Exhibitions: Museum Research by Students of Pratt Institute

April 1, 1937: The Brooklyn Museum is exhibiting from March 26th through April 25th the results of museum research by 1st year students of Pratt Institute in the Teachers Training Course. The subject selected by the students themselves is Egypt of the Tell el-Amarna period, which is well represented in the library and galleries of the Museum.

The course, in which this research problem is one stage, is given by Michelle Murphy of the Brooklyn Museum in cooperation with Miss Carolyn Ashbrook, instructor, of Pratt Institute. The course provides a general introduction to the materials and methods of research valuable to elementary school teachers of art. It opens with a series of lectures surveying the history of art and the use of lanternslides and original materials in this connection. The second phase of the course is a series of gallery studies supplemented by practical investigation of art techniques. The third problem is a study of library research methods, the preparation of bibliographies, and general survey of printed sources. Following this introduction, the students select a particular subject for more extensive study and interpretation in concrete form. This year the students prepared in looseleaf notebook form an illustrated story of life in Tell el-Amarna with especial reference to religious customs, social life and arts, They also designed and executed an original mural decoration in Egyptian style, depicting industry, art and religion.

The exhibition includes illustrations and text from this story, the murals, lecture notes, gallery drawings, library material, slides from the museum collection shown as illuminated transparencies, plans for the mural, first sketches, and some of the original museum materials studied, Among the most interesting of these are costume accessories, including fans, sandals, etc. The torso of Makit Aten, a sculptor’s sketch of Akhenaton and Nefertiti and other objects are also shown. The mural, painted on sized wall board in tempera colors, is large and effective. All the colors were checked for accuracy not only with colored reproductions but with originals in the collection of the New York Historical Society.

Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1937 - 1939. 04-06_1937, 069. View Original