LESSONS 21 x x 8 ⁄ 3 4 ⁄ 1 (Ten Works by Works (Ten X + X Andy Warhol.Andy Ameri- Birmingham Race Riot Charles Moore. Ameri- Martin Luther King,Martin Luther Jr. Jasper Johns.Jasper American, . 1954–55 on (dated x 24" (50.7 x 60.9 cm). 16 ⁄ . 1964. Screenprint, com- 15 Flag 1958. print, Gelatin silver 8 " (21.3 x 31 cm). of The Museum " (107.3 x 153.8 cm). The Museum 16 8 ⁄ ⁄ 3 5 Ten Painters) Ten position: 19 can, 1928–1987. the portfoliofrom IMAGE THIRTEEN: Publisher: Atheneum, The Wadsworth Hartford, Connecticut. Printer: Sirocco Screenprinters, Haven, North Con- necticut, supervised Ives-Sillman, by Haven,New Connecticut. Edition: 500. ofThe Museum Art, Modern New York. Gift of Harry C. Oppenheimer exchange) (by 12 Modern Art,Modern York. New Gift of Harriette Levine and Noel IMAGE TWELVE: can, born 1931. Arrested. of Art, Modern York. New Gift of Philip in honor ofJohnson H. Alfred Barr, Jr. born 1930. reverse 1954).reverse Encaustic, oil, and collage on fabric, on plywood, mounted 42 IMAGE ELEVEN: 60 LESSON FOUR: Art and Politics LESSON FOUR: . McCarthyism of the 1950s and 1960s. They with students. was Who (New York: of(New The Museum Art, Modern 1998), p. 46. Cold War the political and social atmosphere of atmosphere the political and social this time. Civil Rights Movement , 1954–55 (Image Eleven) Pop Art: Selections from The Museum ofThe Museum Selections from Art: Pop Art Modern Flag 27

Jasper Johns,Jasper in quoted Share with them the information about the materials Johns used—paint, with them the information about the materials Johns Share newspaper, wax, glue, and plywood. bound together. canvases that are This is composed of three One shows on the blue background,white stars another includes the top seven stripes, and the last is the bottom half of the picture. involved? What effects did the Cold War have on Americans? Tell them about Tell Americans? have on War effects did the Cold What involved? crusades of speech was affected by Senator McCarthy’s Have them consider how freedom against alleged Communists. should consider the following questions: fighting African-Americans and others were What What How did they achieve it? did they want to achieve? What the leaders? were Who for? role? government’s was the federal American flag might represent. might it mean to an What mean to them? does a flag What their ideas. Ask them to share others? people. for different symbol and its meaning can be different

27. Johns said,“OneJohns American flag, a large night that I painted I dreamed morning and the next a on that painting out and bought beginI got up and I went the materials to it....I worked long time.” Jasper Johns worked at the same time as Robert Rauschenberg. worked Johns Jasper transformed Johns flat, rec- ognizable as flags, objects such targets, numbers, paintings. into and maps • students to look closely at this work again. Ask do they notice about how it was made? What LESSON OBJECTIVES • and social events and ideas. to political the ways that artists respond will consider Students • get their inspiration? do artists about sources—where Students will think • they represent. about symbols and think about what Students will learn DISCUSSION INTRODUCTORY • and the Discuss the political climate of the 1950s • Discuss the issues and ideas behind the INTRODUCTION turbulent times, the 1970s were to the 1950s from The years Vietnam witnessed which the War, of the assassination in China, Revolution Cultural Kennedy, President Tse-tung’s Mao States. in the United Rightsand the Civil movement artists time represented at this Many in their work.political events of This at the work lesson looks artists repre- three whose work important events sents ideas and specific to IMAGE-BASED DISCUSSION Jasper Johns, • at this image. Ask students to look carefully and talk about what them to work in pairs Direct •This flag is a Ask them to talk about symbols. can they mean? What symbols? are What LESSONS 22 Johns declares that he never intended this picture to be overtly political. However, by look- ing at an image of a flag, the viewer has to consider the meaning of this symbol. Johns believed that knowledge blinds us to experience. He felt that by showing common things in unexpected ways art could challenge people to rethink their ideas and to become more self- aware. He said, “When something is new to us, we treat it as an experience. We feel that our senses are awake and clear. We are alive.”28

• Ask students if they agree with Johns’s statement. Has looking at a work of art ever changed the way they see things? Did hearing their classmates’ initial reaction to Flag cause them see it differently? Ask them to give examples.

• This was painted in 1954–55. Ask students to reflect upon what they have learned about the 23 McCarthy era and the Cold War.Ask them to consider what it might have meant to make a LESSONS painting of an American flag at this time. How does the meaning of this symbol change depending on when we view it? What does it mean to us today?

Charles Moore, Martin Luther King, Jr. Arrested, 1958 (Image Twelve)

• Ask students to look closely at this image. Ask them to spend a few minutes writing down their observations. They should consider the following questions: What do they see? What is happening at this moment? Who is involved? What kind of place do they think this is? Have students back up their ideas with evidence from the image. Ask students to share their ideas.

This photograph was taken in 1958 by the photographer Charles Moore. Moore docu- mented many of the events and people involved in the Civil Rights Movement. Tell students that the man in the center of this photograph is Martin Luther King, Jr. The woman to the right of him is his wife, Coretta Scott King.

• Ask students to summarize what they know about the Civil Rights Movement. What do they know about Martin Luther King, Jr.? What was his role in the Civil Rights Movement?

Inform students that Martin Luther King, Jr. was a pivotal leader in the American Civil Rights Movement. A Baptist priest and social activist, he advocated for nonviolence and equal treatment for African-Americans. For more information, including King’s writings and speeches, see www.stanford.edu/group/King.

Moore took this photograph in a police station in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1958. He was the only photographer present to witness King’s argument with local police that led to his arrest. King insisted on remaining in jail for the full fourteen days of his sentence, even though the Police Commissioner paid the $10 fine himself to try to diffuse the publicity sur- rounding this event.

Moore continued to document the Civil Rights Movement in the South. He represented images of desegregation, voter registration, marches, protests, and police abuse. His photo- graphs were distributed nationwide in Life magazine, which at that time was read by over half of the adults in the United States. These works helped people to learn about the events of the day. According to former U.S. Senator Jacob Javits, Moore’s pictures “helped to spur the Civil Rights Act of 1964,”which outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.29

28. Jasper Johns, quoted in Jasper Johns: A Retrospective (New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1996), p. 17. 29. See http://www.kodak.com/US/en/corp/features/moore/aboutCharlesMoore.shtml. 30 Martin Luther King, Jr. es from newspapers and magazines that chron- es from , 1964 (Image Thirteen) magazine.in Birmingham, It was taken Alabama, Life on canvas, images with a commeri- mass-produced matching ,p.90. screenprint Birmingham Race Riots Birmingham Race . in a newspaper what it means to look at a photograph students to consider Ask Pop Impressions Europe/USA Impressions Pop Arrested

Weitman, when police unleashed attack dogs and fire hoses on a group of nonviolent African-American of nonviolent hoses on a group attack dogs and fire when police unleashed led by Martin Luther King, and protesters children Jr. versus one that is included in a print.versus image does the meaning of this appropriated How the same? remains What change? How? to Johns’s? a political statement similar or different about using art to make them to back up their ideas with evidence from the image. ideas with evidence from them to back up their this image tell us does What about the time? in 1963 in that was published Moore differently about the world around them. about the world around differently the image was it about What the image? was What them stop and think? that made

• ideas statement this work makes. students to discuss what kind of political Ask Warhol’s Are ACTIVITIES 1. Injustice Today 30. 3. Make a Political Commentary do with select the newspaper a photograph that has to students to a social injus- from Ask tice. their own political commentary.create them Have think about the fol- to them Advise lowing questions: our soci- to does it have relevance What did they select this image? Why help fix this problem? can they do to What ety? 2. Civil Rights about the civil learn rights more to order struggle,In one of students can research the fol- lowing figures, laws, events: or Laws, Crow Jim King, Martin Luther Jr., Lou Hamer, Fannie Johnson,Lyndon Wallace, George vs. Brown of Board Education, and the Mont- Parks Rosa gomery Boycott, Bus Birmingham the Selma to March,Washington, on the 1963 March the Summer, Freedom Mississippi ofAct Rights the Civil of 1964,Act Rights Voting or the 1965. Warhol called the Birmingham Race Riots episode a “blot on the American conscience.” “blot on the called the Birmingham Riots episode a Race Warhol of write about an instance students to Ask an essay encoun- they have or injustice prejuidice or observed.tered did theyWhat deal with it? them or someone else? How Did it concern try to or attitude? this situation can they rectify take steps to icled catastrophes, conflict, and death. Series. These became known as the Disaster 1962, In began to Warhol • photograph with Moore’s print Warhol’s Ask students to compare In the early 1960s,In use imag to began Warhol Andy Warhol, Andy Warhol, • image. Show students this they see. and to describe what them to look carefully Ask Ask • of the title. Inform students by Charles a photograph that this work derives from them Tell medium.cal and easily repeatable the photographs from directly work him to This allowed him. that inspired • that made them think or newspaper an image in a magazine if they have seen Ask students LESSONS 24 LESSONS 25 " 4 ⁄ 3 " x 58" x 66 8 ⁄ 7 8 ⁄ 5 " (49.1 x 8 ⁄ 1 x 25 16 ⁄ 5 . 1963. Oil and Willem de Kooning.Willem Ameri- . 1964 (published 1965). Richard Hamilton.Richard British, Roy Lichtenstein.Roy American, Drowning Girl Interior . 1950–52. Oil on canvas, 6' 3 IMAGE FOURTEEN: can, born the Netherlands. 1904–1997. Woman, I (192.7 x 147.3 cm). of The Museum Modern Art,York. New Purchase.Willem © 2007 The Rights Foundation/Artists Society de Kooning (ARS), York New born 1922. Screenprint, composition: 19 IMAGE SIXTEEN: 63.8 cm). Publisher:Alecto, Editions London. Printer: Studio, Kelpra London. Edition: 4 (final state, edition: 50). of The Museum Art,Modern York. New Braude Dorothy Edinburg Fund.Artists Rights © 2007 Society (ARS), London York/DACS, New IMAGE FIFTEEN: 1923–1997. (171.6 x 169.5 cm). of Museum The Modern Art,York. ex- (by Fund New Philip Johnson and giftchange) of Mr. and Mrs. BagleyWright synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 67 LESSON FIVE: Artist’s Choice: People Artist’s LESSON FIVE: