Teaching with Inflammatory News Coverage

Last month a clip was posted online of the conservative commentator Glenn Beck condemning Rockefeller Center. While it is nice to see part of the canon of American art history in the news, many academics lamented his factual errors and a-historical treatment of the visual program. This leaves a dilemma of how to respond intellectually to it. Should we ignore this type of coverage, thus leaving it uncorrected? Or should it be brought into the classroom so as to rigorously engage with it? I think it would take the better part of an hour to do it justice, but holding a classroom discussion about this material could be a lot of fun to teach.

One possibility would be to have the class read a scholarly essay about Rockefeller Center and also walk through a building on campus that is adorned with art as homework. I would use Posvar Hall at the University of Pittsburgh, built during the 1970s. Ask each student to bring in one page of typed notes, which focus on the content of the art in both places.

Say to the class that whatever the merits of Rockefeller Center's visual environment is, it was clearly meant to be meaningful to the people of New York during the 1930s. Also, whatever the merits of Posvar Hall is, it was clearly meant to be meaningful to the university community during the 1970s. Divide the class into groups. Have each group share a reason that the University of Pittsburgh is an important school, and a reason that New York is an important city. Try to keep the lists parallel in structure, even if that means adding things as the instructor that the students are unaware of. Ask students to compare the total message a viewer is left with from the art in Rockefeller Center with the total message a viewer is left with in Posvar Hall. Make sure that they address which environment is better at speaking to local people, creating an aesthetically pleasing environment, and providing an important message.

Then say that art objects have living histories, and that each generation redefines its relationship to them. The goal is to think, as a class, about whether Rockefeller Center and Posvar Hall continue to speak to the people of today. Say that you have one example of a person with a strong opinion of Rockefeller Center for them to use as a springboard in their discussion. Show the video while they are in groups, with the instruction to write down 5 things that are factually correct with the interpretation by Glenn Beck, 5 things that are factually wrong, and 5 agendas that Beck has. When the video is done have each group share items with the class that they have written down. Then have the class discuss which environment continues to speak better to the people of today—Rockefeller Center or Posvar Hall. Finally have the class vote on which environment they find most personally meaningful.

The Early Americas at Library of Congress

Useful for those doing courses in American or Precolumbian art, the Library of Congress's Exploring the Early Americas

"features selections from the more than 3,000 rare maps, documents, paintings, prints, and artifacts that make up the Jay I. Kislak Collection at the Library of Congress. It provides insight into indigenous cultures, the drama of the encounters between Native Americans and European explorers and settlers, and the pivotal changes caused by the meeting of the American and European worlds. The exhibition includes two extraordinary maps by Martin Waldseemüller created in 1507 and 1516, which depict a world enlarged by the presence of the Western Hemisphere."

If you follow the links to the Exhibition Themes, there are images of numerous objects with copious information. There are also interactive presentations.

It's not clear from the website how long this exhibition will be up at the Library, but the online content should be up indefinitely.

Image Resources Online at Library of Congress

The Library of Congress has loads of amazing images online, and is adding more regularly (see Exhibitions page). Here are just a few of the many to consider when putting together courses.

The Empire That Was Russia: The Prokudin-Gorskii Photographic Record Recreated is an amazing collection of early twentieth-century color photographs from Czarist Russia. Prokudin-Gorskii traveled all over the empire photographing its inhabitants using a system of three cameras with separate filters. This would be great for use in history of photography courses and for Russian art.

Online exhibition on Leonardo's Study for Adoration of the Magi.

Arthur Szyk: Artist for Freedom. Work by a Jewish antifascist cartoonist and miniaturist, mostly around the time of World War II.

The Floating World of Ukiyo-E: Shadows, Dreams, and Substance. "This exhibition showcases the Library's spectacular holdings of Japanese prints, books, and drawings from the 17th to the 19th centuries. These works are complemented by related works from the Library's collections created by Japanese and Westerns artists into the 20th century."

Frank Lloyd Wright: Designs for an American Landscape, 1922-1932.

A Heavenly Craft: The Woodcut in Early Printed Books.

The Work of Charles and Ray Eames: A Legacy of Invention. Showcases the designs of this legendary team. Lots of images.

Life of the People: Realist Prints and Drawings from the Ben and Beatrice Goldstein Collection, 1912-1948. Includes works by Sloan, Benton, and other American artists of the first half of the twentieth century. This would make a good supplement to Frances Pohl's Framing America text.

The Library of Congress has many more exhibitions, plus images such as early photographs and daguerreotypes, early sheet music covers, and so forth.