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Themes for Middle and High School Teachers

An examination of how Emerson’s and Thoreau’s theories of transcendentalism manifested themselves in regional paintings of the mid-1800s, and how American landscape painting evolved thereafter.

Connects to American and English literature strand in
the Massachusetts State Curriculum Frameworks.

Social Changes in American Life

A look at the transformations in America from an agricultural society to an industrial to an informational one, and how those changes were recorded in painting and sculpture from the turn of the twentieth century to the turn of the twenty-first century.

Connects to American history strand in the
Massachusetts State Curriculum Frameworks.

Contemporary Art and Contemporary Life Issues

How do contemporary artists respond to issues in American society? Feminism, multiculturalism, American identity, and attitudes about progress and technology are all examined through contemporary painting, sculpture, and mixed-media works of art.

Connects to Arts/Humanities strand in the
Massachusetts State Curriculum Frameworks.

• Schedule a tour of the American Spectrum exhibition