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Abstract
Formalism, the art critic's answer to Minimalist art, described not only the art but also a style of writing about art that excluded any biographical or iconographical information and pretended to pure objectivity. "Until late in the sixties, solemn formalism was assumed to be the only way one talked about art, " a formerly formalist critic said not long ago (Levin, 1988, p. 28). As we approach the third millennium there are some educators who continue to believe that formalism is the only way to talk about art. In this article I argue that the application of formalism to teaching contributes to the marginalization of art and children in education, society and culture. I share my experiences of working with a Grade 5 class critically deconstructing traditional explanations of Degas' images of working class women. Finally, I invite social studies teachers to consider the role and place of art in their own teaching practice and in the broader context of social education.
On our way home to New Brunswick from a cultural studies conference, the plane stopped in Toronto. My friends and I took advantage of the time by visiting the Children's Bookstore. Each of us rushed to our respective areas of interest. I made a beeline for books on art. Among them I found Anne Newlands' Meet Edgar Degas. Coincidentally, I had been reading revised feminist and social histories, alternate explanations to the usual themes of misogyny and voyeurism attached to Degas and his work.
Feminist art historian Norma Broude (1982) questions the traditional art historical explanation that constructs Edgar Degas as a misogynist. Broude's critique is a challenge to the field of art history. She suggests that art historians should examine the influence of cultural and social biases upon art historical scholarship. Social historian, Eunice Lipton (1988) deconstructs the theme of Edgar Degas as voyeur. Lipton asks if there is something more to this "civilized lechery"? She argues that "to see what others cannot see is to have power....Degas was essentially titillating his bourgeois audience by showing it a world to which its members did not have access but which they yearned to possess" (p. 99).
Back on the plane, settled in my window seat, I opened Meet Edgar Degas....