Teaching Units Online

Uncovering America
This resource features seven modules, each of which explores works of art that reflect the richness and diversity of the people, places, and cultures of the United States. 

Italian Renaissance Learning Resources
A freely available resource, this site features eight units, each of which explores a different theme in Italian Renaissance art.

Art Nouveau, 1890–1914
At its height, art nouveau was a concerted attempt to create an international style. This teaching packet presents an overview of the movement, including significant examples of works of art in a variety of media. 

Edo: Art in Japan, 1615–1868
This program surveys two centuries of art and culture in the city now known as Tokyo. Ceramics, screens, textiles, prints, paintings, and armor are among the materials discussed. 

German Expressionist Prints
In 1905 a group of young artists banded together to form Die Brücke, a movement dedicated to revitalizing German art. The artists' concern for freedom and authenticity of expression is revealed in intense and sensuous images.

The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology
This teaching packet explores new perspectives on early Chinese culture and art that have resulted from dramatic new archaeological discoveries. 

The Greek Miracle
Celebrating the achievements of classical Greece, this teaching packet provides the cultural and historical context for the fifth-century sculptures shown in the exhibition The Greek Miracle.

Art&: A Teacher's Guide to Lessons and Activities for Fifth and Sixth Graders
Four lessons—Greco-Roman Origin Myths, Heroes & Heroines, Art & Ecology, and 19th-Century America in Art & Literature—were written for teachers who may not teach art but would like to integrate art into their instruction. 

The Art of Romare Bearden
The visual narratives and abstractions in watercolors, oils, and especially collages and photomontages of this preeminent African American artist explore the places where he lived and worked from the 1940s through the 1980s. 

Art since 1950
This packet discusses artistic movements of the late 20th century, including abstract expressionism, pop art, minimalism, conceptualism, process art, neo-expressionism, and postmodernism. 

Augustus Saint-Gaudens' Memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts 54th Regiment
The monumental Memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts 54th Regiment commemorates the first African American infantry unit from the North to fight for the Union during the Civil War. 

Classical Mythology in European Art
This teaching packet discusses Greek and Roman mythology as a source for themes in art from the Renaissance to the 20th century. 

An Eye for Art
This family-oriented resource brings together in one lively, activity-packed book a selection of forty art features from the National Gallery of Art’s popular quarterly NGAkids.

French Painting from the National Gallery of Art
The rich artistic heritage of France is illustrated in works spanning three centuries by such artists as Claude Lorrain, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Jean Siméon Chardin, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Édouard Manet, and Auguste Renoir. 

I Am Still Learning: Late Works by Masters
Many artists have produced impressive work in their late years. This program reviews paintings by 17 artists whose works demonstrate creative vitality in the artists' old age. 

The Inquiring Eye: American Painting
This packet introduces American painting from the colonial period to the early 20th century. 

The Inquiring Eye: Early Modernism, 1900–1940
This overview traces the development of artistic styles from 1900 to 1940, examining fauvism, cubism, futurism, expressionism, surrealism, and other movements. 

Inquiring Eye: European Renaissance Art
The works of art discussed include painting, sculpture, and decorative arts from Italy and Northern Europe made between the 14th and 16th centuries. 

Islamic Art and Culture
Prepared in conjuction with the exhibition Palace and Mosque: Islamic Art from the Victoria and Albert Museum, this packet is a resource for teaching Islamic art and culture, from its beginnings in the 7th century up to the 18th century. 

Landscape Paintings from the National Gallery of Art
This program traces changing attitudes toward landscape painting from the Renaissance to the 20th century. 

Painting in the Dutch Golden Age
This teaching packet provides background about the founding of the Dutch Republic and how art came to occupy an important place in the lives of its people. Includes genres such as landscape, still life, portraiture, and history painting.

Picturing France, 1830–1900
Not a chronological overview, this teaching packet instead travels region to region, from Brittany to Provence, offering a multifaceted look at art and culture that explores most of the 19th century's major stylistic trends and artists.

Surveys of American Crafts and Folk Arts from the Index of American Design
The Index of American Design consists of approximately 18,000 watercolor renderings of American decorative art objects from the colonial period through the 19th century. This CD provides images and an overview of the project's history.

Vincent van Gogh
Follow Van Gogh's career from his early artistic efforts in Holland and breakthrough work in Paris to the signature paintings he produced in the south of France. 

Whistler: The Etchings
James McNeill Whistler is best known as a painter, but his graphics are of equal importance. This program traces the development of Whistler's style and techniques over the course of his career.