KALAMAZOO INSTITUTE OF ARTS
Pursuits and Pleasures: Baroque Paintings from
the Detroit Institute of Arts
(September 27, 2003-January 4, 2004)
RTventures Educator’s Guide
There are many reasons to visit the KIA! Museum visits:
• address curriculum standards in art, history and language arts.
• use original objects to express ideas in powerful ways.
• cultivate observation and critical thinking.
• encourage language development.
Please take a few moments to review this packet. Inside you’ll find important and
helpful information about your ARTventure tour and the Pursuits and Pleasures
exhibition. This guide also includes ideas that will integrate the visual arts into
other subject areas. These resources and materials will help you design pre- and
post-visit activities that will make your museum visit a significant educational
experience. As with any classroom materials, teachers are best able to adapt
these materials to meet the needs of their classroom or group.
INSIDE:
FYI
Important information for group leaders.
Museum Manners
How art museum rules help protect the art.
Curriculum Connections
Related Michigan Curriculum Content Standards
Teacher Resources
Brief History of Baroque Art
Bibliography and On-line Resources
Vocabulary List
Timeline
A listing of world events contemporary with the Baroque era.
Classroom Activities
Ideas that extend your ARTventure fun and learning into the classroom.
How to be a Great Chaperone
A hand-out for your trip chaperones.
Kalamazoo Institute of Arts • 314 S. Park Street • Kalamazoo MI • 269/349/7775 • www.kiarts.org
F. Y. I.
Important
Information about
your ARTventure
Tour
Name Tags
Name tags for students, teachers and chaperones are very helpful. Large,
bold lettering helps docents address each group member by name.
Small Groups
Please divide your class/large group into smaller groups for touring before
arriving at the KIA. Typically, a classroom will be divided into 2 groups of 10 to
15 students each. Preschool groups may be smaller. Your tour confirmation will
note the number of small groups needed.
Chaperones
One adult for every small group is required. Please review and share the
enclosed How to be a Great Chaperone handout with your volunteer chaperones. We suggest you discourage parent chaperones from bringing toddlers
and small children along. It is often distracting and makes it harder for them to
assist when needed during the trip.
Arrival
Please arrive at the South Street entrance five minutes before your tour is
scheduled to begin. Your group will be met in the museum lobby. Call the
museum receptionist at 269/349-7775 if you will be more than ten minutes late.
Docents will wait 20 minutes for groups. After that time, we reserve the right to
cancel or shorten your tour.
Coats, backpacks, umbrellas, etc. are not permitted in the galleries and must
be stored in the cloakroom or left on your bus.
Photography
Photos may not be taken in the galleries as flash photography is harmful to the
artwork and copyright restrictions prohibit photography of artwork. Photography in the lobby and outside the museum is permitted.
Transportation
All groups must arrange their own transportation. Your confirmation contains
directions to the museum and information on parking.
Museum
Manners
How art museum
rules help protect
the art.
Please share and
discuss this information
with your students.
Art museums have two purposes. We want as many people as possible to
see and enjoy the works of art. We also need to take care of and preserve
works of art so they will last for hundreds of years. By remembering your
Museum Manners when you visit the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts (and other art
museums) you will help the museum accomplish both goals.
1
You cannot touch any of the art because the oils on your fingertips (even if
your hands look clean) will make the work of art dirty. If everyone
touched, the art would be ruined, and no one would be able to enjoy it.
We want it to last as long as possible.
2
3
4
5
Please walk in the museum. You cannot run in the museum because we
don’t want you or the art to get hurt.
Use quiet voices during your tour; other people are trying to enjoy their
visit too.
Stay with your group. Be ready to look carefully and think about what you
see. Your docent will ask you to share your ideas about the works of art!
Gum, food and drinks are not allowed in the galleries because spills could
damage the works of art.
Along with being exciting and fun, ARTventure Tours are filled with learning experiences that address Michigan’s Content Standards.
Students may:
Analyze, describe and evaluate works of art.
Arts Education Content Standard 3
Understand, analyze and describe the arts in their historical, social and cultural
context.
Arts Education Content Standard 4
Recognize, analyze and describe connections among the arts, between the arts
and other disciplines and between the arts and everyday life.
Arts Education Content Standard 5
Related
Michigan
Curriculum
Content
Standards
Visual Arts
Language Arts
Social Studies
Focus on meaning and communication as they listen, speak, view, read and write
in personal, social, occupational and civic contexts.
English Language Arts Content Standard 3
Demonstrate, analyze, and reflect upon the skills and process used to communicate through listening, speaking, viewing, reading and writing.
English Language Arts Content Standard 7
Develop and apply personal, shared, and academic criteria for the enjoyment,
appreciation and evaluation of their own and others’ oral, written, and visual texts.
English Language Arts Content Standard 12
Learn about the people who created and appreciated these objects.
Social Studies Strand 1-Historical Perspective;
Content Standard 2-Comprehending the Past.
Appreciate these objects as historical documents.
Social Studies Strand 1-Historical Perspective;
Content Standard 3-Analyzing and Interpreting the Past
• Observing, discussing and interpreting paintings instructs our understanding of
past cultures and history.
• Looking at art objects increases visual literacy and the ability to articulate
meaning.
• Learning about objects from the past informs the way we use objects in our
lives, forming a link between the present and the past.
Big Ideas to
Think About!
Teacher
Resources
Pursuits and Pleasures is the largest loan of European paintings from the Detroit
Institute of Arts to travel the state of Michigan. The exhibit consists of 35 Dutch,
Flemish, French, Italian and British paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries and
features landscapes, portraits, still lifes, genre and architectural paintings.
The focus of the exhibition is on secular, naturalistic subjects which were immensely popular at the time, though considered to be of lesser importance than
grand religious, historical or mythological subjects of the period.
Common Themes:
• Expression of emotion through the use of dramatic lighting and exaggerated
movement
• Depiction of ideal beauty (though the ideal varied from artist to artist and
place to place)
A (Very) Brief Overview of Baroque Art
The paintings in Pursuits and Pleasures are from what we refer to as the Baroque
period. Baroque and late Baroque (or Rococo) are general terms that are applied
to European art of the 17th and 18th centuries (1600-1800). The term “baroque” is
derived from the French barocco, meaning “imperfect pearl.” The differences
between the baroque pearl and a “normal” one are comparable to those between
Baroque art and classical art. Unlike an art movement such as Impressionism,
with its signature brushstrokes of light and color, the Baroque does not have one
singular identifiable style. Artists from the five countries represented in the exhibition–Italy, France, Holland, Flanders and England–responded to their own unique
political and social circumstances. There was also a bit of artistic cross-fertilization across national boundaries.
As different as the artworks could be, there are a few things that all varieties of
Baroque painting had in common. First, Baroque painters emphasized the expression of emotion in their work. Dramatic lighting and exaggerated movement
were two tools that these artists used to depict and express strong feelings. A
second shared aspect was the depiction of “ideal beauty”, although each artist
and national school of the Baroque period interpreted “beauty” differently. While
some aimed for a kind of abstracted perfection, others believed that a down-toearth depiction of reality could also be beautiful.
During the Baroque period both the physical and cultural maps of Europe began to
resemble their current forms. A global economy reliant on international trade took
hold and a growing middle class began to wield some influence. The conflict
between the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation, begun
in the 16th century, set the stage in the Baroque period for competing types of art.
The focus of Pursuits and Pleasures is on secular works rather than religious
subjects.
Although monarchical rule remained the norm, the royal pendulum often swung
from one extreme or the other. While the English executed their king and instituted a limited monarchy during this period, France saw Louis XIV extend the
powers of the king to reach new cultural and political heights. In short, if the
Baroque period lacks a consistent artistic “style” it was probably because it was
not a very consistent time!
A Brief Overview of Subjects in Pursuits and Pleasures
Landscape Painting
Landscape painting in Western art originated in medieval times when painters
added cursory landscapes to provide settings for biblical imagery. These
landscapes gradually began to take on more signficance and in the 1500s, the
landscape began to be considered a particular genre of painting. Until the end
of the 1700s, all landscapes were painted in the studio, even if they were based
on sketches done outdoors from nature.
Some landscape paintings presented the idea of the countryside as a delightful
and relaxing place of retreat from the cares of the city. But townscapes were
also popular in the Netherlands and Italy in the 1600s. They were visual souvenirs, reflecting local and civic pride. With their bright light and peaceful,
harmonious scenes, they depicted a disciplined, urban environment. Unseen is
the hustle, bustle, dirt and disorder of city life.
Landscape with a Waterfall, 17th c.
Jacob Isaaksz van Ruisdael
Dutch, 1628-1682
Never wholly objective, landscape paintings reflect attitudes toward the natural
world and our place in it. They might portray the untamed, natural environment
as “sublime” or depict cultivated land to suggest a more ordered relationship
between man and nature. Landscape may show changes made by humans,
such as fortifications, buildings and towns. In Protestant Europe, artists crated
idealized landscapes as symbols of God’s creation that suggest his presence.
Landscape could also be used to suggest the brevity of human life and endeavor when measured against the permanence of the natural world. Landscape, even if no one is present, implies a human viewer and is understood in
terms of human existence.
Genre Painting
The word “genre” is from the Latin word “genus” meaning “kind or variety”. It
may refer to an artistic style or type. In this exhibition, it is used to describe
paintings which deal with ordinary pastimes, rather than heroic deeds taken
from history and mythology. Genre paintings reveal much about the social
climate that influenced both the choice of subjects and the popularity of the
paintings. Genre subjects also allowed artists freedom to experiment with style
and technique.
Many genre paintings explore our sensual experience of the world. The link
between romantic love and music was a popular genre subject as well. Paintings might depict the five senses and allow artists the opportunity to include still
life elements. They may also use signals, symbols or archetypal situations in
daily life to allude to the universal.
Like all art of the Baroque era, genre painting was expected to serve a moral
purpose. The depiction of virtue in daily life allowed contemporary viewers to
instantly appreciate a moral message. Characters tended to be generic types,
not individuals. Pictures of the poor shown as foolish and depraved might warn
against dangers of excess while the sanitized and deserving poor might convey a moral message about the virtues of hard work and faith.
Mother Nursing Her Child, 1674-76
Pieter de Hooch, Dutch, 1629-84
Still Life Painting
The term “Still Life” was first coined in the mid-1600s when depictions of objects
previously seen as details in larger paintings became the subject of independent
paintings intended to stand alone. Netherlandish artists played a key role in the
development of still life.
Still Life with Fruit, Vegetables
and Dead Game, c. 1635-37
Frans Snyders, Flemish, 15791657
Still life grew in popularity in the 1600s. It was collected by both traditional patrons
of art and the emerging middle class, especially in the Netherlands where the
Calvinist reformed church prohibited the production of religious images. With few
church commissions, artists concentrated on secular subjects in portraiture,
landscape and still life. A modern art market emerged as artists survived by
selling works through picture dealers and auction houses.
The international trade that was the basis for much of Dutch wealth was the
subject of many still lifes. The array of precious objects reflects the quality and
variety of goods which could be purchased by merchants and burghers. These
smaller paintings, based on the real world, were more immediate in their appeal
and more suitable for hanging in modest-sized homes. The illusion of reality was
much admired. The still life painter sought to represent objects of different forms
and textures with mastery, developing various methods of painting and technique.
Although most still lifes were produced in the Netherlands, artists all over Europe
turned to the genre. During the 1600s, the symbolism of objects in still life became increasingly varied and complex. In the Dutch Republic, “emblem books”
were even produced which drew moral lessons from the material world. Artists
exploited the symbolic meanings given to objects in their paintings. The connection of the still life to the real world continued to make it challenging and appealing
as painting moved away from the academies and into the realm of individual
expression.
Portraiture
A portrait is an image in which the artist’s main concern is to characterize the
sitter as an individual. A commissioned portrait is an authorized, approved view of
the subject. Portraits may be commissioned as public statements, to portray
power and importance. They were also created for a single viewer, perhaps an
absent friend or loved one.
Face and figures are only one method of conveying information about the subject
in a portrait. Clothing carries information about social standing and professional
position. The setting and objects included also carry meaning. Figures are
sometimes surrounded by tools and attributes of their trade.
Portrait of a Lady, 1740
W illiam Hogarth, English,
1697-1764
The function of a portrait is always commemorative–it is always painted with the
future in mind. In the twentieth century, we began to rely on photography to show
us what we looked like at different stages in life. Today, portraits are most often
painted as a choice of the artist to portray friends or family.
• Fleming, William. Arts and Ideas. New York: Holt, Reinhart and Winston,
1980. A study of the “creative relations of artists, philsophers and
composers”with a large section on the Baroque humanities.
Bibliography
and On-line
Resources
• Hobbs, Jack A. and Robert L. Duncan. Arts, Ideas and Civilization.
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc. 1989. This text is a
cultural survey including the 17th and 18th centuries. Contains an extensive study of the period’s music, including theory and biographies of composers.
• Pursuits and Pleasures: Baroque Paintings from the Detroit Institute of
Arts, 2003. Exhibition Catalogue available in the KIA Museum Shop.
• Sporre, Dennis J. The Creative Impulse: An Introduction to the Arts.
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc. 1987. Information not
only on the art and artists of this era, but also on music, philosophy, literature, and theater.
• Stokstad, Marilyn. Art History, Vol. 2. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
1999. Chapter on Baroque era subdivided into the art of different cultures.
Provides a good introduction to the period adn the art historical context in
which it is situated.
• Barron’s Art Handbooks:
tional Series, Inc. 1998.
•
Baroque Painting.
New York:
Barron’s Educa-
BaroqueWebring-http://h.webring.com/hub?ring=baroque&list&page=1
• ArtLex Art Dictionary-http://www.artlex.com
• Artchive-http://www.artchive.com
• Art History LInks-www.wit combe.sbc.edu.ARTHL inks.html
• Cox, Michael. Incredible Art, 1998 ISBN# 8427221312.
Covers the history of art in a humorous, yet educational way that draws in
a young reader. Grades 5-8
• Discovering Great Artists: Hands-on Art for Children in the Styles of the
Great Masters. ISBN# 0935607099. Ages 4-8.
• Janson’s History of Art for Young People. ISBN# 0810941503
Good general art history book geared for younger students. Grades 5-10.
• King, Penny.
Landscapes, ISBN# 0865058636, ages 9-12.
Portraits, ISBN# 0865058601, ages 9-12.
• Lincoln, Frances. Dan’s Angel: A Detective Guide to the Language of
Painting. Encourages children to search for small details and symbolism
in paintings. ISBN# 0711218854, ages 5-10.
• Wolfe, Gillian. Oxford First Book of Art, ISBN# 0195215567, ages. 7-13
Books for Kids
Vocabulary
Allegory
Using human figures or objects in art to tell a story with a message.
Baroque
A term coined by art historians to describe the prevailing style in Western
European art from c. 1580-early 18th century. Baroque art is any art that
shows qualities of vigorous movement, emotional intensity and dramatic
contrasts of light and dark.
Background
In a landscape, the area of the image at the farthest distance from the
picture plane.
Bala nce
A sense of stability, sometimes symmetry, established by the way
forms, lines and colors are placed within a painting.
Color
What the eye sees when light is reflected from it. Hue is the color in its
most intense form. Value refers to the differences in hue ranging from the
lightest to darkest. Primary colors (red, blue, yellow) cannot be produced
by mixing other colors together. Secondary colors (orange, violet, green)
are created by mixing primary colors.
Composition
The way shapes, color, line, space, mass and objects are arranged and
organized in a work of art.
Docent
From the Latin word docere, meaning to teach. Docents are specially
trained volunteer museum guides.
Elements of Art
The basic components used by the artist when producing works of art–
color, value, line, shape, form, texture, and space. These elements are
found in any artwork.
Foreground
In a landscape, the area of the image that is closest to the picture plane.
Form
Shape with three dimensions—height, width, and depth.
Genre Painting
A category of painting depicting scenes of everyday life, including
(among others) domestic interiors, merry companies, inn and street
sce n e s.
Horizon line
In a landscape, the horizontal “line” formed by the actual or implied
meeting point of the earth and sky.
Landscape
Painting that depicts a scene from nature in which the place or the land
itself becomes the main subject.
Line
The path of a moving point. It can be vertical, horizontal, diagonal,
curved, angular, zigzag, bent, straight, interrupted, thick, thin.
Middle Ground
In a landscape, the area that takes up the middle distance of the image.
Modeling
In painting, the process of creating the illusion of 3D on a 2D surface by
use of light and shade.
Portrait
A likeness made of a person created by an artist, such as a painter or
photographer.
Realistic
The artist tries to depict objects as they are seen.
Space
Actual (open air around sculpture or architecture) or implied (represented
by control of size, color, overlapping).
Still Life
A picture of an object or group of objects which implies an absence of
people or activity.
Texture
Surface treatment ranging from very smooth to quite rough. It can be real
or implied.
Value
The gradual change of lightness to darkness, white to black, used to
suggest roundness or depth.
Classroom
Activities
A successful ARTventure starts well before students board the bus. As all teachers
know, advance planning greatly increases what students will get out of a learning
experience. Educators are encouraged to visit the museum in preparation for their
visit. With an appointment, the museum education staff is happy to provide teacher
orientations. Just call 269-349-7775 and ask for Susan Eckhardt (ext. 3161) or
Michelle Stempien (ext. 3162).
The following activities and information can be used before or after a museum visit.
They can be adapted for many grade levels. These activities help promote a sense
of inquiry and purpose and help students make connections between what they are
studying in the classroom and their museum experience.
Pre-Visit
Collecting and Collections
Relate the collecting function of museums to students’ own collections or those of
family and friends. Have them bring in things from their collections. Have them show
and tell how they became interested in what they collect, how they add to their collection, how they organize and take care of it, which they consider the most valuable or
special and how they feel about it. Discuss how museums obtain their collections.
Conserving Artwork
Discuss the term “conservation” and its meaning in relation to museums. Explain
that one of the serious threats to the objects in museums is the visitors. Take a
sheet of plain, white paper and cut it in half and pass it around the whole class.
Compare the two pieces and discuss how handling it for that short time has altered it.
Discuss “Museum Manners” in relation to conservation issues. When they visit the
museum, ask students to notice all the things that are showing signs of deterioration.
Ask them to notice all the things that the museum does to try and keep objects safe.
Vocabulary
See this packet for an art vocabulary list. Build up and post a list of vocabulary
words, with a pronunciation guide, relating to the trip. Practice pronunciation and
spelling and ask students to speculate on meaning. Write down their ideas, then
assign them to listen and learn more about a term or terms during their tour. Afterwards, go over their earlier definitions to see which ones were closest, most different,
funniest and so on.
Map Reading
Introduce map-reading skills in connection with the Baroque exhibition. Look at a
map that shows Italy, France, England and the Netherlands from the 1600s-1800s.
Talk about the cities that were established, the kinds of products produced in each
country and have students draw their own maps.
Post-Visit
Sketching a Still Life
Display an object or group of objects that all students can see easily, or divide the
class into small groups and provide each group with an object. Ask students to
sketch the object being sure to include its most distinctive features. Place a light
source somewhere next to the display and talk about how the light casts shadows on
the objects. Encourage students to add light and dark areas to their sketches to give
the still life a more 3D look. Play Baroque music while they work.
Research-Past Lives
There were numerous children featured in paintings in the exhibit. Have students
research about children’s lives in the 1600s and 1700s in France, England, Italy,
and the Netherlands. What did they do for fun? Did they go to school? Did they
work? How were girls’ lives different from boys?
Research-American Stories from 1600-1800
Have students pick one American event that occurred between 1600-1800, the
Baroque period. Or they could pick a person who lived in that time. Students can
research and present reports or perform skits about their subject.
Research-Dutch Wealth
Find out some of the reasons for the high level of Dutch prosperity during the
Baroque era. Which colonies did the Dutch control and what materials did they
trade to produce their wealth? How did the location of the Netherlands position
the Dutch for their success as traders and merchants? Have the students create
a Dutch marketplace where they buy, sell, and trade various Dutch products.
Creative Writing
Have students write poems, essays and stories based on their tour topic and
experiences. Encourage them to use their imagination to write about “What If...”
(What if X could talk? What if you lived at X time?) Have them create an imaginary diary for a character seen in a portrait, or imagine they were the artist reporting on how or why they created a work of art.
Murals
Have students create murals about either the topic of the trip or their museum
experiences.
Letters
Have students write thank-you notes and letters to their chaperones, docents and
parents about their trip experiences.
Evaluating your
ARTventure
Each field trip you take makes the next one easier and more effective. Think
about all three phases of your field trip (pre- and post-trip activities as well as the
museum visit itself). Check over your list of objectives and ask yourself if the
feedback you solicited from your students enabled you to tell if you met your
objectives.
Finally, please return the ARTventure Tour Evaluation form you received the day
of your visit to the KIA Museum Education Department. Your ideas, comments
and feedback help us improve our program offerings.
Exhibition Pursuits & Pleasures: Baroque Paintings from the Detroit Institute of Ar ts
Sponsors was organized by the host museums in cooperation with the Detroit Insti-
tute of Arts and is supported by a grant from the National Endowment for
the Arts, Michigan Humanities Council, Marshall Fields, and the Michigan
Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs with local support from Fifth Third
B an k .