We spent a lot of today analyzing various artwork, considering the lines, colors, and shapes, thinking about the emotions conveyed in a painting or sculpture. The discussion was wonderful. Until the end...Looking at this painting, Niagara Falls from the American Side, William James Bennett after John Robert Murray, published 1840, a fifth grader said, "It looks like a picture we could have taken in the 1970s or 1980s."
I had no response.
3 comments:
From the point of view of another old teacher: So why didn't we?
Just a little something I might have been tempted to provide in retort. But of course, I wouldn't.
I wonder if your student had seen some pictures their parents had taken using that relatively ancient film technology and which have now yellowed. Since I have several boxes and albums of similar images (probably including one of Niagara Falls), I now feel very old. :-)
It is still an amazing work of art. William James Bennett is the subject of a brand new exhibit at The New York Public Library. Entitled William James Bennett: Master of the Aquatint View, the exhibit features 40 prints, including Niagara Falls, and other important views of America during the 19th Century. The exhibit opens on Friday, November , and runs until January 25, 2009 at the Humanities and Social Sciences Library (Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street). For more information, click the following link:
http://www.nypl.org/research/calendar/exhibdesc.cfm?id=489
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