Teaching the History of Art

When working with pre-teachers taking the "Introduction to Art For Elementary Teachers" it was important to gather materials to supplement the textbook. In that process I became much more aware of how much art history that I was not taught. When looking into a timeline of art the main areas of Prehistoric, Ancient, Non-Western, Classic Civilizations, Middle Ages, Pre-Modernism, and Modernism were able to be divided into so many subareas of art through the ages and around the world.

It became apparent that when I was a child we did learn about cave art, but not about Paleolithic, Mesolithic, or Neolithic as being distinct units in the history of art development. The lack of completeness in instruction in every major area tended to reveal that this was happening to literally every student across the nation and that this could be limiting the excitement and passion for art in many children. By limiting a lot of art history to Egyptian Art and not really covering Amarna, Mesopotamian, Sumerian, Assyrian, Persian, Aegean, Minoan, Mycenaean, and Greek we limit the vast potential that art played in the development of civilizations.

It seems that art history should become integrated into the curriculum of social studies classes which have a tendency to concentrate on the political environment. It could be integrated into the science classes where the use of plants and animals for the dyes and pigments could be discussed. In fact it could be integrated into most of the subject areas. Students need a concept of art referenced against a timeline to establish a grounded link to the past. This grounded link to the past becomes the foundation for student interest and progress into new domains. The problem has been that exposure to bits and pieces of art history has left important gaps and reduces the excitement that must be part of knowledge.