The baby cage - Jenny Godfrey, Cardiff Metropolitan University

The baby cage

5/6/15

Traditional art history

Madame Moitessier, 1856 (oil on canvas)Ingres, Jean Auguste Dominique (1780 - 1867)

The Raft of the Medusa, 1819 (oil on canvas)Gericault, Theodore (1791 - 1824) Louvre, Paris, Franceoil on canvas

Constellation lecturesterm one year one

Chris Glynn 2014 https://chrisglynn123.wordpress.com/2014/03/08/are-you-still-there/

Constellation Workshop skills sessions term one year one

1. Essays and referencing

2. Understanding argument

3. Visual Literacy

4. Interdisciplinary research in art-science-technology

5. Handling history and isms

6. Identifying a question

7. Analysing visual culture

8. Reflection and evaluation

The baby cage

Fox Photos/Getty Images)

Caption: 27th January 1934: An example of the wire cage which East Poplar borough council in London propose to fix to the outside of their tenement windows, so that babies can benefit from fresh air and sunshine.

Contemporary descriptionsBritish Pathe News

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/baby-cage

Pathe News Issue Date:20/04/1953

The Exhibition

Crucial primary source (found using Google)

The resource booklet

The Lecture

The best…….. and…… the worst

• Looked in detail at the image• Thought about the original

function and derivation of the image

• Read articles, books and the patent

• Supported all assertions with references

• Defined ‘controversial’ • No references or only weak online sources

• Made generalised unsupported statements (own opinion)

• Incorrect referencing• Weak unsupported

comparisons• Errors of grammar, spelling and

punctuation

Same but different

Reg Speller / Fox Photos / Getty Images

Fox Photos /Getty Images

Saatchi’s Known Unknownshttp://www.amazon.co.uk/Known-Unknowns-Charles-Saatchi/dp/1861543603

Photo: Stanley Foreman

Why we didn’t get brilliant mini essays1. For resources directly relevant to this image Google was far more productive than library resources2. There was a muddle over whether essays could refer to / compare with other controversies some tutors

said yes others no. If attempted students had very little space in 500 words to do this adequately. 3. The students needed more guidance on what was expected of them ; feedback from tutors made it clear

afterwards that they were being asked very simply to define controversy for themselves (not just from the dictionary) and then apply that definition to the picture. Again very difficult in 500 words to do this intelligently

How could we make the project better next time?• Base the project on an image for which we have library materials

• Keep the exhibition and lecture simple viz: – Provide written texts exhibiting the sort of critical thinking tutors want to see students produce– Make plainer what the ‘question ‘ is , ie define exactly what is being marked– Show how to use Summon

• Maintain tutorials and discussions in the dropin sessions -strong students can be guided further, less able or inexperienced students can be taken through a) and b) and c) one to one

• Make the essay longer to allow for arguments, definitions and comparisons to be properly elaborated

Engaging with an image

Madame Moitessier, 1856 (oil on canvas)Ingres, Jean Auguste Dominique (1780 - 1867)

1. Marie-Clotilde-Inès de Foucauld was born in 1821 and married Sigisbert Moitessier, a wealthy banker, in 1842. HISTORICAL FACT

2. The portrait is influenced by the art of antiquity and the Renaissance. VISUALLY SIMILAR

3. The pose, with the hand touching the cheek, is derived from an ancient Roman fresco of a goddess, from Herculaneum.

VISUAL REFERENCE

4. This may suggest that for Ingres Madam Moitessier represented the ideal of classical beauty. INFERENCE

5. The National Gallery's 'Portrait of a Lady' by Titian may have inspired him to add the profile in the mirror. VISUAL REFERENCE

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/jean-auguste-dominique-ingres-madame-moitessier