Message from jreynolds

[Anonymous]

I unfortunately missed a second class so I had to make it up by attending a lecture or going to a museum. There were some great lectures to choose from, but unfortunately they were all during a time of day I could not attend. Therefore, I chose to go to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). The Ancient China section was closed due to construction. I was disappointed because I currently teach 6th grade History, so the parts I could use this year are not available to me, however, I can’t wait until it reopens; I will definitely go. In the meantime, my school keeps changing what I teach, so I might end up with seventh grade history in the near future, who knows? Due to this, I was happy to go to the Japanese Art Pavilion, which was open.

This building is set up in a cylindrical building that has very attractive fiberglass walls, which mimic rice paper and are meant to be great for viewing Japanese Art. The sign said it was because that is how they saw it and painted it, within their buildings. The fiberglass was less exciting in the night time, as I went after 5 (thanks to Target, free after 5 everyday!). However, there was lighting on most of the items so you could see it better. The art is arranged with screens of art and scrolls in small sections of 2 to 5 slowly spiraling up the cylinder and then an art and ceramics gallery at the top.

LACMA actually has a larger collection, which it rotates in the museum. I think that is a shame, because when I was there, I thought it seemed like an awful small collection for such a large museum. Particularly so in the gallery that had the older art and ceramics. Some of the items in the gallery were wonderfully interesting. There were many Buddhist sculptures, and an exciting Samurai armor/sculpture called “Samurai Armor of the Gusoku type”. I think that the students would particularly find this object interesting – especially in person. There were really wretched block print pictures in the gallery as well, which I personally disliked looking at because everything within them was bloody. However, they were like that in order to show the horrors of war.

The art gallery of screens and scrolls was interesting; it had many different Literati paintings, and also had a few different anomalies, pictures that didn’t look like the others. I particularly like “Three Poets”. (I’m trying to attach a picture of it). It was drawn in a way that doesn’t look like the rest of Japanese art, and they said it was like caricatures drawn in a hurry.

As for a lesson, I think that taking the students to this museum would directly relate to standards for students in the 7th grade. The way it is set up, there is enough room to take a couple classes at a time. Students might appreciate the screens and scrolls more if there is a docent led tour, or if the teacher can talk and point out what they want to the students to know about the art. They would enjoy gallery (including the bloody block prints for the boys), and definitely the armor.

It would work for the following standards:
1. Describe the significance of Japan's proximity to China and Korea and the intellectual, linguistic, religious, and philosophical influence of those countries on Japan. Currently many Literati works on display.
3. Describe the values, social customs, and traditions prescribed by the lord-vassal system consisting of shogun, daimyo, and samurai and the lasting influence of the warrior code in the twentieth century. The art depicts Samurai throughout many centuries.

5. Study the ninth and tenth centuries' golden age of literature, art, and drama and its lasting effects on culture today, including Murasaki Shikibu's Tale of Genji. The exhibit has art mostly from later, however there is some from this time period.

6. Analyze the rise of a military society in the late twelfth century and the role of the samurai in that society. The art depicts Samurai throughout many centuries.

Because it touches on many different standards, I think the best way to use this for students would be to teach them the information first, and then take them to the museum armed with some knowledge, while the teacher relates classwork ideas to items they see on view at the museum. It would be a spectacular review for the students, and give them some more in depth knowledge of what the items are. Additionally, some of the artwork can be obtained by the LACMA website here:
LACMA Japanese Gallery

That can be used in the classroom if you can't make it to the museum.