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FA57 Paris/ New York: Revolutions of Modernism Prof. Nancy Scott
TuFri 9:30- 11 AM Fall Semester 2017 Office: Mandel 210
T: x 62664
Office Hours: Tuesdays – 2:00- 4:30 PM or by appointment
COURSE DESCRIPTION and OVERVIEW This course counts toward the Fine Arts Major, Minor in Art History, and the Creative Arts requirement. It is also a pre-requisite for FA87 Economics and the Arts, Spring term 2018.
The course aims to give students the opportunity to learn the language of visual art. The goals are to recognize specific artists and styles, to write clearly about art, and to discuss the importance of art in the culture of our times with thought and discernment.
We study the revolutions that are successive and life-altering for Western democracy. Starting with the American and French revolutions thatfirst breed neoclassicism in the arts (a rapid shift away from the excesses of king and the court), the geo-political events deepen and contextualize the background to artistic revolutions. Modernism is defined by the continuous pursuit of the innovative, the new, and the re-invention of the past.
The introductory curriculum in Modernism connects students to what's happening at the Rose Art Museum, and you will be able to study works in the permanent collection of the Rose in depth. Off-campus museums trips in Boston, New York, and beyond are highly recommended. Also a week will be devoted to discussion about monuments and memorials,evaluating past masterpieces and considering the societal role of the monument—ie., ongoing debate about the removal of Confederate monuments (Black Lives Matter, and events in Charlottesville).
COURSE REQUIREMENTS There will be required and optional short assignments, as noted on the final page of the syllabus: midterm exam, museum paper (3 parts), and a finalexam. Good attendance and class participation are critical to all of the above.
Average points to be earned:
First short assignment 5%
Midterm 25%
Museum Papers 30% (average of the three submissions)
Final Exam 30%
Class participation (attendance and class discussion) 10%
Both exams will be based on knowledge of images, specific artists and their styles or periods, plus your lecture notes and readings in the syllabus. Class participation is essential to understanding and learning from works of art; and no more than 3 unexcused absences are allowed.[1]
Textbook:
Arnason, H. H. History of Modern Art, 7th Edition, Elisabeth Mansfield, Ed. Pearson Education Press, 2013.
[Suggested alternate: History of Modern Art, 5th Edition (2004). P Kalb, Rev. Editor. Pages available for both texts.]
Weekly Readings and Assignments
WEEK 1: September 1.
INTRODUCTION, statement of themes and purpose
Origins and Beginnings. Introduction, the origins of modernism--which revolution? Who originated the modern movement?
HHA, ch. 1, "Sources of Modern Painting," pp. 1-4; 4-13.
WEEK 2:September 5-8 Revolutions in France and America: the political and cultural roots of art and its expression.
Focus - Jacques-Louis David and history painting; John Singleton Copley in America; British visionary William Blake, J. M. W. Turner and the elevation of landscape painting.
HHA, ch 3, pp. 53-58.
Monuments and Memorials: Controversies around monuments today. From the growth of Neoclassicism toearly modernist sculpture and its monuments.
Readings: “Early Modern Sculpture--Rodin and Symbolism; Brancusi and Primitivism” and “Public Statements: Monuments and Large-Scale Sculpture”
HHA, ch. 5, 106-10; ch. 22, 606-10.
WEEK 3: September 12-15; 19 Invention of photography toinnovation in painting: the social aims of Realism and early Impressionism– the 1848 workers’ revolution.
HHA, ch. 2, pp. 13-27
Heading on “Photography,” pp. 13-19; "Realism in England and France," pp. 19-24; "Later 19th Century Art in the U. S.," Homer, Eakins and Sargent, pp. 37-41. Manet, Degas.
No classes on September 21-22, 2017 – Rosh Hoshanah
WEEK 4:September 26: Class meets at Rose Art Museum – Viewing of art works for your term project on a specific work at the Rose Art Museum; overview of the Fall exhibitions.
FYI: In preparation for the Rose visit, read ahead on later 20th century art:
H. H. Arnason, ch. 16.
Introduction to Abstract Expressionism: pp 377; 379-89ff - 400; and ch. 20 Abstraction in the 1960s, p 490 introduction.
4b: September 29: Impressionism in France
HHA, ch 2, pp. 28-37.
WEEK 5:October 3 (No Class – Brandeis Thursday)
Oct 7: Roots of Post-Impressionism: The 1886 exhibition – Seurat and Cézanne
HHA, ch. 3, pp. 42-53.
WEEK 6:Oct 10- 13: Post-Impressionism
Symbolism andPrimitivism: from Gauguin to Vincent Van Gogh
Expressionism in the north: Munch, Hodler, Ensor.
Art Nouveau and Jugendstil – Klimt- the Vienna Werkstätte (Vienna Workshops)
HHA, ch. 3, pp. 65-71; ch. 4, pp. 74-84; ch 4. Pp. 85-89.
WEEK 7: Oct 17-20: The New Century: Color and Form
The Nabis; the emergence of Matisse and Fauvism and the German Expressionists
HHA, ch 5 Matisse and color abstraction, pp. 90-100.
Midterm exam to be scheduled by October 20th or 24th.
WEEK 8: Oct 24-27: Picasso, Braque and the invention of Cubism; Cubist sculpture.
HHA, ch 7, pp. 136-168.
WEEK 9: Oct 31- Nov 3 –
Origins of Dada – Dada in Switzerland, France, Germany, America
Arp, Ernst (Dadamax), Hannah Hoch, Duchamp and PicabiaSurrealism: - alternative realities, disjunctive encounters, exploration of the unconscious.
WEEK 10: Nov 7 -10
The legacy of Dada – fantasy and the dream: Marc Chagall, Giorgio de Chirico, Paul Klee.
WEEK 11: Nov. 14-17 Surrealism: Max Ernst, Joan Miro, Salvador Dali, Andre Masson.
Marc Chagall, Giorgio de Chirico, Paul Klee;
René Magritte, Kay Sage, Leonora Carrington, Frida Kahlo
HHA, ch. 14, 297-331;
The revolt against rising Fascism in Spain; the Spanish Civil War and Surrealism
Picasso, Braque & Miro
HHA, ch. 11, 250-258; ch. 17, 414-17 (later Picasso and Giacometti).
WEEK 12: Nov. 21
American Art from the Ash Can School to “291” and the Stieglitz Circle. O’Keeffe, Marsden Hartley, the growth of American photography.
Social and Regionalist Art, American realists: Edward Hopper, Thomas Hart Benton; the upheaval of the late 1930s, artist immigrants to the US: Arshile Gorky, Fernand Leger, Marc Chagall, Max Ernst, Joan Miro, Max Beckmann.
HHA, ch. 18, 338-372.
Thanksgiving Recess November 22 – 24, 2017
WEEK 13: Nov. 28- Dec 1Matisse – later career and commission in America.
HHA, ch. 11, 246-250.
Abstract Expressionism and its sculpture counterparts
HHA, ch. 19, 437-476.
WEEK 13: Dec 5-8Summary and overview of emerging 21st century movements.
The Sixties: Pop and Minimal Art
HHA, chs. 21; 478-508. Focus on entries based on artist list, coordinate with Rose Art holdings; Emphasis on Johns and Rauschenberg; Warhol, Lichtenstein, Wesselman.
Nouveau Réalisme in Europe; Fluxus
HHA, ch 18: Yves Klein: 444-447; Christo and Jeanne-Claude: 450-51. Yoko Ono, & Joseph Beuys, ch 454-55.
Installation, Environmental and Conceptual Art
HHA, ch. 22: 543-60. focus on Stella, Serra, Maya Lin, Rachel Whiteread;
James Turrell.
HHA, chs. 24: 592-99. Conceptual, performance—‘street art’ and video; the re-purposing of painting: Chris Burden:activist art from the streets to prominence: Basquiat, Haring and the AIDS crisis; artists who build cultures, and cultures within painting: Theaster Gates, Mark Bradford; painters Jack Whitten, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Njideka Akunyili Crosby.
Last Day of Instruction December 8, 2017
Monday Dec. 11th Study Day
December 12-19 Final Exam* period (*Examination TBA- Brandeis Registrar)
Course Regulations:
Regular attendance is crucial to the success of this course. Please notify me beforehand (preferably at least a day ahead) if you are not able to come to class. Absence will be excused only by a family emergency or medical reason. More than two unexcused absences will seriously affect your grade.
The same holds true for assignment deadlines. Late work is graded down by a +/ - for each day past the deadline. Class policy: No extensions granted by email.
FA 57 Written assignments:
You must speak to the professor, in person, if you need an extension on any written work.
First assignment: Due Sept 19. Define key characteristics of Neoclassicism and Romanticism. Identify five key characteristics of Romanticism, defining the “modern” as it originates in the Enlightenment period (also revolutions of 1776 and 1789). Guidelines and images prompts on Latte.
Principal writing and research assignments: three papers on a work of art you choose from the permanent collection of the Rose Art Museum. and this will be your own work to adopt, and follow through the semester.
At the Rose this semester, “Buckdancer’s Dance” will be on view with other exhibitions. A selection of works from the Rose permanent collection which draws upon masterworks and lesser-known gems of the museum’s holdings. Organized by Joe Bradley with Kim Conaty,
In conjunction with Joe Bradley’s solo exhibition in the Foster Wing (opening October 15, 2017).
For your museum assignments, you will write about the artist you choose, and one of theirworks from three different perspectives.
Overview - Assignment 1: Biography
Part I, due October 6.
Choose a work from selected list of works at the Rose Art Museum, and read about the artist’s life. Describe his/ her training, the trajectory of the art styles that the artist tried, rejected, or pursued. Explain sources and influences of other teachers, peers, artistic inspiration with a focus on the period that is closest to the work of art you are studying.
Assignment #2: Rose works - Visual Analysis.
Part II, due October 31. A visual examination of the work of art you’ve chosen, using your own eyes and perception. This is not a research paper. Guidelines on Latte.
Assignment #3: Culture and the critics
Part III, due November 17. The historical and artistic context in which your work was created is the topic of the third paper. Place the work you have studied within the critical discourse of its time, and give details on the history of the movement or other artists’ styles with which your artist was trained, or grouped.This last paper is a research paper.
Detailed assignment guidelines in three parts, posted on LATTE.
Short Assignments and Extra Readings(To be posted – readings on Manet, Van Gogh, Picasso, Kandinsky, Warhol or specific works by these artists). These readings will be posted as optional response papers during the term).
Course Details and Best Practices
It is also expected that you will spend an average of at least three hours for each hour spent in class, that is nine hours/ week outside class (reading assignments, writing papers, organizing study materials for the midterm and final exam). There are museum assignments linked to the writing projects for this course, and you should take time to enjoy spending preparation time in exploring area museums, and especially the Rose Art Museum this semester.
Use of cell phones in class, for talking, texting or reading/writing email is prohibited. No texting under the table!You will be asked to leave the room if this is detected. I find that students using laptop computers in class is distracting to me and other students, so please be present in the classroom.
Discussion is important, the cultivation of the brain even better. Taking notes, and the eye-to-hand coordination of brain synapses in an art history course will definitely aid your retention of class lectures.
Margin sketches and doodles drawn from the works of art discussed are recommended!
If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis University and wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in this class, please see me immediately. Also if you have a documented reason for the use of classroom aids, please speak with the professor.
Policy on classroom standards. For the key points on academic integrity, please familiarize yourself with the rights and responsibilities handbook.
Plagiarism is not tolerated at Brandeis University. You are responsible for understanding what constitutes plagiarism as stated in the University guidelines. This comprehends close paraphrasing of the words from a published source or website, without citation; turning in the same work for two different classes; using any material written by someone else without citations; and copying of texts directly from website sources.
Worth repeating. Extensions are not granted via e-mail or text. You certainly can speak with me in person about any missed deadlines, or anticipated issues involving an extension.
Should you have an unavoidable medical or family emergency, please send a written note about the circumstances. This will protect your privacy as well as keeping Professor Scott informed of your situation, and any needed accommodations.
[1] Please consult list of assignments and due dates on p. 5.