Educator Resources

This suit of ceremonial armor includes more than 22 pieces that could be mixed for parade and sporting tournaments. Students will learn about the production and functions of armor and about the role of the knight in 16th-century Europe.

In The Herring Net (1885), Winslow Homer captures the conflict between man and nature in his depiction of two fishermen hauling in a herring net amidst a stormy and powerful seascape.

This figure of Shukongojin looks down from his rock-like pedestal, imposing both a sense of awe and curiosity about the target of his aggressive presence.

In this work, Chicago-based artist Archibald J. Motley, Jr. depicts himself as a debonair yet serious artist, vibrant palette in hand. The traditional composition and lively colors offer a glimpse into the complexity of Motley himself.

This painting features the famous medieval legend of Saint George, who saved a princess about to be sacrificed to the dragon threatening her father’s kingdom.

In this image, the features are greatly distorted as Pablo Picasso began to examine the subject’s facial features and characteristics as closely and specifically as possible.

Adriaen van Ostade’s Merrymakers in an Inn illustrates peasants of multi-generations celebrating a joyous event in a spacious and picturesque interior.

In Many Mansions, Kerry James Marshall combined the real and the ideal to portray residents’ efforts to preserve their community.

Inspired by the Apollo missions, Thomas’s thickly painted patches of vivid color against a white ground creates a sensation of flickering light, which suggests the mysterious beauty of outer space and inspires a sense of wonder.

To render this haunting portrait, Albright used a precise painting technique that encourages viewers to look at all the details that convey Ida’s persona, such as clothing, accessories, and setting.

Charles Wilbert White depicted the dignity of rural labor with two powerful figures. The contours of scythe, hat brims, and forearms echo the curves of the horizon and clouds, portraying these workers in harmony with the landscape.

Thinly and rapidly painted, Equestrienne (At the Cirque Fernando) (1887-88) has the confident, improvisational quality of a drawing. Its subject is the Circus Fernando, one of the first permanent circuses in Paris.

With its pulsating strands and slashes of bright color, this work evokes memories of bustling cities that Mitchell recalled from her travels in the American Midwest.

Artist Marc Chagall began working on his design for the windows in 1976, America’s bicentennial year, and constructed the windows as a tribute to the freedom of artistic expression enjoyed by the people of the United States.

This teaching packet includes an essay, discussion questions, activity ideas, a glossary, and images of three photographs from Dawoud Bey’s first significant body of work.