Turning a Computer Into a Decent Docent

In an effort to get by with dwindling resources, many school districts have cut back on art, photography and music programs. I’m not at all happy with the trend, but in the face of this reality, there’s some consolation in the fact that computer technology can fill in a few of the gaps.

There are numerous software programs--many on CD-ROM--that can help teachers and parents teach art appreciation. Although a computer screen lacks the resolution of a finely printed book--and is certainly no substitute for a visit to an art museum or a hands-on workshop--CD-ROM-based art education and photo programs can nevertheless provide children and adults with an excellent overview of a genre. What’s more, by adding sound and text--and, in some cases, animation, video and even interactive games--they can provide further richness, making them an ideal supplement to books and classroom instruction.

Masterpiece Mansion, a Mac and Windows CD-ROM from Philips ($40, [800] 883-3767), is the first CD I’ve seen that uses interactive games and puzzles to teach art appreciation. Designed for ages 12 and up, the program consists of two parts. One, an art exploration module, lets you view the work of 45 artists from major periods in art history with biographies of the artists and samples of their work. It’s far from a full collection, but it does give you a quick overview of the work and lives of Picasso, Raphael, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Toulouse-Lautrec, Monet, O’Keeffe and others.

The other part the program holds you captive in the Masterpiece Mansion. To escape, you have to navigate through a series of rooms, unscrambling images, detecting forgeries, solving jigsaw puzzles, arranging pieces of art in chronological order or hunting for the works of particular artists.

In one example, a Claude Monet water lily painting has been divided into pieces that are upside-down or sideways. You rotate the pieces until the work looks the way Monet painted it. You’re rewarded with applause and information about the author, then allowed to play a bonus game where you solve a puzzle to learn Monet’s first name and facts about his work.

Although not a replacement for a museum or even a coffee-table book, the program adds value by engaging children in interactive games that force them to learn a thing or two about the art they’re working with. There is also a pleasant soundtrack with music from each period, though the program fails to reveal what music you’re listening to.

Imagine going to a Henri Matisse exhibit at an art museum while listening to the music of Sergey Prokofiev and a poetry reading from Louis Aradon. The talents of these three artists are combined in the Great Artists Collection from Turner Home Entertainment ($49, [800] 294-0022). The other title in the series combines the paintings of Monet with the poems of Paul Verlaine and musical scores of Claude Debussy.

Unlike Masterpiece Mansion, these discs don’t have any games or other diversions to capture the attention of young children. But they are perfectly appropriate for adults and children who are serious about learning art appreciation. The quality of the graphical images is superb, and the music and poetry create a relaxing, almost seductive atmosphere for the art enthusiast. The artists’ works are accompanied by photos, letters, journals and conversations as well as contextual information on their lives and times, giving them a certain amount of scholarly appeal.

Some artists work with paints and canvas, but David Hume Kennerly works with camera and film. Kennerly’s work obviously has a rather different look and feel than the art of the French Impressionists and other European masters, but, like those great artists, Kennerly, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist, has managed to capture the spirit of his time. Hundreds of his photos, along with 10 original musical compositions, video and audio clips and the photographer’s travel tips, appear on Photo Op, a CD-ROM from Portland Software ($24.95, [503] 220-2300).

Kennerly, now a contributing editor at Newsweek, spent the last 30 years recording some great--and tragic--events of history. He was there for the antiwar protests of the 1960s, Robert Kennedy’s 1968 appearance in Los Angeles the night he was assassinated and several historic meetings between Ronald Reagan and then-Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. He was on hand for the building of New York’s World Trade Center and the 1978 Jonestown massacre. He captured Jimmy Carter, Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat at the famous Camp David summit of 1978 and President Eisenhower’s 1970 Washington funeral procession.

More than a collection of his photos, this CD brings Kennerly’s experience--and my own memories--to life in ways that can’t compare with what you get with a coffee-table book. The musical score captures the mood of each photo, and Kennerly’s commentaries add historical perspective that goes beyond what the camera captured.

I was amazed at how well the photos made the transition from glossy paper to computer monitor. As Kennerly himself noted in his video introduction to the disc, the lighting of the computer monitor actually brings out the luminescence of his photos. I highly recommend Photo Op for schools and consider it a must buy if you’re interested in 20th century history or photojournalism, or just want to see an example of CD-ROM technology at its finest.

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Lawrence J. Magid can be reached via e-mail at magid@latimes.com. His World Wide Web page is at https://www.larrysworld.com