Procedure 1:
> Have your students look closely at Georgia O’Keeffe’s From
the Lake No. 1, Alfred Stieglitz’s Equivalent, John Storrs’s Study
in Pure Form (Forms in Space No. 4), and Man Ray’s New York.
> Ask your students to tell you what the lines, forms, or shapes
in these works of art remind them of. Ask them if the forms
seem to be drawn from nature or from an urban setting.
> Determine, if possible, whether each artist represented a country
or city scene.
> Discuss how each artist exaggerated or simplified certain forms
to communicate something about the particular environment in his
or her work of art.
> Have your students sketch, on separate sheets of paper, each
of the forms they observe in the works by O’Keeffe, Stieglitz,
Storrs, and Man Ray.

Procedure 2:
> After they have completed their sketches ask your students to
think of a landscape they know well or to imagine one they
would like to visit.
> Ask them to describe which lines, forms, or shapes are the most
important in the landscape.
> Have your students create a drawing or painting of the place
they have chosen, focusing on these forms.
> Go outside with your students and ask them to make an abstract
sketch, emphasizing the most important shapes, lines, or forms in
the landscape.
> Back in class, exhibit all the drawings and discuss how they are
similar to or different from one another. How has each student
used lines, shapes, and forms to describe his or her subject? Note
how the subject is not always evident in an abstract work of
art. What does each work of art convey about the particular
environment depicted? Discuss the ways in which the abstract
elements in the drawings are expressive.

Part II
Readymades
Aims: To understand the concept of a readymade and to create a
readymade.
Age: Elementary, middle, and high school
Materials: Everyday objects such as kitchen utensils, nonfunctioning
electronic devices, or small appliances (to be manipulated and
altered by students), or photographs of these objects from magazines
or catalogues; scissors, paper, pencils, or pens

Procedure:
> Look at Duchamp’s Fountain with your students. Read the following
quote, which appeared in 1917 in the magazine The Blind
Man (Duchamp was one of the publishers): “Whether Mr. Mutt with
his own hands made the fountain or not has no importance. He
CHOSE it. He took an ordinary article of life, placed it so that
its useful significance disappeared under the new title and point
of view—created a new thought for that object.”1
> Discuss the quote with your students. What are Duchamp’s views
about art making? How is his approach different from that of a
traditional artist? Discuss the idea of presenting a factory-made
object as a work of art.
> Have your students choose one of the utilitarian objects brought
to class or cut a picture from one of the magazines for their
readymades.
> If they are using actual objects, ask them to present their
objects as readymades. Ask them to position their pieces in a
particular way or alter them by writing or drawing on them.
> Have your students write a short paragraph describing why they
chose their particular object and the effect their readymade has
on how they perceive the object. If students are using
photographs, ask them to write a short piece about how they
would alter their object and exhibit it in a museum setting.

1Quoted in Calvin Tomkins, Duchamp: A Biography (New York:
Henry Holt and Company, 1996), p. 185.

Part IV
Creating an American Picture
Aim: To understand what elements may be used to create an
American picture.
Age: Middle and high school
Materials: Paper, pencils, paint, brushes

Procedure:
> Explain to your students that Duchamp and Stieglitz had
different ideas about what constituted American art. Duchamp
thought American art should relate to machines and urban structures,
and his own art incorporated modern utilitarian objects.
Stieglitz, on the other hand, focused on nature and the American
landscape.
> Ask your students to create a work of art they feel is American
in some way. They do not necessarily have to include an easily
identifiable symbol like the American flag. Instead, they may focus
on familiar places, environments, and objects that are part of
their lives—such as neighborhoods, buildings, or everyday objects.