Art 844 - Spring 2016

1. A History of
Art Education
Efland Book
Presentation

2. Overview
According to Arthur Effland, the social context of art education is that learning is a process of manipulating
and using familiar objects. Efland presented the argument that Art and Art Education was politically, socially,
morally and economically motivated. Art education also has to do with beliefs and teachings from the past. In
the early part of history, the arts were controlled by the socially and financially powerful. Art was taught to
further social standing and was considered a subject reserved for the privileged society although different parts
of society dealt with art education differently. Arts education were controlled by three things: patronage (the
organization of human/material resources for the production of Art), education (theoretical/practical training
of artists and students) and censorship ( the control of what was expressed in art and who had access to the art
itself). Throughout this book, even though the study of art has always been important, it is more about the
role art education plays in society and its benefits. Art education has been
able to evolve throughout history to adapt to what people need at the time.
There were social authorities - most often religious, political and social
leaders of the community. Overall, the arts reflect the culture from which
it comes.

3. Educational practices of the 18th-19th centuries
The 18th Century was the beginning of a time of Enlightenment. The restriction of guilds was being fought against as the
academies of France became the new model of education. The French Academy lead the way with the idea of Absolutism.
“For the arts the principle of absolutism meant that their primary purpose was to assert the power and prestige of the state”
(pg. 31). Here rules were created in the teaching and creating of “fine art” in Europe. The French Academy became the
prototype for all other school across Europe. The need for craftsmen with drawing and designing skills became necessary with
the beginning of the Industrial Age. Right before the beginning of the 18th century, the American education system began
enforcing laws to “insure that in all towns’ provision would be made to enable all children to read, write and understand the
principles of religion and laws of the country” (pg. 42). This was the first attempt to found a common state organized school
system. Because of the strict Religious codes from the Puritans, Quakers and Calvinists, art was frowned upon as a proper
teaching tool. But soon, the practices of Europe made their way to America with the opening of the Pennsylvania Academy of
Fine Arts in 1791.
The 19TH Century academies and schools dedicated to the learning of art sprang up in the major cities of Europe and the
United States. “The academies of art in Europe also began to develop different teaching traditions, with pronounced
differences between the French and German institutions” (pg. 71). The American universities of Harvard, Yale and Princeton
were chosen for this book because “each approached art in a different way, providing models for the other institutions to
emulate” (pg. 64). Efland concluded that “the development of new institution in Europe and the United States reflected an
increasing degree of diversification, reflection the specialized needs of industrial societies” (pg. 72).

4. Art education in academies for artists
The Italian Renaissance was a huge turning point in art education. It helped lay the
groundwork for the modern art education world. Da Vinci and Michelangelo did a lot for
the art world and people wanted to be like them.
Art in the academies had a strict set of rules and this involved doing only representational art.
Copying masterpieces and figure drawing were the skills being taught.
The hierarchy was still life, landscapes, genre paintings, portraiture, and history (the highest).

5. Development
of
Trade Schools
Although the Industrial Revolution
brought forth the modernization of
the Western World, it also helped to
form the distinction between the
fine artist and artisan designer.A look at three countries
approach to trade schools

6. France
Craft and Polytechnic Schools
Strong technical focus in free-
hand drawing instead of life
drawing.
Based off mathematics and
physics exercises
Allowed for part-time study in
evening for students to work
during the day.
Offered aesthetic teachings to
balance technical skills by
linking decorative arts to
application.
Two-tiered system
Lagged behind continent
counterparts in quality of
design.
Henry Cole - established a
national drawing course that
students began in lower grade
levels and it scaffolded to
higher grades. This became
known as the South
Kensington School of Design.
Fine artists continued their
studies at the academy and
artisan designers continued to
the school of design.
Germany England
Schools for the Decorative Arts
Craft guilds were eliminated in
17th C. and absorbed into the
French Academies
Provincial academies established
near industrial activity allowed
for ease of designers into
manufacturing jobs
Training would be adapted so
there would not be a shortage
of designers for a specific area.
All students had a foundation in
life drawing
Development of Trade Schools

7. Study of Art in
American
Universities
The inclusion of visual arts into
universities liberal arts programs
began after the Civil War in
America.Art School Models from Harvard,
Yale and Princeton

8. Harvard
1831 - initial art interest
sparked when school acquired
collection of historical paintings
1863 - $200,000 gift from
alumni Augustus Street for
creation of School of Fine Arts
Additional gifts of $85,000 was
given to each chair of
instruction.
First director of school stressed
the importance of the practical
application of art instruction
Art education developed under
other departments first until its
creation in 1882.
Began as a focus on art history
and was geared towards
graduate level students.
Yale Princeton
1874 - appointment of first
Professor of Fine Arts, Charles
Eliot Norton. His goals:
Show how art has allowed for the
expression of moral and
intellectual plights throughout
history.
Relate how the American
experience has deprived the
creative spirit
Refine young men.
Norton’s classes were hugely
popular but never lead to
Study of Art in American Universities

9. Common
School
Movement
The Common School Movement
occurred during the nineteenth
century as a social reform to close
the gap between the wealthy and
poor by establishing a state-
supported school system.

10. Common School Art Supporters
William Bentley Fowle, leading educator and
creative innovator by bringing blackboards, linear
drawing, physical exercise and music to classrooms. In
1823, Bentley took a position at the Female Monitorial
School, where he believed girls should receive the same
education as men.
Horace Mann, secretary for the Massachusetts
Board of Education in 1837. Mann believed the common
school was the bridge between the privileged few and
uneducated masses.

11. Common School Art Drawing Instruction
Pestalozzi’s Drawing Method, (1800) students would first start with the study of geometric, simple forms and
slowly transition to more complex forms. Students learned how could be used to define and show distance of objects on paper.
Krusi’s Inventive Drawing, (1872)based on the Pestalozzi drawing method. Krusi’s drawing system was divided
into four parts. The first part was for the primary grades and focused on the the contour drawing of forms only. The second
part was designed for intermediate school and focused on proportion and accuracy. The third and fourth parts of Krusi’s
system dealt with perspective and the rules of geometric drawing and shading.
Peter Schmid’s System of Drawing, (1844)students learned to draw a variety of geometric shapes and then
geometric forms.

12. Industrial Drawing Movement
The Industrial Drawing Movement occurred after the Civil War and focused on the
need for artisan designers to compete with textiles from Europe.
Key Persons:
Charles Callahan Perkins,
John Dudley Philbrick
Walter Smith
Drawing Act of 1870 - first law to make drawing obligatory in schools located in towns with a
population of at least 10,000.

13. The Romantic Movement as it applies to…
Fredrick Froebel, the man who is credited with the establishment of
Kindergarten Movement. A zealous advocate that children should learn through
their playfulness.
“Children are like tiny flowers; they are varied and need care,
but each is beautiful alone and glorious when seen in the
community of peers.”
“Play is the highest expression of human development in
childhood for it alone is the free expression of what is in a
child's soul.”
"If three hundred years after my death my method of
education shall be completely established according to its idea,
I shall rejoice in heaven."

14. The Romantic Movement as it applies to…
-Baroness von Bulow – became the spokesperson for the movement in Germany, after
Froegel’s death. Traveled through Europe spreading the word of Froebel’s methods.
-Margarethe Schurz – first to establish Kindergarten in U.S. (Wisconsin)
-Elizabeth Peabody – established the first English speaking Kindergarten in U.S. (Boston)
-Susan Blow – established the first training school in the US for kindergarten teachers (St.
Louis)
- Emma Marwedel – Trainor of kindergarten teachers and first to establish a Kindergarten
on the West Coast
Female Leaders of the Kindergarten Movement

15. The Romantic Movement as it applies to…
Women’s role in Education
Mary Dana Hicks - wife of Louis Prang of the Prang Educational Company. Drawing
supervisor for the Syracuse Public School System, then later spoke to the NEA of the
importance of type forms (inspired by Froebel’s “gifts”). The use of geometric shapes
changed the Froebel’s gifts into art activities.

16. The Romantic Movement as it applies to…
Schoolroom Decoration
1892 - a Movement to decorate schoolrooms with reproductions of artworks emerged -
Promotion of Artistic Culture.
- Boston Public School Art League - Founded by Ross Turner
The Picture Study
An art activity began at the turn of the century through the first decade of the twentieth
century. This connected the student/observer with reproductions of fine art.
- Perry Magazine - contained articles on the use of art reproductions
Stankiewicz “adherents of both movements believed that great
artists were exemplars of high moral character, that exposure to
works of fine art could help students develop spiritual and
practical virtues.”

17. the child study movement...
Child-study leaders sought to reform the public school, restructuring them to conform to new scientific
findings and to make them more child centered.
These practices called for structuring educational experiences along the child's natural lines of
development.
The results and effects of this study was that america's schools were criticized in the 1870’s and a number
of states with compulsory education laws jumped from 2 to 15
The movement rapidly spread into many countries. New foundations and publications were founded to
learn more about children
The movement eventually yielded to the progressive education movement

18. the arts and crafts movement
Initially developed in England during the latter half of the 19th century
Was inspired by the social reform concerns of thinkers such as Walter Crane and John
Ruskin, together with the ideals of reformer and designer, William Morris.
Ruskin, Morris, and others proposed that it would be better for all if individual
craftsmanship could be revived-- the worker could then produce beautiful objects that
exhibited the result of fine craftsmanship, as opposed to the shoddy products of mass
production. Thus the goal was to create design that was "for the people and by the
people, and a source of pleasure to the maker and the user." Workers could produce
beautiful objects that would enhance the lives of
ordinary people, and at the same time provide
decent employment for the craftsman.

19. progressive education movement
Progressive education, movement that took form in Europe and the United States during
the late 19th century as a reaction to the alleged narrowness and formalism of
traditional education
Its main objectives was to educate the “whole child”
Creative and manual arts gained importance in the curriculum, and children were
encouraged toward experimentation and independent thinking.

20. Conclusion
Many changes in art education were made in the 19th century. Arts education now included
art appreciation, design and crafts along with the traditional fine arts.
Free expression was thought to be necessary to the making of a healthy child.
A wide variety of classes were being made available in colleges. The rise of suburbs paved the
way for art education jobs in the schools.
Effland sums up this book by saying” Throughout the century art education was strongly
influenced by ideas emanating from the general education as a whole. the dominance of these
streams changed from time to time in response to the prevailing social climate, to social
circumstances, and to socially powerful groups.”

21. What did our group learn and how will our
teaching be informed by what we discussed
We have learned through the book that the study of art has always been important, but is more
about the role art education plays in society and its benefits.
Art education has been able to evolve throughout history to adapt to what people need at the
time. It was eye-opening to learn the different trends that art education has gone through
and the movements that helped make it what it is today.
After reading this book, we will have more answers as to why the arts are important in a
student’s development and will have answers to skeptics.
As art educators, we will no longer need to justify why we are important because we have the
history on our side.