The Artist as Muse Sheldon Statewide Exhibition 2021– 22 Learning Guide
The Artist as Muse Sheldon Statewide Exhibition 2021–22 Artists have often turned to people around them—family, friends, and lovers—for inspiration in making portraits. As an artist draws, paints, or photographs a likeness, they reveal their impression of their sitter’s personality and give clues to the nuances of the relationship the two share with one another. As a result, the viewer gains understanding of both the artist and the model. The Artist as Muse intensifies these traditional notions about portraiture by featuring fourteen portraits for which all parties involved are artists, including three examples of makers who turned their gaze onto themselves to create self-portraits. In doing so, the exhibition considers how a viewer’s responses to such portraits may be shaped by the artist making the work, the artist being depicted, and the rapport between them.
Tap this icon to view an expanded video introduction to The Artist as Muse. Look for other icons with select artworks in this guide to watch and learn more.
The Sheldon Statewide series receives funding support from Farmers Mutual Insurance Company of Nebraska, Rhonda Seacrest, the Nebraska Arts Council and Nebraska Cultural Endowment, and the Sheldon Art Association.
The Artist as Muse Sheldon Statewide Exhibition 2021–22
George Benjamin Luks
Milton Avery Self-Portrait
Portrait of Robert Henri
Alexander Brook Peggy Bacon and Metaphysics
Arnold Newman Milton Avery from the Portraits portfolio
Weegee Hexagonal Andy Warhol
David Hockney Man Ray
Andy Warhol Duane Hanson
Arnold Newman Pablo Picasso from the Portraits portfolio
Robert Arneson Jackson
Jim Dine Bathrobe
Point of Departure Abstraction 1958–Present August–December 2021
Dwight Kirsch Self-Portrait
Read about the artists in The Artist as Muse Educator Resources
Betye Saar A Handful of Stars
Robert Haiko Portrait of Minor White
Robert Haiko Portrait of Linda Connor
Christopher Felver Christo, Sun Valley 1984
George Benjamin Luks
Williamsport, PA 1867–New York, NY 1933 Portrait of Robert Henri 1902 Oil on canvas Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Gift of Mrs. Olga N. Sheldon U-274.1960
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George Benjamin Luks met Robert Henri around 1894 in Philadelphia, where Luks worked as a newspaper illustrator until Henri convinced him to attempt painting. This portrait was made six years before Henri organized a groundbreaking exhibition to advocate for greater artistic independence from the art academies. Henri’s influence on Luks is visible here in the dark color palette and broad brushstrokes.
George Benjamin Luks Portrait of Robert Henri
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Alexander Brook
New York, NY 1898–Sag Harbor, NY 1980 Peggy Bacon and Metaphysics 1935 Oil on canvas Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Anna R. and Frank M. Hall Charitable Trust H-198.1939
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In this portrait of his fellow artist and wife Peggy Bacon, Alexander Brook highlighted two significant aspects of her personality: her keen observational skills and her great love of cats. Mirroring those of her cat Metaphysics, Bacon’s wide, doe-like eyes speak to her perceptiveness and strong wit. These characteristics are evident in the many caricatures Bacon created and for which she is now best known. Here, Brook represents Bacon’s affinity for felines with her loving cradle of Metaphysics. It is also seen in the numerous sketches of cats Bacon made throughout her life, including those in The True Philosopher and Other Cat Tales, which she wrote and illustrated in 1919.
Alexander Brook Peggy Bacon and Metaphysics
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David Hockney
born Bradford, England 1937 Man Ray 1974 Color lithograph Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Gift of Jacques Koek U-4341.1991
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In this print, David Hockney, one of the most important British artists working today, depicted Man Ray, an influential photographer and painter working during the early twentieth century. Although it is not known whether the two artists knew each other well, they met at least once in Paris. Hockney’s admiration for the older artist is unmistakable in this work. He surrounded his sitter with a number of objects, including a chessboard, which is a nod to Man Ray’s designs for the game.v
David Hockney Man Ray
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Arnold Newman
New York, NY 1918–New York, NY 2006 Pablo Picasso from the Portraits portfolio 1954; printed 1972 Gelatin silver print Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Anna R. and Frank M. Hall Charitable Trust H-1993.4.1974
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During his career, Arnold Newman made countless photographs of artists, using a large-format camera to include as much detail of the artists’ works and studio surroundings as possible. In this portrait of the Spanish cubist painter Pablo Picasso, Newman departed from his usual practice by tightly cropping the frame and placing great emphasis on Picasso’s head, from where the ideas that revolutionized painting had sprung.
Arnold Newman Pablo Picasso from the Portraits portfolio
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Jim Dine
born Cincinnati, OH 1935 Bathrobe 1967 Etching Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Gift of Jacques Koek, U-4337.1991
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Jim Dine, a multidisciplinary artist who makes paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, photographs, stages happenings, and writes poetry, uses the motif of the bathrobe, which he borrowed from an advertisement published in The New York Times in 1964, as a metaphor for his self-portrait. While he did not depict a human form in this print, the physicality of the bathrobe, an everyday object that alludes to his interest in pop art, suggests a standing figure who may be imagined to be the artist. Yet, the absence of a physical body also adds an element of anonymity to this print; it is simultaneously a self-portrait of Dine and a portrait of everyone.
Jim Dine Bathrobe
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Milton Avery
Altmar, NY 1885–New York, NY 1965 Self-Portrait 1930 Oil on canvas mounted on board Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Howard S. Wilson Memorial U-460.1965
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In this self-portrait, Milton Avery presented himself as a brooding figure, his dark cap casting a heavy shadow over his eyes. In addition to emphasizing his personality, he also highlighted his knowledge of the most cutting-edge artistic trends practiced in Europe by artists such as Matisse and Picasso by deliberately flattening the threedimensional nature of his face and torso.
Milton Avery Self-Portrait
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Arnold Newman
New York, NY 1918–New York, NY 2006 Milton Avery from the Portraits portfolio 1954; printed 1972 Gelatin silver print Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Anna R. and Frank M. Hall Charitable Trust H-1993.8.1974
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Almost thirty years after he painted his SelfPortrait, which is on view nearby, Milton Avery sat in front of one of his late paintings for this “environmental portrait” by Arnold Newman, who is best known for placing sitters in their studios to evoke the essence of their lives and work. Sporting a beret and his signature mustache, albeit grayer than in the earlier painting,
Arnold Newman
Avery leaned back in his chair, gazing at the
Milton Avery from the Portraits portfolio
camera in a way that suggests a quiet pride at completing the painting in the background.
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Weegee
Zolochiv, Ukraine 1899–New York, NY 1968 Hexagonal Andy Warhol circa 1960 Gelatin silver print Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Olga N. Sheldon Acquisition Trust U-5383.1999
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Weegee, who is best known as a news photographer and was one of the first to crossover from commercial to fine art, made this image by photographing Andy Warhol through a prism that caused the sitter’s face to repeat six times. Wearing dark glasses and gazing off to the upper right of the camera, Warhol is decidedly inaccessible to both the viewer and the photographer. His aloofness conceals any admiration he might have had for Weegee, who was a role model for Warhol as he made a similar transition from commercial
Weegee
illustration to fine art.
Hexagonal Andy Warhol
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Andy Warhol
Pittsburgh, PA 1928–New York, NY 1987 Duane Hanson 1977 Polacolor Type 108 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Gift of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts U-5499.58.2008
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Beginning in the 1960s, Andy Warhol constantly carried a Polaroid camera with him. He used this cutting-edge technology to make instant photographs of everyone he saw, including celebrities, fellow artists, collectors, and friends, to use as source material for his other works of art. Here, Warhol’s snapshot of Duane Hanson is taken at close range to feature the sculptor’s face and left hand. By photographing Hanson in this way, Warhol placed great emphasis on the tools Hanson used to create his hyperrealistic sculptures of everyday people.
Andy Warhol Duane Hanson
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Robert Arneson
Benicia, CA 1930–Benicia, CA 1992 Jackson 1987 Enamel over color lithograph on paper Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Robert E. Schweser and Fern Beardsley Schweser Acquisition Fund, through the University of Nebraska Foundation U-5478.2006
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Between 1982 and 1992, California sculptor and ceramicist Robert Arneson made over one hundred portraits of the influential abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock, even though the two had never met. In this example, Arneson first made a lithograph that defined the contours of Pollock’s head and shoulders and then flung enamel paint on top of the sheet in a way that mimicked the painter’s working process. The heavy swirls both conceal Pollock’s facial features and accentuate his wrinkles and brows in way that suggests an emotional state and inner psychology.
Robert Arneson Jackson
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Dwight Kirsch
Pawnee County, NE 1899–Colorado Springs, CO 1981 Self-Portrait circa 1936 Egg tempera on gesso panel Sheldon Museum of Art, Nebraska Art Association Gift of the artist N-314.1974
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Dwight Kirsch began his tenure as a professor of art at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 1924. He assumed the role of director of the University of Nebraska Art Galleries, the precursor to Sheldon Museum of Art, in 1936, around the time he made this selfportrait. Kirsch strategically set up a series of mirrors to give multiple views of himself at work. As a result, the repeating details of his furrowed brow and clenched jaw emphasize his concentration.
Dwight Kirsch Self-Portrait
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Betye Saar
born Los Angeles, CA 1926 A Handful of Stars 2016 Bronze with patina and walnut base Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Robert E. Schweser and Fern Beardsley Schweser Acquisition Fund, through the University of Nebraska Foundation U-6870.2019
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A Handful of Stars, a cast of Betye Saar’s left hand, is a highly personal but abstract selfportrait. Saar represents herself with an essential tool used to make her art—her hand. She adds nine stars to her palm and the sun to the back of her hand to reference her frequent studio practice of incorporating found objects in her sculptures.
Betye Saar A Handful of Stars
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Robert Haiko born 1942
Portrait of Minor White 1973 Gelatin silver print Sheldon Museum of Art, Sheldon Art Association Gift of John and Daryl Lillie S-1165.2017
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Robert Haiko born 1942
Portrait of Linda Connor 1976 Gelatin silver print Sheldon Museum of Art, Sheldon Art Association Gift of John and Daryl Lillie S-1167.2017
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In this pair of photographs, Robert Haiko documents two of his fellow photographereducators: Linda Connor and Minor White. As universities and schools began to formalize photography education, these artists shaped how photography was taught at their institutions. White helped establish the first fine photography department in the United States at the California School of the Fine Arts in San Francisco before teaching at
Robert Haiko Portrait of Minor White
the Rochester Institute of Technology and, later, at MIT. Haiko founded the photography and film program at the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut. Connor began her career and continues to teach at the San Francisco Art Institute.
Robert Haiko Portrait of Linda Connor
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Christopher Felver
born 1946, birthplace unknown Christo, Sun Valley 1984 1984 Gelatin silver print Sheldon Museum of Art, Sheldon Art Association Gift of John and Daryl Lillie S-1168.2017
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In this portrait, photographer Christopher Felver signaled his admiration for Christo, an artist best known for elaborate environmental installations he created with his partner Jeanne Claude. Felver placed his sitter in front of a painting wrapped in paper and twine in a way that evokes Christo’s practice of wrapping objects, including buildings and islands, in fabric. Additionally, Felver’s treatment of the twine and painting recalls the crisp folds in a cloth of honor, usually hung vertically behind a throne or religious figures in Venetian Renaissance paintings, such as the example shown below.
Christopher Felver Christo, Sun Valley 1984
Giovanni Bellini, Madonna and Child, late 1480s Oil on wood, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
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The Artists in The Artist as Muse George Benjamin Luks (1867–1933) A painter and graphic artist associated with the so-called Ashcan School, George Benjamin Luks was a Realist who depicted the unidealized scenes of everyday urban life.
• americanart.si.edu/artist/george-luks-3015
• npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.78.53
• www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ashc/hd_ashc.htm
Robert Henri (1865–1929) Born Robert Henry Cozad, Robert Henri moved with his family from Ohio to Nebraska during the 1870s homesteading era, where his father founded the town of Cozad. After his father killed a local rancher over a land dispute, the family changed their names and moved east. Henri attended art school in Philadelphia and in Paris, before returning to Philadelphia and then settling in New York City. An influential painter, exhibition organizer, and art teacher, he was the founding figure of the Ashcan group of urban realists. Among Henri’s most well-known students were George Bellows, Stuart Davis, and Edward Hopper.
• www.roberthenrimuseum.org
• www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.1391.html
• americanart.si.edu/artist/robert-henri-2171
Alexander Brook (1898–1980) A Realist painter, Alexander Brook studied for four years at the Art Students League in New York City and later served on the school’s faculty. He was also the assistant director of the Whitney Studio Club, later known as the Whitney Museum of Art.
• americanart.si.edu/artist/alexander-brook-591
• thejohnsoncollection.org/alexander-brook/
Peggy Bacon (1895–1987) Peggy Bacon was a painter, portrait painter, caricaturist, illustrator, lithographer, writer, and art educator, who studied at the Art Students League with John Sloan and George Bellows. She illustrated more than 64 children’s books and many of her satirical sketches appeared in The New Yorker and Town and Country magazines.
• americanart.si.edu/artist/peggy-bacon-195
• www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.2952.html
• www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/372453
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David Hockney (b. 1937) Painter, draftsman, printmaker, stage designer, and photographer, David Hockney is an artist who continuously changes his style and ways of working. An important contributor to Pop Art, he is known for creating portraits, images of Los Angeles swimming pools, and landscapes.
• www.hockney.com/home
• www.pacegallery.com/artists/david-hockney/
• www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/david-hockney-1293
Man Ray (1890–1976) Born Emmanuel Radnitzky, Man Ray was associated with Dada and Surrealism, and was a lifelong friend of fellow artist Marcel Duchamp. He experimented with chance and spontaneity in his art making, which spanned mediums ranging from painting and photography to sculpture and film. He is best remembered for his rayographs, a technique of creating photographs without using a camera.
• www.moma.org/artists/3716
• www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/265487
• www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/man-ray-1563
Arnold Newman (1918–2006) Arnold Newman was a renowned portrait photographer of world leaders, artists, rock stars, and others, and a pioneer of the environmental portrait, or capturing his subjects in their own environment and surroundings in order to reveal the essence of their life and work.
• www.howardgreenberg.com/artists/arnold-newman
• iphf.org/inductees/arnold-newman/
• arnoldnewman.com/index.html
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) A prolific artist, Pablo Picasso significantly impacted the development of modern and contemporary art— particularly with the visual language of Cubism that he and Georges Braque pioneered in the early 1910s.
• www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/pica/hd_pica.htm
• www.moma.org/artists/4609
• www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/pablo-picasso-1767
Jim Dine (b. 1935) Jim Dine’s extensive and varied art practice includes happenings, painting, assemblage, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, poetry, and more. Tools and items of clothing are recurring motifs in many of his works.
• americanart.si.edu/artist/jim-dine-1273
• www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.2474.html
• www.richardgraygallery.com/artists/jim-dine
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Milton Avery (1885–1965) In 1952, Milton Avery said, “I never have any rules to follow. I follow myself.” Known for landscapes, figures, and still lifes that employ simplified forms and lyrical color, Avery influenced such abstract expressionist artists as Mark Rothko, Adolph Gottlieb, and Barnett Newman.
• www.victoria-miro.com/artists/198-milton-avery/
• americanart.si.edu/artist/milton-avery-176
Weegee (1899–1968) A self-taught photographer, Weegee, born Usher Fellig, gained notoriety for taking sensational photographs of news events. His work as a freelance press photographer in New York City permitted him to install a police radio in his car, so he often was the first photographer on the scene. He began creating experimental portraits of celebrities and political figures in 1947 when he moved to Hollywood, before returning to New York in 1952.
• www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/weegee?all/all/all/all/0
• www.getty.edu/art/collection/artists/1851/weegee-arthur-fellig-american-born-austria-1899-1968/
Andy Warhol (1928–1987) Andy Warhol began his career as a commercial artist, drawing advertisements in New York City, before becoming a Pop artist. Known for creating silkscreen paintings that often repeated the same image multiple times on the canvas and that eliminated the artist’s touch, Warhol was as much a celebrity figure as an artist whose work celebrated the sameness of mass culture.
• www.warhol.org
• whitney.org/exhibitions/andy-warhol
Duane Hanson (1925–1996) Duane Hanson started creating startlingly lifelike sculptures of working class Americans in the early 1970s. Cast from live models in his studio, illusionistically painted, dressed in clothing from second-hand stores, and staged with appropriate accessories, Hanson’s sculptures have an unnervingly real presence.
• www.saatchigallery.com/artist/duane_hanson
• gagosian.com/artists/duane-hanson/
Robert Arneson (1930–1992) A leader of the funk art movement of Bay Area artists who focused on the absurdity of everyday objects, Robert Arneson worked in several media, including painting and printmaking, but became known primarily as a ceramic sculptor, often creating self-portraits tinged with dark humor, sarcasm, and political commentary. He also engaged with the legacy of abstract expressionism and artists like Jackson Pollock and Philip Guston.
• americanart.si.edu/artist/robert-arneson-140
• www.georgeadamsgallery.com/artists/estate-of-robert-arneson
• stanleymuseum.uiowa.edu/collections/ceramics/robert-carston-arneson/
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Jackson Pollock (1912–1956) Abstract Expressionist painter Jackson Pollock gained fame for his technique of pouring, dripping, and flinging paint onto large strips of canvas that he unrolled on the floor. This process also became known as action painting and was an influence on artists working in media ranging from painting to sculpture to performance.
• www.moma.org/artists/4675
• www.nga.gov/collection/highlights/pollock-number-1-1950-lavender-mist.html
Dwight Kirsch (1899–1981) Nebraska-born artist, teacher, and art administrator Dwight Kirsch studied with Robert Henri and other artists in New York City before eventually returning to Nebraska where he became professor of art at his alma mater, the University of Nebraska, and then director of the University of Nebraska Art Galleries (now Sheldon Museum of Art). Kirsch went on to become director of the Des Moines Art Center and artist-in-residence at Iowa State University.
• mona.unk.edu/mona/dwight-kirsch/
• kiechelart.com/artist/dwight-kirsch/
• nebraskaauthors.org/authors/dwight-kirsch
Betye Saar (b. 1926) For more than sixty years, Betye Saar has created prints and mixed media assemblages, using objects and materials she collects from flea markets, thrift stores, and yard sales, that explore memory, mysticism, and ritual as well as race and gender.
• www.moma.org/artists/5102
• www.robertsprojectsla.com/artists/betye-saar
• hammer.ucla.edu/now-dig-this/artists/betye-saar
• www.betyesaar.net
Robert Haiko (b. 1942) In 1969, after serving six months of Air National Guard duty, photographer Robert Haiko became the first instructor of photography and film at The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut, where he continued to teach until his retirement in 2011.
• issuu.com/thehotchkissschool/docs/sum11_hotchkissmag/19
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Minor White (1908–1976) Minor White, an influential photographer and co-founder of the magazine Aperture, began his career taking assignments from the Works Progress Administration before becoming involved with such photographers as Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Weston, and Ansel Adams. White approached photography—both in terms of technique and subject matter—through the lenses of mysticism and Zen philosophy. In addition to his own photography practice, he taught at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco, the Rochester Institute of Technology, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/minor-white?all/all/all/all/0
• www.howardgreenberg.com/artists/minor-white
Linda Connor (b. 1944) Widely traveled photographer, professor, and founder of the nonprofit PhotoAlliance, Linda Connor is known for using a large-format view camera to photograph landscapes and sacred sites around the world.
• hainesgallery.com/linda-connor-bio
• www.mocp.org/detail.php?type=related&kv=6811&t=people
• www.josephbellows.com/artists/linda-connor/biography
Christopher Felver (b. 1946) Filmmaker and photographer Christopher Felver has captured the spirit and creativity of many international artists in documentaries and portraits.
• www.robertbermangallery.com/artists/christopher-felver
• chrisfelver.com
Christo (1935–2020) Together with his wife, Jeanne-Claude, Christo wrapped objects and iconic architectural structures in canvas or fabric, and proposed monumental outdoor projects—some of which were realized, others of which existed only as proposals—that blurred the boundaries of painting, sculpture, and architecture.
• www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/christo
• christojeanneclaude.net
• www.artnews.com/art-news/news/christo-dead-wrappings-sculptures-1202689250/
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Educator Resources for The Artist as Muse Sheldon encourages using a variety of strategies to engage visitors and students in close looking, critical thinking, reflection, and conversation around the works of art in the 2021-2022 Sheldon Statewide exhibition, The Artist as Muse. The resources below provide ideas for incorporating its themes and content into your tours and discussions. A virtual catalogue of the exhibition can be found at sheldonartmuseum.org/ statewide. Thinking Routines Thinking routines are short, easy-to-learn strategies that guide and make evident students’ thought processes. Sheldon engagement staff and volunteer docents frequently use thinking routines with all grade levels, often combining multiple routines in the same discussion. When exploring artworks in The Artist as Muse, we recommend the following thinking routines: What Makes You Say That? helps students build evidence-based reasoning and understand multiple perspectives Look at the artwork and ask:
• What’s going on?
• What do you see that makes you say that?
See | Think | Wonder encourages students to make careful observations and thoughtful interpretations Look at the artwork and ask:
• What do you see?
• What do you think about that?
• What does it make you wonder?
See | Think | Me | We helps students connect to the bigger picture Look at the artwork and ask:
• What do you notice? Make lots of observations.
• What thoughts do you have about the work?
• What connections can you make between you and the work?
• How might the work be connected to bigger stories—about the world and our place in it?
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Beginning | Middle | End helps students make observations and use imagination, patterns, and connections to extend ideas Choose one of these questions to ask:
• If this artwork is the beginning of a story, what might happen next?
• If this artwork is the middle of a story, what might have happened before? What might be about to happen?
• If this artwork is the end of a story, what might the story be?
Headlines helps students capture the core or heart of the matter being studied or discussed Look at the artwork and ask: • If you were to write a headline right now that captured the most important aspect that should be remembered about this artwork, what would the headline be? Creative Questions simulates and sustains curiosity and helps students discover the complexity of a topic Brainstorm a list of questions about a work of art. Question starters include:
• Why …?
• What are the reasons …? What if …?
• What is the purpose of …? How would it be different if …? Suppose that …?
• What if we knew …? What would change if …?
Review your brainstormed list and star the questions that seem most interesting. Select one to discuss.
• Reflect: What new ideas do you have about the work of art that you didn’t have before?
Thinking Routines are a key element of Visible Thinking and Artful Thinking, education programs developed by Harvard’s Project Zero. Learn more here: www.visiblethinkingpz.org and www.pzartfulthinking.org. Activity and Discussion Prompts The following prompts are designed to serve as flexible jumping-off points to engage young learners and other visitors. • Have students look closely at an artwork while you read the accompanying interpretive label text out loud. Then, ask students to write a poem, a short story, or a comic strip inspired by the artist depicted in the artwork. They should draw on the information in the label text and the visual imagery in the artwork. •
Look at Jim Dine’s Bathrobe and discuss how the image of the bathrobe could be considered a selfportrait of the artist. Then, ask students to discuss which item of clothing they would choose as the basis for their own self-portrait and why. Ask students to consider how they would depict the item of clothing—think about the medium or materials, style, pose or position of the item of clothing, setting, scale, etc.
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• If possible, encourage students to create their clothing-based self-portrait at home and share with the class. •
Look at Betye Saar’s A Handful of Stars and compile a list of the embellishments that adorn the cast sculpture of the Saar’s hand. Each of these objects and their placement is personally significant to Saar and can tell us something about the artist’s life and career. Ask students: If they were to create a cast sculpture of their own hand as a self-portrait, what embellishments they would add to their hand and why? How would they arrange those objects in or on their hand and why? What pose would they hold their hand in and why? Which hand would they use for their self-portrait and why? What would they title their self-portrait and why?
•
If possible, encourage students to create their own hand self-portrait sculpture at home or school, arranging found and personal objects in their hand and then having someone else take pictures of their hand. Remember that a sculpture is three-dimensional, so be sure to take multiple pictures from different angles.
•
Have students pose and make a facial expression like the sitter depicted in an artwork. Ask students to discuss how it feels to pose like the sitter, wear those clothes, and be in the setting of the portrait. If we could un-pause the portrait, what might the subject do or say? How can you tell? Have students write a first-person letter to a friend describing their artist-portrait experience.
• If possible, have students research more about the artist’s career and/or find examples of artworks by the artist. Discuss whether the students’ ideas about the artist in the portrait change after learning more about the artist. Ask students to imagine how they would depict the artist in a portrait and why. • Whip Around: What’s the first word that comes to mind when you look at this work? Each student says a word. The words cannot repeat. Keep going until students run out of words. General Questions We recommend discussing the following questions while looking closely at one or more works of art from the exhibition. •
Compare the different mediums used. For example, oil paint on canvas, gelatin silver print, and color lithograph. Why might an artist choose one medium over another? What are some of the advantages and challenges of the different mediums? How are the mediums similar? How are they different? How does the medium affect the way you relate to or understand the artwork? Why is medium important as we read portraiture?
• Consider the scale. What effect does the size of the portrait have on the way we view the sitter?
• Look closely at the sitter’s clothing and hairstyle. What is the sitter wearing? What might clothing tell us about the sitter’s profession, personality, social status, or place in history? How would you describe the sitter’s hairstyle? Why would hairstyle be an important element of a portrait? • What colors and lighting conditions do you observe? What might the color convey? What about the lighting? How do color and lighting set the tone and mood of the portrait?
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Helpful Resources The resources linked below provide guides and lesson plans for how to teach with and about portraiture with a variety of age groups and classes: General Discussion Questions for Talking about, and Looking at, Portraits (Getty Museum) The Elements of Portrayal (National Portrait Gallery) Teacher Lesson: Think, Puzzle, Explore (Reading Portraiture) (National Portrait Gallery) Teacher Lesson: “Jumping In” Strategy for Examining Art & Portraiture (National Portrait Gallery) Elementary School Self- Guide to Portraits (National Portrait Gallery) Middle School Self-Guide to Portraits (National Portrait Gallery) High School Art History Self-Guide to Portraits (National Portrait Gallery) High School English Self-Guide to Portraits, featuring Writing Prompts (National Portrait Gallery) More Teacher Resources from the National Portrait Gallery, including many worksheets
For more resources and ideas on incorporating The Artist as Muse into your tour or class contact Saraphina Masters, assistant curator of engagement, at smasters2@unl.edu.
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