Tag Archives: art/architecture/design

Frida Kahlo

“Frida (Magdalena Carmen) Kahlo (y Calderon de Rivera): (1907-1954) Mexican painter. The daughter of a German-Jewish photographer, she had polio as a child and at 18 suffered a serious bus accident. She subsequently underwent some 35 operations; during her recovery, she taught herself to paint. Her marriage to Diego Rivera (from 1929) was tumultuous but artistically rewarding. She is noted for her intense, bizarre, brightly colored self-portraits, many reflecting her physical ordeal, which incorporate primitivistic elements but are executed with a fine technique. The Surrealists Andre Breton and Marcel Duchamp helped arrange exhibits of her work in the U.S. and Europe, and though she denied the connection, she is often identified as a Surrealist. She died at 47. Her house in Coyoacan is now the Frida Kahlo Museum.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

Muntin

“Muntin: Sash bar in a panel door. Sometimes incorrectly used for mullion.”

Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.

Multiples

“Multiples: Works of art theoretically made in unlimited numbers—in contrast with works made in traditional editions—which are slightly altered in style from their originals. Multiples by Alexander Calder, Claes Oldenburg, and others were introduced in the 1960s, when they were promoted by private art galleries.”

Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.

Bauhaus

“Bauhaus: (German, ‘house of architecture’) A school of architecture and design, founded in Weimar Germany, in 1919 by Walter Gropius. The school stressed functionalism in art and tried to unite the creative arts and the technology of modern mass production with 20th-century architecture. In addition to more strictly architectural studies, courses in painting, handicrafts, the theatre, and typography were given by outstanding artists, including Lyonel Feininger, Vassily Kandinsky, and Paul Klee. Functionalism, or the international style, in architecture and a number of examples of industrial design, such as the tubular lighting and steel furniture of Marcel Breuer, were first developed at the Bauhaus. In 1925, the school moved to the buildings designed for it by Gropius in Dessau; three years later, Mies van der Rohe became its director.

The Bauhaus was attacked by Hitler’s regime, and in 1933 it was forced to close. However, its great influence on modern architecture and design continued in Europe and the U.S. through its masters and students.”

Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.

Lazlo Moholy-Nagy

“Lazlo Moholy-Nagy: (1895-1946) Hungarian painter, photographer, and art teacher. After studying law in Budapest, he went to Berlin in 1919, and in 1923 he took charge of the metal workshop of the Bauhaus as well as the Bauhaus-book series of publications. As painter and photographer he worked predominantly with light, His ‘photograms’ were composed directly on film, and his ‘light modulators’ (oil paintings on transparent or polished surfaces) included mobile light effects. As an educator, he developed a widely accepted curriculum to develop students’ natural visual gifts instead of specialized skills. Fleeing Nazi Germany in 1935, he went to London and then to Chicago, where he organized and headed the New Bauhaus.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

Mullion

“Mullion: The vertical element or elements that divide a window into two or more lights.”

Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.

Cultural Literacy: Realism

This Cultural Literacy worksheet on realism might be of some use in an English classroom, though I admit I’ve never heard the term uttered in any English class I’ve co-taught. In any event, this is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two sentences, the second of which is longish, but not unwieldy, and three comprehension questions. A solid, but basic, introduction to this concept in the fine arts.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

The Weekly Text, 8 August 2025: Lesson Seven of a Unit on Writing Reviews

OK–after eight weeks of drafting these posts, this week’s Text is seventh and final lesson plan of a unit on writing reviews. Since this lesson concludes the unit and turns students loose to write their reviews, I have included four Cultural Literacy worksheets as do-now exercises with the idea that students will need at least four days to write and revise their compositions. So here are those documents on hyperbole, nuance, analogy, and paraphrase. Each of these worksheet is a half-page long with short readings and three or fewer comprehension questions.

At this point in the unit, students should have their thoughts on their review outlined, and, therefore, in a final state of organization. So this short organizer is the worksheet for this lesson, and simply asks students a few final clarifying questions on their planned paper. This is for their benefit, and one final clarifying exercise.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Museum without Walls

“Museum without Walls: Phrase describing the illustrations and reproductions that today make works of art widely available. Introduced by Andre Malraux in his book The Voices of Silence, 1954.”

Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.

The Weekly Post, 25 July 2025: Lesson Five of a Unit on Writing Reviews

This week’s Text, as you probably expected if you are a regular user of this blog, is the fifth lesson plan of a seven-lesson unit on writing reviews. This lesson opens with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the fine arts. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of one simple sentence and two comprehension questions. As this lesson is a brainstorming activity, this reading as worksheet is designed to get students thinking about what they will include in their review, and how they would go about it.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.