SLIDE 23 SLIDE 24

LESSON PLAN #6 THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 1870S TO 1880S Objectives: Learn how one of the effects of the Industrial Revolution -- a sense of nostalgia for a simpler time -- was illustrated in American paintings. As students become more sophisticated at using art to discover the past, they must learn to exercise caution; things may not always have been as they appeared to be! These two paintings could easily be interpreted as representing a modern reality to a late nineteenth century viewer, when in actuality they did not. Slides: Slide #23 The Ironworkers' Noontime, 1880, Thomas Anshutz Slide #24 After the Hunt, 1885, William Michael Harnett Discussion: The Industrial Revolution not only changed how people lived and worked, it also modified the subjects of many paintings. As America entered the modern age, many artists began to paint tributes to an earlier, simpler time. View The Iron Workers' Noontime; discuss the information from Introduction, Discussion, Looking Closely, Style, and Artist. As twentieth century viewers it would be easy for us to misinterpret this painting and read it as an indictment against industrialization and child labor; in reality the artist intended it as a tribute to skilled craftspeople and to their apprentices both of whom were quickly becoming extinct. Do apprenticeships exist today? What are the advantages and disadvantages of being an apprentice vs. obtaining a school education? Before you can read a painting for information about the past, you have to know something about why it was made and for whom it was made. Just as journalism reflects the ideas of the writer, a painting reflects the ideas and world view of the artist. The difference is that an artist seldom assumes he or she is painting the truth in the same way a journalist might. How can we find out how the painting was intended and how it was interpreted when it was painted? (We can read the artist's letters, journal entries, press reviews of the painting, and look closely at the work of art.) After the Hunt can similarly be misunderstood. We might look at the objects hung on this old weathered door and assume that they represent hunting and hiking equipment from America in 1885. Although these objects do not represent the reality of the time, they do provide clues to the influences of mass production and consumerism. Do the objects look handmade or mass produced? (They are handmade.) Talk about the kinds of products that had previously been made by hand (for example shoes and clothing) that are now being mass produced. What are the advantages of mass production? (lower cost and more plentiful selection) What are the disadvantages of mass production? (poor working conditions, objects look the same and are not as carefully made) The objects in this painting were considered out-of-date and nostalgic at the time of the painting. What things do the students or their family have at home that seem out-of-date to others? Do their family members keep mementos of their past? Why? Activity 1: This activity should be presented to the students BEFORE any discussion of After the Hunt. Divide the class into three groups. Ask all of your students to look very closely at After the Hunt. Each group will be asked to write a report and make an oral presentation on what this painting tells us about life in 1885. Provide Group 1 with the information from Section IV. Group 2 will supplement the visual clues with information from their American History text book. Group 3 will use only the visual clues provided in the painting. After each group makes its presentation, discuss the different interpretations that arise when people interpret history from different sources. Activity 2: Break the students into two groups. Tell the class to pretend that it is the late 1800s. One side will be young apprentices learning how to become "puddlers;" the other group will be school children who pass by the ironworkers' yard each day on the way to school. Have all students examine The Ironworkers' Noontime carefully. Ask the group of apprentices to recreate the poses of the figures in the slide. Apprentices will write a letter to members of the student group, describing their daily routine on the job, what it's like not to live with parents, and what they do after work. Conversely, each member of the student group will write a letter to an apprentice about what it is like to go to school and what they hope to get out of having an education. Terms: craft: a skill in making something that requires training to achieve a certain level of competency. Blacksmiths, cobblers (shoemakers), tailors, bakers, and jewelers are all examples of craftspeople. apprentice: a person who is training to learn a special skill. In the past, apprentices were often boys who lived with a craftsperson and worked for free in exchange for food, a place to sleep, and the opportunity to learn a marketable skill. Suggested Reading: Bowman, John. Andrew Carnegie: Steel Tycoon. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Silver Burdett Press, 1989. Hine, Lewis and Russell Friedman. Kids at Work. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1994. Haskins, Jim. Upward Dreams: Black Inventors and Their Inventions. New York: Walker, 1991. Pelta, Kathy. Alexander Grahm Bell. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Silver Burdett Press, 1989.

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