Howard Pyle in Wisconsin Teacher s Resource Guide

Transcription

1 Howard Pyle in Wisconsin Teacher s Resource Guide All images are used courtesy of the Green Bay & De Pere Antiquarian Society and the Neville Public Museum of Brown County The exhibition, Howard Pyle in Wisconsin, December 2, 2013 February 7, 2014, Carol and Robert Bush Art Center, St. Norbert College, is sponsored by the Green Bay & De Pere Antiquarian Society and is funded, in part, by an Artworks grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

2 Howard Pyle, born March 5, 1853 in Wilmington, Delaware, is often referred to as the Father of American Illustration. He began drawing and writing at a young age and, beginning at age sixteen, commuted for three years to Philadelphia to study art with Francis Van der Wielen. He lived and worked in New York from , where he completed his first illustration for Harper s Weekly in Pyle returned to Delaware in 1879, at which time, McGuffey s Fifth Eclectic Reader, the first book to include his illustrations, was published. On April 12, 1881, he married Anne Poole, with whom he would later have seven children. Pyle went on to write The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood and many other celebrated books. From , he taught illustration at the Drexel Institute and was appointed director of the School of Illustration in Pyle created the Howard Pyle School of Art in Wilmington in 1900 and taught summer programs in Pennsylvania from Notable students include N. C. Wyeth, Frank Schoonover, Elenore Abbott, and Ethel Franklin Betts, among many others. Pyle died from a kidney infection in 1911 when he traveled to Italy to study Italian masterpieces. Pyle produced illustrations for nearly thirty-five hundred publications and authored two hundred magazine articles and nineteen books over the course of his career.

3 The Travels of the Soul, Wicket of Paradise, 1902, Oil on canvas What do you see in this picture? Who do you think the two figures are? Why do you think that? What might the doves symbolize? What does the setting tell you about the mood of the picture? How does the title relate to the setting of the picture? Revised from the story, Travels of the Soul, authored and illustrated by Howard Pyle for The Century Magazine, December 1902 edition: A winged human Soul comes out of the wicket of Paradise and meets Death. Death is dressed in red (representing Terror) and white (representing Peace). The two join together to travel one was Spirit and the other was of Flesh. They first go to the meadowland of Youth where the Soul meets Pleasure and Love. In the Valley of the Shadows of Shadows, the Soul meets Grief and Grief gives the Soul something bitter to drink. Soul and Death then travel to the Gates of Life and find a big wooden, barred door. Death struggles to open the door for the Soul, but they eventually see that Paradise is behind the doors. They hear other winged souls who welcome, and bade her [the Soul] enter, for that her [the Soul] travels were ended. The Soul then looks into the face of Death, who turns into Israfeel, the angel known as Love, a dark and beautiful angel with a halo of the dawning day.

4 The Burning of the Gaspee, 1901, Oil on canvas What do you see in this picture? Why might the ship be burning? What are the reactions of the people in the boats? Why might they be reacting this way? What do you think happened next? What time period in the United States history do you think this took place? Why? The history behind the painting: British Parliament had passed the Townshend Acts, which restricted colonial trade. To enforce these Acts they sent British Royal Navy ships to look for illegal goods on ships. The British Royal Navy ship, Gaspee, commanded by Lieutenant William Dudingston patrolled the waters of the Narragansett Bay off of Rhode Island searching for smuggled goods. Dudingston had a reputation for being unjust in his charges and the colonists became fed up with his actions. On June 9, 1772, the vessel, Hannah, led Dudingston and his ship, Gaspee, into shallow waters of the Narragansett Bay where the Gaspee got stuck. News of the stationary ship reached Providence and a party of thirty-five men from the Son s of Liberty planned an attack on the ship. The next night, June 10, 1772, the group of men surrounded and boarded the Gaspee. The Son s of Liberty captured the Gaspee s entire crew and abandoned them on the Pawtuxet shore. Dudingston was left to watch as the Gaspee was looted and burned. No one was ever arrested for the destruction of the Gaspee. This act was in open defiance to British authority and was a significant event in the lead-up to the American Revolution.

5 Anne Hutchinson Preaching in Her House in Boston, 1901, Oil on canvas What do you see in this picture? How are the other people in the room reacting to what Anne Hutchinson is saying? Describe Anne Hutchinson in this scene? Does Anne Hutchinson appear to have an influential position in the community? What might these people have in common? What time period in the United States history do you think this took place? Why? The history behind the painting: Born in England in 1591, Anne Hutchinson was a religious pioneer. Her family immigrated to America from England in 1634 to pursue religious freedom. Anne began meeting with community members to discuss church messages and started preaching her beliefs of a covenant of grace. She believed that faith alone was enough to achieve salvation and that true godliness came from inner experience of the Holy Spirit, not from religious law. Her preaching came under fire from colony leaders in 1638 when Governor John Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony expelled her from the colony and excommunicated her for her insistence on preaching her beliefs. After being expelled, Anne Hutchinson and her family moved to what is now Rhode Island. After her husband s death in 1642 she and her family moved to Long Island. They did not live there long; in 1643 members of a local tribe attacked and killed most of the family. Anne Hutchinson is remembered as an advocate for freedom of religion, the right to free assembly, and women s rights. The Hutchinson River, Hutchinson River Parkway, as well as many statues, parks, gardens, schools, and celebrations have been named in her honor.

6 Washington Before the Trenches in Yorktown, 1901, Oil on canvas What do you see in this picture? What might the man be looking at or for? Based on his expression, what does he feel about what he sees? What do you think happened before this scene? What might happen next? Can you tell that this is a war scene? If yes, how? If no, why not? What time period in the United States history do you think this took place? Why? The history behind the painting: This illustration depicts the battle at Yorktown, the last major land battle of the American Revolutionary War. On September 28, 1781, General George Washington and French General Comte de Rochambeau led their armies to Yorktown to dig trenches. The two armies were in battle with British Lieutenant Lord Cornwallis army. Lord Cornwallis had forts, batteries with artillery, and connecting trenches in Yorktown. Washington and Rochambeau s armies dug trenches just 800 yards from the British defense line so they could move heavy guns close enough to Yorktown to push Cornwallis to surrender. On October 14, Washington ordered a surprise nighttime assault on the British forts. The French and American armies stormed the forts and captured them quickly. On October 17, Cornwallis sent a white flag and note indicating a request for a cease-fire. Washington and Cornwallis sent notes back and forth negotiating the surrender of the British army unit to the Continental Army. On October 18, four officers, one American, one French, and two British, met at the nearby Moore House to settle surrender terms. The next day, October 19, Cornwallis surrendered. This was a major victory for the Continental Army and led to the signing of the Treaty of Paris on September 3, 1783, formally ending the war.