Here are six examples that demonstrate how the images in Artstor enhance the teaching and learning of literature, along with two case studies from a professor at UC Irvine and an educator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Hilary Mantel and the court of Henry VIII: putting pictures to words
The temptation to illustrate Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy is irresistible given her invocation of the painter “Hans” (the actual historical figure of Hans Holbein the Younger). In the author’s own words: “He [Holbein] peoples the early Tudor court for us.” Since the artist was so prolific and precise as a portraitist, his likenesses provide a visual Who’s Who to Mantel’s narrative.
Hans Holbein the Younger. Thomas Cromwell. c. 1532-1533. Image and data from The Frick Collection
Hans Holbein the Younger. Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve (‘The Ambassadors’). 1533. Oil on oak. Image and data from The National Gallery, London
Art in England: The Saxons to the Tudors: 600-1600. Sara N. James. 2016
The Museum of Natural History in The Catcher in the Rye
As Holden Caulfield walks to the Museum of Natural History, he reminisces about his previous visits on class trips. He says that what he likes about the museum is how life is trapped in its exhibits, unchanged and unchangeable in contrast to the changes that he has experienced between visits. Artstor gives you a peek of what the museum looked like to the novel’s antihero.
Children viewing North West Coast Canoe, 77th Street Foyer, 1962, American Museum of Natural History, Photographer: Alex J. Rota. Image and original data provided by Library, American Museum of Natural History
Raymond B. Potter prepares birds for mounting, 1939, American Museum of Natural History, Photographer: Charles H. Coles. Image and original data provided by Library, American Museum of Natural History
Shopping paradise: Émile Zola and the world’s first department store
Zola, often credited as one of the shrewdest observers of 19th-century French society, did not choose the setting for his novel The Ladies’ Paradise arbitrarily. At the time, the department store had become one of the most iconic features of modern Parisian life.
Gustave Eiffel; Louis Auguste Boileau, Le Bon Marché, 1876. Image and catalog data provided by Allan T. Kohl, Minneapolis College of Art and Design
Au Bon Marché/Maison A. Boucicaut, Girl’s Dress, 1895. Image and original data from the Brooklyn Museum, Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Wurts Bros., 55th Street and 5th Avenue. Bonwit Teller and Co.; entrance detail, 1930. Museum of the City of New York.
Dostoevsky and the challenge of Hans Holbein’s “Dead Christ”
On the way to Geneva for his honeymoon, Fyodor Dostoevsky and his new wife stopped in Basel for a day and visited its museum. It was there that the famed writer had an unsettling encounter with an artwork that would soon appear in one of his most esteemed novels.
Vasily Perov. Portrait of Fyodor Dostoevsky. 1872. Image and original data provided by SCALA, Florence/ART RESOURCE, N.Y., artres.com, scalarchives.com
Guan, Frank. “Lost in the Fatherland.” The Baffler, May 2019
Dostoevsky, Fyodor. The Idiot. Project Gutenberg
William Blake: the original fan artist
While William Blake published poetry and his illustrations of those poems are wholly original works, he spent the majority of his career drawing and painting scenes from works by other authors—such as Shakespeare, Milton, Chaucer, and Dante. In fact, it might be said that Blake spent a lot of his time working on what we now call “fan art.”
William Blake; Pity; ca. 1795. Image and data from The Metropolitan Museum of Art
William Blake; Satan Watching the Caresses of Adam and Eve; 1808. Image and data From: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
William Blake; The Circle of the Lustful. Image and data From: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
A masterpiece of vulgarity, scatological humor, and violence: Pantagruel illustrated
Published around 1532, François Rabelais’ Pantagruel chronicled the outrageous adventures of the giants Gargantua and Pantagruel and friends. In spite (or possibly because) of being condemned by the church and deemed obscene by censors, the book proved very popular. Four centuries later, André Derain started illustrating the story in a series of woodcuts that would become a highlight in the history of modern illustrated books.
André Derain. Pg. 16 in the book Pantagruel by François Rabelais, 1943. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco Collection
André Derain. Pg. 70 in the book Pantagruel by François Rabelais, 1943. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Case studies
A Shakespeare gallery
Julia Reinhard Lupton, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, The University of California, Irvine
Artstor has changed the way I teach Shakespeare. Images of the Globe Theater and panoramic maps of Elizabethan London set the stage for our engagement with the plays. When teaching The Merchant of Venice and Othello, I use paintings by Venetian artists to introduce students to this city of canals, carnival, and liturgical spectacle…
The original Globe Playhouse, 1599-1613. Image courtesy of University of Pennsylvania: Furness Theatrical Images Collection
Globe Theatre (Southwark, London, England), Ref.: development 1580-90(i): possible intermediate steps in the early development of English theaters
Venice; Map of City, 16th C
Enhancing children’s literature with Artstor
Margaret Teillon, volunteer educator, Philadelphia Museum of Art
Recognizing the joy children bring to picture books, I have developed teaching materials using selected children’s literature combined with Artstor images. My goal is to enhance literacy instruction and provide an interdisciplinary method of teaching social studies, language arts, and art appreciation.
Jacob Lawrence, The migration gained in momentum, 1940-41. Image and original data provided by The Museum of Modern Art. © 2008 Estate of Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Bob Adelman, Martin Luther King Jr. addresses the largest peace demonstration in history at the United Nations Plaza., April 15, 1967. Image and original data provided by Magnum Photos | ©Bob Adelman / Magnum Photos
Jacob Lawrence, Protest Rally, ca. 1965. Colby College Museum of Art | © 2008 Estate of Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York