Heroes & Legends, Gods & Myths:A Resource Guide For Teachers

Goals of this Resource Guide

This guide provides information and suggested activities designed to help teachers prepare students to visit the Los Angeles County Museum of art, where they will participate in a docent-guided tour titled Heroes & Legends, Gods & Myths.

A second goal of the guide is to help teachers relate aspects of the tour to their school’s curriculum.

About the Tour

On this tour students will see works of art inspired by wondrous

stories of gods and heroes that have been passed down in many different cultures. Examples might include a sculpture of a Hindu god or a

ceramic pre-Columbian warrior figure. During the tour, students will discover how artists depict stories in works of art. They will also consider how a hero is defined and the similarities and differences in stories from different cultures. This tour meets state content standards in history/ social science for grades 6 and 7.

About the

Museum

LACMA is the largest encyclopedic museum in the western United States with more than 100,000 works of art. Through its far-reaching collections, the museum is both a resource to and a reflection of the many cultural communities and heritages in Southern California. The collection includes artworks from various cultures from the prehistoric to the present.

Suggested classroom activities

before the museum visit

Display the reproductions

Discuss the elements of art included in the glossary.

For younger students: name the elements of art listed in the glossary and discuss their meanings. For older students: distribute copies of glossary for review.

Have students identify the elements of line and shape in the color reproductions. Explain that the museum tour will provide a similar opportunity to look for these and other elements. A docent at the museum will discuss how understanding the artist’s use of the elements can help the viewer explore the meanings of artworks.

Share students’

definitions of god and hero; they will be

considering definitions during the museum tour.

List and discuss myths and legends students already know or have read in school. Have they seen any works of art that illustrate or represent those stories?

Glossary

Color

The visual sensation dependent on the reflection or absorption of light from a given surface. Color is made up of hue, intensity, and

value.Hue—refers to the name of the color (red, blue, yellow, orange)Intensity—refers to the brightness or dullness of a colorValue— the lightness or darkness of a hue or neutral color

Line

One of the elements of art. Lines vary in length and direction. Lines can be horizontal, vertical, or diagonal. They can describe structure or gesture, the outline of a shape or create patterns.

Shape

Geometric shapes such as circles, triangles, and rectangles, or freeform shapes, appear in many different kinds of art. They may

form the underlying structure of the composition, or define certain parts. Shapes that are repeated establish patterns.

Texture

One of the elements of art. Texture is the way a surface feels or appears to feel. Texture can range from smooth and soft to rough and hard.

God

Any of various beings conceived of as supernatural, immortal, and having special powers over the lives and affairs of people and the course of nature.

Hero

A person of special strength and courage; any person admired for

courage, nobility, or exploits.

Legend

A story handed down through generations among a people, popularly regarded as historical although not verifiable.

Myth

A story of unknown authorship, believed to have historical basis, serving to explain a phenomenon of nature or the customs and institutions of a people

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About the Image:

Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and war waged for just causes, wears a breastplate decorated with a head of a gorgon, the monsters whose piercing gaze turned to stone everyone whose eyes they met. The statue was excavated at Ostia, the port of Rome, in 1797. The hollow eye sockets suggest that the eyes originally were inlaid.

This Athena is a Roman copy of a Greek original, the so-called Hope-

Farnese type of Athena, named after LACMA’s statue, which was once owned by Thomas Hope, and the other fairly complete version in Naples, which came from the princely Farnese family.

The Hope Athena Italy, Ostila

or Rome, Roman 2nd

Century A.D. Roman copy after a Greek original of the 5th

century B.C.E.

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About the Image:

This splendid series of five Assyrian bas-

reliefs from the ninth-century once decorated the inner walls of the northwest palace of Ashurnasirpal

II (r. 883–859 BCE). The site of ancient Calah (now called Nimrud), located on the Tigris River in northern Iraq, was an ancient capital of Assyria probably founded in the thirteenth century BCE. The city was developed under the reign of Ashurnasirpal

II, who erected his great northwest palace on earlier ruins. Built of mud brick on stone foundations, the palace was embellished on its lower levels with a series of decorated slabs (from the upper Tigris quarries) that depicted the monarch’s skill as a hunter/warrior, as a servant of the gods, and as a mighty king. One of the five panels depicts the king with a learned man. In one hand, the king holds a libation bowl; in his other hand, he holds his bow, symbol of royal prowess. A long inscription in cuneiform on the reliefs has come to be known as Ashurnasirpal’s

“standard inscription”

because it was repeated so frequently throughout the palace; it mentions the king’s prayer and his deeds in founding the city of Calah.

Ashurnasirpal

II and a winged Deity 883–859 BCE

Iraq, Nimrud

•

About the Image:

This sarcophagus, or coffin is made of sycamore wood and shaped in the form of a human outline. The head, hands, and feet are modeled in high relief. The figure's plaited beard, a reference to the god Osiris, most likely identifies it as a male's coffin. The space in the inscription on the lid's footboard that would have been reserved for the name of the coffin's owner has been left blank, leaving his identity a mystery.

The sarcophagus and the process of mummification were central to ancient Egyptians' beliefs about the afterlife. The Egyptians believed that in the afterlife, the pharaohs became one with Re and were likewise reborn with him at sunrise. While only the pharaohs journeyed with Re through the nighttime hours, all Egyptians faced the same dangers on their journey to the afterlife. Instructions for the elaborate preparations necessary to safe passage from life into the

afterlife were found in the Book of the Dead.

Coffin Mid-21st

Century (About 1000–968 BCE)

Egypt, Likely Thebes

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About the Image:

In this work, Satan sits hunched over, his head on his clawed hands, his giant spiny wings curved around his body. Every detail of the sculpture, from Satan's wings and hands to his anguished, terrible face, expresses something about his character.Satan is one of the key pieces in the development of 19th century sculpture and an important prototype for Rodin’s brooding representation of The Thinker half a century later.

satan 1836

Jean-Jacques Feuchere

About the Image:

Working on amate

paper, the artist portrays the conflict between indigenous and European cultures with two well-known icons: Superman and Nezahualcoyotl, the fifteenth-century king of Texcoco

and a renowned poet. Though dressed as a warrior, Nezahualcoyotl’s

reputation endures as the author of exquisite poems, which were sung in the royal palace and expressed his view on the fragile nature of life and the ultimate meaning of flower and song, the Aztec metaphor for art and symbolism.

Uprising of the Spirit (Elevación

del espíritu), 1994

Enrique Chagoya

Follow-up writing exercisesAfter the museum visit

Choose one of your favorite gods or heroes from the tour and write about the characteristics that give him/her special powers or abilities. Compare them with contemporary heroes or superheroes. How are they similar? How are they different?

Saint Michael Casting Satan into Hell

Circle of Domenico

Antonio Vaccaro

Buddha Shakyamuni

India

Ganesha, Lord of Obstacles

India

Holy Family

Fra Bartolommeo

Triptych with Scenes from the Life of St. George

Spain

The Flight of Europa

Paul Manship

Additional Images and information about

objects on your tour can be found by Visiting

Collections Online at

www.lacma.org

LACMA General InformationPlease review these regulations with students before arriving at

the museum.

Museum Rules•

No touching works of art including outdoor sculpture. Viewers must not come closer than 24 inches to any work of art.

•

No touching walls or any parts of installations. No sitting on platforms in the galleries or gardens.•

No eating, drinking, smoking, gum-chewing, excess noise, or running in the galleries.•

All groups must comply with instructions or requests from docents, gallery attendants or security staff.•

Teachers and chaperones must stay with the students at all times

and are responsible for student behavior.•

Student assignments that require note taking are not permitted during a docent tour.

Arriving at the Museum•

Plan to arrive at the museum at least 15 minutes before the tour

is scheduled to begin.•

The museum is located at 5905 Wilshire Boulevard where buses should arrive for students to disembark. •

Enter the museum at the BP Grand Entrance on Wilshire Boulevard in front of Urban Light. A docent will meet your bus when it arrives.

•

Buses should park on 6th Street, which is one block north of Wilshire Boulevard.•

Cars may park on surrounding streets or in the pay parking lot at 6th Street.

Lunch•

Picnicking is permitted at the tables outside the Ahmanson Building, the BP Grand Entrance or in the park, and students are welcome to bring sack lunches. Seating is not permitted in the Café

or the surrounding patio. Box lunches may be purchased from the Café. Orders must be placed one week before your arrival. Please contact the Plaza Café

(323) 857-6197.

Museum Reentry•

If you are planning to visit the galleries after your guided tour please present a copy of your confirmation letter at the Welcome Center on the BP Grand Entrance, or the Los Angeles Times Central Court, to receive free admission tickets. Your group may not enter the galleries until 12 noon when the museum opens to the public.

Enjoy your visit