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The Art of Instruction: Vintage Educational Charts from the 19th and 20th Centuries
The Art of Instruction: Vintage Educational Charts from the 19th and 20th Centuries
The Art of Instruction: Vintage Educational Charts from the 19th and 20th Centuries
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The Art of Instruction: Vintage Educational Charts from the 19th and 20th Centuries

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Large-scale wall charts were fundamental tools of classroom instruction throughout Europe in the mid-nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Collected here for the first time in one deluxe volume are over 100 of these vintage educational posters now important relics in the history of science, art, and design. From the anatomy of a tulip or an apple tree to that of a hedgehog or starfish, the botanical and zoological images in this collection are captivating with their curious visuals and intricate details. With a compelling introduction about the history of educational charts and their production, The Art of Instruction provides a glimpse into a rich, significant heritage and will enlighten those with an interest in art, design, science, or natural history.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateMay 14, 2013
ISBN9781452128511
The Art of Instruction: Vintage Educational Charts from the 19th and 20th Centuries
Author

Katrien Van der Schueren

Katrien Van der Schueren has been collecting educational charts for over a decade. She is the owner of voila! Gallery in Los Angeles.

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    Book preview

    The Art of Instruction - Katrien Van der Schueren

    THE ART OF INSTRUCTION:

    Vintage Educational Charts from the 19th and 20th Centuries

    Introduction by Katrien Van der Schueren

    Introduction and compilation copyright © 2011 by

    Katrien Van der Schueren.

    All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced

    in any form without written permission from the publisher.

    Page 155 constitutes as a continuation of the copyright page.

    The Library of Congress has cataloguing data available.

    ISBN: 978-1-4521-2851-1

    Design by Sara Schneider

    Chronicle Books LLC

    680 Second Street

    San Francisco, CA 94107

    www.chroniclebooks.com

    Contents

    Introduction 6

    Botany 9

    Zoology 81

    Appendix 142

    Credits 155

    Bibliography 155

    References 155

    Author Biography 156

    Acknowledgments 156

    plate 1 Dog Rose

    Introduction:

    There are objects from the past that can tell a story greater than what they were originally designed to do. One such relic is the illustrated wall chart from the late 1800s and 1900s, which was created as a practical classroom aid and is now treasured for its artistic merit. Profoundly elegant and beautiful, these charts are a window into the intersecting histories of education, science, and art.

    The first educational wall charts were likely printed in Germany around 1820, when compulsory schooling began to spread throughout Europe and classroom size increased. The continent was facing the Industrial Revolution, rapid population growth, and a new perspective on education: learning as a fundamental human right. Governments saw it as their duty to mandate schooling, and this shift created a sustained and thriving market for the illustrated charts. Early visually aided instruction methods, such as passing around loose engravings or picture books, became inadequate. Giant-size images visible from anywhere within a crowded classroom offered an ideal solution.

    With the invention of lithography in 1798, printers were able to produce large-scale images at an affordable price. Soon after, further technological innovations introduced chromolithography and enabled industrial-scale mass reproduction. As production speed, printing quality, color range, and price points improved, the pictorial charts gained in popularity. First introduced at the primary-school level, they quickly became the didactic aid par excellence for teaching a variety of subjects—botany, human anatomy, zoology, and ecology among them—at all grade levels.

    Wall charts were regularly advertised by printers in magazines for educators. As a large-scale (roughly 35 × 50 inches each), easy-to-store, and affordable medium, they were welcomed with rave reviews by the scholastic community. Governments began to recognize the charts’ value in the classroom, and in many instances either subsidized production or wholly financed their acquisition for schools. The industry quickly became an intensive trade across Europe, with Germany as the market leader. At the peak of their popularity, roughly between 1870 and 1920, wall charts were translated into several languages and sold and distributed throughout the world, often with accompanying textbooks.

    The size, vibrant color, and rich detail of these illustrated charts not only made them an ideal medium for teaching classifications in nearly all branches of biology, but these characteristics also lent them an aesthetic quality. The charts served a dual role, as both scientific tools and works of art. Responsible for the investigation of classroom decor and imagery, French commissioner Charles Bigot reported in the 1880s:

    It is not enough to teach design in schools: we must still make the school itself a museum, a kind of sanctuary where there is beauty as well as science and virtue. Let the child live, surrounded by noble works that constantly speak to him, arousing his curiosity, raise his soul. . . . Art must come to him from almost all sides as the air he breathes.1

    When charts on specific subjects were lacking, or when charts in general weren’t readily available, some schoolteachers would create their own hand-drawn versions. University professors and eminent scientists would also make their own wall charts to illustrate their scholarly discoveries, working closely

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