Art History as Civic Engagement | Art History Teaching Resources
Sarah Dillon (author) earned her PhD at the CUNY Graduate Center. She is now currently an Assistant Professor of Art History at Kingsborough Community College, CUNY.
Amy Raffel (editor) is a PhD candidate at the CUNY Graduate Center. She has a Master’s degree in Contemporary Art history from the Institute of Fine Arts (NYU) and has taught Introduction to Modern Art as a Graduate Teaching Fellow at Lehman College since 2010. Currently, Amy is a genome contributor for Artsy and editor and contributor of Art History Teaching Resources.
- Art as Social Commentary
- Art as Cultural Property
- How Politics Shape Art and Art Shapes Politics
- Learning about the Past to Inform the Present and Shape the Future
civic engagement is the fostering of democratic ideals, civic mindedness, and political action through education, awareness, and reflection.
Artists throughout time have made poignant social commentary on everything from workers’ rights to racism.
Kara Walker and Kehinde Wiley
how art has been used as a political tool to control, such as the visual propaganda implemented by Nazi Germany and its select promotion of art to represent its ideology, condemning most modern art as degenerate.
“whitewashing” of Ridley Scott’s recent movie Exodus and references to other famous examples, see http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/10/showbiz/exodus-whitewash-bible/
civic engagement – in general, civic engagement is the fostering of democratic ideals, civic mindedness, and political action through education, awareness, and reflection. However, each institution or foundation may have their own working definition with subtle differences. My institution’s more detailed definition is as follows: Kingsborough Community College, CUNY accepts as a fundamental principle that education requires social awareness, an acceptance of social responsibility, and active participation in meeting the challenges of a modern society. Through civic engagement, we recognize our mutual responsibility to care for each other in the college, in our communities, and on our planet. This responsibility may be accomplished through political activity, community service, engagement in leadership roles, advocacy or becoming informed about issues that relate to social change. Therefore, civic engagement at Kingsborough seeks to foster civic awareness while providing the skills needed for our students to actively participate in their communities.
List of Artworks:
- Seated Khafre, 2520-2494 BCE, Egyptian Museum, Cairo
- Ti Watching a Hippopotamus Hunt, 2450-2325 BCE, Tomb of Ti, Saqqara
- Colossal Figure of Akhenaten, 1353-1336 BCE, from the temple known as the Gempaaten, Egyptian Museum, Cairo
- Tutmose, Portrait of Nefertiti, c. 1353-1336 BCE, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Ägyptisches Museum
- Stele of Hammurabi, 1792-1750 BCE, Musée du Louvre, Paris
- Thomas Hudson Jones, Hammurabi, 1950, from the Chamber of the US House of Representatives
- Polykleitos, Spear Bearer, 450 BCE, Roman copy after bronze original, Museo Archaeologico Nazionale, Naples
- Kallikrates and Iktinos, Parthenon, c. 448-432 BCE, Akropolis, Athens
- Thomas Jefferson, Monticello, c. 1769-1782, 1796-1809, near Charlottesville, Virginia
- The White House, first phase of construction 1792-1800, with later modifications, Washington, D.C.
- Augustus of Primaporta, early first century CE, perhaps a marble copy of bronze original of 20 BCE, Musei Vaticani, Rome
- Portrait Bust of a Man, first century BCE, Metropolitan Museum
- What type of government does the US have and how did you learn this? Can you identify a country with a different political system from that of the US? Where would you go to further investigate this issue? Why do you think this is a good source to consult?
- Which political party do you support? How did you come to this decision? Where would you go to learn more about both parties’ positions? Why do you think this is a good source to consult?
- What is your position on how political campaigns are financed and how did you come to this position? Where would you go to learn more? Why is this a credible source?
- What should the government’s role be in providing access to natural resources such as fresh water? How did you reach this position? Where would you go to learn more? Why is this a credible source?
- What should the government’s role be in the redistribution of wealth to pay for social programs such as education and healthcare? How did you reach this position? Where would you go to learn more? Why is this a credible source?
- Do you think there should be a separation of church and state? Why or why not? How did you reach this position? Where would you go to learn more? Why is this a credible source?
- What is the US’s current policy on immigration? Where did you obtain this information? Why is this a credible source? What is your stance on this? Where could you go to learn more?