Books That Art History Enthusiasts Would Enjoy

I recently read a blog post by Accredited Online Colleges that I found interesting and wanted to share. The post, 40 Books That art History Buffs Love, included some familiar titles as well as some I'd like to read!

I just bought The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade that Gave the World Impressionism by Ross King. I am looking forward to reading it!

A book that was new to me that I want to obtain and read is Rembrandt's Eyes by Simon Schama. Schama is a scholar I admire. I became familiar with him in reading his books about Dutch Art in the Golden Age. I am fascinated by is Power of Art videos as well.

Shop Window Displays

Have you ever wondered HOW and WHY shop windows are arranged in the manner that they are? Now that you have completed your AP Art History course this year, perhaps you have an answer to this question. Perhaps now you will look at things like shop windows in the future and question why they are organized the way they are. Hopefully our few months together have helped you look at the world through a new lens.

Bonus Opportunity Due June 1, 2011
Take a picture of two to four shop windows and analyze their arrangement. Look at the product being sold and how it is being conveyed. Look at colors, arrangement, allusions, etc. Are the stores appealing to emotions, intellect, or both? BONUS = up to 10 points each.

Final Exam

information is posted (two separate documents) under 2010-2011 KEY DOCUMENTS page of the website.

The Third of May

Good Luck on your AP Exam! Perhaps Goya's Third of May, 1808 will be a beacon of light for you today!

According to Artchive, "This is the first great picture which can be called revolutionary in every sense of the word in style, in subject and in intention; and it should be a model for the socialist and revolutionary painting of the present day".

May the inspiring work of Goya drive you to success today!

Canada's GROUP of SEVEN and INUIT Art

Canadian Artists known as the GROUP OF SEVEN began working together in 1920. Tom Tomson, a commercial artist that died before the group exhibited had a big influence upon their work. Tomson was an avid outdoorsman and inspired his peers to pain out-of-doors, en plein air, like the Impressionists a few decades earlier in France.

According to the Canadian Encyclopedia,the Group of Seven were "initially drawn together by a common sense of frustration with the conservative and imitative quality of most Canadian art. Romantic, with mystical leanings, the Group and their spokesmen zealously, and sometimes contentiously, presented themselves as Canada's national school of painters". The group was noted for their landscapes, although they painted a variety of subjects.

Inuit art has a long tradition that dates back centuries. Modern Inuit art, the Inuit art we are familiar "came into existence in 1948-49. The Inuit were encouraged to use their "natural talents" in creating art objects to help solve their economic problems" (Canadian Encyclopedia). Soapstone, ivory and serpentine carvings of animals are common subjects of the Inuit artists. They used natural mediums, mediums found locally, to depict local animals. Man's harmony with, and understanding of, his natural surroundings is evident in Inuit art.