Thursday, December 3, 2009

Art History Games

Today I had the pleasure of moseying through the vast collection of art at the Art Institute of Chicago here in the Windy City. Some of it pulled me closer, other pieces made me frown and wonder why on earth they were taking up space, and still others made me stop and nearly gasp at the clarity of expression or color or the amount of detail. Renoir is my new favorite artist! His colors are magnificent. I could have studied on his work for much longer than I did. Van Gogh's self-portrait was a treat to behold, too. My only regret about the afternoon was not having our kiddo with us to see what some incredibly talented people have put to canvas. So, I got to thinking which led to searching which led to this shorter-than-usual post about art games, particularly those centered around art appreciation or art history. The museum shop had a collection of memory cards, but I balked at the price and promptly set them down. Surely there are talented people who have placed art history into a game format for those of us wishing to expand our appreciation and knowledge of such topics. I found a few which look promising and will follow up this post with a few more intriguing art books I ran across.

A memory game that could be played with increasing difficulty if you wish by having to name the artist or the name of the piece or the country of origin or the time period, etc.


This isn't a 'game' per say, but you'll need a notebook and pen to help ferret out the clues to help solve an art mystery. You as the reader must help the curator determine which paintings are fake and which are real by working through various clues so that a show can be saved. There are two other books in this series. Highly recommended by readers as engrossing.


Thirty-six playing cards to play a 'go fish' or 'concentration' game and a ninety page art history companion that provides a two-page spread of information for each card. Van Gogh and Friends features Post-Impressionist artists Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne, Seurat, Rousseau and Toulouse-Lautrec.


Same type of 'go fish/concentration' game featuring Monet, Renoir, Degas, Cassatt and others.


Board game wherein you collect great art, auction it, hide it or steal it. Some complaints about the directions/rules being vague, though.

Will be back with more clever books about art history and art appreciation.......................

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...