Advanced Placement Art History

CareerCenter- Ms. Toni Graves

Email:

Contact #: 336.727.8181

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Welcome to Advanced Placement Art History. This course is designed to introduce students to the painting, sculpture, and architecture of Western Art from its origins to today, as well as present a brief overview of some of the key components of art beyond the European tradition. The curriculum of this course is aligned with the College Board A.P. Art History Course Description and also the material covered in most college art survey textbooks. In order to be successful in this course and on the A.P. Art History exam, students will need to demonstrate a high level of commitment to academic work and possess academic skills that meet college standards. In order to chronologically cover art from prehistoric times to the present, this course is paced very quickly. Classwork and homework will reflect the pace of this course and is comparable to that of a college level class.

COURSE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES:

Students should:

Acquire the ability to recognize, understand, and compare many types of artwork through visual analysis, including works from different periods, styles, artists, and media.
Increase awareness of the relationship of artworks to the cultures in which they were created and their relationship to other contextual issues. These issues may include religion, patronage, original function, intended viewers, and other relevant historical information.
Engage in analytical and critical thinking, creating comparisons from one artwork to another and discussing and understanding artworks in their broader context.
Approach their study in a self-disciplined manner, including preparation for class, reading, visual and written note-taking, essay writing, and class participation.
Prepare themselves to successfully complete the College Board exam by completing all assignments and tests.
Leave this course with an appreciation and enjoyment of the history of art, and with the motivation to pursue further study formally or informally through college courses and/or museum patronage.

TEXTBOOK:

You will receive a copy of the following textbook which you may keep at home until the end of the year:

Kleiner, Mamiya, Tansey. Gardner’s Art Through the Ages, eleventh ed. Orlando: HarcourtCollege Publishers, 2001.

You will also receive various supplemental materials throughout the year that you will be expected to keep in your binder and a bibliography for further suggested reading on a range of topics. Supplemental readings will include information on artists, history, religion, patronage, and other relevant topics pertaining to what we are studying. You will also receive a limited amount of primary sources that are generally quotes by artists or their contemporaries.

COURSE MATERIALS:

You should have a three-ring binder of at least 1 inch in size specifically for this class. You will be expected to keep all your handouts, supplemental readings, and other work neatly arranged (for ease of studying before the exam). You may want to provide your own dividers, either for chapters or subjects.You may prefer to take notes in a spiral notebook rather that in your binder. Bring binder, notes and something to write with to each class.

WORKLOAD AND EXPECTATIONS:

Attendance and participation. Being present and prepared for class is critical! Most classroom activities are impossible to repeat so to be successful, students need to be present. Students with unavoidable absences must contact the teacher immediately to make arrangements to make up the work. Most days we will complete a “Masterpiece of the Morning,” in which I will show one slide from the day before (and generally from the textbook). You will be given points based on your ability to identify and discuss this artwork.
Homework. Reading and study guides are to be completed in advance of each class discussion. These study guides will be critical in preparing for the AP exams. A list of the images in the textbook and/or slides that we will see in class will be available on my website about week before the material is covered. For each image in the textbook, you will need to write three “interesting” facts about the object and draw a quick sketch of the object. This requires reading the chapters prior to when we begin them. I will check these for completion the day we start the new chapter.

Other homework assignments will include review activities close to both the semester exam and the AP exam. These activities will include looking at primary sources (such as quotes by artists or their contemporaries) and discussing them in relation to different pieces of art and other writing assignments that involve placing artists and their work into a broader historical context. At the end of each quarter, I will also collect your “Greatest Hits” list for a packet grade- it is your responsibility to keep it up to date.

Tests/quizzes/projects. These are opportunities to demonstrate what you have learned.

Tests will generally take place over 2 days. These will compare information from several different units. Tests will follow the format of the A.P. Exam and will include multiple choice questions, short answer, and long essays. Both multiple choice and short answer questions may include visual analysis through the use of slide identifications or visual comparisons between two different objects. Short answer and long essays will often require placing art into a broader context or theme. Attendance is expected on the days of large tests because it will be very difficult to arrange a make-up (if you know in advance that you will be absent, you should see me ahead of time).
Quizzes and other short assessments will take place throughout the year. These may consist of announced quizzes, take home assignments, or unannounced in-class assignments.
Students will be required to complete one research project on art outside the European tradition each semester and teach the information to the class using handouts and slides.
A final “enrichment” project will also be completed after the A.P. exam in May. This is the fun time where students can choose an area of special interest to them.

GRADES:

Your quarter grades will be divided up as follows:

Participation/Masterpieces and Homework………25%

Masterpieces……………………………5 points each

Slide notes………………………….…..25 points each

Other homework………………...20 points each

Quizzes/Tests/Projects…………………………………..75%

Quizzes…………………………..50 points each

Projects………………………….100 points each

Tests……………………………..100 points each

COURSE CONTENT:

A schedule is attached that indicates the topic covered on specific dates. We will be studying the western tradition of art chronologically, beginning with Prehistoric and ending with Post-Modernism, with traditions beyond Europe being studied at various intervals. However, we will be looking at the contextual background of artworks as well as visually analyzing them on a daily basis and finding themes that reoccur in artworks of different time periods.

Because of time constraints, we must have a quick pace. Reading assignments and packets are expected to be completed before the class discussion. Packets are due the first day of a new chapter, unless otherwise noted: this means the day that the chapter is listed on the calendar. Students are responsible for information covered in the packets and the text, although we may not always cover all the material in class. Changes will be made as necessary.

This course follows the A.P. Art History course description, and questions on the A.P. Exam generally reflect the following distributions:

40-50% Painting and Drawing

25% Architecture

25% Sculpture

5-10% Other media

The exam has the following distributions of subject matter which determines the amount of time that we will spend on each topic.

Individual Topics: / AP Exam % / Our plan / # weeks
Ancient Through Medieval (approx. 30%)
Greece and Rome
Early Christian, Byzantine, Early Medieval
Romanesque
Gothic
Beyond Europe (includes Egypt, the Ancient Near East, the Americas, Asia, Oceania, and the global Islamic tradition)
Renaissance to the Present (approx. 50%)
14th-16th c. (Pre-Ren., Renaissance, N. Ren.)
17th-18th c. (Baroque, Rococo)
19th c. (Neocl., Rom., Real., Impressionism)
20th c. (Postimpressionism- Postmodernism) / 10-15%
5-10%
3-7%
7-10%
20%
12-17%
10-15%
10-15%
10-15% / 13%
10%
4%
6%
19%
13%
10%
13%
13% / 4
3
1
2
6
4
3
4
4

Total weeks: 31