INSIDE ART - Brian Maguire: La Grande Illusion

Danielle De Jesus, Moore Street Marqueta, 2024. Courtesy of the artist.

Installation view of Brian Maguire: La Grande Illusion exhibition at USF Contemporary Art Museum. Photo: Christopher Harris. 

The Spring 2026 edition of InsideART highlights a work featured in the USFCAM exhibition Brian Maguire: La Grande Illusion. La Grande Illusion is a major exhibition of works by internationally acclaimed artist, Brian Maguire. The exhibition spans two decades of work that spotlights the artist’s lifelong quest to draw attention to global injustices, war, and human rights. One of Ireland's leading cultural figures, Maguire has turned the practice and tradition of painting into acts of visual testimony. Maguire’s paintings are global in scope and are derived from projects undertaken between 2007 and 2024 in Mexico, the Mediterranean, Syria, Sudan, the United States, and the Amazon. Maguire's artworks are painted from direct experience and involve the artist spending extensive time on the ground with the communities that welcome him. The results are, plainly put, paintings that visualize the commonality of human suffering and dramatize the plight of people in need. 

This edition of InsideART was written by USF College of Education faculty Dr. Bárbara C. Cruz and Dr. Clarence V. Walker, both professors in Social Science Education.

The links on this page allow you to download the lesson files of the Brian Maguire: La Grande Illusion InsideART.

  • Click ONCE on links to open, or right click (control click) to download
  • Curriculum and readings are available as both Microsoft Word documents (.docx) and Adobe Acrobat documents (.pdf)

 

Brian Maguire: La Grande Illusion

IceBreaker Community Building Introduction Activity.pdf

The Clearcut Amazon (2023) - Connect, Extend, Challenge.docx (.pdf)

Further Resources:

View the Brian Maguire: La Grande Illusion exhibition.

If you have questions about the lesson plans, email an expert.