What portraits reveal
http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=255
A lesson plan for grades 9–12 Visual Arts Education and Information Skills
This lesson is designed to help students recognize that portraits, whether paintings or photographs, can tell us more about people of the past than just what they looked like.
Students first compare portraits of three Presidents of the United States to note how changes in style can reflect changing social attitudes, in this case changing American attitudes toward the Presidency. Next they examine portraits of Americans from the Revolutionary War era in order to learn how portraits can tell a person’s story, both through details of the portrait itself and through evidence of why it was produced or (in some cases) how it has been altered. Finally, students consider how portraits can be manipulated to express a specific point of view, examining caricatures, monuments, and artworks that turn the representation of individuals into statements about what they stand for. To conclude the lesson, students gather portraits from their own homes and prepare a report explaining what these items might tell a future historian about life in our times.
This lesson can be found on the EDSITEment website.
North Carolina Curriculum Alignment
Information Skills (2000)
Grade 9–12
- Goal 1: The learner will EXPLORE sources and formats for reading, listening, and viewing purposes.
- Objective 1.11: Explore primary and secondary sources.
Visual Arts Education (2001)
Grade 9–12 — Visual Arts Electives
- Goal 6: The learner will reflect upon and assess the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of others.
- Objective 6.01: Understand there are various purposes for creating works of visual art.
Grade 9–12 — Visual Arts I
- Goal 6: The learner will reflect upon and assess the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of others.
- Objective 6.01: Describe the various purposes for creating works of visual art.
- Goal 7: The learner will perceive connections between visual arts and other disciplines.
- Objective 7.03: Read about and discuss universal themes that exist within the arts disciplines.
- Objective 7.04: Compare characteristics of visual arts within a particular historical period or style with ideas, issues or themes in other disciplines.
Grade 9–12 — Visual Arts II
- Goal 6: The learner will reflect upon and assess the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of others.
- Objective 6.01: Understand there are various purposes for creating works of visual art.
- Goal 7: The learner will perceive connections between visual arts and other disciplines.
- Objective 7.04: Compare characteristics of visual arts within a particular historical period or style with ideas, issues or themes in other disciplines.
Grade 9–12 — Visual Arts III
- Goal 6: The learner will reflect upon and assess the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of others.
- Objective 6.01: Understand there are various purposes for creating works of visual art.
- Goal 7: The learner will perceive connections between visual arts and other disciplines.
- Objective 7.04: Compare characteristics of visual arts within a particular historical period or style with ideas, issues or themes in other disciplines.
Grade 9–12 — Visual Arts IV
- Goal 6: The learner will reflect upon and assess the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of others.
- Objective 6.01: Understand there are various purposes for creating works of visual art.
- Goal 7: The learner will perceive connections between visual arts and other disciplines.
- Objective 7.04: Compare and synthesize characteristics of visual arts within a particular historical period or style with ideas, issues or themes in other disciplines.
