Page 1 of 11 The Making of an Artist: Activities 1. A Week in a ELEMENTarY Renaissance Workshop In this activity, students research the RESOURCES: practices of a Renaissance workshop Bomford, David, et al. Italian Painting before and write a journal about their own 1400: Art in the Making. London: National “experiences” there. Gallery Publications, 1989. PURPOSE: to prompt students to research Cennini, Cennino d’Andrea. The Craftsman’s the Renaissance workshop—the roles of Handbook: The Italian “Il Libro dell’ Arte.” master, apprentice, and patron and the Translated by David V. Thompson Jr. New types of work performed—and creatively York: Dover, 1960. First published 1933 by translate that information into an account Yale University Press. of day-to-day activities. Cole, Bruce. The Renaissance Artist at Work: PROCEDURE: Have students learn more From Pisano to Titian. New York: Harper and about the practices and organization of the Row, 1983. Renaissance workshop using the resources cited below as a starting point. Have them Thomas, Anabel. The Painter’s Practice in imagine that they are apprenticed in the shop Renaissance Tuscany. Cambridge: Cambridge of an artist they have studied. Ask them to University Press, 1995. write a week’s worth of journal entries that chronicle the activities, personalities, and Wackernagel, Martin. The World of the comings and goings of the master, his family, Florentine Artist: Projects and Patrons, the other shop assistants, and patrons. Entries Workshop and Market. Translated by should also include specific information Alison Luchs. Princeton, NJ: Princeton about the materials and processes used and University Press, 1981. what works of art are in progress. In place of a journal, students could create a blog incorporating images and other types of supporting information. Page 2 of 11 The Making of an Artist: Activities 2. What Does a INTERMediaTE / ADVANCED Signature Signify? In this activity, students consider what to apply his own hand (suis manibus), but the constituted authenticity in a work of art stipulation did not exclude the participation during the Renaissance and what constitutes of assistants—in fact, the scale of the project authenticity today. Activities 2 and 3 can required it. Most scholars agree that shop be combined. assistants did much of the painting of the altarpiece’s rear panels, including PURPOSE: to explore students’ ideas about the The Calling of the Apostles Peter and Andrew. “authorship” of art by comparing the meaning of a “signed” work from the Renaissance to American artist Sol LeWitt wrote instructions one made in modern times. for his paintings and sculptures that were executed wholly by assistants according PROCEDURE: digital reconstructions of to his specifications. A work such as Wall Duccio’s Maestà (front and back Drawing No. 681 C will continue to exist [fig.1 and 2]); images of Duccio’s The Calling as a work of art even after the current of the Apostles Peter and Andrew [fig.3], Sol installation has been painted over, because LeWitt’s Wall Drawing No. 681 C, and it exists in the form of an idea set out in a Andy Warhol’s Green Marilyn. signed certificate and instructions. You may also select other images from Andy Warhol once famously remarked to an the sources below. interviewer, “Why don’t you ask my assistant BACKGROUND: When Duccio completed The Gerald Malanga some questions? He did a lot Maestà he inscribed it, “Holy Mother of God, of my paintings.” Beginning in the early 1960s, be the cause of peace for Siena [and] life to Warhol increasingly used copying techniques Duccio because he painted you thus.” The such as stencils to give his work the look of Maestà is among the first works of Italian printed materials; in 1962 he settled on a art to bear a signature. The huge, multi- photomechanical silkscreen process based paneled, two-sided altarpiece had been at on photographs—on images, that is, not of least three years in the making before it was his own making. Many of the prints, installed, to the accompaniment of public moreover, were produced by assistants celebrations, in Siena’s cathedral. Documents including Malanga; the studio itself was dubbed the Factory. show that the commission required Duccio Page 3 of 11 The Making of an Artist: Activities 2. What Does a INTERMediaTE / ADVANCED Signature Signify? (Continued) PROCEDURE: Before beginning discussion, Wackernagel, Martin. The World of the elicit from students words or phrases they Florentine Artist: Projects and Patrons, associate with “an authentic work of art.” Workshop and Market. Translated by Alison Then consider what was signified (and not) Luchs. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1981. by a Renaissance artist’s signature: that a work, like The Maestà, was an approved White, John. Duccio: Tuscan Art and the product of a shop that met the master’s Medieval Workshop. New York: Thames standards of quality, not that it was by his and Hudson, 1979. own hand. (This is not only a Renaissance Sol LeWitt phenomenon. You can extend this activity “Focus: Sol LeWitt.” Museum of Modern Art, by having students look into the Rembrandt New York. Research Project. See resources below.) Continue to discuss authenticity and works “Sol LeWitt.” San Francisco Museum of by Sol LeWitt or Andy Warhol. What is Modern Art. “authentic” in these works? Use all these responses to trigger discussion, comparisons, Teaching Art Since 1950. The National Gallery and opinions. of Art, Washington. pp. 46–48. GLOSSARY: authenticity, Duccio, Rembrandt, Andy Warhol Sol LeWitt, Andy Warhol Danto, Arthur. Andy Warhol. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009. RESOURCES: Teaching Art Since 1950. The National Gallery Cole, Bruce. The Renaissance Artist at Work: of Art, Washington. pp. 30–32. From Pisano to Titian. New York: Harper and Row, 1983. The Andy Warhol Museum. Thomas, Anabel. The Painter’s Practice in The Rembrandt Research Project. Renaissance Tuscany. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Page 4 of 11 The Making of an Artist: Activities 2. What Does a Signature Signify?: Image Reference Fig. 1 Duccio Fig. 2 Duccio Conjectural reconstruction of the Maestà Conjectural reconstruction of the Maestà (Madonna Enthroned). (front), (Madonna Enthroned). (back), 1311 Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Siena 1311 Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Siena Digital reconstruction by Lew Minter Digital reconstruction by Lew Minter Fig. 3 Duccio The Calling of the Apostles Peter and Andrew, 1308/11 Tempera on panel, 43.5 x 46 cm (17 1/8 x 18 1/8 in.) National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, Samuel H. Kress Collection Image courtesy of the Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art Page 5 of 11 The Making of an Artist: Activities 3. Many Hands INTERMediaTE / ADVANCED at Work In this activity, students consider develops imagery. Der Verschollene (The Man collaboration in the making of art, in the Who Disappeared) was the working title of Renaissance and today. Activities 2 and 3 Franz Kafka’s first novel, Amerika, published can be combined. posthumously in 1927. PURPOSE: to reinforce students’ PROCEDURE: Begin a class discussion on understanding of the collaborative the collaborative aspects of Renaissance nature of most Renaissance art and art production. Consider, for example, the consider some contemporary artists various artisans and skills required to who work collaboratively. produce a large painted and gilded work such as Duccio’s Maestà or Giotto’s Peruzzi MATERIALS: images for display in class, Altarpiece. In addition to the various people such as: digital reconstructions of Duccio’s involved in the actual painting, there Maestà (front and back [fig. 4 and 5]); were contributions from (at a minimum) Giotto’s Peruzzi Altarpiece [see fig. 6]; carpenters, wood-carvers, and gilders. Neri di Bicci, Altar Wing with Five Saints; Jacopo di Cione, Madonna and Child with Ask students to research Tim Rollins and Saints [see fig. 7]; Vittorio Crivelli, K.O.S. starting with the resources cited Pietà between the Virgin Addolorata below. Then discuss what is similar and and John the Evangelist [see fig. 8]; different about the collaborative practices Tim Rollins + K.O.S., of a Renaissance workshop and those of Tim Der Verschollene [see fig. 9] Rollins and K.O.S. Who was the master? Was there one? Who executed the work? What BACKGROUND: Tim Rollins and K.O.S. was were the various roles and contributions? formed in the early 1980s after Rollins taught workshops with disadvantaged kids in a school in the south Bronx. He and his collaborators work as a team. Rollins typically suggests a work of literature for which the group researches, discusses, and Page 6 of 11 The Making of an Artist: Activities 3. Many Hands INTERMediaTE / ADVANCED at Work (Continued) GLOSSARY: Women and collaborative practice; Tim Rollins and K.O.S. Duccio, Jacopo di Cione, Giotto, Neri di Bicci, Prometheus Bound, a work of art for the web. Vittorio Crivelli, Tim Rollins and K.O.S. Kids of Survival: The Art and Life of Tim RESOURCES: Rollins and K.O.S. Directed by Dayna Goldfine Cole, Bruce. The Renaissance Artist at Work: and Daniel Geller. 1996. [film] From Pisano to Titian. New York: Harper and Row, 1983. The Rembrandt Research Project. Thomas, Anabel. The Painter’s Practice in Renaissance Tuscany. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Wackernagel, Martin. The World of the Florentine Artist: Projects and Patrons, Workshop and Market. Translated by Alison Luchs. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1981. Arthur Danto. “K.O.S. and the Art History of Collaboration.” In Amerika: Tim Rollins + K.O.S., edited by Gary Garrels, 49--65. New York: Dia Art Foundation, 1989. Page 7 of 11 The Making of an Artist: Activities 2. Many Hands at Work: Image Reference / page 1 Fig. 4 Duccio Fig. 5 Duccio Conjectural reconstruction of the Maestà Conjectural reconstruction of the Maestà (Madonna Enthroned).