Docent Art Program Halifax, MA 10-09

The Champions of the Mississippi: “A Race for the Buckhorns.” ~ 1865 Currier & Ives by F.F. Palmer

This exciting painting was created by the English woman, F.F. Palmer. We saw another of her paintings (a happy family of ruffed grouse) also produced by C.& I..
The title: The children might ask about the “buckhorns” in the title. We know that the boats are in a race. We can see some buckhorns on the middle boat in between the steam pipes. My guess is that they are the prize, the trophy, that goes to the winner. They are a symbol of strength and speed. This symbolic use of horns is actually a very ancient custom and, I might add, very masculine way of perceiving strength and victory. But don’t tell all this. Know and ask about it. Let the children develop their own theories and then ask them to back them up, to defend them according to what they see in the painting. It may prove to be a strong theory or a weak one depending on what they point out as their defense.

Suggestions: In general, same as with first
a. Color - Do you like the colors chosen by the artist? What do they do for you and for the painting? (Lots of possibilities - cool and warm, exciting associations such as fireworks and bonfires) Do they help the composition? How? (Teaching point: Any time you see diagonals the composition will be more dynamic. Here, both colors and shapes form many diagonals.)
b. Composition - What shapes help our eyes to move over the painting? Can you describe this eye flow pattern to me and I’ll trace it with my finger? (The cheering crowd is probably where you enter. Then the eyes scan the three boats from left to right, with the fire and pink smoke pointing the way. The gently curving diagonals on all of the boats push our eyes to the bow, where rods and smoke stacks jut upward. Our eyes do not go off the canvas at this point, though, thanks to the backward flowing smoke and sparks, topped by the arcs of clouds and blue sky. In between all of that action there is a brief respite with a sub-focal point of the glowing moon. It is not so large or so important, though, to distract us for long. The waving flags bring our eyes to the fourth boat in the rear and then our eyes can begin the journey all over again as the come back to the cheering crowd.
c. Comparison - How is this form of transportation different from or similar to the last?
d. Cost - What “feeds” the steam boats? Can you see this fuel in the painting? Did it take a lot of time, money and people to make these boats? Compare this kind of boat with another kind of boat shown in the painting that costs a lot less.
e. Cost to the environment - Can you see any indication in the painting of a cost to the environment? How does the environment have to pay for this kind of transportation? Is there any pollution? Any noise? Can noise be a kind of pollution? Can noise be dangerous or harmful?
f. Safety - Can the steam boat be dangerous in any way? How? Could a fire start on these boats? How do we know? Do you see any lifeboats on the side of these steamboats? What does this mean? Is the Mississippi a shallow, calm river? What is it like?
g. Benefits - How did the people benefit from this form of transportation? Did they get places faster than they did with the horses? Is faster always better? Has anyone ever chosen to travel slowly for some reason? When and why? (How about paddle boats, the swan boat and canoes?) How did you benefit from traveling slowly? Have you ever taken a walk somewhere that you previously had only driven? What happened? Did you notice things that you didn’t notice while zooming by? Did you make more use of your other senses? When we go places slowly do we hear and smell things we didn’t notice before? Maybe we even are going slowly enough that we can reach out and touch things that we couldn’t if we were going too fast.
Is everyone on these steamboats involved in operating them? Some are just passengers. What do they do with their spare time? What do we do to “entertain “ ourselves while riding in a car?
h. People’s feelings - How do the people feel about this form of entertainment (the race)? How can we tell? (Have the children describe the body language and behaviors of the people on the river bank.