Museum-Activity #3: What is a Portrait?
Museum-Activities: #1 | #2 | #3

Materials:

Suggested Galleries: American, Ancient Art, European Art, Pre- Columbian, Colonial
Student Worksheet #3
Tips and Guidance

Activity:

  1. In this gallery you will select a work individually. More than one person may also use the same portrait.
  2. In the first two exercises you observed and noted visual information. You became aware of some of the decisions and choices that the artist made.
  3. In this activity you will begin by recording the basic information about the portrait.

    Title:
    Artist:
    Medium:
    Date:

  4. Make a thumbnail sketch of it. A thumbnail sketch is done in less than 5 minutes. It is small, quick and simple. Do not let concern about the quality of the drawing interfere with completing it. You may make stick figures if you want. When you draw something it makes you observe details. You need to have this information before doing the main work of this activity. Your teacher/parent guide will remind you of time to begin the second part of this activity.
  1. What do you think the artist intended to communicate about the person in the portrait? Write a poem, short story, or a short essay explaining what you think the artist communicated. This writing should include such mundane things as the age and gender of the person, but also include more subjective information that you may interpret from the artist’s choice of background, costume, other objects, artistic style, etc. Use the back of this paper for notes if you need them and then write your finished work on the next page.

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