In 1897, Massachusetts art educator Henry Turner Bailey introduced the first picture study method in a report to the Massachusetts State Board of Education. He later refined it in a series of articles published in The Perry Magazine from 1899 to 1904. This historical study examined Bailey's Picture Study Method and its formulation within the context of the then extant turn of the century aesthetic education movement. The movement was inspired by G. W. F. Hegel's idealist philosophy and translated into educational theory and practice by then Commissioner of Education William Torrey Harris. Harris's interpretation of Hegel's idealist aesthetic theory inspired Bailey's conception of his method. Bailey's method, in turn, was found to have launched the picture study movement. Seven subsequent methods of pedagogical art criticism proposed by leading art educators during Bailey's professional career are also analyzed in this study to provide context. / Bailey believed that masterpieces in painting represent ideals of beauty that embody spiritual meaning. In order to reach the spiritual, one must first train the mind to perceive the ideal content embedded within the painting and then examine the artist's means of expressing these ideas. This theory translated into a method of pedagogical art criticism that progresses through four sequential stages beginning with a child's early pre-critical development and reaching the higher spiritual faculty at the high school level. / Research concluded that Henry Turner Bailey was a key figure in the history of art appreciation education. Bailey's persistence in promoting his idealist aesthetic theory guided the picture study movement which was grounded on an idealist philosophy, supported by professionals in the field of art education, and justified by a substantial body of literature. Bailey inspired numerous art educators in the early twentieth century, and his picture study method should be recognized as a landmark method in the history of pedagogical art criticism in the United States. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-09, Section: A, page: 2688. / Major Professor: Tom Anderson. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_77245 |
| Contributors | Miley, Randolph Benton., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 316 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
Page generated in 0.0014 seconds