A Week At The Met: Learning The History of Art With Rika Burnham
By KATARZYNA KOZANECKA

The History of Art with Rika Burnham is not so much a class as a two-week-long field trip to the museum. This free eight-day class for high school students at the Metropolitan Museum of Art steers clear of the lectures-and-filmstrips approach to art history that many high schools use. Instead, everyone grabs a stool, paper and pencil and travels through the Museum with Burnham as their guide. She stops at selected works and talks about them, asking questions to draw out our thoughts. She then gives us a few minutes to sketch. Even those who cannot draw very well agree that sketching aids observation.

Day 1: We looked at the art of ancient Egypt and talked about eternity. Rika dispelled the myth that art always goes from simple to complex. We learned that Egyptians knew how to draw realistic faces and bodies, but they chose not to because they were trying to portray an unreal world where gravity didn’t exist.

Day 2: Mike Norris, a classicist, was our guest instructor. As we explored the Greco-Roman world, he presented us with an interesting paradox: The Greeks believed that “people are more important than stuff,” he said. In the face of a Persian invasion, the Greeks evacuated Athens and survived, although the city was burned to the ground. Modern museums, on the other hand, value the “stuff” because without it,
they would not know about the people at all.

Day 3: In tune with the day’s topic, Medieval Art, we contemplated Jesus on the cross and statues of the mother and child. Christian art is important in part because it marks the point in Western art where the viewer starts to matter. “You’re a silent group today,” Rika remarked several times. Later, we apologized and explained that we didn’t say much because we were overwhelmed by these works, not because we are uncomfortable discussing religion.

The class, organized by the Museum’s Uris Center for Education, is held every summer. This year, it has drawn 35 students. Amanda, who took the Advanced Placement Art History exam in May and scored a five out of five, is taking the class to gain a different perspective on the subject. Lori-Anne, who recently moved to the United States from Jamaica, wants to be a civil engineer. She believes the class will help her in her future studies.

I, myself, have only recently discovered art, and I seek to understand it more fully through this class. Happily, I await Baroque, Neo-Classicism, Romanticism, Impressionism and Modern Art because as the class nears its end, the eras become shorter, and we can study them in greater detail.

For information about free classes at the Met, call 212-570-3961.

Education Update, Inc., P.O. Box 20005, New York, NY 10001. Tel: (212) 481-5519. Fax: (212) 481-3919. Email: ednews1@aol.com.
All material is copyrighted and may not be printed without express consent of the publisher. © 2001.