If the arts are ever going to be a really important part of Americans’ lives, they can’t be seen as a frill, an add-on, something to do in one’s spare time. They have to be integrated with
everyday life. That’s one reason I like “Picturing America,” the National Endowment for the Humanities program I wrote about here and here, and that’s why I like a new program of the Philadelphia Museum of Art — “Adventures in Modern Art.”
Like “Picturing America” — which uses American art works to teach American history — “Adventures in Modern Art” uses paintings, made in this case between 1900 and 1950 and drawn
mostly from the Charles K. Williams II Collection, to show teachers in grades K-12 how the visual arts can help them teach their courses (beyond art). It’s part of the Philadelphia museum’s “Visual Arts as Sources for Teaching” program.
The course was developed to coincide with an exhibition of the Charles K. Williams II Collection, which includes Charles Sheeler’s Neighbors, 1951, above left, and Charles DeMuth’s Gloucester – Sails and Masts, 1919, at right. It will be on view at the Philadelphia Museum from July 12 through Sept. 13.
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