Drawing Instruction

in the Common School

Chapter 4

The Common SchoolA school for the masses.

Common School Advocates

William Bentley Fowle

Influenced by educational discussion based in Pestalozzian theoryInnovations:

Textbooks (Linear Drawing) BlackboardsLinear drawingsPrintingPhysical exerciseNeedleworkMusicELLIMINATION of corporal punishment

Common School Advocates

Horace Mann

Lawyer 1837 Elected to a position on the Massachusetts Board of Education “Public school, operating under the authority of the state, was an instrument of universal enlightenment.”

Johann Heinrich

Pestalozzi•Developed the first orphaned boy’s schools in Switzerland in the aftermath of the Napoleonic War in response to reading EMILE

•Developed ABC der Anschauung

•Drawing system based in in the belief that drawing could be taught like reading, the “letters” being lines, curves & angles

Pestalozzian Drawing System:•Control & Practice of Proportion•Geometry (Shape & Line Division)•“ Arrange knowledge in gradual steps so the difference … shall be …imperceptible”•“Make the simple perfect before going on to the complex”

Cincinnati & ClevelandDrawing in Curriculum 1842Heavy German (Prussian) settlement

1808 Neef to PhiladelphiaMoved to remote Harmony, INLimited transference of Pestalozzian principles

U.S. Supporters of the Prussian Pestalozzi

Pedagogy

Barnard & Mann•School as Moral Agency•Proponents of the Common School•Barnard: Connecticut Common School Journal & Barnard’s American Journal of Education

•Mann: (1837-1842) Common School Journal

Horace Mann & Drawing1844 Pushing for DrawingMoral ValueTrade prepWas unsuccessful in getting the program established

Art Crusaders, Chapman & Bartholomew•Democratic Art for the masses•1847 Chapman publishes The American Drawing Book•Based in Reynolds theories of beauty

1853 Krusi Jr. to Oswego

•Normal School in New York•Taught Philosophy of education, mathematics & Drawing•Long Tenure =Significant Pestalozzian pedagogical impact

1870 Mass. mandates INDUSTRIAL drawing

Drawing = Industrial $$Perkins contacts Cole for a drawing instructor referralWalter Smith is appointed:

First Art Supervisor for the state of Mass.First Art Supervisor for BostonFounder & head of the Mass. Normal Art School

1870 Mass. mandates INDUSTRIAL drawing

The Drawing Act Fell Short

Only applied to towns greater than 10,000No Funds

SuppliesTeachersEducation

Smith’s definition of industrial was not mechanical

Walter Smith’s VisionGraded Drawing Curriculum

Stilllife’s Drawing Cards

Systamtic instruction of all classroom teachersExhibition of Student’s workNormal Art School, Art Teacher Education