SANDWICH
ART HISTORY
Grade One - Children in Art
Lesson 8 –‘‘The Ways We Learn”
This year you have learned a lot about art, and we hope you have enjoyed all the children in the paintings that we have shared together. Over the summer vacation you may have a chance to visit a museum and see some original paintings. Most of the art work we've seen this past year were only copies or reproductions and may have slightly different color or size when seen in the original. Whether you see the art as originals or reproductions, it may help you to look at things around more carefully.
Besides learning to read books, you have learned how to “read” a painting. All of the children in the paintings this month are also learning. We learn in many ways. We learn new things at home from our parents and relatives, at school from our teacher and in play from our friends. Sometimes we teach ourselves things. What are the children learning?
Review the methods of “reading” painting as you discuss each one.
1. Use all your senses — “touch “, “smell “, “hear" , and “ taste" as well as “look".
2. Place the painting in history — compare life styles.
3. Learn something about the artist.
4. Does the painting tell a story?
5. Does the painting express a mood or feeling? How do you feel?
MATERIALS
​
1. After School, Harold Ransom Stevenson, American (1924-)
Harold Ransom Stevenson was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1924. He experienced a great deal of action during WWII serving in the U.S. Navy on the front lines. After the War he entered the Art Students League of New York.
​
In this particular painting influences from two areas can be seen. The most obvious influence is from the illustrator Norman Rockwell and the other is from the detailed interiors found in many 17th century Dutch master paintings. The scene is a quintessential American home depicting a little girl when she comes home from school. She is holding a glass to her mouth drinking milk as a canister of cookies rests on the drop leaf table. The girl wears a perfectly starched pinafore and her coat, hat, mittens and books are strewn across a ladder-back chair. The proportions of the chairs in the scene give the girl a diminutive presence. Stevenson painted the scene with such precise detail one can see the cracks and chips of the plaster walls and almost feel the wool fibers of the rug on the floor and the smooth cotton of the red-checkered tablecloth.
​
How does this compare to the kids after school routine?
In 1946, Stevenson was one in a group of five vets to be selected by the famous illustrator, Norman Rockwell, to apprentice with him in his art studio in West Arlington, Vermont. This opportunity allowed Stevenson to be able to pursue a career as an illustrator, artist and teacher.
2. A Dutch Courtyard, 1660, Pieter de Hooch, Dutch (1629-1677)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
This painting illustrates how children learn by observing. The Dutch culture of this time is captured here, and the young girl is learning her role as a woman form her mother.
​
Pieter De Hooch (1629-1677)
-
Known for his interiors providing an intimate glimpse into Dutch houses as women and children go about their daily chores.
-
Found the structure and materials of rooms as interesting as the people.
-
Part of a group of Dutch painters.
-
Wanted to express the values of cleanliness, orderliness, rectitude. Placed a high value on home, marriage, cleanliness and the importance of teaching children these values.
-
Famous for the amount of interior space he could portray in one picture (frame)
-
Using shifts of light and scale, texture and mood, de Hooch has condensed a complex setting into a single, well-ordered frame, faithfully mirroring reality.
3. Young Fisherman, Jeremiah Pearson Hardy, American (1880-1887)
William A Farnsworth Museum
Jeremiah Pearson Hardy (1800–1888) was a painter who spent most of his career in Bangor, Maine and specialized in portraits. This young fisherman is learning the family trade by doing.
​
What trade/hobby/skill have the kids learned from a parent or grandparent?
Diego Rivera was one of the greatest modern Mexican artists. He was friendly with Picasso and learned from his cubist style. He also was influenced by native Mexican art. Perhaps Rivera is most famous for his mura1s which are done with the classic fresco method. These murals are artistically amazing but they also convey the plight and dreams of the Mexican people.
4. Mother’s Helper, 1950, Diego Rivera, Mexican (1886-1975)
Additional images from Diego Revera
​
The Flower Carrier (left)
“El Vendedor de
Alcatraces” translates to “Calla Lily Vendor” (right)
5. Young Man Sharpening his Pencil, 1737,
Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin (shar-den), French (1699-1779)
Chardin liked to paint people doing everyday things. This boy spent his school days doing much the same things you do, but look how differently he dressed. Notice the tri-cornered hat, the hair, the “waistcoat". To keep his papers, he used a portfolio instead of a notebook. Notice his pencil with
chalk on one end and graphite on the other. He used a knife instead of a pencil sharpener.
Chardin was born in Paris in 1699 and lived and painted there until his death in 1779. His private life seemed sad but his paintings give dignity to the common man. He learned from the Dutch painters who preceded him how to paint the commonplace and ordered space.
6. Domino Players, 1943 by Horace Pippin, American (1888 - 1946)
Horace Pippin was a self-taught African-American painter. The injustice of slavery and American segregation figure prominently in many of his works.
​
Domino Players depicts a domestic scene, in which three individuals are playing dominoes while another looks on. The piece is held by the Phillips Collection. The New York Times praised the piece for "bringing a seldom-recorded existence vividly to life." This intimate scene shows how family traditions are passed on from one generation to the next.
