Worcester Art Museum

The Worcester Art Museum's mission is to connect people, communities, and cultures through the experience of art. Dating from 3,000 BCE to the present, the Museum's exceptional collection of 38,000 objects provides a foundation for students of all ages and abilities to engage with art and learn both from and with centuries of artists. Collaborations with local schools, fresh approaches to in-gallery teaching, and a long history of studio class instruction are all part of this mission.

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Resources from Worcester Art Museum

Resource Kit

Art Museum Discovery

The Worcester Art Museum's exhibitions tell global stories—from art made thousands of years ago to works being created today. The Museum’s collection has over 38,000 objects, collected since the Museum opened in 1898. Students will examine a sampling of artworks from different time periods and places. They will learn more about how artworks come to a Museum, how they were created, and how they can explore and learn from them.

Created by: Worcester Art Museum

Resource Kit

The Development of Medieval Armor Over Time

The knight in shining armor conjures hundreds of images. While the Middle Ages lasted roughly one thousand years (500-1500 CE), the steel plate armor associated with the knight was only in use from 1350 CE onwards. Why did knights change from using mail armor to plate armor? How did the armors work? Learn about the development of armor and its usefulness during a time of changing battle techniques.

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Voyager

Nevena Prijic (Serbian, born 1985) was commissioned to create a monumental painting directly on the walls of the Worcester Art Museum. Located within a twenty-foot-tall blind archway, Voyager is inspired by speculative possibilities suggested by the portal-like space. Prijic creates enigmatic and dynamic paintings that blend abstraction and figuration. Though futuristic in overall aesthetic, Voyager has an ancient reference at its center inspired by artifacts of the Neolithic Vinca culture of present-day Serbia, the artist’s homeland. A standing figure is obscured as it metamorphosizes into a variety of animate forms: plants, animals, and machines. Prijic’s biomorphic form suggests a similarity between species and systems as well as the transformative power of evolution. Prijic earned BFA and MFA degrees in painting from The University of Novi Sad, Academy of Fine Arts, Serbia. Her work has recently been exhibited at M+B Gallery (Los Angeles), Hesse Flatow (New York City), Bozomag (Los Angeles), and Public Gallery (London). Prijic lives and works in Los Angeles.

Worcester Art Museum

Wheatfield with a Reaper

Van Gogh painted this walled field from his hospital room. For the first few months that he was there, he was not allowed to leave the grounds. The reaper labours in the heat of the sun. The wheat, painted with thick gobs of yellow, undulates around him. For Van Gogh, wheat was a symbol of the eternal cycle of nature and the transience of life. He saw the reaper as 'the image of death . . . in this sense that humanity would be the wheat being reaped.' He added, however, that this death was 'almost smiling. It's all yellow except for a line of violet hills – a pale, blond yellow. I myself find that funny, that I saw it like that through the iron bars of a cell.'

Worcester Art Museum

Portrait of the Artist's Daughters

Gainsborough's two daughters were among his favorite subjects. He painted at least five double and several individual portraits of them at various ages. Here he suggested his daughters' interest in his own profession by showing them holding drawing materials and next to two classical sculptures. X-rays of the painting reveal that Margaret stood originally on the left side of the composition, facing her older sister, Mary. By repositioning her, Gainsborough stressed the close relationship between the two girls- a quality that can be seen also in his other portraits of them. Along with Sir Joshua Reynolds, Gainsborough was instrumental in raising British portrait painting to a level comparable to that found much earlier on the Continent. Influenced by French and Netherlandish art, especially the portraiture of Anthony van Dyck, Gainsborough incorporated elegance and expressive brushwork into his portraits, making him a favorite among England's aristocratic class.

Worcester Art Museum

Portrait of Gaylord

When Delaney moved to New York City at the outset of the Great Depression in 1929, he quickly fell in with the writers, artists, and musicians of Harlem and Greenwich Village. Throughout his life he painted portraits of these friends, though the identities of some, including “Gaylord” in this painting, remain a mystery. Gaylord is thought to have been a musician, a pianist with two fingers missing on one hand, who played at a club frequented by Delaney. To the right of Gaylord’s face is an image of a piano player, perhaps Gaylord himself, while on the left is a figure, possibly Delaney, standing in front of an easel. This work, with its bright colors and swirled brushstrokes, is reminiscent of one of Delaney’s main influences: Vincent van Gogh.

Worcester Art Museum

Hygieia, Goddess of Health

Excavated at Antioch-on-the-Orontes, this is probably a later copy of a Hellenistic original made at Pergamon, Asia Minor, in the 2nd century BC. Hygeia is usually represented holding a serpent, symbol of health. Parts of a serpent may still be seen on the preserved portion of the right forearm and below the left breast.

Worcester Art Museum

Water Jar (Hydria): Theseus Pursuing Women

Hydria-Theseus pursuing a woman. Red-figured.

Worcester Art Museum

Worcester Wedding Kimono

Commissioned from the esteemed house of Chiso by the Worcester Art Museum, this wedding kimono, or uchikake, features an octagonal pattern of maple leaves—iconic symbols of autumn in both Japan and New England. Inspired by the distinctive “Seven Hills” of Worcester that define the city’s topography, Chiso chose to incorporate seven advanced techniques in the production of the Worcester Wedding Kimono. This one-of-a-kind creation is the first kimono ever made for an art museum and represents a significant partnership between Chiso and WAM.

Worcester Art Museum

The Worcester Art Museum

Watercolor of the original building of the Worcester Art Museum, created about 1898.

Worcester Art Museum

Mail Coat

These arms are typical of a mounted warrior in the "Sudanic" region of Africa (the belt of grasslands just south of the Sahara). This area was heavily influenced by Islam during the Middle Ages, and many Africans converted to the new religion. They also adopted Islamic styles of arms and armor. This mail shirt, small round shield, and conical helmet are all characteristically Islamic, although here adapted to specifically African styles. The cross-hilted sword resembles European types, but in fact derives from the straight-bladed swords used by Arabs during the Middle Ages.

Worcester Art Museum

Mail Shirt

Large rings, riveted, flattened, somewhat worn. Rings relatively lightweight. Round rivets, proud of surface; rectangular rivet holes. 8 mm int. dia, 10 mm ext. Open in front. Sleeves c. 28 cm. Arms enlarge towards the wrists.

Worcester Art Museum

Armor for Field and Tilt, of Count Franz von Teuffenbach

This fine armor is homogenous, with each piece original and made for the suit, and we actually know who made it, when, and for whom. The letters S and R on the nape of the helmet are for Stefan Rormoser of Innsbruck, who finished the armor in 1554 according to the date on the breastplate center. His client was the distinguished Austrian nobleman, Franz von Teuffenbach of Styria. Teuffenbach is represented on the breastplate by the armored man kneeling before a crucifix, but this image is found on many armors of the period, and is not necessarily a portrait of the owner. Under the front of the left shoulder is etched the diamond-shaped image of the Berberorden (“Order of the Berbers”), commemorating Teuffenbach’s service against the Algerian Berbers in 1535. He also campaigned against the French in 1536, the Ottoman Turks in 1543, and served in various governmental functions in the Holy Roman Empire.

Worcester Art Museum

Helmet

This helmet represents a local African version of a widespread Islamic style. Its pointed bowl and mail neckguard can be compared to the nearby Indian kulah khud, but the conical form and arrow-shaped noseguard are typically Sudanic. This is a particularly fine example that still retains much of its original gold-covered surface. It was certainly made for a high-ranking military leader.

Worcester Art Museum

Steps to making a Kimono

Art Museum Discovery

About 20 people are involved with making the design Can take 6-12 month to make 7,000-14,0000 The price depends on the amount of work done Most craftsman are in their 60s and 60s

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Art World Map

Art Museum Discovery

Come explore the works from around the world that will be featured in the following activities. Click on the hotspots to learn more about each work and its corresponding Visual Thinking Strategy activity.

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Labels at the Worcester Art Museum

Art Museum Discovery

How do labels help visitors learn about works of art?

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Portraits

Art Museum Discovery

There are many portraits at the Worcester Art Museum. We will look at two portraits to see what we might learn from them.

Created by: Worcester Art Museum

Teuffenbach Escape Room!

Art Museum Discovery

How fast can you escape the Worcester Art Museum's Arms and Armor exhibit? Look and click on the different works from the medieval period to find out. Will you gain a victorious win and escape? Or, will you be a fallen hero who brings dishonor to their kingdom? Come and play to find out!

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What is an Art Museum?

Art Museum Discovery

The Worcester Art Museum is located in central Massachusetts. It is a museum where people come to see works of art from all over the world and from all different time periods.

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What Can We Learn from Ancient Art?

Art Museum Discovery

Students often read about ancient times at school. It can be difficult to picture how people lived during this time period. Seeing ancient objects at a Museum can help you to picture how people lived in the past.

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Armor as Art: The Teuffenbach Armor

Art Museum Discovery

The Worcester Art Museum’s collection of arms and armor is the second largest in the United States. The Museum has over 1,500 works in the armor collection. Do suits of armor seem like works that an art museum would have on display? Look at these parts of the Teuffenbach armor and think of how you might think of the objects as works of art.

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Creating the Worcester Wedding Kimono - A New Work of Art for the Museum

Art Museum Discovery

With the hotpots, we can look more closely at the details of the Worcester Wedding Kimono. Click on the hotspots to learn more.

Created by: Worcester Art Museum

The Armor Left Behind

The Development of Medieval Armor Over Time

We can learn from looking at arms and armor objects from the past. There are a limited number of full sets of armor left from the past. Look at the slides of these armor pieces and watch the video about the Teuffenbach Field Armor (Higgins Armory Collection, 2014.80). The video and slides show that the Teuffenbach Field Armor is a unique artifact of the past.

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The Pollaxe

The Development of Medieval Armor Over Time

With the slides and the video about this pollaxe, think about the form and function of this weapon.

Created by: Worcester Art Museum

How Was Armor Made?

The Development of Medieval Armor Over Time

Workshop of Jan Brueghel the Elder, "Venus at the Forge of Vulcan," 1606–1623, oil on oak panel, The John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection, 2014.101

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