E D U C ATO R G U I D E This Educator Guide was designed for use in conjunction with field trips to the Romantic
Spirits exhibition, or for use as a stand‐alone classroom resource. The materials included here contain curriculum connections aligned with Common Core and Georgia Professional Standards for 8th grade Visual Arts, Language Arts, and Social Studies, but are adaptable for use at other grade levels.
Falls of Tamahaka, Cherokee County, North Carolina, William Charles Anthony Frerichs, after 1855. Oil on canvas. Johnson Collection.
Romantic Spirits captures the ideals of the romantic movement through the lens of Southern artists. Tracing its origins to literature, art and music in early 19th century France and Britain, the movement eventually made its way to America. In it, artists emphasized the tenets of imagination and emotion, as a reaction to the rationalism of the Enlightenment. The results are sweeping landscapes and dramatic imagery—often exemplified in the paintings of the Hudson River school. The works in this exhibition range from 1810-1896 and display a wide array of genres under the heading of romantic. Brought together here are landscapes, portraits, still lifes, genre paintings and history paintings—all with some connection to the Southern United States, whether in subject, artist‟s origins, or both. In them we can collectively see the story of the South in the turbulent 19th century as told through multiple perspectives.