Art is relationships.

For teachers planning a self-guided tour

Recommended Grades: 4th–6th grade Tour Theme: As individuals, we negotiate a complex web of interpersonal relationships. Through our interaction with other people we experience what it means to be human. This self-guided lesson will feature works of art that explore relationships. Through looking and discussion, students will explore relationships in art. About this Resource: • For teachers planning a self-guided tour at the Blanton • Aligned with TEKS standards • Aligned with Character Education standards • Each tour features works of art from different time periods and cultures. • Select one tour from the two options provided Within Each Tour: • Stop 1 - Fosters looking and discussion • Stop 2 - Explores an artwork through an activity • Stop 3 - Allows students to investigate works of art on their own © Education Department, Blanton Museum of Art, September 2005. School and Teacher Programs at the Blanton are generously funded by Applied Materials.

Table of Contents

Tour Option 1 Includes:

Tour Option 2 Includes:

Francesco Zugno Young Couple Playing Cards, 1750-55 Oil on canvas Dimensions: 24 1/4 x 29 3/4 inches Location: European Galleries Anonymous Goddesses from the East Pediment of the Parthenon,19th c. reproduction Plaster cast from original Dimensions: 48 x 48 x 38 inches Location: Mezzanine America/Americas Gallery

Thomas Hart Benton Romance, 1931-32 Tempera and oil varnish glazes on gesso panel Dimensions: 45 1/4 x 33 1/4 inches Location: America/Americas

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo The Storyteller, mid 1770s Oil on canvas Dimensions: 13 5/16 x 22 1/2 inches Location: European Galleries

C.R. Smith Collection of Art of the American West

Tour Option 1

Stop 1- Guided Looking Introduction: Explain to students that artists often use art as a way to examine, represent, and critique relationships. Ask students to look at this work and think about the relationships they see. Questions for Students: • Describe the people in this work. Who do you think they are? • Describe the clothing they are wearing. • Describe their surroundings. Where do you think this scene is taking place? • Why do you think these people are together? • What kinds of activities are going on? • Describe some of the relationships you see. • Are the relationships caring or uncaring? What do you see that makes you say that? • What makes a caring relationship, and where can you see that in this work of art? Background Information: In this work, we are given a fanciful glimpse into the world of the young elite during the eighteenth century. Surrounded by a lively cast of human and animal characters, a young couple is engrossed in a card game as their companions look on. While the focal point of the image is the young couple, a bustle of other activity surrounds the central group causing the viewer’s eye to wander across the image. Who are the characters surrounding the couple? Could they be chaperones overseeing a courtship, servants attending to the needs of the nobility, or perhaps many things simultaneously? Just as the subject of the card game can be read as a depiction of everyday life, the card game has also long functioned in the history of art as a metaphor for the artist’s skill at manipulating the viewer’s eye. In this work, we are invited to delight in the beauty of the scene and to wonder at the many activities taking place.

Francesco Zugno Young Couple Playing Cards, 1750-55 Oil on canvas Dimensions: 24 1/4 x 29 3/4 inches Location: European Galleries

Stop 2 - Guided Activity Materials: Pencils Goddesses Worksheet (attached) Work Introduction: Ask students to compare this work to the work we have just seen. How is this work similar or different? Questions for Students: • Who are these figures? What clues give you that idea? • Why do you think they have been placed together? • Describe the clothing the figures are wearing. • What does their clothing say about who they are? • What does the body language tell us about what they might be doing? • Why do you think this work was made? Student Activity: • Explain to students that this work is a reproduction of an ancient Greek sculpture. Over time the original work was damaged, and now parts of the sculpture are lost. • Distribute a worksheet and pencil to each student. Ask students to complete the work by drawing in the missing parts of the figures. • Once finished drawing, ask students to fill in the speech bubbles with what they believe the figures might say if they could speak. How would they interact? Would they speak to the viewer or each other? Background Information: This work is a plaster cast of ancient Greek and Roman sculpture owned by the Blanton. Popular in the late 19th and early 20th century, these casts were used as a means of providing a classical education and cultural enlightenment to those with no access to the original objects. This reproduction of the Three Goddesses from the east pediment of the Parthenon is one of the foremost examples of the Greek Classical style.

Anonymous Goddesses from the East Pediment of the Parthenon,19th c. reproduction Plaster cast from original Dimensions: 48 x 48 x 38 inches Location: Mezzanine

Stop 3 - Self-Exploration Suggested Gallery: Roots to Modernism America/Americas Gallery Information: Featured in this gallery, students will find examples of early twentieth-century modernism in the Americas. Artists from this era experimented with innovative forms and dynamic techniques to depict a diverse range of subject matter. Materials: Pencils Exploring Relationships Worksheet (see attached) Student Activity: • Explain to students that they will now have time to look on their own and consider a work of art that interests them the most. • Distribute one worksheet and pencil to each student. • Tell students: “ Select a work of art in this gallery that features a relationship, and complete this worksheet based on what you see. When you are finished we will regroup and discuss what we have learned.” • While students are completing their worksheet, circulate and answer any questions students may have. • After students have had sufficient working time, bring the group back together for reflection. • Ask students to share what works they selected. - Describe the relationship/s in the work of art you selected. - What was it about those works that they liked most? - What would they like to learn more about?

Jerry Bywaters Oil Field Girls, 1940 Oil on board 35 x 13 1/8 inches Ben Shahn From That Day On, 1960 Oil and tempera on canvas 71 9/16 x 35 3/8 inches

Tour Option 2

Stop 1 - Guided Looking Introduction: Explain to students that artists often use art as a way to examine, represent, and critique the lives of people and their relationships. Ask students to look at this work and think about the relationship they see. Questions for Students: • What’s going on in this picture? • Describe the people in this work. What are they doing? • Describe their surroundings. Where do you think this picture is taking place? • Why do you think these people are together? • Describe their relationship. Is it caring or uncaring? • What makes a caring relationship and where do you see that in this work of art? Background Information Born in a small town in Missouri, Thomas Hart Benton experimented with many European artistic styles, but ultimately strove for an art form that would represent an authentic American style. Depicted in the curvilinear style that distinguishes his work, Romance depicts a young African American couple walking hand and hand through an idealized rural landscape. Though their hands are tightly clasped, the couple’s eyes do not meet and they seem to move through the scene as if in a dream. The details in the work suggest a timeless or nostalgic vision of the rural south, one that largely ignores the actual poverty and oppressive conditions under which many African Americans lived.

Thomas Hart Benton Romance, 1931-32 Tempera and oil varnish glazes on gesso panel Dimensions: 45 1/4 x 33 1/4 inches Location: America/Americas

Stop 2 - Guided Activity Work Introduction: Ask students to compare this work to the work they have just seen. How are these works similar or different? Questions for Students: • What’s going on in this picture? • Where do you think this scene is taking place? • What do you see that makes you say that? • Who do you think these people are? • Why do you think these people have gathered together? • Name some activities and/or events where people gather together today. Student Activity: • Distribute a pencil and paper to each student and ask them to choose one person in the painting on which to focus. • Ask students to write a description of their person, including what they are wearing, how they are posed, what they seem to be doing, and on whom they are focusing their attention. Ask students to imagine why their person came to listen to this person. What did they hope to hear? • Following this exercise, have students share what they have imagined about their person. Have students compare and contrast people. How are they similar? Different? How do they interact? • As a point of conclusion, ask students to imagine what the storyteller is saying. Background Information This work represents an eighteenth-century genre scene, or scene from everyday life, in Venice. Various characters from different social classes gather around a storyteller as he enchants his audience with tales of other times and places. A servant girl with a basket stands to the left of the scene and listens to the story unfold, several working class figures cluster together in the center entranced by the speaker, and a mysterious masked character dressed for Carnival catches the eye of an aristocratic woman. The artist, Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, was known for his whimsical and dynamic paintings of everyday Venetian scenes.

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo The Storyteller, mid 1770s Oil on canvas Dimensions: 13 5/16 x 22 1/2 inches Location: European Galleries

Stop 3 - Self-Exploration Suggested Gallery: C.R. Smith Collection of Art of the American West Gallery Information: Featured in this gallery is the C.R. Smith collection of art of the American West. Through looking at these works, students can explore the period of westward expansion and the histories and mythologies surrounding the early American west. Materials: Pencils Exploring Relationships Worksheet (see attached) Student Activity: • Explain to students that they will now have time to look on their own in this gallery and consider a work of art that interests them the most. • Distribute one worksheet and pencil to each student. • Tell students: “ Select a work of art in this gallery that features a relationship, and complete this worksheet based on what you see. When you are finished we will regroup and discuss what we have learned.” • While students are completing their worksheet, circulate and answer any questions students may have. • After students have had sufficient working time, bring the group back together for reflection and a final conclusion. • Ask students to share what works they selected. Have students share: -Describe the relationship/s in the work of art you selected. -What was it about those works that they liked most? -What would they like to learn more about?

Henry Farny The Crossing. 1908 Gouache and watercolor 9 13/16 x 17 3/4 inches

Name

Exploring Relationships 1. The work of art I selected is 2. I chose this work of art because 3. The people who I see are 4. They are together because 5. One word to describe their relationship would be

Now turn this sheet over and sketch the work of art!

TEKS Connections Language Arts: (4.b.1, 5.b.1, 6.b.1) The student listens actively and purposefully in a variety of settings. (4.b.4, 5.b.4, 6.b.4) The student listens and speaks both to gain and share knowledge of his/her own culture, the culture of others, and the common elements of cultures. (4.b.4A, 5.b.4A, 6.b.4A) Connect his/her own experiences, information, insights, and ideas with the experiences of others through speaking and listening (4.b.5, 5.b.5, 6.b.5) The student speaks clearly and appropriately to different audiences for different purposes and occasions. (4.b.5F, 5.b.5F, 6.b.5F) clarify and support spoken ideas with evidence, elaborations, and examples. (4.b.23, 5.b.23, 6.b.22) The student understands and interprets visual images, messages, and meanings. (4.b.24, 5.b.24, 6.b.23) The student analyzes and critiques the significance of visual images, messages, and meanings.

Visual Arts: (4.b.1, 5.b.1, 6.c.1) The student develops and organizes ideas from the environment. (4.b.3, 5.b.3, 6.c.3) The student demonstrates an understanding of art history and culture as records of human achievement. (4.b.4, 5.b.4, 6.c.4) The student makes informed judgments about personal artworks and the artworks of others. Social Studies: (4.b.22, 5.b.25, 6.b.21) The student applies critical-thinking skills to organize and use information acquired from a variety of sources. (4.b.23B, 5.b.26B, 6.b.22B) The student incorporates main and supporting ideas in verbal and written communication. (5.b.22) The student understands the relationship between the arts and the times during which they were created. (6.b.18) The student understands the relationship that exists between artistic, creative, and literary expressions and the societies that produce them. Science TEKS: (4.b.2B, 5.b.2B, 6.b.2B) The student collects information by observing and measuring. (4.b.2C, 5.b.2C, 6.b.2C) The student analyzes and interprets information to construct reasonable explanations from direct and indirect evidence. (4.b.2D. 5.b.2D, 6.b.2D) The student communicates valid conclusions.