Art is a powerful tool for teaching students about history, culture, and the forces that shape our world. Art is also a great way to build skills in reading and writing, which are essential to learning. Students will learn how to read and interpret a work of art by studying its structure, design elements, and meaning.
Art history is a rich and diverse subject that covers many areas of human experience. It has the added advantage of integrating with virtually every other subject area, from science to music, and allowing for students to examine different cultural perspectives. It also teaches students how to research information and find the answers to questions they have about artworks from around the globe and throughout history.
In this collection, teachers will discover art lessons that focus on literary integration and encourage students to discuss their observations and interpretations with one another. Teachers will be able to incorporate these art history lessons into their existing classroom curriculum with ease, ensuring that their students are receiving well-rounded instruction from their instructors.
When viewed through the lens of art history, a painting can tell us much about its artist and the societies in which it was created. We can see the societal values and beliefs that led to the work’s form and subject matter, as well as how it was received when first put on display.
We can look at the techniques used by an artist, and learn about the materials that were available during a particular time period. We can also study the underlying meanings that artists conveyed through the symbolic use of certain shapes, colors, or patterns in their works. Art history is a discipline that has the power to connect people from different cultures and times, and it has been a part of human life since the beginnings of civilization.
The earliest thinkers analyzed art for its aesthetic beauty, a value that still has its place in the modern world. Other thinkers have been more concerned with the message and meaning of a work of art. For example, Plato and St. Augustine were interested in the intangible unity that a work of art can embody, and how this unifies the parts of the whole into a coherent whole.
For more recent periods, art critics have been interested in analyzing the formal properties of a work. This method, often referred to as formalist analysis, has its strengths and weaknesses. It is a useful method for looking at the structure of a painting, but not so good for examining its emotional impact. For that reason, many contemporary writers have moved away from formalist analysis and toward a more varied approach to art criticism.
As for why artists make art, Greater Good asked seven to answer that question, and their answers were a diverse mix of things like: building bridges between themselves and the rest of humanity; saying things they can’t say any other way; or simply doing what feels right to them.