K-12 Virtual Visit: Aaron Douglas, Building More Stately Mansions, 1944

hi everyone my name is lily and i am an educator at the rizzy museum of art in providence rhode island the risdy museum has many exhibits of artworks from different times and places including this one that has art and design objects from the last hundred years or so one of my favorite paintings in the museum is in this gallery and we're going to explore it together today you can pause the video anytime to think look or respond to my questions or activities this is the painting building more stately mansions by the artist aaron douglas you can see some basic information about the painting at the top right of the slide i like this painting because i think it's a very powerful and poetic image that makes me think about some big questions who does the work of building a great society and who gets credited and remembered by history take a minute to look at this painting and form some first impressions about it now as we explore this painting together i'm going to ask you to do some thinking and responding so please take out a piece of paper and a pencil now now let's look at the elements that the artist used in this painting and how he composed them towards the bottom of the painting you can see silhouettes of people at first it might look like there are five people but if you look closely there are actually seven five adults and two children that are all the way at the right of the picture can you see them when i say silhouette i mean that the artist has painted these people as flat forms without details or specific features to me they almost look like shadows the tools in the people's hands give us clues about what kind of work each person is doing i see a person with a pitchfork one holding what looks like a golden bag and a pickaxe a pair of people holding a stake and hammer and one person who may be pointing to or writing on a world globe i want you to think about what kinds of work these people might be doing given their tools and the way they're posed now let's zoom back out to the entire painting in the middle and background you can see a variety of buildings and structures i noticed that they're painted in varying shades of purplish gray with the ones in the front darker and the ones in the back lighter like they're receding into the distance they have just a bit of shading to give them some three-dimensional form and a variety of geometric shapes including arches pointed spires a dome and a pyramid think about if any of these forms remind you of buildings that you've seen anywhere these forms in douglas's painting suggest different kinds of monumental architecture from different societies throughout time and around the world this photograph shows the arch of titus an example of a triumphal arch which is an architectural form distinctive to ancient rome and then copied throughout history triumphal arches usually commemorate important events such as military victories or the founding of new colonies the arch of titus was built to commemorate the roman general titus after he defeated the uprising of jews in judea against the roman rulers in the first jewish roman war this is the woolworth building in new york one of the first american skyscrapers built as the headquarters of the woolworth company of retail stores in 1910 to 1912 when aaron douglas was a child and this is the great sphinx and pyramid of giza in egypt the sphinx and pyramid were built around 2500 bce as a monumental tomb for the pharaoh khafre who was considered like all egyptian pharaohs to be all-powerful and god-like all of these structures symbolize the values of the most powerful members of the unequal societies that built them like generals business owners and pharaohs returning to the painting can you see the forms that look like the buildings we just looked at you might also notice one more building in the lower left corner of the painting shown in a dark color similar to the silhouettes unlike the other monumental buildings this one looks decrepit and ruined and from one of its windows comes a dark line that curves above the figures heads across the painting i wondered why the artist included this building but i think that the title of the painting gives us a clue douglas titled this painting building more stately mansions which is a line from a poem by the american poet and judge oliver wendell holmes i'm going to read you a verse from that poem build thee more stately mansions o my soul as the swift seasons roll leave thy low vaulted past let each temple nobler than the last shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast till thou at length art free leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea though the language of this poem sounds old-fashioned the ideas that stick out to me are the fact that the poet is speaking to his soul commanding it to build more stately mansions that suggests to me that douglas was thinking about buildings as symbols of the human spirit and that he was invoking ideas of progress and freedom i also hear references in the poem to the passage of time like as the swift seasons roll and leave thy low vaulted past take a minute to think about how this poem adds to the way that you're thinking about this painting since we mentioned that dark line curving across the painting you may also see other graphic elements of line shape and color that the artist used look for some concentric circles and wavy bands of color these are elements that are distinctive of aaron douglas's style which we'll learn more about in a moment now that we've looked together at some of the key elements i want you to write on your paper a few words or sentences describing what you think are the main ideas of this painting let's take a step back from looking at the elements of this painting to learn a little more about the artist who painted it aaron douglas was an african-american painter illustrator and muralist born in kansas in 1899. his illustrations for novels and poems and his murals for the new york public library and historically black colleges were well known throughout his lifetime he painted building more stately mansions as a study for a mural at fisk university in nashville tennessee in 1944 douglas's style draws upon many sources of inspiration including ancient egyptian figures west african sacred geometry and art deco the modernist style of 1920s america the artwork on the left is a modern copy of an ancient egyptian wall painting showing people engaged in work can you see how douglas painted his figures in a similar style the drawing on the right is by an artist who worked around the same time as douglas and was also interested in skyscrapers as symbols of modern life aaron douglas developed his artistic style during a very important time and place for black artists in america known as the harlem renaissance this was a flowering of black artistic and intellectual innovation centered in harlem new york it was made possible by the mass migration of african americans from the agricultural south to northern cities for the promise of greater equality and better jobs in growing industries like manufacturing and building born in kansas douglas moved to new york in 1925 where he became a key figure in this movement working with other artists writers and musicians during this time of great social change the artists of the harlem renaissance were grappling with history while trying to use their art to imagine a better future one of aaron douglas's close friends and collaborators in new york was the poet langston hughes douglas created illustrations for many of langston hughes homes such as this one for the negro speaks of rivers i want to clarify that the word negro was how black artists of the time would have self-identified similar to how we would use black or african american now i'm going to read aloud from this poem and as i do i want you to write down words and phrases from the poem that you think show a connection to building more stately mansions try to find at least five different words or phrases to write i've known rivers i've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins my soul has grown deep like the rivers i bathed in the euphrates when dawns were young i built my hut near the congo and it lulled me to sleep i looked upon the nile and raised the pyramids above it i heard the singing of the mississippi when abe lincoln went down to new orleans and i've seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset i've known rivers ancient dusky rivers my soul has grown deep like the rivers take another minute to write down words and phrases from this poem that connect to the imagery and ideas in the painting i'll give an example the poem mentions both dawn and sunset i noticed that the colors of the painting make it look like the sun is at the horizon and it makes me wonder if it's rising or setting either way it makes me think about the way that time is both linear moving in one direction and cyclical with the sun rising and setting each day what does this poem add to the way that you're thinking about this painting okay now that we've learned more about aaron douglas's life art and inspirations let's return to the original questions that started our explorations of this painting douglas created this image to be painted on a grand scale as a mural in a library where it would be seen by many generations of students he wanted the students to know their history as they prepared to shape their society for the future the questions are who does the work of building a great society and who gets credited and remembered by history how do you think this painting answers these questions take a minute to write down some thoughts let's think about how we can apply the ideas we explored in aaron douglas's work to our own time and social context first douglas was thinking about labor that is essential to society but often goes uncelebrated on your paper i want you to list up to four essential types of work that go unnoticed in our society then the assignment that i'm going to leave you with is this write a short proposal or sketch a study for an artwork that would celebrate the people who perform these essential kinds of work consider what form your artwork will take and how it might share your message with a broad audience i hope you've enjoyed exploring aaron douglas's painting and are inspired to create your own artwork based on his art and ideas if you have any questions or thoughts that you'd like to share or if you want to post some of your work we would love to hear from you thank you so much for joining me and please stay in touch with all of us at the risd museum thanks

Channel: RISD Museum

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Keywords: RISD, RISD Museum

Id: ASAU_Im1iVo

Length: 13min 44sec (824 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 18 2020