Picture Study: A. E. Backus
“[Other landscape artists] don’t understand the palm tree. It is just as individual as an oak or an elm. Even the old cabbage palm is an individual. Northern painters—good painters—say they look like feather dusters. The way they paint, they do.” A. E. Backus.
Next Sister and I were helping a friend move out of her apartment when we came across some lovely prints of Florida scenery. We were able to decipher “Backus” from the signature, and a Google search after returning home revealed a bright gallery by A. E. “Beanie” Backus and the Florida Highwaymen.
Most of the picture studies we have done have been nineteenth-century French—Millet, van Gogh, Renoir. I was already looking to vitalize our picture study with someone entirely different, and Backus seemed a fortuitous choice; but I wonder how the young boys will respond to a study of a landscape artist. Will they find much to say in their narrations? (I’ll comment here with the answer when we’ve completed our study.)
I will encourage observation and imagination by asking them to imagine a walk through the painting. What might it tell them about the sights and sounds of the landscape? (They will be helped by the fact that they live near these scenes.) I will also prime their interest by tying picture study to nature study. Each of the landscapes we will study offers a chance to tell them more about the ecosystems of their state. That will also provide material for their narrations.
“If I had been a starving kid in New York, like Andy Warhol, I’d think soup cans were beautiful too. But why would I paint soup cans when I have Florida?” A. E. Backus.
Above: A. E. Backus at work in his studio. Below: Afternoon Glow.
The following schedule is a basic outline of what paintings, projects, and topics I want to study each week. If you are unfamiliar with the purpose and method of picture study, scroll down to see a sample from my lesson plans. Large, colorful prints will come from the collection A. E. Backus by Olivia Dame Peterson.
Week One:
Nature Study: Cyprus Swamps and Strands
Picture Study: Cyprus Swamp. (p. 82)
Optional Project: Begin compiling a Florida scrapbook, adding to it with each week’s lesson, and continuing beyond our study of Backus.
Week Two:
Picture Study: Indian River. [Highwaymen gallery]
Optional Project: find Indian River on a Florida map
Week Three:
Picture Study: Seminole Campfire. (p. 111) [see also, Seminole Woman (p. 37) and Seminoles in a Bean Field (p. 79)]
Week Four:
Nature Study: Storms and hurricanes
Picture Study: Fisherman’s Dilemma. (p. 56) or Hold On (p. 76)
Week Five:
Nature Study: Poinciana tree
Picture Study: Path to Priestman’s River. (p. 99)
Week Six:
Nature Study: Pinelands (Ask Second Brother about growing a pine.)
Picture Study: Pines in the Back Country (p. 98)
Optional Project: Take a picnic to a natural park and paint a Florida landscape.
Below: Ocean Breeze.
Sample Lesson Plan (Grades 2 and 4)
OBJECTS
•To continue the series of pictures by A. E. Backus.
•To increase their interest in local nature.
•To help them read a picture truly.
•To increase their powers of attention and observation.
MATERIALS
•Large, high-quality prints of Distant Hammock [or Florida Hammock Reflections, or Tree Island]
LESSON
Step I.—Read this short article from the National Parks Service on “Hardwood Hammocks.” Invite the children to comment on what they’ve learned or already experienced. [Remind the boys of our hike on the Christian Point Trail, where we experienced some of this and other Florida ecosystems.]
Step II.—Give the children the picture Distant Hammock to look at, and ask them to find out all they can about them. Suggest that they take a “walk” through the painting, and imagine the sights, the sounds, etc. [a technique probably best reserved for children who have personally experienced these landscapes].
Step III.—After three or four minutes, take the picture away and see what the children noticed—their observation of the painting, their imagined “walk,” and what they know about the subject (hardwood hammocks, the Everglades, etc.). [Remember not to prompt or interject until the student has finished his narration!]
Optional—Those with internet access may then show the children this gallery of Everglades paintings (and another) by A. E. Backus and the Highwaymen artists, which feature palm and oak hammocks. Invite comment. [They should have already been introduced to the Highwaymen artists, and the inspiration Backus provided to this fascinating group of Florida artists.]
Below: Sunset.
Friday, April 20, 2012