H5 US History Field Trip to the MFA’s Art of the Americas Nov. 20, 2013
“The American War for Independence was partly a product of the colonists’ sense of a distinctive identity as inhabitants of a republican society. But the revolution also helped to nurture a sense of a uniquely American identity.”
Excerpt from Gilder Lehrman, “The Complexity of the American Revolution”
Your task at the MFA is to examine the art of the Revolutionary Era and the New Republic looking for cues and clues as to an emerging national identity.
Consider and record (take notes/photos/audio-visual) the following in your investigation of each piece of art:
1) title, artist, date
2) description of the event, individual, landscape, object
3) subject’s importance or role in the transition from British colony to American republic
4) symbols: ancient Roman republic, Greek democracy, American Revolution, new US
5) representation of American political ideas and ideals, leadership, society, economy
6) visual impact of the image: color, light, scale
Works to reflect on:
Portraits:
Paul Revere, John Singleton Copley
John Hancock, John Singleton Copley
Sam Adams, John Singleton Copley
Joseph Warren, John Singleton Copley
John Quincy Adams, John Singleton Copley
John Adams, John Singleton Copley
General Henry Knox, Gilbert Stuart
Thomas Jefferson (bust), Jean-Antoine Houdon
Pat Lyon at the Forge, John Neagle
Defining Events:
Washington at Dorchester Heights, Gilbert Stuart
Passage of the Delaware, Thomas Sully
The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker’s Hill, John Trumbull
Engagement Between the Constitution and the Guerriere, Thomas Birch
Engagement Between the United States and the Macedonian, Thomas Birch
American Landscape:
Storm in the Mountains, Albert Bierstadt
View from the Wind River Mountains, Wyoming, Albert Bierstadt
Geyser, Yellowstone Park, Albert Bierstadt
View of the Round-Top in the Catskill Mountains, Thomas Cole
Boston Harbor, Fitz Henry Lane
The Fog Warning, Winslow Homer
The Birds of America, Collection by John James Audubon and Robert Havell, Jr.
Symbolic Objects
Sons of Liberty Bowl, Paul Revere
Liberty, figure, MA courthouse
The Indian Hunter, John Quincy Adams Ward
Banjo, William Esperance Boucher, Jr.
Clipper Ship Flying Cloud, Model by Horace Boucher
Fragment of the Niagara, Battle of Lake Erie
TAKE NOTES and, if you have access to a phone with a camera, take photos (shut the flash off) and/or video.
Go to MFA Collections website for images (search by title or artist) to post on your MFA Project page.
“The American War for Independence was partly a product of the colonists’ sense of a distinctive identity as inhabitants of a republican society. But the revolution also helped to nurture a sense of a uniquely American identity.”
Excerpt from Gilder Lehrman, “The Complexity of the American Revolution”
Your task at the MFA is to examine the art of the Revolutionary Era and the New Republic looking for cues and clues as to an emerging national identity.
Consider and record (take notes/photos/audio-visual) the following in your investigation of each piece of art:
1) title, artist, date
2) description of the event, individual, landscape, object
3) subject’s importance or role in the transition from British colony to American republic
4) symbols: ancient Roman republic, Greek democracy, American Revolution, new US
5) representation of American political ideas and ideals, leadership, society, economy
6) visual impact of the image: color, light, scale
Works to reflect on:
Portraits:
Paul Revere, John Singleton Copley
John Hancock, John Singleton Copley
Sam Adams, John Singleton Copley
Joseph Warren, John Singleton Copley
John Quincy Adams, John Singleton Copley
John Adams, John Singleton Copley
General Henry Knox, Gilbert Stuart
Thomas Jefferson (bust), Jean-Antoine Houdon
Pat Lyon at the Forge, John Neagle
Defining Events:
Washington at Dorchester Heights, Gilbert Stuart
Passage of the Delaware, Thomas Sully
The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker’s Hill, John Trumbull
Engagement Between the Constitution and the Guerriere, Thomas Birch
Engagement Between the United States and the Macedonian, Thomas Birch
American Landscape:
Storm in the Mountains, Albert Bierstadt
View from the Wind River Mountains, Wyoming, Albert Bierstadt
Geyser, Yellowstone Park, Albert Bierstadt
View of the Round-Top in the Catskill Mountains, Thomas Cole
Boston Harbor, Fitz Henry Lane
The Fog Warning, Winslow Homer
The Birds of America, Collection by John James Audubon and Robert Havell, Jr.
Symbolic Objects
Sons of Liberty Bowl, Paul Revere
Liberty, figure, MA courthouse
The Indian Hunter, John Quincy Adams Ward
Banjo, William Esperance Boucher, Jr.
Clipper Ship Flying Cloud, Model by Horace Boucher
Fragment of the Niagara, Battle of Lake Erie
TAKE NOTES and, if you have access to a phone with a camera, take photos (shut the flash off) and/or video.
Go to MFA Collections website for images (search by title or artist) to post on your MFA Project page.