Explore the times and traditions that shaped George Bellows’ Stag at Sharkey’s through an interactive gallery walk that builds on students’ interests.

This interactive gallery walk can be used by individuals or projected for small-group instruction. For a larger, more responsive, format paste this url in your browser http://bit.ly/McQStudios69

Background: This series opens with George Bellows because he wielded his art like a superpower, using art to raise awareness, foster empathy, and helped the overlooked be seen. His paintings elevated the downtrodden, especially immigrants and street urchins, whom he cast in a noble light. His satirical illustrations for The Masses advanced progressive causes that are as relevant today as they were in the early 1900s.

In the comment section below, tell us what you liked and what we could improve and we will make future modules better. And, as always, tell a friend.

What this module offers

• Learn about George Bellows’ expansive approach to art making and his distinctly American brand of art
• Explore Ashcan artists’ motivations and inspirations
• Develop visual literacy skills that help you unpack a work of art and see with greater clarity
• Analyze how Bellows used satire to address social justice issues and advance Progressive Era reforms
• Hone close reading skills and use graphic organizers to present ideas
• Use historic newspapers and the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America website to engage in historical research
• Read related literature (free and online) from Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, Theodore Roosevelt, and more
• Visit museums—The Cleveland Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Worcester Art Museum, Yale University Art Gallery, Addison Gallery of American Art (Phillips Academy), Philadelphia Museum of Art—and libraries—NYU Libraries, The Masses collection and the Library of Congress, Chronicling America.

Teaching strategies

Let students roam this resource as they would museum galleries. Encourage them to follow their interests and take a closer look at things that catch their eye. The following strategies can provide some structure to the experience.

Follow Your Interests 3, 2, 1: Have students discuss 3 images from the galleries that interested them enough to read its supporting texts. Describe 2 things they learned in reading those texts. Identify 1 thing that they want to learn more about. Consider using the provided links to answer that question.

“Note This Detail” 6-Pack: Pick your favorite six Note This Detail features to help you guide art analysis discussions. Use the embedded links to the art work’s respective museums to project the image as large as possible. And then talk art.

Research with the Question Formulation Technique: After art analysis and discussion you may have anchor charts full of observations and wonderings. The Question Formulation Technique (QFT) can help turn these into inquiry-based research questions that build on student insights and interests. This model may help.

Link to Contemporary Artists: Consider the social justice issues addressed in The Masses gallery and identify contemporary artists and political cartoonists exploring similar themes today.

How do you help students process ambiguity?

Living with Ambiguity and when is a Cigar just a Cigar: Living with Ambiguity is one of the Lincoln Center Institute’s 10 Capacities of Imaginative Learning. LCI practice contends students should understand that issues have more than one interpretation, that not all problems have immediate or clear-cut solutions, and to be patient while a resolution becomes clear. How do you encourage students to consider ambiguities in a work of art in a productive way that is anchored in the artist’s intentions?

Id and the other irreverent docents explore this quality in the Composition and Brushwork gallery. In one instance they debate if Bellows includes a self-portrait in a composition. Some knowledgeable scholars contend that Bellows paints himself peering over the right edge of the ring. Other scholars contend that since he wasn’t bald at the time he made the painting, it couldn’t be a self-portrait. Even fewer people (OK no one!) agree with me that there is a double self-portrait that includes the spectator leering up from the left. This supports a psychological reading built on a smaller triangle and aligned cigars. But, this may be nothing more than gratuitous speculation. How would you manage such a discussion? Here are some strategies.

• Encourage students to phrase statements as question. “Could the artist be saying…” “Do you think that…”
• Use evidence from close reading to justify interpretations
• Acknowledge areas of agreement before offering an alternative interpretation
• Remind students that ambiguity can add intrigue

Use the space provided below to add your go-to teaching moves for helping students process ambiguity.

Supporting Resources

The correct placement of the 12 puzzle pieces reveal 12 quotes from George Bellows that describe his motivations and inclinations in painting Stag at Sharkey’s. Use it to pique interest in the Look and Learn Gallery Walk or to initiate an art talk about where an artist finds inspiration. For a larger, more responsive, format paste this url in your browser http://bit.ly/McQStudios77