Yale Center for British Art

Every Friday at Yale is different,  four colleagues and I paid a visit to the Yale Center for British Art  on this Friday. It is a public art museum and world-renowned research institute, which houses the largest collection of British art outside the United Kingdom.

Two white sculptures are welcoming visitors at the hall. One is medium and extremely abstract in shape, like a smooth stone standing on a rectangle base. Interesting enough, if you observe it from a different angle, it looks like a profile of a young woman with a big eye, a straight nose and a tiny, lovely mouth. 

The other sculpture is large in size; a strong and rough executioner is going to cut the head of a criminal. The former is sitting on the back of the latter, holding a pointed ax in his right hand and the left one tightly grabbing the criminal’s hair. The expressions of their eyes are in stark contrast, one is rude and violent whereas the other miserable and painful. It’s hard to imagine why the criminal was sentenced to death, but from his facial expression it’s certain that he was in search of mercy and forgiveness. To seek to live on is the instinct of human beings without exception.

The four-floor building contains vast collection of paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and rare books explore British art, life, and thought from the Elizabethan period to the present day. Several young visitors drew my attention. Instead of wandering and taking photos, they were engaged in filling in sheets and taking notes. Those Yale students were required to choose a thought- provoking painting and create a story about it, just as Carrie advised her students to do in their blogs. With these pictures I have taken, I may utilize the same method to my students in writing lesson.