I just started reading A Charlotte Mason Companion: Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning
written by Karen Andreola. Being the art teacher and artist that I am, I skipped immediately from the end of Chapter One to Chapter Twenty-Five on “Picture Study”. I found this chapter to be very interesting.
When I taught in public school I tried to give my students every opportunity to see artwork by as many artists as possible. I remember being very proud when we went to the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston and some of my students excitedly ran to tell me they recognized many of the pieces of artwork.
Karen Andreola gives some basic rules for picture study which can be done by most anyone. I am not going to get into all the rules in this post. I have one thing I want my readers to help me out with.
The author gave a list of artists that she felt were worthy of study. Her list includes many great artists from the past. Out of curiosity, I am making a list of most of the artists mentioned and placing them in a poll. I would love to know which artists are your favorites for picture study.
So can you help me out and answer the poll? You can chose only three of the eleven artists mentioned. So, homeschool parents, teachers and students please take a minute to share your favorites. If you want to add an artist place their name in the comments section.
Also, please share any picture study ideas, success stories, etc for us all to learn from. I know many of you out there are very well versed in picture study.We want to pick your brain.
[poll id=”2″]
Don’t you love rereading a book? I always find something new I missed the first time. Happy reading! 🙂
Melissa:
You are right. His work is wonderful.
~Terry
We LOVE John James Audubon! We very much enjoy the outdoors, and now my kids recognize his work when they see it out and about!
bit of our van goghing
http://bugsknightsandturkeysintheyard.blogspot.com/2010/04/bit-of-our-van-goghing.html
LOVE that book! In fact, it’s probably time to re-read it! 🙂
Anyone surprised by the results? I thought Michelangelo would be way higher in the voting.
I am thoroughly enjoying all the comments. Like Jana said, it is a very difficult decision. What about Georgia O’Keeffe? Degas? Rivera? Matisse?
Some of my favorite artists are Riemenschneider ( from Germany, awesome woodcrafter) and Gruenewald. His altar in Colmar is also awesome.
A very difficult decision… Renoir is a favorite, Rembrandt is the best portrait painter EVER, and Cassatt is important to the art world as a woman. However, how can you leave out Da Vinci? (Perhaps you can throw him into your science lesson) Michelangelo and his process is so important… Hmmmmm… decisions, decisions.
We take a CM approach with one artist per term. BUT we study one work of art daily. I find that it’s easier to keep the habit when it’s a daily exercise. For each artist, we do at least one sort of reproduction.
Wow! I am not sure I could pick three from that list! They all are important artists! Our studies are organized by chronological historical periods and we study artists/art and musicians/music in light of the time period and culture in which they lived. If you are interested, we have a few blog posts on our curriculum’s website (www.epikardia.com) that discuss picture study (www.epikardia.com/blog) that might be helpful to you. 🙂
Blessings~
Dana
There are some artists I have never heard of so I my vote is bias based on those we have studied thus far.
Thank you for all the information! I can’t wait to take a look at your studies. ~Terry
Hey there! We LOVE picture study! It was difficult to vote on the poll since we’ve studied a handful of artists now, and every time we seem to fall in love with each one!
Here are some of my posts on the subject…
Artist Study:
http://www.fisheracademy.blogspot.com/search/label/artist%20study
How-to:
http://fisheracademy.blogspot.com/2009/05/artist-study-our-method.html
Monet:
http://fisheracademy.blogspot.com/2010/04/artist-study-monet.html
http://fisheracademy.blogspot.com/2010/04/artist-study-monet-part-two.html
Van Gogh:
http://fisheracademy.blogspot.com/2009/05/artist-study-van-gogh.html