Critical thinking

Rivers, Railroads, Cities and Industry: Ault and Sheeler

Students compare and contrast two cityscape paintings and discuss the impact of the industrial growth during the turn of the century.  

Charles Sheeler American Landscape, 1930

Grade Level:

  • Middle School

Subject:

  • Social Studies

Collection:

  • American Art

Skills:

  • Critical thinking

Age:

  • 6-8

A Shorter Workweek: Labor Reforms and the Haymarket Riot

Students analyze Thomas Eakins’s 1873 painting of John Biglin in a Single Scull and William Glackens’s 1918 At the Beach, understand the article about the history of the eight-hour workday, and research and write abo

William James Glackens At the Beach, 1918

Grade Level:

  • High School

Subject:

  • Social Studies

Collection:

  • American Art

Skills:

  • Critical thinking

Age:

  • Teens

Time:

  • 1 hour

Voice of the City: Joseph Stella and the Jazz Age

Students will create an artwork interpreting the voice of their community and write a comparison of their community’s voice to that of early twentieth-century New York City.

Joseph Stella, The Voice of the City of New York Interpreted, 1920–1922

Grade Level:

  • High School

Subject:

  • Art

Collection:

  • American Art

Skills:

  • Critical thinking

Age:

  • Teens

Time:

  • 1 hour

19th Century American Landscapes/The Hudson River School

Students will look at three Hudson River Valley paintings, read and write about pertinent essays from the time and view part of the documentary National Parks:  America’s Best Idea.

Frederic Edwin Church, 
Twilight, “Short Arbiter ‘Twixt Day and Night,” 1850, 
Newark Museum Collection 56.43

Grade Level:

  • High School

Subject:

  • Language Arts

Collection:

  • American Art

Skills:

  • Critical thinking

Age:

  • Teens

Time:

  • 1 hour

Life in the Fast Lane: the Rapid Change and Growth of America in the Early 20th Century

Students will be examining a series of paintings that highlight America’s change into an industrial society, full of machines, factories, and pollution.

Edward Hopper
House by the Railroad, 1925
, Oil on Canvas
, The Museum of Modern Art

Grade Level:

  • High School

Subject:

  • Social Studies

Collection:

  • American Art

Skills:

  • Critical thinking

Age:

  • Teens

Time:

  • 1 hour

Looking for Math in Art

By viewing pieces of artwork by students will discover how math is incorporated into artwork.

Louise Nevelson, 
Sky Presence II, 1960, 
Newark Museum Collection

Grade Level:

  • Elementary School

Subject:

  • Math

Collection:

  • American Art

Skills:

  • Critical thinking

Age:

  • 9-12

Time:

  • 1 hour

The Great Depression and Great Recession

This Lesson uses pieces from the Newark Museum to enhance students understanding of the Great Depression and Great Recession. 

 

Minetta Good, At the Country Auction, 1935

Grade Level:

  • Middle School

Subject:

  • Social Studies

Collection:

  • American Art

Skills:

  • Critical thinking

Age:

  • 6-8

Time:

  • 1 hour
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