Activity Guide - Whitney Museum of American Art

WHITNEY
KIDS
STUART
DAVIS
ACTIVITY
GUIDE
Education programs in the Laurie M.
Tisch Education Center are supported
by the Steven & Alexandra Cohen
Foundation, the Dalio Foundation,
The Pierre & Tana Matisse Foundation,
Jack and Susan Rudin in honor of
Beth Rudin DeWoody, Stavros
Niarchos Foundation, Barker Welfare
Foundation, Con Edison, public funds
from the New York City Department
of Cultural Affairs in partnership with
the City Council, and by members of
the Whitney’s Education Committee.
Free Guided Student Visits for New
York City Public and Charter Schools
are endowed by The Allen and Kelli
Questrom Foundation.
Generous endowment support
for Education Programs is provided
by the William Randolph Hearst
Foundation, the Annenberg
Foundation, Laurie M. Tisch, Steve
Tisch, Krystyna O. Doerfler, Lise
and Michael Evans, and Burton P.
and Judith B. Resnick.
In New York, the exhibition is
sponsored by
Stuart Davis: In Full Swing is organized
by the Whitney Museum of American
Art, New York, and the National
Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.
Major support is provided by the
Henry Luce Foundation and the Terra
Foundation for American Art.
Significant support is provided by the
Philip and Janice Levin Foundation
and Ted and Mary Jo Shen.
Generous support is provided by
Barney A. Ebsworth, Cheryl and
Blair Effron, Karen and Kevin Kennedy,
Garrett and Mary Moran, and Laurie
M. Tisch.
Additional support is provided by
the Alturas Foundation and Jeanne
Donovan Fisher.
Major endowment support is also
provided by the Barbara Haskell
American Fellows Legacy Fund.
This exhibition is supported by an
indemnity from the Federal Council
on the Arts and the Humanities.
Stuart davis:
in full swing
Stuart Davis painted the world around him, inspired
by advertisements, street signs, skyscrapers, and jazz
music. He also admired the Cubist paintings of Pablo
Picasso (1881–1973), where everyday objects were
depicted abstractly. For Davis, this kind of painting
seemed like the right way to picture the modern world.
But he invented his own style, using bold shapes,
bright colors, and words to express the excitement
of twentieth-century America.
Get into the swing! In the exhibition, you’ll see how
Davis created artworks with abstraction, pattern, and
rhythm that are unmistakably modern and American.
Join us!
Check out our lineup of drop-in programs, tours,
art-making workshops, and artist-led programs at
whitney.org/Families.
draw as you go
Look at the works in the exhibition and take visual
notes of what you see: sketch the shapes, signs, and
words that catch your eye.
new york–paris
To capture the experience of modern life, Davis often
combined his memories of different places and times
into a single picture. He made this painting shortly after
he returned to New York from Paris. It is a jumble of
buildings, signs, and other details from the two cities.
Can you spot an elevated train station? Some graffiti?
Which parts of the painting might be from New York
City? From Paris?
Stuart Davis (1892–1964), New York–Paris No. 2, 1931. Oil on canvas, 30 1/4 x 40 1/4 in. (76.9 x 102.2 cm).
Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine; Hamilton Easter Field Art Foundation Collection, Gift of Barn Gallery
Associates, Inc., Ogunquit, Maine 1979.13.10 © Estate of Stuart Davis / Licensed by VAGA, New York
mash it up
Look out the windows or go to the outdoor galleries
and draw the buildings that interest you. Mix it up. Put
different buildings—tall, short, old, and new—side by
side in unexpected ways. Use the shapes and signs that
you sketched in the galleries. Include some words in
your drawing.
KEEP DRAWING!
WHITNEY
KIDS
DANNY
LYON
ACTIVITY
GUIDE
Danny lyon:
message to
the future
“You put a camera in my hand, I want to get
close to people.” —Danny Lyon
Photographer, filmmaker, and writer Danny Lyon has
pictured recent history and helped to shape it with
his images. He has traveled all over the world, and is
drawn especially to sites of social and political change,
bringing attention to issues like civil rights as well as
the experiences of prisoners and those living in poverty.
Lyon often develops close relationships with the people
he meets and photographs, and he lets us see the
world through their eyes. He has also captured their
voices—you can hear them in his films.
Join us!
Check out our lineup of drop-in programs, tours,
art-making workshops, and artist-led programs at
whitney.org/Families.
TALK AS YOU GO
Lyon has traveled throughout the United States and to
Latin America and China to take photographs and make
films about social and political change. As you explore
the exhibition, talk to the people you’re with about
what you see.
How are people posed?
What expressions do they
have on their faces?
What stories do
his images tell?
What might have
happened before Lyon
took the photograph?
How does Lyon
represent the injustice
and discrimination that
he sees around him?
MESSAGE TO
THE FUTURe
Draw something that protests an injustice in your
community. Think of something that might be unfair
or that you disagree with. How will you communicate
your message? Will you include people, objects, words?
Where will you place them in your composition?
DEMONSTRATE!
While he was a college student in the early 1960s,
Lyon hitchhiked to the U.S. South to photograph
the civil rights protests. People were protesting
against discrimination and injustices faced by African
Americans, who were denied many citizens’ rights at
that time, such as the right to vote. In this photograph,
two workers for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee (SNCC) are demonstrating for voting
rights in Selma, Alabama. How does Lyon use his art
to bring about awareness and change? Talk about
it with your family.
Danny Lyon (b. 1942), Voting Rights Demonstration, Organized by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee (SNCC), Selma, October 7, 1963. Gelatin silver print, 7 1/8 x 10 7/16 in. (18.1 x 26.5 cm). Whitney Museum
of American Art, New York; purchase with funds from the Photography Committee 95.7 © Danny Lyon
KEEP DRAWING!
Education programs in the Laurie M.
Tisch Education Center are supported
by the Steven & Alexandra Cohen
Foundation, the Dalio Foundation,
The Pierre & Tana Matisse Foundation,
Jack and Susan Rudin in honor of
Beth Rudin DeWoody, Stavros
Niarchos Foundation, Barker Welfare
Foundation, Con Edison, public funds
from the New York City Department
of Cultural Affairs in partnership with
the City Council, and by members of
the Whitney’s Education Committee.
Generous endowment support
for Education Programs is provided
by the William Randolph Hearst
Foundation, the Annenberg
Foundation, Laurie M. Tisch, Steve
Tisch, Krystyna O. Doerfler, Lise
and Michael Evans, and Burton P.
and Judith B. Resnick.
Free Guided Student Visits for New
York City Public and Charter Schools
are endowed by The Allen and Kelli
Questrom Foundation.
Danny Lyon: Message to the Future is
organized by the Fine Arts Museums
of San Francisco in collaboration with
the Whitney Museum of American Art,
New York.
Generous support is provided by the
Henry Peterson Foundation and an
anonymous donor.