Do all perpetual museum-goers have collections of postcards from the museums they visit? I do, and so does Susan Benford of Massachusetts who got the idea for The Masterpiece Cards from a game she made for her children when she took them to museums. Here’s the strategy: Start at the gift shop and purchase three postcards. Then begin the treasure hunt of trying to find the actual painting. Voila, this makes visiting museums especially fun for kids.
Research and Reproductions
The idea of collecting museum postcards lead Susan Benford to invent The Masterpiece Cards: 250 Masterpieces in Western Art. Twenty-five or so art history survey books were used to compile the most reproduced artworks. Spanning from the Renaissance to the 1960s, the 4" x 6" Masterpiece Cards have quality reproductions of paintings from Western art history on one side. On the reverse of each postcard is a commentary from an art historian describing the painting and providing relevant, historical context. The cards are also color-coded by what country the museum is in that houses the work of art; so, if you are traveling to France, you can grab the cards from this region and go.
Details That Matter
What makes these cards genius to me is that the description at the top is wonderfully thorough and includes medium, year and size. When looking at an art reproduction, it is a luxury to have all of the information about the work so that you can imagine it at its original size. Consider that Pablo Picasso’s Guernica is very difficult to fully appreciate via postcard, as the original painting is 11’-6” x 25’-8”. Even at quite a reduction, Guernica’s graphicness makes a powerful statement.
Fun With the Cards
How does one use The Masterpiece Cards? Well, you can emulate Ms. Benford and use the cards as clues in a museum treasure hunt. Or, you can use the cards to know which paintings you should not miss when you are visiting a new art museum. (On my one and only trip to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam I missed Rembrandt’s famous masterpiece The Night Watch. Can you believe it? If I had The Masterpiece Cards I wouldn’t have missed it!)
For Students, Teachers and Art Lovers
Students who are taking an art history class would benefit from using The Masterpiece Cards as flash cards for remembering artists, eras, and regions. These cards are also great for teachers. I recommend that you use these cards the way that a bird watcher uses a bird book. You can carefully record the date that you saw the masterpiece on the upper right area of the Masterpiece Card (on the info side, not the image side), thereby making a lifelong treasure hunt of the great art masterpieces of the world.
The Masterpiece Cards are priced at $75, about what you might pay for a large coffee table art book. (Maybe you are looking to buy your sweetest an art-gift to show your love on Valentine's Day? The Masterpiece Cards are almost as good as chocolate.)
Mary Rayme - Mary Rayme is a graphic designer and arts educator with a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore.
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