II
TEACHING WITH THE POWER OF OBJECTS Smithsonian Institution JanuarylFebruary 1995
Inside Lesson Plan Take-Home Page in English/Spanish
Subjects Art Language Arts Social Studies
Grades 4-8
Publication of Art to Zoo is made possible tlu'ough the generous support of the Pacific Mutual Foundation.
Memorials: Art for Remembering • M MORIALS: Art for Remembering
Losing something like a bike or a watch is hard, especially if we never get it back again. Losing a friend or a grand parent or a pet is even harder. Sometimes we lose people because we have to move far away from them. We fear they will forget us or that we will never see them again. Sometimes a friend or a pet or a family member dies, and that is the hardest loss of all. When people slip out of our lives, we try as hard as we can to remember everything about them. We listen to their favorite songs or eat special foods that they liked to cook. We revisit a place where we had once been together or carry on a ritual that we had both enjoyed. As long as we keep people in our memory, we have not lost them completely. As time passes, however, we know that even the most precious memories fade. Throughout history, in all parts of the world, people have struggled with the problem of loss. Many moving words have been written and many beautiful objects have been created to preserve the memory of people who are gone and to keep a record of their achievements. As one of Shakespeare's characters pointed out, "Praising what is lost 'k makes the remembrance dear."-· This issue of Art to Zoo explores the different ways that people have been praised and remembered in works of art.
*' All's Well That Ends Well, V, iii, 19 MEMORIALS: Art fo Remembering
TYPES OF MEMORIALS memorials discussed in this A memorial can be as Art to Zoo, representing three fleeting as a concert in different continents and someone's honor, or as long stretching across thirty cen lasting as a bronze plaque turies, are made of bronze. attached to a strong wall. A memorial can be as private as SELECTIVITY a tree planted in a garden or A memorial cannot evoke as public as a donation of everything about a person. At fine drawings given to a best, its maker has narrowed museum in memory of a its focus to the most telling friend. aspect of the person, in The most common way to hopes that he or she will hold someone in our memo somehow live on in the ry, however, is to try to pre bronze or stone, in the paint serve some aspect of the on a canvas, the words on a actual, physical person. We paper, or the musical tones take photos and preserve the issuing from an orchestra. person on paper. We record The altists who made the the voice on tape. We make a works of art in this Art to video so that we can always Zoo have created images of see the person moving about four very different people. on film. We write poems or The details the artists chose essays or books to try to to emphasize determine how reconstruct the person in these four people will be words. We make paintings remembered: and drawings and sculptures A memorial to a King, to try to give the body form emphasizing symbols of again. royalty and power
DURABILITY A memorial to a Soldier, If a memorial is created emphasizing fhe splendor to keep a memory alive, the ofthe uniform memorial itself must be A memorial fhat an durable. For that reason, Athlete has had made fo bronze has always been a commemorate his own favorite medium. Bronze can achievement in archei] be battered without breaking. It can survive strong sun A memorial to a Family light, rain, snow, heat, and Member, emphasizing cold. It cannot be ripped or the mystery ofdeath and cut. It is hard to scratch or the sorrow ofloss dent. Three of the four
4 Art to Zoo Memorials: N1 for Remembering Jallllwy/Febnwl)' 1995 A MEMORIAL TO A KING: Head of an Dba
"Oba" means "king" to beings, but they do not show the people of Benin, a individual details. Physical kingdom in the part likeness was not important. of Africa we now The crucial idea was to dis call Nigeria. play the proper symbols of Since the year royalty. 1300, thirty Coral beads were the most eight obas important sign of royalty in have the kingdom of Benin ruled the because the people of Benin kingdom believed that anyone who of Benin. wore coral spoke with divine When an oba authority. In Head ofan Dba, died, his son coral beads are represented became the new in the high collar around the oba and imme oba's neck, the netted cap, diately commis and the strands of beads on sioned a bronze each side of his face. Coral, head cast in which was brought into honor of his Benin by foreign traders, deceased father. was an exceedingly precious This bronze commodity. The oba had a "commemora monopoly on all coral and tive head" was displayed more coral beads placed on an in his attire than anyone else altar in the in his kingdom. Other mem royal palace, bers of the royal court wore ensuring that coral only with the oba's the god-like permission. authority of the Like coral, copper alloys old oba would reflect a red color that was be transmitted considered beautiful by the to the new oba Benin people. These alloys, and that his such as bronze or brass, are spirit would strong and permanent-the bring good ideal material for symbolizing health and the never-ending authority of prosperity to the long dynasty of obas. the people of Only the oba and the oba's Benin. mother were entitled to have Obas look like these metal heads placed on human their altars after they had died.
Art to Zoo Memorials: Art for Remembering Jonuory/Febmory 1995 5 A MEMORIAL TO A SOLDIER: Painting No. 47, Berlin by Marsden Hartley
Marsden Hartley was an on the uniform into an epi ground teIJs us that he loved reds, yellows, blues, and American painter living in taph for the soldier. The to play chess. greens in this memorial por Berlin between 1914 and "K.v.F." on the pocket tells us During the time when trait teIJs us as much about 1915 who befriended a that the soldier's name was Hartley met Karl von his own delight with the young German who served Karl von Freyburg. The "24" Freyburg, his imagination was pageantry of the military as as a soldier during World on the vertical band tells us stilTed by daily parades of about the life of his fallen War 1. After the soldier was that he was twenty-four years soldiers and horsemen, oLitfit friend. While he was stunned kiIJed in action, Hartley old when he was killed in ted in elaborate uniforms. "I by his friend's death and painted this portrait in his action. The "4" reminds us am seeing eight-pointed stars deeply mourned his loss, he memory. Hartley was dazzled that he was a member of the here by the thousands," he continued to be moved by by the splendor of the 4th Regiment, and the black said, "on the helmets of the the spectacle of war. The German military and chose cross tells us that he was thousands of soldiers." He splashy colors of the uniform to remember his friend in given the Iron Cross award was especiaIJy impressed by are superimposed on the uniform. In fact, he depicts on the day before his death. the feathered helmet of the blackest of backgrounds that his friend as a uniform. The black and white checker Kaiser's Royal Guards. evokes a somber mood of Hartley made the insignia board pattern in the back- Hartley's use of brilliant remembrance.
6 Art to Zoo Memorials: AIt for Remembering Janl/ary/Febll/m)' 1995 A MEMORIAL TO AN ATHLETE: Ritual Food Serving Vessel (Jing Gui)
Victors in athletic competi dants of the King. After an was found at a burial site. exceptional accomplishments. tion are often awarded silver archery contest in which he Thirty centuries later, The inscription, which bowls insclibed with words of was victorious, the King saw ling's gui still speaks for him. appears on the cover of this praise to keep their moment fit to honor ling for his suc The fact that it is made of Art to Zoo, consists of ninety of glory alive. The ling gui cess by presenting him with bronze tells us that ling had ancient Chinese "characters." (pronounced "gway") is a an archer's armguard. ling considerable wealth, because These characters are unlike bronze bowl made about three was so proud to be honored in China bronze was available the letters that produce thousand years ago in China by the King that he ordered only to the ruling classes and English words. Each charac for the same purpose. It hon the casting of a bronze bowl was considered more precious ter represents an entire ors the achievement of a to preserve his moment of than gold. The gui also tells object or idea. It is possible young man who excelled at glory forever. He dedicated us that ling was a man of to identify the character for archery. The inscription inside the memorial bowl to his good taste. He had the bowl "archery" (a bow and arrow) the bowl tells us about a royal mother. The inscription states decorated with stylized three times in the inscription officer named ling who that he hoped that "sons and images of birds with long (hint: the character appears taught archery to the nobility, grandsons (would) use it for tails, as was the fashion, and on the fifth, sixth, and eighth the officials, and the atten- ten thousand years." The gui insclibed with the story of his rows from the top).
Art to Zoo Memorials: Arl for Remembering JOIllIQly/FebruQry 1995 7 A MEMORIAL TO A FAMILY MEMBER: Adams Memorial by Augustus Saint-Gaudens
person in this life. The days, and its climbing one Adams Memorial, however, afternoon, to find that there presents a figure who has were hills still farther away, already passed into a world was my first feeling of the of silence. The figure has no ever-mysterious beyond.'''' name, nor dates of birth or It is this sense of mystery death. No message is that emanates from the inscribed, and the figure Adams Memorial. betrays no emotion. The Adams Memorial has The grave over which the had an impact on countless figure sits is the grave of people. Eleanor Roosevelt Clover Adams, the wife of found that a visit to this Henry Adams, a prominent monument strengthened and historian, philosopher, and renewed her spirit. Mark direct descendant of two Twain thought, "All human U.S. presidents. It is said grief is shown in this sad that Adams never spoke his figure." English novelist wife's name after her death, John Ga]sworthy described which was a suicide. He did, its strength in The Forsyte however, commission the Saga. His character, Soames sculptor Augustus Saint Forsyte, speaks of a trip to Gaudens to create a figure America and a visit to the for her grave. Mrs. Adams cemetery. He feels at home was a photographer, writer, with the memorial and likes and socialite, a woman who it better than "all the water was "small and sharp and he had seen at Niagara, and funny and by no means a those skyscrapers in New
goddess.,,1 This figure bears York." 3 no outward resemblance When a person's life Rock Creek Church Cemetery to her. comes to an end, a grave in Washington, D.C. It is an The hooded figure does, Quotations noted on this marker in a cemetery is a image of a mysterious figure, however, reveal something page are from Uncommon common form of memorial. seated on a rock, wearing a about the sculptor and his Clay, (I) p. 228, (2) p. 10, Some grave markers are sim cloak that falls in heavy folds. own views of life and death. (3) p. 240. ple and some are elaborate, The face, in deep shadow Once when Saint-Gaudens but most do not linger in under a hood, seems beyond was a boy he climbed a hill one's memory very long. The our reach. This is a solid, tan in front of the house where Adams Memorial is different. gible presence, but not entire he had been staying. He later The Adams Memorial in ly of this world. said, " Going to that hill was the National Museum of The other memorials a thing looked forward to for American Art is a casting of a described in this issue of Art bronze sculpture that stands in to Zoo focus on the regalia, the uniform, and the athletic skills that distinguished the
8 Art to Zoo Memorials: Art for Remembering JQl1IlQlylFebruary 1995 LESSON PLAN
STEP 1 ize him or her as clearly as • Identify which of the "WHOM DO YOU possible in their mind. memorials are permanent. REMEMBER?" WORKSHEET 3. As students fill out their worksheets, prod their mem Materials Objectives ories by asking questions • Paper and pencils or • Identify a person or a pet such as, How long was your markers. who is no longer part of your person's hair? What color • Cameras and film life. was it? Did your person (optional). • Visualize the person or pet stand up straight or bend and draw a picture. over? Did the person like to Subjects • Make notes about the get dressed up or did he/she • Social studies person or pet. prefer to wear everyday clothes? Did he/she like to Procedure Materials play games, cook, work in 1. Search your school for • Copies of "Whom Do You the garden, play an instru memorials. If your school is Remember?" worksheet, ment, watch TV, read the named after a person, find page 12. newspaper, playa spol1, out what he/she did to polish a car, clean the house, deserve the honor. If there Subjects exercise, go fishing, sit on are paintings or sculptures of • Language al1S, art the porch, take a nap, play people in the front hall, find video games, go shopping, out whom they represent. Procedure eat ice cream? Encourage Ask your school librarian if 1. Ask each student to the students to remember as any books were given in think of a relative, friend, or many specifics about their someone's memory. pet who used to be a signifi person as possible. (Bookplates inside the front cant part of their life. As a Students who are remem cover should tell you.) Ask class, make a list of the rea bering a pet could also think your principal if any trees or sons these people or pets are about the pet's appearance, flower beds around your no longer nearby (e.g. mov favorite foods, games, sleep school were planted as a ing away, going to a different ing places, and tricks. memorial to a former student school, getting new owners, 4. Ask students to draw a or teacher. or dying). Discuss why we picture of the people or pets 2. Encourage students to like to have some way of they like to remember, just as visit important town build remembering the people and they see them in their minds. ings such as the library, the pets from our past. court house, and the city hall, 2. Give each student a either by themselves or with copy of the "Whom Do You STEP 2 a parent. Ask whether any of Remember?" worksheet. Ask MEMORIALS IN YOUR the buildings or meeting each student to write down COMMUNITY rooms are dedicated to the the name of the person or pet memory of a local citizen. they would most like to Objectives Visit the hospital and ask remember and then to visual- • Establish that memorials whether any pieces of can take a variety of forms . sophisticated equipment were • Identify memorials of dif donated in memory of a ferent types in your school and community.
Art to Zoo Memorials: An for Remembering JalllloryIFevl'IIQ/)' /995 9 beloved doctor or patient. STEP 3 2. Ask the students to look form, taking special note of Visit public parks and look to MEMORIALS FROM AROUND at illustrations of kings in the shapes, letters, numbers, see if any of the trees, flower THE WORLD children's picture books or and other insignia. Ask stu beds, or playgrounds were European history books. dents to draw the designs dedicated to the memory of a Objectives Make a list of objects such as that allude to the following city benefactor. Look for • Introduce students to the crowns, scepters, and robes facts about the soldier: statues in honor of war veter Head ofan Dba; Painting that are familiar signs of roy =His name was Karl von ans. Visit a museum and ask No. 47, Berlin; Ritual Food alty in European countries. Freyburg. whether any works of art Serving Vessel (ling gui); Make a list of materials He was 24 when he was were given by a local collec and Adams Memorial. (ermine, gold, precious killed in war. tor in memory of a friend or • Determine how each jewels, velvet, satin) that =He was in the 4th family member. art work, in its own way, we associate with European Regiment. 3. Look at the signs succeeds in praising and kings. =He was awarded the Iron that identify the highways, honoring its subject. 3. Discuss the appearance Cross. bridges, and stadiums in your of a president of the United =He loved to play chess. community. Which of them Subjects States making a television 2. Discuss how this paint bear the names of people? • Social studies, art speech to the people of the ing differs from a traditional Find out who these people country. Does he wear any portrait. Find out how many were and why enormous special clothing that identi students think a "bodyless" structures were built in their A. HEAD OF AN OBA fies him as a leader? Is there portrait is still a portrait. honor. anything on the television 3. Use library books to 4. Look in the newspaper Materials screen that tells us that he is find out what military uni for notices of memorial • Assortment of children's the president? Discuss why a forms from many different scholarships, memorial con picture books or illustrated democratic form of govern countries have in common. certs, memorial lectures, children's dictionaries with ment would not encourage a Do all use stars? Stripes? and memorial funds. Find pictures of kings. president to distinguish him Crosses? Plumes? Epaulets? out in whose honor these • History books with por self with unusual or extrava What do these military memorials were established. traits of European kings. gant clothing. uniforms have in common 5. Encourage students • News photo of the presi with school band uniforms with cameras to take photos dent of the United States or police uniforms? of as many memorials as they making a speech from a B. PAINTING NO. 47, BERLIN 4. Look for monuments to can find. Students who prefer podium decorated with the war veterans in your commu to sketch could produce presidential shield. Materials nity. If the monument has the drawings instead. Have the • Library books showing figure of a soldier, notice if students note the location of Procedure military uniforms from many the soldier's uniform is each memorial. Set up a bul 1. Use the information on countries. described in great detail. Do letin board in your classroom pages 4 and 5 to identify the the details of the uniform tell showing the different types of signs of royalty on the Head Procedure you what war the soldier memOlials that have been ofan Dba. Be sure to point 1. Explain that Painting served in? found in your community. out the beaded high collar, No. 47, Berlin was painted in the beaded net cap, the memory of a young soldier. strands of beads on each side Ask the students to study the of the face, and the signifi painting of the soldier's uni- cant bead in the middle of the forehead.
10 Art to Zoo Memorials: Art for Remembering Jalillary/FebruOlY 1995 C. RITUAL FOOD SERVING steel, silver, brass). Discuss When the stories are com Subjects VESSEl (JING GUI) which of these materials is pleted, have students • Art, language arts the most durable. Which is exchange them for editing. Materials most likely to last "for ten Discuss whether they were Procedure • Copies of the Take-Home thousand years?" Which is able to understand the word 1. As a class, make a list Page. the most likely to break? pictures. of the types of memorials • Copies of the interior Which is considered the students could design and inscription on the ling gui. most precious? Distribute the build themselves. These Take-Home Page and explain D. ADAMS MEMORIAL might include the following: Procedure how they and their families A painting, drawing, or 1. Ask whether any can fill it out and draw an Procedure sculpture of a person/pet students have purchased a illustration. 1. Visit a cemetery in your A photo collage souvenir to commemorate 4. After the students community. Find out whether A box of objects that a sporting event or have a return to school with their most gravemarkers have bring the person/pet to mind bowl, platter, or mug at home Take-Home Page and illus figures. Look for unusual A story, poem, or essay that was given as an award tration, ask them to write a inscriptions. Copy or make a about the person/pet for a special achievement or descriptive caption about rubbing of any inscriptions A play/skit about the victory. Ask whether it is their object's appearance, that tug at the emotions. person/pet used at mealtime or kept for material, durability, decora 2. Write an inscription for A song about the display. Does it look impres tion, and inscription. Mount the Adams Memorial. person/pet or a musical sive? How and why? What the students' illustrations and composition in his/her honor material is it made of? How captions on a bulletin board. A memorial plaque is it decorated? Is it 5. Teach students to make STEP 4 A gift in the person's inscribed? a rubbing of an inscription MAKE A MEMORIAL memory, such as a tree for 2. Use the information on on a plaque or a gravestone. the grounds or a book for the page 7 to explain that ling After obtaining permission to Objectives library gui was a food container make the rubbing, cover the • Students will apply their 2. Ask each student to made about three thousand inscription with soft paper understanding of memorials create an object, piece of years ago in China to honor and then rub a crayon over by creating an object or plan writing, or performance in the achievement of a young the paper. Be careful not to ning an event in memory of a memory of a person or pet man who excelled at archery. mark the actual stone or person or pet to whom they to whom be or she felt close. He had the inside of the bowl plaque with the crayon. felt close. This person or pet could be inscribed with the story of 6. Explain that the inscrip (but needn't be) the same his success so that his tion on the ling gui, shown Materials person or pet they thought descendants would remember on the cover of this issue, is • Each student will collect about in Step 1. him. His bowl was made of made of Chinese "characters" whatever materials are appro 3. Ask each student to bronze so that it would last that tell of ling's success as priate for the memorial design a dedication marker for "ten thousand years." an archer. (Ask the students he/she designs. Materials and compose a statement 3. Ask students to to find the character on the could include paper, paint, about the person/pet. This describe a special bowl or cover photo of this issue that drawing materials, clay, marker would be placed on platter they have at home. looks like a bow and arrow wood, photographs, tapes, or near the memorial object. Make a list of the materials and means "archery.") Have video film, notebooks, or If the memorial object is in they mention (ceramic, students work in small groups scrapbooks. written form (such as a story, wood, glass, plastic, stainless to write their own stories play, or piece of music), the about the good deed of a dedication could be included classmate using a few word in a brochure or program. pictures of their own design.
Art to Zoo Memorials: Art for Remembering Jal1l1a1y/February 1995 11 To the teacher WORKSHEET • Duplicate this page for students. Whom Do You Remember? • Use with Lesson Plan Step 1.
Narne of person or pet you would like to remember:
Relationship to you (for example, grandmother, friend, dog... ):
Try to picture this person or pet in your mind and write down everything you remember: How did your person
or pet look? How big was he/she? How old was he/she? What color hair? What were his/her favorite clothes?
When you picture your person/pet, what is he/she doing?
In what kind of place do you picture your person/pet?
What was your person/pet's favorite pastime? Food? Sport?
What could your person/pet do better than most other people or pets?
What would you like to do with your person/pet if he/she were still nearby?
What would you like to say to him/her if you could?
Use the back of this page or a separate sheet to draw a picture of the person or pet that you would like to remember.
12 Art to Zoo Memorials: Art for Remembering January/February /995 Publication of Art to TAKE-HOME PAGE Zoo is made possible through the generous support of the Pacific Mutual Foundation.
People often commemorate important events like weddings, a baby's birth, or winning a competition with special objects. Look at home for a bowl or platter or mug that reminds you of a person or an important occasion or time in your family's life. Fill out this chart about the object you find.
Kind of Circle the How durable How is it Is it Value object material it's is it? decorated? inscribed? made of.
China Would never Carved Copy Valuable (ceramic) break some of the Painted lettering if it Wood is inscribed. Cheap Might break Imprinted Glass Engraved Plastic Very breakable Plain Silver Other? Stainless steel
Brass
Other?
Use the back of this page or a separate sheet to make a drawing of your object from home.
Art to Zoo Memorials: An for Remembering Jallilary/Febl'llarv /995 13 Esta publicaci6n ha TRABAJO PARA HACER EN FAMILIA sido posible gracias al aporte generoso de la Pacific Mutual Foundation.
La gente usualmente conmemora eventos importantes como matrimonios, el nacimiento de un nino, 0 el triunfo en una competencia con objetos especiales. En casa, observa y encuentra una vasija, fuente, 0 una taza que te recuerde a una persona 0 evento importante 0 momenta especial en la vida de tu familia. Luego completa este cuadro con comentarios sobre el objeto que encontraste.
Tipo de Traza un circu- lCuiin lComo estii lTiene Valor objeto 10 indicando el durable es? decorado? inscripciones? material de que estii hecho.
Porcelana Inompible Cincelado, Copia un trozo Valioso (ceramica) tallado del texto si forma parte de Madera Podrfa Pintado la inscripci6n. Poco valioso, quebrarse de material Vidrio Impreso barato
Plastico Altamente Grabado, quebrable estampado Plata Liso Acero inoxidable GOtro tipo?
Bronce
GOtro?
Utiliza el reverso de esta pagina 0 una hoja adicional para dibujar el objeto que encontraste en casa.
14 Art to Zoo Memorials: Art for Remembering JallllarylFebrllQlY 1995 RESOURCES
BOOKS CREDITS Cover and page 7 ART TO ZOO S 1987.329: Ritual Food Asiall Art ill the Arthur M. Page 5 Sening Vessel (ling Gui). Art to Zoo is a puhlication Sackla Calle/"\': The Head of an oIJa. 18th century China. Western Zhou of the Oflice of Elementary Illaugural Ciji. 1987. Thomas Edo peoples. (ca. 1050-771 B.C.). and Secondary Education. Lawton. Shen Fu. Glenn Benin Kingdom. Nigeria 10th century B.C. Bronze: Smithsonian Institution. Lowry et al.. Smithsonian Copper alloy 15.5 x 32.1 x 23.5 cm. Washington. D.C. 20560. 1 Institution Press. 31.1 cm (12 /4 in) The cover image shows Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn detail of the inscription. Writer Bellill: Roml Art (JfA./i·iCll. to the Smithsonian Institution Linda Linnard Andre
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