Picture Study and Schoolroom Decoration: Late 19th and Early 20th Century

Image from the Catalogue of the instructors and students in the State Normal School at Salem, 1921, (1920s), State Normal School at Salem, Wm. Ives and Geo. W. Pease, Contributing Library: Salem State University. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Picture Study was a deliberate methodology of studying works of art, in which students were taught to read the “language of art,” considered to be best understood through the emotions and imagination and by empathizing with the artist and trying to see through his or her eyes. The intellect could be engaged through learning facts about the artist and analyzing the means the artist used to communicate experience. The Picture Study experience was not intended so much to help understand the artwork presented, but rather to instill morals, values, and develop children’s aesthetic sensibility. This, it was thought, would strengthen their mental and spiritual nature, and thus other areas of their studies and home life. Estelle May Hurll, a contributing editor to School Arts Magazine and a strong advocate of picture study, stated, “one thing we must never forget—that the ultimate object of all picture study is the enjoyment of beauty.” Advocates of Picture Study “described fine art as an influence for order, cleanliness, and love of home and family.” Picture Study was also viewed as another way to link the study of art and social adjustment.

Schoolroom Decoration was intended as an aesthetic renaissance, based in the belief that a properly decorated schoolroom would lead a student to be well-mannered and courteous. Through the beautification of the school using real works of art, it was believed that students would naturally show signs of order and virtue. The introduction of artwork in the classroom was also intended to influence making a child’s home more pleasant and attractive as their tastes improved. Art teachers were strong influencers of this decoration and considered important taste-makers.

Image source Wikimedia Commons.