Curriculum Materials: Art in America
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Image 23 Clementine Hunter Questions: |
Think Questions Teacher Answer Key
1. Do you think this is a happy picture? A sad picture? Why do you think so?
2. Why might Hunter have painted with such bright colors? (To show what things looked like; to show how she felt; to convey a sense of activity; to emphasize the brightness of being outside; because she liked them.) How would it change the way the painting affects you if she painted the whole ground brown and green like the area in the FOREGROUND?
3. Why do you think Clementine Hunter chose to paint a scene of women doing the wash? How would her painting be different if she made it today? What activities from your life would you like to show in a work of art?
4. The African House in Hunter's painting was designed and built according to one woman's recollections of her home in Africa. What aspects of your household reflect the heritage of members of your family? From what continents or countries did your family come? How long ago? Have you ever visited any of these places? What do you remember most about any of these places?
5. Clementine Hunter is called a FOLK ARTIST. What does the word "folk" mean? Why might certain types of art be called folk art? (Because an artist lacks formal or academic training; because some art forms have been passed on through generations; because some art is characteristic of a particular segment of a culture, which is often out of the mainstream, etc.) Some people argue that folk art is not really art. Why might they think this? Do you think folk art should be considered art? What do you like best about Hunter's folk painting?
6. Compare Hunter's image of women working on a southern plantation to other images of women in this presentation (Mrs. Nathaniel Allen; woman in Rainy Evening on Hennepin Avenue; women in The Steerage; Migrant Mother; woman in Harlem Couple; Homage to Nina Simone.) What are the different women doing? How old do you think the women are? How does each artist convey this to you? How does their clothing differ? What might account for these differences? How do their different appearances, clothing, and activities reflect the varied roles of women throughout the history of the United States? How do the time periods in which the art works were created affect the way the women are portrayed?
7. Compare Hunter's
The Wash with
Bob Thompson's Homage to Nina
Simone. What do these paintings have in common?
(Bright colors, simplified forms, flat figures.) How
does the use of color differ?
(Hunter uses fairly
NATURALISTIC color;
Thompson uses
ABSTRACT, arbitrary
colors.) How does each artist show depth?
(Hunter shows depth by placing
things that are further away from the viewer higher on the
canvas; Thompson uses overlap, and
makes things which are farther away smaller.) Why do you
think Hunter is often called a
FOLK ARTIST while
Bob Thompson is not? (Consider:
subject matter, degree of training.) Do you think each
painting shows a real or an imaginary place? Explain your
answer.
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