Smithsonian American Art Museum
Becoming an Art Critic: Graphic Organizer
An activity to help young students analyze artwork
Overview
Designed for elementary school students and educators, this activity helps to teach the critical skill of “reading” a work of art. After completing this activity, students will have honed a basic technique enabling them to better examine and interpret art.
Suggestions for Implementation
This lesson is ideal for, but not limited to, a class that is planning to visit the Smithsonian American Art Museum, either in person or via videoconference. Central to the exercise is the Becoming an Art Critic graphic organizer, which proposes a series of questions to ask about a work of art. The organizer prepares students to understand and view critically a particular work that they will see in the Museum or by videoconference. Even for students who cannot visit American Art, this activity remains a valuable tool for learning how to critically examine visual art.
Although the graphic organizer prompts students with questions about the artwork, it also includes suggested follow-up questions that will help teachers guide the students to a deeper understanding of the work.
Consult the attached list of American Art’s tours. Each tour topic includes key images, which you can preview on the Internet. From this list, you and your students can select an image to study using the graphic organizer. Ask students to complete the organizer handout, and discuss their responses with the class. Use the suggested questions to facilitate discussion. Remember that each student’s response can be correct, but encourage the student to support his or her views with clues from the selected work.
To process responses to the graphic organizer, we have included possible follow-up learning activities. There are several writing prompts available as well as one oral storytelling activity. Ask
students to complete an exercise to help them refine their ideas. This section provides a final product for assessment.
 Becoming an Art Critic
Choose an artwork that you find interesting. Answer the following questions.
Who or what do you see in this artwork?
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William H. Johnson, Art Class — Three Men, ca. 1939-1940,
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation
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What colors are in the artwork?
Where do you think this scene is taking place?
Why do you like or dislike this artwork?
When do you think this artwork was made?
How do you think this artist made this artwork?
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 Becoming an Art Critic
Suggested Questions to Prompt Student Thinking Choose an artwork that you find interesting.
Answer the following questions.
Who or what do you see in this artwork?
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William H. Johnson, Art Class — Three Men, ca. 1939-1940, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon
Foundation
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What is going on in this picture? What more can you find?
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What is the largest thing you see in this picture?
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What is the smallest thing you see in this picture?
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Who are these people in the artwork? Are they similar or different from you?
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What colors are in the artwork?
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What can you tell me about the colors in this artwork? What color do you see the most?
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What kind of mood or feelings do the colors give the artwork?
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Do you like the colors that are in the artwork?
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If you were the artist, would you have used different colors?
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Where do you think this scene is taking place?
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What season is it?
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What time of day?
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What kind of weather?
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Is the scene outside? Inside?
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Why do you think this artist made this artwork?
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How does this artwork make you feel?
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How do you think the artist feels about this person or thing in the painting?
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When do you think this artwork was made?
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Does this scene look like it could be taking place today? Why or why not?
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If there are people, are their clothes similar or different from what you are wearing? Why or why not?
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Is the scenery similar or different from where you are?
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What does the scenery and the clothing or objects tell us about when this artwork was made?
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How do you think this artist made this artwork?
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What types of materials did the artist use? Paint? Clay? Wood?
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How long do you think it took to make?
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How big do you think the artwork is?
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Activities
Directions: Use your graphic organizer to help you answer the following questions.
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Select an artwork. Imagine you can have a conversation with the artist. What questions (at least three) would you ask him or her?
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If you were responsible for creating a new title for this painting, what would it be? Provide reasoning for your choice.
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Imagine that you are inside the painting. Choose a person or object. Write a journal entry pretending that you are that person or object. What types of things do you see? What do you feel? What did you do today? What will you do tomorrow?
Oral Storytelling
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Working in groups of two, have students create a short story using the selected artwork as inspiration. Allow students time to share their stories with the class.
Key images for American Art Museum Tours
For each of the tours, two images have been selected to represent very different aspects of the same theme. Images can be accessed through the links provided.
Tour Theme Image One Image Two
America’s Signs and Symbols
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Miss Liberty Celebration 1987
Malcah Zeldis
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George Washington
ca. 1845
Henry Brintnell Bounetheau
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oil on corrugated cardboard
54 1/2 x 36 1/2 in. (138.4 x 92.7 cm) 1988.74.14
http://americanart.si.edu/images/1988/19 88.74.14_1a.jpg
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Copy after Gilbert Stuart
watercolor on ivory
6 1/8 x 5 in. (15.6 x 12.7 cm) rectangle
1946.3.15 http://americanart.si.edu/images/1946/1946.3.15_ 1a.jpg
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Art and Literature
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The Headless Horseman Pursuing Ichabod Crane
1858
John Quidor
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St. Nicholas
ca. 1837
Robert Walter Weir
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oil on wood
29 3/4 x 24 1/2 in. (75.5 x 62.1 cm.)
1977.51 http://americanart.si.edu/images/1977/1977.51_1 a.jpg
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oil on canvas
26 7/8 x 33 7/8 in. (68.3 x 86.1 cm.) 1994.120
http://americanart.si.edu/images/1994/19 94.120_1a.jpg
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Beating the Odds: African-American Women Artists
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Old Arrow Maker
modeled 1866, carved 1872 Edmonia Lewis
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Snoopy Sees Earth Wrapped in Sunset 1970
Alma Thomas
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marble
21 1/2 x 13 5/8 x 13 3/8 in. (54.5 x 34.5 x 34.0 cm.)
1983.95.179 http://americanart.si.edu/images/1983/19 83.95.179_1a.jpg
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acrylic on canvas
47 7/8 x 47 7/8 in. (121.6 x 121.6 cm.)
1978.40.4 http://americanart.si.edu/images/1978/1978.40.4_ 1a.jpg
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Contemporary Craft
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Feast Bracelet
1974
Richard Mawdsley
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Game Fish 1988
Larry Fuente
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mixed media
51 1/2 x 112 1/2 x 10 3/4 in. (130.8 x 285.6 x 27.3 cm)
1991.61 http://americanart.si.edu/images/1991/1991.61_1 a.jpg
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fabricated sterling silver, jade, and pearls 3 3/4 x 2 3/4 x 4 1/2 in. (9.6 x 7.0 x 11.5 cm.)
1983.52 http://americanart.si.edu/images/1983/19 83.52_1a.jpg
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Folk Art: Beyond the Everyday
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Miss Liberty Celebration 1987
Malcah Zeldis
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Wolf Riding Turtle After 1930
Unidentified
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oil on corrugated cardboard
54 1/2 x 36 1/2 in. (138.4 x 92.7 cm) 1988.74.14
http://americanart.si.edu/images/1988/19 88.74.14_1a.jpg
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carved, varnished, and painted walnut 15 3/8 x 9 5/8 x 14 in. (39.2 x 24.5 x 35.5 cm.)
1986.65.339 http://americanart.si.edu/images/1986/1986.65.33 9_1a.jpg
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Free Within
Ourselves: African American Artists
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Café
ca. 1939-1940
William H. Johnson
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Evening Attire
1922
James VanDerZee
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oil on paperboard 36 1/2 x 28 3/8 in.
1967.59.669 http://americanart.si.edu/images/1967/19 67.59.669_1a.jpg
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gelatin silver print on paper mounted on paperboard
sheet: 10 x 8 in.
1994.57.3 http://americanart.si.edu/images/1994/1994.57.3_ 1a.jpg
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A House Divided (Civil War)
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Lee Surrendering to Grant at Appomattox
ca. 1870
Alonzo Chappel
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A Visit from the Old Mistress 1876
Winslow Homer
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oil on canvas
18 x 24 in.
1909.7.28 http://americanart.si.edu/images/1909/1909.7.28_ 1 a.jpg
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oil on paperboard
12 3/8 x 17 1/4 in. (31.4 x 43.8 cm) 1981.139
http://americanart.si.edu/images/1981/19 81.139_1a.jpg
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Latino Art and Culture
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Vaquero
modeled 1980/cast 1990 Luis Jiménez
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El Chandelier 1988
Pepón Osorio
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acrylic urethane, fiberglass, steel
armature
199 x 114 x 67 in.
1990.44 http://americanart.si.edu/images/1990/19 90.44_1a.jpg
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mixed media
60 7/8 x 42 in. (154.6 x 106.7 cm) diam.
1995.40 http://americanart.si.edu/images/1995/1995.40_1 a.jpg
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Lure of the West (Westward
Expansion)
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Among the Sierra Nevada, California 1868
Albert Bierstadt
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Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way (mural study, U.S. Capitol)
1861
Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze
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oil on canvas
72 x 120 1/8 in.
1977.107.1 http://americanart.si.edu/images/1977/19 77.107.1_1a .jpg
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oil on canvas
33 1/4 x 43 3/8 in. (84.5 x 110.1 cm.)
1931.6.1 http://americanart.si.edu/images/1931/1931.6.1_1 a .jpg
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Native Americans
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Wijún jon, Pigeon's Egg Head (The Light) Going To and Returning From Washington
1837-1839
George Catlin
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Young Omahaw, War Eagle, Little Missouri, and Pawnees
1821
Charles Bird King
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oil on canvas
36 1/8 x 28 in. (91.8 x 71.1 cm)
1985.66.384,222 http://americanart.si.edu/images/1985/1985.66.38 4,222_1a.jpg
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oil on canvas
29 x 24 in.
1985.66.474 http://americanart.si.edu/images/1985/19 85.66.474_1a.jpg
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Neighborhood and Nation
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Sunlight and Shadow 1941
Allan Rohan Crite
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Bird's-eye View of the Mandan Village, 1800 Miles above St. Louis
1837-1839
George Catlin
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oil on board
25 1/4 x 39 in.
1977.45 http://americanart.si.edu/images/1977/19 77.45_1ajpg
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oil on canvas
24 1/8 x 29 in.
1985.66.502 http://americanart.si.edu/images/1985/1985.66.50 2_1ajpg
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New Voices, New Visions
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Vaquero
modeled 1980/cast 1990 Luis Jiménez
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Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii
1995
Nam June Paik
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acrylic urethane, fiberglass, steel
armature
199 x 114 x 67 in.
1990.44 http://americanart.si.edu/images/1990/19 90.44_1ajpg
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49-channel closed circuit video installation, neon, steel and electronic components
approx. 15 x 40 x 4 ft.
2002.23 http://americanart.si.edu/images/2002/2002.23_1 ajpg
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Picturing America
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Manhattan
1932
Georgia O'Keeffe
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Mrs. George Watson 1765
John Singleton Copley
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oil on canvas
84 3/8 x 48 1/4 in. (214.3 x 122.4 cm.) 1995.3.1
http://americanart.si.edu/images/1995/19 95.3.1_1ajpg
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oil on canvas
49 7/8 x 40 in. (126.7 x 101.6 cm)
1991.189 http://americanart.si.edu/images/1991/1991.189_ 1ajpg
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Reshaping American Life (The New Deal Era)
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Relief Blues
ca. 1938
O. Louis Guglielmi
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Dust Bowl
1933
Alexandre Hogue
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tempera on fiberboard
24 x 30 in.
1971.447.34 http://americanart.si.edu/images/1971/19 71.447.34_1ajpg
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oil on canvas
24 x 32 5/8 in. (61 x 82.8 cm)
1969.123 http://americanart.si.edu/images/1969/1969.123_ 1ajpg
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To See is to Think: Visual Literacy
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Mrs. James Smith and Grandson 1776
Charles Willson Peale
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The South Ledges, Appledore 1913
Childe Hassam
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oil on canvas
36 3/8 x 29 1/4 in.
1980.93 http://americanart.si.edu/images/1980/19 80.93_1ajpg
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oil on canvas
34 1/4 x 36 1/8 in. (87.0 x 91.6 cm.)
1929.6.62 http://americanart.si.edu/images/1929/1929.6.62_ 1ajpg
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Urbanized America
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Elizabeth Winthrop Chanler (Mrs. John
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Cumulus Clouds, East River
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Jay Chapman)
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1901-1902
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1893
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Robert Henri
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John Singer Sargent
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oil on canvas
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oil on canvas
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25 3/4 x 32 in.
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49 3/8 x 40 1/2 in.
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1992.91
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1980.71
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http://americanart.si.edu/images/1992/1992.91_1
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http://americanart.si.edu/images/1980/19
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a.jpg
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80.71_1a.jpg
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Young America
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Mrs. James Smith and Grandson
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The Great Horseshoe Fall, Niagara
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(1750-1850)
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1776
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1820
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Charles Willson Peale
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Alvan Fisher
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oil on canvas
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oil on canvas
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36 3/8 x 29 1/4 in. (92.4 x 74.3 cm.)
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34 3/8 x 48 in.
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1980.93
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1966.82.1
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http://americanart.si.edu/images/1980/19
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http://americanart.si.edu/images/1966/1966.82.1_
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80.93_1a.jpg
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1a.jpg
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