NORTON SIMON MUSEUM

The Norton Simon Museum of Art is located at 411 W. Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91105-1825. The telephone is 626.449.6840, the website www.nortonsimon.org. There is free parking in the museum lot and entry is free to students with ID.

European Art: 19th Century Collection. "The Museum is home to the most significant collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art in Southern California." (Norton Simon Museum Website)

In order to establish that you actually went to the Norton Simon, you must take a photograph of yourself there. You need to include a print of the photograph on the cover sheet of your paper. If your paper does not include a photograph of you at the museum, it will be an automatic zero.

For this project, you need to go in person to the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena and study the collection. Then respond to the following:

BE CAREFUL to cite the source of all the information you use in your essay, including museum pamphlets, museum wall texts, and the words of museum docents (tour guides).

Remember, any amount of plagiarism whatsoever will result in failure in this class.

After looking at the art and taking careful notes, you need to write an essay that does the following:

1. First, describe the urban environment of the art institution. Where is it located? What surrounds it? How is its area similar to and/or different from the area you live in? How do you think the building's location will impact the art-viewing audience?

2. Describe the building. What is the overall architecture of the building like? What are the exhibition spaces like? Talk about the colors of the walls, the lighting, the spacing of the art, etc.

3. Next, describe the room in which the 19th Century Art Collection is exhibited. What unites all of the artworks in that room? Why do you think the museum professionals chose to hang these artworks together?

4. What is your initial reaction? Now, look at the other museum visitors. How are your fellow art-viewers responding to the work?

5. Then, focus on the artworks. Name and briefly describe at least ten of the artworks.

6. Finally, write a compare/contrast essay about two of the artworks. Start by identifying the two art artworks as completely as possible. Who are the artists? What are their titles? What do they represent? What are the materials? How big are they? Then talk about their subject matter. What do they represent? How do they represent it?

7. After you have described both artworks completely, then compare and contrast them. How are they similar? How are they different?

8. Conclude your essay with a discussion on which of the two selected artworks you prefer, and why. Does either of the artworks give you a new perspective on 19th Century Art? How does it do that?