”

use and meaning of objects pictured in a portrait.

The Object Race

your students to find.

first to find all the objects listed on their object card.

Puzzles

piece contains a significant symbol. Give each student/pair of students a piece of the puzzle.

tell them to complete the puzzle.

Jumping into a Portrait (pre–K to third grade)

-tains a scene. Ask them where they would like to be in that portrait. Direct young people to use their imagination and “jump” into the portrait.

touch, smell, taste, hearing.

National Portrait Gallery

What am I thinking?

be thinking as he or she is sitting for the portrait.

to say.

What would you ask the sitter/artist?

a question about the portrait, what would it be?”

ter and the artist.

What Do You Wonder?

you wonder about this portrait?”

other students to respond with their opinion.

Strike a Pose

pose like this sitter, to wear those clothes, and be in the setting of the portrait.

friend describing their portrait experience.

Compare and Contrast

have students compare and contrast them.

what purpose were each of the portraits created?

in a person’s life, discuss how the likeness of the in-dividual has changed and what occurred between the years of the portraits.

Questions to Ask While looking at a Portrait

Teacher: Be sure to elicit only visual observations with this question, rather than interpretations.)

us to determine that?

After you have exhausted “straight on” looking questions, consider these for follow-up, to expand the “reading” exercise.

What are the similarities and differences between a portrait and a written biography?

(These questions may need to be answered after students have read the label or as follow-up questions after you have supplied additional information.)

Who is the artist? Why is that significant?

is the significance of that?

What does the portrait say about American life during this era?

Education Department

Image: Thomas Sully by Auguste Edouart (detail

“Reading” Portraiture at a GlanceThe two key elements to reading portraits are looking and analyzing.

Looking

Sitter Describe the sitter’s pose.

SymbolsWhat objects are seen in the portrait?

AdjectivesUse adjectives to describe sitter.

ClothingWhat clothing is the sitter wearing?

MediumWhat medium was used to create the portrait?

SettingWhat is the setting of the portrait?

Analyzing

SitterWho is the sitter?

SymbolsWhat do the objects tell us about the sitter?

ArtistWho is the artist?

DateWhen was the por-trait created?

HistoryWhat was going on in history when the por-trait was created?

BiographyWhat is the sitter’s contribution to history?

Alvin Ailey

Deborah Feingold Getty Historical Image Collection 01-01-1988

Caption: 1988: Close-up studio portrait of American choreographer and modern dancer Alvin Ailey holding his hands up to his temples. (Photo by Deborah Feingold/Getty Images) Keywords: colour; format portrait; male; The Stage; Choreographer; Personality; American; G2294/071

Copyright 2005 Getty Image, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Deborah Feingold. Alvin Ailey. Getty Images. 01 Jan 1988. eLibrary. Web. 15 Dec 2009.

Alvin Ailey Archive Photos 01-01-1968

The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, featuring Alvin Ailey (R), perform at the Edinburgh Festival in 1968. Ailey was a choreographer noted for his fusion of classical style with freer form expression which altered the path of dance in the 1950s. dancers. choreographers. African Americans. dance. performances. performing. dancing. troops. groups. ensembles. companies. modern dance. Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, featuring Alvin Ailey (R), perform at the Edinburgh Festival in 1968. Ailey was a choreographer noted for his fusion of classical style with freer form expression which altered the path of dance in the 1950s. Copyright Archive Photos

Alvin Ailey. Archive New Media. 01 Jan 1968. eLibrary. Web. 15 Dec 2009.

Ailey, Alvin http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC?vrsn=149&OP=contains&locID=va_s_007_0162&srchtp=name&ca=1&AI=U13003641&NA=alvin+ailey&ste=4&tbst=prp 12-15-2009

The choreographer Alvin Ailey was an important contributor to the American dance idiom of the latter part of the 20th century. His work includes Revelations (1960), set to traditional African American music; Flowers (1971), set to music by Pink Floyd and Janis Joplin; The Lark Ascending (1972), with music by Ralph Vaughan Williams; and For Bird—With Love (1984), a tribute to the great jazz musician Charlie "Bird" Parker.

The Bettmann Archive

http://gme.grolier.com/page?tn=/article/media.html&assetid=da01&uid=10143578 12-15-2009

Alvin Ailey, Jr., 1960.

Courtesy of Zachary Freyman

Ailey, Alvin, Jr.. Photograph. Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition. Web. <http://school.eb.com/eb/art-8223>. 12-15-2009

http://www.texas-on-line.com/graphic/alvinailey.htm 12-15-2009

Alvin Ailey By Ben Heine http://benheine.deviantart.com/art/Alvin-Ailey-Choreographer-91817322

http://www.biography.com/articles/Alvin-Ailey-9177959 12-15-2009

(Credit: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Carl Van Vechten Collection, [LC-USZ62-114551])

Alvin Ailey by Carl Van Vechten, 1955 (LOC)

CALL NUMBER: LOT 12735, no. 9 [P&P] REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-USZ62-114550 (b&w film copy neg.) For publication information see "Carl Van Vechten Photographs (Lots 12735 and 12736)" (http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/079_vanv.html) MEDIUM: 1 photographic print : gelatin silver. CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1955 Mar. 22. CREATOR: Van Vechten, Carl, 1880-1964, photographer. NOTES: Title derived from information on verso of photographic print. Van Vechten number: XIII MM 11. Also available on microfilm. Gift; Carl Van Vechten Estate; 1966. Forms part of: Portrait photographs of celebrities, a LOT which in turn forms part of the Carl Van Vechten photograph collection (Library of Congress).

Alvin Ailey in Revelations http://www.africanafrican.com/negroartist/BALLET%DANCE/slides/ALVIN%20AILEY

Alvin Ailey in Revelations Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation http://latimesblogs.latime.com/culturemonster/images/2008/12/29ailey_3.jpg

Alvin Ailey http://top-people.starmedia.com/art/alvin-ailey_17133.html

Alvin Ailey http://blogs.courierpress.com/artsbeat/archives/2009/01/tribute-to-alvin-ailey-celebra.html