Reading Materials for Students

Here is a great video: 

Diego Rivera - Biography

Diego Rivera was a Mexican artist working in the 20th century. He was famous during his time, not just for his own work but for his tumultuous marriage to fellow artist Frida Kahlo. This brief video is an excellent overview of Rivera's life and work. The video incorporates interviews, photography, and film to give students the flavor of his life and times.  Students will see clips of Rivera himself, his home and his family. They will also get to see some of his artwork in context of location, as Rivera is most famous for mural work. The site also contains further information about Rivera's life and paintings. Additionally, www.biography.com features a number of excellent and student-appropriate entries for various artists throughout history.

As a teacher I would definitely show this video to a class if we were learning about Diego Rivera, Mexican art, or mural art.  I plan to show students some of the other mini-biography videos on this site as well. This will be a site I recommend to my students as they progress through their artist project.


Retrieved from http://www.biography.com/people/diego-rivera-9459446


  These books look great for students:

 Vincent Van Gogh: Portrait of an Artist

Vincent Van Gogh was a Dutch artist working in the late 19th century. This book, for young adults, tells of his life from the time he was a child.  It goes into details about his life before becoming an artist, as well as his troubled career as a painter, and his death. One interesting detail students will like is that it includes letters from Vincent to his brother Theo, as well as letters from Theo. Vincent's brother was a large part of his story and was Vincent's only fan for a long time. This  book is available for Kindle as well! Students will love to learn more about Van Gogh with this book, complete with glossary, reproductions of his work, and other resources.  The author  has written a number of artist biographies students might want to check out if they like the style of this one!

In addition to making this book available to older students to read, I would read selections of the book to  younger children if it was useful to the lesson. For the artist project I hope to be able to suggest a list of books by these authors as they come highly recommended by Amazon reviewers. It would be excellent to incorporate the students' reading class into the project and give them an opportunity to read a longer book about their artists.

Greenberg, J., & Jordan, S. (2003) Vincent Van Gogh: Portrait of an Artist. New York, NY: Yearling.


Janson's History of Art for Young People

This book is a classic. The above link is for Amazon but some edition of this book should be available in any public library. Janson has been writing textbooks about art history for decades and his books have been used in schools for just as long.  This book takes the same information from the college level texts and presents it in a way that makes it much more accessible to younger readers.  History of Art for Young People has been in print for 40 years. It is arguably the best art history book available. Unlike what the title suggests, people of all ages have used this book to learn about art.

I would love to have some reference materials in the classroom that are more suited to a younger audience. I have the Janson's History of Art books but the language is too heavy for most elementary-middle students.For the Artist project I will not be able to provide this book but I will suggest it on the library books list, and will provide the History of Art Vol. I and II that I do own for students to use for visual reference during class.

Janson, A.F. (2003) History of Art for Young People (Trade Version) (6th Ed.). New York, NY: Random House.

Here are some awesome websites:

National Gallery of Art Collection 

This is the digital collection of the National Gallery of Art. Students can search the collection by the artist's name, the name of the artwork, or both. Each artwork page gives a description of the work, and a bit of information about it.  This is a tremendous resource as students can see many works by the same artist. They will easily be able to get a sense of what an artist's style was like by viewing each artist's collection.  The site has many features beyond the title and keyword search. Artworks are also grouped by type, including new arrivals. Another feature is the "Web Tour of the Week," where students are able to learn about featured groups of artists and art work.

This is a site that I often like to use in class with the projector. It is a great resource for teachers as well as students.  I will be providing this as a resource for students to use for their research on the artist project, to inform their classwork on the artwork component.

 National gallery of art. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.nga.gov/collection/index.shtm 


This article is really interesting:

  Flea-Market Renoir Was Stolen 
This article from the Washington Post on 9/27 is just fascinating.  It tells about a Renoir painting that was recently bought at a flea market for $7. Although the painting was purchased in West Virginia, this story has a Baltimore connection which makes it even more exciting.  It turns out the painting was stolen from the Baltimore Museum of Art, over 60 years ago! While the article may not provide background on the artist Renoir, it is still a great reminder that we are all part of art history every day.  Students that choose Renoir as their artist will be encouraged to read this article to get inspired to do further research on Renoir. Depending on how the rest of this story unfolds, possibly in the future, they will get a chance to go to the BMA and view the painting.

 I enjoy knowing about current events in art as well as art history. This story is both, plus it has a local connection. I would be able to tie this story in to my conversations with students, and possibly spark their interest in visiting the art museum.

Shapira, I. (2012, September 28). Flea-market renoir allegedly was stolen from baltimore museum; auction canceled. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/flea-market-renoir-was-allegedly-stolen-from-baltimore-museum-of-art/2012/09/27/193d6162-08bd-11e2-a10c-fa5a255a9258_story.html