All resources in Culver Academies

Carpeaux, Dance

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Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux​, Dance, 1865-69, marble, 420 x 298 cm. (Musée d'Orsay, Paris). Commissioned by Charles Garnier for the facade of L'Opéra. In 1964 it was replaced by a copy executed by Paul Belmondo. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.

Material Type: Lesson

Author: SmartHistory

Cassatt, In the Loge

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Mary Cassatt, In the Loge, 1878, oil on canvas, 81.28 x 66.04 cm / 32 x 26 inches (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker. In nineteenth century France, the gaze of the observer—whether on Napoleon's grand new boulevards or in the opera—was very much structured by issues of economic status. Mary Cassatt's remarkable painting In the Loge (c. 1878-79) clearly shows the complex relationship between the gaze, public spectacle, gender, and class privilege. Cassatt was a wealthy American artist who had adopted the style of the Impressionists while living in Paris. Here she depicts a fashionable upper-class woman in a box seat at the Paris opera (as it happens, the sitter is Cassatt's sister, Lydia). Lydia is shown holding opera glasses up to her eyes; but instead of tilting them down, as she would if she were watching the performance below, her gaze is level. She peers straight across the chamber perhaps at another member of the audience. Look closely and you will notice that, in turn, and in one of the boxes across the room, a gentleman is gazing at her. Lydia is then, in a sense, caught between his gaze and ours even as she spies another.

Material Type: Lesson

Author: SmartHistory

Cezanne, The Large Bathers

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Paul Cézanne, The Large Bathers, 1906, oil on canvas, 82-7/8 x 98-3/4 inches / 210.5 x 250.8 cm (Philadelphia Museum of Art). In the Google Art Project: http://www.googleartproject.com/collection/philadelphia-museum-of-art/artwork/the-large-bathers-paul-cezanne-french-1839-1906/808050/. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.

Material Type: Lesson

Author: SmartHistory

The Civil War in Art:

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"The Civil War in Art: Teaching and Learning through Chicago Collections" is intended to help teachers and students learn about the Civil War—its causes and effects—and connect to the issues, events, and people of the era through works of art. Web resource explores the Civil War through over 120 zoomable images from Chicago collections, with text and questions for students. The site presents essays about: The Civil War and American visual culture, the causes of the war, the military experience, emancipation and the meaning of freedom, the northern homefront, Lincoln, and remembering the war. Other resources include classroom projects for teacher use, an in-depth glossary of art and historical terms, and links to additional Civil War resources.

Material Type: Diagram/Illustration, Lesson Plan, Primary Source, Reading

Oldenburg, Floor Cake

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Claes Oldenburg, Floor Cake, 1962, synthetic polymer paint and latex on canvas filled with foam rubber and cardboard boxes, 58.375 x 114.25 x 58.375 in. (148.2 x 290.2 x 148.2 cm) (MoMA) Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris, Dr. Steven Zucker. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.

Material Type: Lesson

Author: SmartHistory