Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Ride the bull!




Yesterday was my last day to teach for this school year. Three months from today I will begin the very first day of real teaching in the next school year. And while the AP test is long gone, and my prize seniors Noor-Eddin and Jude have both graduated by a week, I decided to really teach AP Art History today again and not just enjoy their curatorial exhibitions, watch a movie or read a play. On the first day of this course nine months ago we spent an entire half hour discussing one painting and it seemed high time to enjoy that luxury again of so much time on one work. On top of that, I decided to teach them a painting that was not just new to them, but one I have never taught before. In this course I teach them almost 1000 art works (!!!) so I had to dig a little to find a work I have never taught in my 25 years. (Of course there are thousands upon thousands of art works in the world’s history so let me not be too desperate sounding!)

I decided that the art work should be one that takes some time to unpack its meaning, and couldn’t be an obvious ode to graduation. I decided that I would pick an art work that is famous, or the artist is famous, but a work they might in a museum just pass by quickly since we had never studied it. Ultimately, I wanted an art work that might have a personal connection to these juniors on this last day of class for them as juniors before they reach the summit of elementary and secondary education.

I love those challenges. Sooooooo…what did I pick?

I think you know. Take a look.

As our last exercise in class, I asked them the very same question I asked on the first day of school, lo those 9 months ago: “What do you see?”

A student yelled out, “I think it is Baroque.” Someone else countered: “No, I think it is Romantic.”

I said, “Let’s be patient. Naming the era isn’t really the goal—yet. We have half an hour. Let’s sit in silence for sixty seconds and ponder my question: “What do you see?”

Sixty seconds is actually longer than what we think. You go ahead and do it. Look at the painting above for 60 seconds—“What do you see?”

Since we slowed down, and removed the Jeopardy element, they began to operate as a wonderful team noting various things they saw. But of course it comes down to the obvious—what is the woman doing riding the bull???? They knew it had to be a “narrative” of some kind.

Awn, a student that you have to meet to believe—no truly, he is either irritating or astonishingly bright—got excited. “I know the story of this.” I wondered if he did, and lo and behold, he recounted the myth accurately that Zeus, in order to pursue a young woman, transformed himself into a white bull, charmed the princess Europa, and then abducted her.

I asked the class why in an artistic rendering someone would recount a Greek myth—they knew the answer quickly—“Greek myths are signs of being well-educated.” I informed the class that the artist knew this story and was commissioned to tell this story in a painting. Another bright one reminded us, “The patron obviously wants his friends and family to know how well-educated he is by contracting the artist to do a Greek story for the family.”

The students got a little distracted trying to name the artist. After all, they are enormously proud of their rolodex of artists they know so well. They rattled off possibilities: Is it Poussin? Is it Rubens—no, the flesh isn’t rosy enough. Is it Friedrich? Is it Rembrandt? Is it Caravaggio—no the light isn’t a sharp enough contrast. Look at what they can do after 9 months!


But the point wasn’t to play a trivia game. I decided to end the trivia part and said, “One of your choices is indeed correct. Rembrandt painted this in 1632.”

I wanted them to go beyond the storyline, but we needed to explore the storyline a little more in order to pierce its meaning. We had time! No more tests, no more racing the clock to end the chronology of all of art history!


Someone asked about the patron. I said, “Good, let’s continue to ask “What do you see?” but add to that, “What more do you need to know?” I told them that the patron, one Jacques Specz, a merchant for the Dutch East India Company, had a healthy business trading goods from Asia to Amsterdam. A student called out, “That explains the hazy image of the ship on the left!” Someone noted that the landscape looked Dutch, like many other works we have seen from the proud Dutch. A sharp one said, “So the Dutch are lining themselves up with the Classical guys. Hmmm….they see themselves as great as the Classical people.” But another student noted that this image of the Classics was so different from the usual parade of heroes we have seen. “Where is the hero?” he wondered. Then a student noted, “This is so different in that it is about fear. Look at the women on the shore. They must be her friends. They are so scared at what is happening. The woman on the bull—what is her name? Europa? Look at how scared they are.” Another student observed the man in the darkness on the right. He is so frightened he can’t move. They are aware that this action has scared the people on the shoreline. Well, of course! Imagine if a white bull abducts a lovely young woman that you know!

A student looked at the woman on the bull—she reminds him of Rembrandt’s wife (named Saskia and painted very often by Rembrandt) and wonders if the story is like Rembrandt abducting his soon-to-be-wife. Someone wonders if the city in the background mist is Amsterdam.

I asked the class, “So we get the story of Zeus abducting Europa. But what haven’t we asked about the narrative? We see the frightened people. We see Europa holding on to the bull as she moves out into the unknown. What haven’t we asked about the narrative?” In a half-second, someone answered, “What happens next?”

Bingo!

One clever lad says, “We know her name. She must be the namesake of Europe.” Bingo.


Europa is abducted and the story ends gloriously! Europa gives the name for the landmass of Europe, the region of the world that will triumph and dominate the world for 500 years. Rembrandt is celebrating Europe. 1632 Amsterdam is like New York or Dubai in today’s world—high atop the world. Jacques Specz works in a Europe that is just about to reach the summit (in their minds certainly!!) of world civilization. Look at the darkness from which Europa leaves. Look at the light on Europa.

We continue to look at the painting. Is this an allegory of European greatness moving the world from darkness to light? Why not? What is Europa about to do? Well, after that initial trepidation, she will soon turn forward and grasp the future! It is a strange journey, indeed.

Our half-hour with the Rembrandt is coming to an end. The teaching year is officially coming to an end. Let’s wrap this up. I tell these wonderful juniors that they are about to embark on their senior year of high school. They have been warned of the misery of senior year (the dreaded applications!!). Of course they look forward to graduation, but that misery lies in front of them. They will be the oldest students in the school. And they are scared. I know they are scared. They have been in a comfort zone of being younger than seniors up until now.

But a student reminds us, “We thought this story was about the perception of fear. It seemed so simple. Europa and everyone else was frightened.” Of course, but think of the rest of the story. Europa deals with her fears, and then will soon turn forward and grasp the future!

That mysterious journey towards graduation and college and adulthood really begins for them today as they end their junior year. I told them they need to let go of childhood fears and work on that unknown journey of the senior year. Look at the light with which Rembrandt bathes this story.

As we gobbled up some chocolate chip cookies, I thanked them for a great year, and urged them to jump on the back of the bull and ride into the future.

Three months from today I begin the trek up the mountain of Art History again. That group will seem mysterious and unknown to me too. Then I will ask the first question, “What do you see?”

No comments: