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Firewood #55 Rudiger Appel's Kandinsky Figurine

Summary of Class Discussion Firewood #55
Class Comments on Firewood #55

California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Latest update: April 11, 2000
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jeanne's answers

Pass or Prepared?
on Jacob Lawrence's Firewood #55

The painting, "Firewood # 55": National Museum of Americn Art Click on Search in the top menu. Search for Lawrence, Jacob. Click on the link to Jacob Lawrence that the search produces. Click on Works in the Collection by the Artist. Click on Firewood#55. Click on the image itself to view the enlarged image.

And jeanne's summary of the class discussion and class comments should be included in the reading preparations for this Pass or Prepared?

  1. How did personal experience enter into any analysis we might want to do of this painting?

    • jeanne's response: We all saw different things in the painting, based on what the painting awakened of our personal experiences. That difference in perceptions would have been reflected in what we chose to measure, count, and analyze.

  2. Could we do a comparative analysis by looking at other similar paintings?

    • jeanne's response: Yes, we could do a comparative analysis by looking at other similar paintings. The catch lies in how we should define "similar." Would we compare Jacob Lawrence's work to that of other African American artists? Or would we compare this painting to other paintings that Lawrence painted earlier and later in his career? Or would we compare this painting's subject to paintings of similar subjects? And what is the subject? The ills of slavery? The hard work of women? The history of slavery? Desolation and despair? Self reflection on who we are and why we're here and where we're going? (Gauguin) The joy of hope?

      Every issue we attempt to analyze statistically presents us with this much choice. We choose the approach, the meaning that fits what we want to know. Then we recognize that we have investigated only this approach as a delimitation of the study. When we say "delimitation" we mean a limitation the researcher has chosen by his/her perspective. When we say "limitation" we mean quality control limitations based on the impossibility of measurement are the lack of funding that would permit us to control those limitations. Notice that some limitations we choose, to study only men or only women, to study only African American artists or all artists, and some limitations are beyond our control.

  3. Did the consideration of this painting help you to see some more sophisticated ways of measurement?

    • jeanne's response: This approach caused me to see how many of the preceptions students saw that I had not. For example, I would never have thought of the connection Patrina Smith saw to self-reflective inclusion of self in the constituting of self. And yet Gauguin did. That is not a perspective I would have included without Patrina's comment.

  4. Did this discussion broaden your understanding of statistics?

    • jeanne's response: Hard for me to answer because I started out to teach such a broader understanding of statistics. But the discussion broadened my own understandings.

      What a good project for you to answer this question for yourself!