Expand the Curriculum
The Art Thief, Noah Charney (2007)
Readers will expand the curriculum by...
Discussing the world of art museums and art auctions as well as the history and impact of art theft.
Essential Questions
Background Knowledge: What do students need to know before reading in order to better comprehend this story?
Discussion Questions
Dramatization: Become an Art Curator
Students will take on the role of an art curator and persuade the class, their museum board of directors, to purchase an abstract or non-objective work of art for the class museum. The student will choose a work of art and construct an argument as to why this piece is valuable. This not only entails arguing for the piece's value in art history but also to the community which this classroom museum serves.
Take it a Step Further...
Students will have to find out where the artwork they wish to purchase for the museum is currently housed. How will they persuade that particular museum to let them buy it from them? What will they offer as compensation?
Quotes
"There is no right or wrong answer to the question what is this painting about? The question is, what does this make you feel?" (p. 8)
"But in one's outrage, the painting has succeeded. It provokes emotion." (p. 9)
"Paintings were meant to be read." (p. 26)
"Art repeats. The history of art is rife with allusion and self reference. Art is cumulative. The most modern art reflects upon and comments on the art that came before it." (p. 35)
"Art that looks different is a reaction against, but it is nevertheless a reaction." (p. 35)
"Every painting in every museum in the world is in code, it is a riddle waiting to be unlocked. Some are more complicated than others. . .it is a specialized piece of knowledge." (p. 39)
"For an administrator in a crime syndicate, art is an object equated with a certain value." (p. 46)
"This is a crime of love, not money." (p. 48)
"That was the real problem with art crime. It was considered high class . . . was socially acceptable, even thought of as prestigious and intriguing. It was the only serious crime for which the public tended to root for the criminals." (p. 64)
"'I firmly believe that universal truths about the human condition are embedded into great works of art. Whether or not the artist is aware, these are painted passions - history, political, social, artistic, literary, religious, philosophical, psychological, emotional. It's all in there. You want love and sex and death? Hell! That's all there in these paintings! The secrets are caught like beasts in a tar pit, struggling to get out, leaning out to you, the viewers, the students like buried treasure with a glint of gold just beckoning beneath the surface." (p. 245)
"Nothing is arbitrary, especially in art." (p. 287)
Other Notable Items
Discussing the world of art museums and art auctions as well as the history and impact of art theft.
Essential Questions
- What determines the value of art?
- Who owns artwork?
- Who steals art?
- Why do people steal art?
Background Knowledge: What do students need to know before reading in order to better comprehend this story?
- Students could benefit from some brief familiarity with Caravaggio and Malevich and their work, but the book is written for audiences that do not have any background in art.
Discussion Questions
- How does art theft affect society?
- What makes each of these stolen paintings important?
- Debate which painting is more valuable.
- Why was the theft of the Caravaggio painting so appalling?
- Why did the museum want to purchase the Malevich painting?
- Which of the paintings would you rather own?
- To what extent were you rooting for the criminals?
- What makes certain artworks more valuable than others?
Dramatization: Become an Art Curator
Students will take on the role of an art curator and persuade the class, their museum board of directors, to purchase an abstract or non-objective work of art for the class museum. The student will choose a work of art and construct an argument as to why this piece is valuable. This not only entails arguing for the piece's value in art history but also to the community which this classroom museum serves.
- Students will experience one aspect of an art curator's professional life.
- Students will research abstract and non-objective artworks and their role in art history.
- Students will make judgments about artworks.
Take it a Step Further...
Students will have to find out where the artwork they wish to purchase for the museum is currently housed. How will they persuade that particular museum to let them buy it from them? What will they offer as compensation?
Quotes
"There is no right or wrong answer to the question what is this painting about? The question is, what does this make you feel?" (p. 8)
"But in one's outrage, the painting has succeeded. It provokes emotion." (p. 9)
"Paintings were meant to be read." (p. 26)
"Art repeats. The history of art is rife with allusion and self reference. Art is cumulative. The most modern art reflects upon and comments on the art that came before it." (p. 35)
"Art that looks different is a reaction against, but it is nevertheless a reaction." (p. 35)
"Every painting in every museum in the world is in code, it is a riddle waiting to be unlocked. Some are more complicated than others. . .it is a specialized piece of knowledge." (p. 39)
"For an administrator in a crime syndicate, art is an object equated with a certain value." (p. 46)
"This is a crime of love, not money." (p. 48)
"That was the real problem with art crime. It was considered high class . . . was socially acceptable, even thought of as prestigious and intriguing. It was the only serious crime for which the public tended to root for the criminals." (p. 64)
"'I firmly believe that universal truths about the human condition are embedded into great works of art. Whether or not the artist is aware, these are painted passions - history, political, social, artistic, literary, religious, philosophical, psychological, emotional. It's all in there. You want love and sex and death? Hell! That's all there in these paintings! The secrets are caught like beasts in a tar pit, struggling to get out, leaning out to you, the viewers, the students like buried treasure with a glint of gold just beckoning beneath the surface." (p. 245)
"Nothing is arbitrary, especially in art." (p. 287)
Other Notable Items
- Noah Charney has written several novels related to art and art crime. He is one of the leaders of the new academic field studying art crime and has been known to use his knowledge a to educate museum security personnel.
I Was Vermeer, Frank Wynne (2006)
Readers will expand the curriculum by...
Discussing the idea of forgery and the impact of forgeries on the definition of art and the way we view artworks.
Essential Questions
Background Knowledge: What do students need to know before reading in order to better comprehend this story?
Discussion Questions
Dramatization: Become a Forger
Van Meegeren did not imitate/replicate artwork to create his forgeries. Instead, he included elements from Vermeer's work to create a new piece that could fit into the body of Vermeer's work. Students will take on the role of a forger to replicate elements from other artists' work in this way and combine them to create an original artwork. Students should "forge" lines, shapes, colors, ideas, styles, subject matter, composition, etc. and use them to create an appropriation that is all their own.
Notable Quotes
"Art is the business of selling fetishes, sacred relics once touched by genius: what the forger offers the gullible buyer is not art, it is 'authenticity;..." (p. 2).
"Every forger hungers for recognition, for a place in the canon, a scarp of wall in some illustrious gallery to call home" (p. 83).
"In order to succeed [as a forger] he (as in many criminal careers, women are under-represented) must become a skilled art historian, a restorer, a chemist, a graphologist and a documentalist if he is to exploit his talents as a charlatan. This is not a vocation for the indolent" (p. 83).
"Han van Meegeren's true legacy to the world of art is doubt. More than that of any other forger, his work rocked the foundations of an art world reliant on the authentication of experts" (p. 243).
Discussing the idea of forgery and the impact of forgeries on the definition of art and the way we view artworks.
Essential Questions
- How do we define art? How do we define great art?
- What determines the value of art?
- What makes a successful artist?
Background Knowledge: What do students need to know before reading in order to better comprehend this story?
- Brief familiarity with Vermeer's artwork and how he fits into the canon of art history.
- Brief knowledge of the political happenings at the time (i.e. World War II).
- Brief familiarity with surrealism.
Discussion Questions
- Why has Vermeer been so highly regarded as an artist? What is the impact of the limited number of his artworks?
- Do you consider a forgery to be art? Why or why not? Do both types of forgeries carry equal weight in this matter?
- What is the relationship between forgery and appropriation?
- What is the relationship between forgery and counterfeiting?
- Why did Han van Meegeren become a forger? What motivated him initially and then to continue?
- On p. 84, we learn that van Meegeren considered forgery his only option - do you think that is true of artists today who find themselves in similar situations?
- How would you feel if you found out you had seen a forgery in a museum?
- Why were people so decieved by Han van Meegeren's work?
- Does the idea that van Meegeren's painting was considered Vermeer's best work degrade the value of Vermeer's actual artwork?
- Did Van Meegeren deserve his status as a national folk hero (that he achieved after swindling the Nazi, Goering)?
Dramatization: Become a Forger
Van Meegeren did not imitate/replicate artwork to create his forgeries. Instead, he included elements from Vermeer's work to create a new piece that could fit into the body of Vermeer's work. Students will take on the role of a forger to replicate elements from other artists' work in this way and combine them to create an original artwork. Students should "forge" lines, shapes, colors, ideas, styles, subject matter, composition, etc. and use them to create an appropriation that is all their own.
- Students will practice precision as they draw from observation.
- Students will apply the idea of forgery to appropriation.
- Students will experiment through trial and error to achieve desired results (mixing exact color swatches, handling of media, rendering of lines and shapes, etc.).
Notable Quotes
"Art is the business of selling fetishes, sacred relics once touched by genius: what the forger offers the gullible buyer is not art, it is 'authenticity;..." (p. 2).
"Every forger hungers for recognition, for a place in the canon, a scarp of wall in some illustrious gallery to call home" (p. 83).
"In order to succeed [as a forger] he (as in many criminal careers, women are under-represented) must become a skilled art historian, a restorer, a chemist, a graphologist and a documentalist if he is to exploit his talents as a charlatan. This is not a vocation for the indolent" (p. 83).
"Han van Meegeren's true legacy to the world of art is doubt. More than that of any other forger, his work rocked the foundations of an art world reliant on the authentication of experts" (p. 243).
The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet, Reif Larsen (2009)
Readers will expand the curriculum by...
Exploring the ways in which art relates to science and geography.
Essential Questions
Background Knowledge: What do students need to know before reading in order to better comprehend this story?
Discussion Questions
Dramatization: Be a Cartographer for a Day
After students familiarize themselves with T. S. Spivet and the way he approaches the world, they should carry a sketchbook with them and map an entire day as they experience it. They should think like a creative cartographer, including a map of travel but also diagrams of their observations, encounters, and feelings along the way.
Quotes
"...there was never a map that got it all right, and truth and beauty were never married to one another for long." (p. 16)
"The number one rule of cartographia was that if you could no observe a phenomenon, you were not allowed to depict it on your parchment." (p. 32)
"...I had learned that the representation was not the real thing, but in a way this dissonance was what made it so good: the distance between the map and the territory allowed us breathing room to figure out where we stood." (p. 56-57)
"...through a series of maps that demonstrated a totally comprehensive understanding of the history, geology, archaeology, botany, and zoology of the land." (p. 136)
""Everything was done in minute pen-and-ink brushstrokes, such that he had to show us a detail slide for each map, and at this power of magnification a whole other world was revealed." (p. 137)
"Like him, I made maps without the aid of computers of GPS devices. I was not sure why, but I felt much more like a creator in this way. Computers made me feel like an operator." (p. 139)
"There was simply too much to map in this world to let yourself slip into the moors of boredom." (p. 199)
"'Do you ever get the feeling like you already know the entire contents of the universe somewhere inside your head, as if you were born with a complete map of this world already grafted onto the folds of your cerebellum and you are just spending your entire life figuring out how to access this map?'" (p. 315)
"'I don't feel like it's anything that I do. The world is out there, and I'm just trying to see it. The world has done all the work for me. The patterns are already there and I see the map in my head and then draw it.'" (p. 336)
Other Notable Items
Exploring the ways in which art relates to science and geography.
Essential Questions
- What do we learn from maps?
- Why do people make maps?
- What is art?
Background Knowledge: What do students need to know before reading in order to better comprehend this story?
- Students should know what a map is, what it can be used for, and how to read one.
Discussion Questions
- Why does T. S. Spivet map everything?
- What is the relationship between mapping and diagramming?
- To what extent does the compulsion to map help or hinder T. S. Spivet?
- How does making maps inform T. S. Spivet about the world?
- How has your conception of mapping changed after reading this book?
- How did the maps illustrated in the book help your understanding of the story?
- How have maps informed humanity about the world throughout time?
- To what extent is T. S. Spivet an artist?
Dramatization: Be a Cartographer for a Day
After students familiarize themselves with T. S. Spivet and the way he approaches the world, they should carry a sketchbook with them and map an entire day as they experience it. They should think like a creative cartographer, including a map of travel but also diagrams of their observations, encounters, and feelings along the way.
- Students will see, think, and act like a cartographer to map their entire day.
- Students will practice drawing from observation.
- Students will record their daily experience through mapping.
Quotes
"...there was never a map that got it all right, and truth and beauty were never married to one another for long." (p. 16)
"The number one rule of cartographia was that if you could no observe a phenomenon, you were not allowed to depict it on your parchment." (p. 32)
"...I had learned that the representation was not the real thing, but in a way this dissonance was what made it so good: the distance between the map and the territory allowed us breathing room to figure out where we stood." (p. 56-57)
"...through a series of maps that demonstrated a totally comprehensive understanding of the history, geology, archaeology, botany, and zoology of the land." (p. 136)
""Everything was done in minute pen-and-ink brushstrokes, such that he had to show us a detail slide for each map, and at this power of magnification a whole other world was revealed." (p. 137)
"Like him, I made maps without the aid of computers of GPS devices. I was not sure why, but I felt much more like a creator in this way. Computers made me feel like an operator." (p. 139)
"There was simply too much to map in this world to let yourself slip into the moors of boredom." (p. 199)
"'Do you ever get the feeling like you already know the entire contents of the universe somewhere inside your head, as if you were born with a complete map of this world already grafted onto the folds of your cerebellum and you are just spending your entire life figuring out how to access this map?'" (p. 315)
"'I don't feel like it's anything that I do. The world is out there, and I'm just trying to see it. The world has done all the work for me. The patterns are already there and I see the map in my head and then draw it.'" (p. 336)
Other Notable Items
- A movie based on this novel is beginning production this year, to be released in 2013.