Student Encounters with Original Works of Art

Encountering a well-known work of art in the original can be transformational. This is especially true for students of art and design; studying an original artwork facilitates an access into the mindset of its creator not possible when one looks at a reproduction. There is a physicality to an original work—a spirit—that cannot be replicated. 

Allyson Lovell encounters the glorious stained-glass windows of the Sainte-Chapelle (Photo: Mary B. Shepard)

The following blog posts journal that experience through the eyes of twelve students who enrolled in “Art in Paris”—an upper-level Art History class at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith. Intense preparation during the first months of the semester, both art historical and logistical, was followed by a ten-day sojourn in Paris. From the ancient Roman baths to the contemporary glass and aluminum Metro Entrance created in 2000 for the 100^th anniversary of the Paris subway system, the students were immersed in the richness of Paris’ artistic heritage—where even subway stops and water fountains can be works of art.  In addition to discussions in museums like the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay, extraordinary medieval monuments like the Sainte-Chapelle and the cathedral of Chartres, the sumptuous palace of Versailles, as well as artist studio museums such as the home of the sculptor Auguste Rodin, students also made presentations on individual works of art they had researched prior to arriving in France. 

Camryn Perry and Gustave Courbet's Two Ladies on the Banks of the Seine (Photo: Mary B. Shepard)

Their charge, once we were back in the United States, was to reflect upon seeing “their” works of art/monuments in the original and to write about the experience. The students' observations, gathered here, vary widely, but in all cases they expressed both awe and delight—and often, surprise—about their encounter.

Les voyageurs, Art in Paris, 2018, with Daniel Buren's Columns (Les deux plateaux), 1985-86. Paris, Palais Royale (Photo: Mary B. Shepard)

When they were interviewed for a campus publication about their experience in Paris, the students talked enthusiastically about being in an environment where art is everywhere—not only in galleries and museums. They reveled in the ‘up close and personal’ access they had to French visual culture. They are different as a result. They see differently.  “Learning in a classroom can be fantastic,” one student recalled, “but learning through immersion is life-changing.” 
~ Dr. Mary B. Shepard