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Courses in Art History
Art
2560
Modern Art
*Offered in alternate years.
4
SEMESTER HOURS
SYLLABUS for Spring 2007
TTh 10, W 12
Dr. Elise Smith (smithel@millsaps.edu)
AC 323 - 974-1432 (o); 354-2290 (h)(not after 10:30, please)
Petra Vackova (teaching intern;mailto:intern)(dessacn@millsaps.edu; vackop@millsaps.edu;
974-1854)
Office Hours: MF 10:00-10:45, T 2:00-3:00, or by appointment (also
feel free to drop in whenever you're passing
by, or contact Petra by e-mail or phone to meet with her)
Course Description: This course surveys the painting and sculpture
of Europe and the United States from the late 19th century to around 1970,
from Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, and Cubism through Surrealism, Abstract
Expressionism, Pop, and Minimalism. In addition to learning how to critically
analyze art works, we'll consider what some modern artists have said about
their own work in order to strengthen our understanding of their methods
and intentions.
Texts: You have three texts for the course: 1) Steve Edwards and
Paul Wood, eds., Art of the Avant-Gardes (New Haven and London:
Yale UP, 2004); 2) Paul Wood, ed., Varieties of Modernism (New
Haven and London: Yale UP, 2004); and 3) Herschel B. Chipp, Theories
of Modern Art (Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: U of California P,
1968). You'll also be reading a series of scholarly articles or chapters
as noted on the syllabus.
Class Attendance and Participation: Regular class attendance is
crucial since we'll be looking at various works of art that aren't illustrated
in our texts, and we'll also be discussing points that aren't covered
in the assigned books or articles. Petra and I believe very strongly that
your participation is essential to the learning process, plus it makes
the class more fun for all of us, so we encourage everyone to ask questions,
comment, disagree, elaborate, and otherwise join in the conversation with
us.
Absences for whatever reason after the first two will adversely affect
your final grade. I will count off one point from your final grade for
each absence after the first two. If you are absent for an extended excused
illness or family emergency or school sports, you may be able to make
up those absences by doing additional writing assignments (it will be
your responsibility to consult with me about this if the need arises).
Grades: Each of you will be evaluated on the basis of:
Three exams (10%, 15%, 15% each) 40%
Short Research Paper 25%
Presentation 15%
Reading responses 10%
Class Participation 10%
Exams: The exams will consist of take-home and/or in-class essays
as well as in-class slide identifications. For purposes of this course,
slide ID consists of the name of the artist (correctly spelled), the title
of the work, the nationality, and the date by quarter-century.
Reading Responses: You'll be expected to write five reading responses
this semester, as noted on the daily schedule. Each brief response (no
more than one page, typed) should consist of four parts:
1) Bibliographic information in correct MLA format
2) Brief statement of the author's thesis (usually one or two sentences
should suffice), beginning with the phrase "[Name of author] argues
that...] and with a parenthetical notation of the page number(s) where
it can be found in its clearest statement. Since in order to do justice
to a complex argument it's often necessary to pull together a couple of
the major points in the article, it's best to paraphrase the argument
in your own words rather than simply quoting a particular sentence.
3) Two key points made in support of that argument (no more than a couple
of sentences for each, with parenthetical notation of the relevant page
number[s]). Note that this is not the same as a point-by-point summary.
4) A significant question derived from your close reading.
Your written response is due at the beginning of the class during which
the reading will be discussed. Also please be sure to bring the article
itself to class on that day. Late responses will not be accepted except
in the case of a major crisis.
Research Paper: This paper (7-8 pages typewritten, not including the titlepage
or Works Cited page, 12-point font) will be centered around a single work
of art or cluster of related images by any artist from Week 7 on. Some
artists you might consider: Umberto Boccioni, Fernand Leger, Piet Mondrian,
Kasimir Malevich, Marcel Duchamp, Hannah Hoch, Salvador Dali, Hans Arp,
Andre Masson, Rene Magritte, Joan Miro, Meret Oppenheim, Man Ray, Max
Ernst, Frida Kahlo, Alberto Giacometti, Henry Moore, David Smith, Anthony
Caro, Georgia O'Keeffe, Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, Willem De Kooning,
Elaine De Kooning, Helen Frankenthaler, Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, Morris
Louis, Frank Stella, Eva Hesse, Carl Andre, Dan Flavin, Sol Lewitt, Donald
Judd, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg, Yves Klein, Joseph Beuys,
Jasper Johns, Agnes Martin, Larry Rivers, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol.
(If you want to work on an artist not included in this list, check with
me first).
You should have a clearly stated thesis around which the paper is developed.
You may also incorporate into your paper one or two images for comparative
purposes, to clarify your understanding of your main work. Avoid simple
summary, and be sure to include substantial, extended analysis of art
or art ideas (in other words, this paper should not just be biography
or history, but should include close analysis that reflects your growing
awareness of and proficiency with the language of art). It's your paper,
so don't let the voices of your sources dominate you. But this is also
not an opinion piece. It's a formal scholarly paper. Your voice and thesis
and analysis should be informed by awareness of the available scholarship
on this artist and image. Remember to include xeroxed illustrations when
needed, with figure numbers in the text to refer your readers to those
illustrations. You can read a few examples of award-winning art history
papers written by Millsaps students by going to the art department web
page at http://www.millsaps.edu/art/ah_paper_awards.shtml. You should
also become familiar with the short document "Tips for Writing Art
History Papers," also found on our departmental web page at http://www.millsaps.edu/art/word/PAPERS_TIPS.doc.
You should have at least five different sources in your bibliography.
Internet sites are rarely acceptable sources for this kind of formal art
history paper, but if you find a site that seems valuable send me a link
so I can approve its use. Please use specialized books and articles on
the artist or the period as much as possible, rather than general art
history surveys, and look for the most up-to-date sources that you can
find. You will probably have to supplement our library holdings with books
and articles acquired through interlibrary loan, so be sure to leave at
least two weeks for those sources to arrive. For appropriate scholarly
books, check the bibliographies and notes of books and articles that you've
already found, and/or go to the on-line site of a major library such as
Harvard (www.harvard.edu) or Yale (www.yale.edu) to see what they have.
For articles, check the periodical index called The Art Index, which is
available either in hard copy in the reference area of the library or
(for the last few decades) on-line through the library web page (go to
Search Tools, then Research Databases, then Art Index). I also have a
number of books in my office and would be glad to loan them out if they'd
be useful.
Late Papers: Late papers will be marked down a third of a letter-grade
for each 24 hours that they are late (not exceeding two full letter grades),
unless you receive prior permission from me (which means permission must
be given no later than 10 p.m. the day before the paper is due, not the
due date itself). If you're late turning in a paper I suggest that you
send it to me as an e-mail attachment as soon as it's completed so I won't
continue to mark it down, but don't assume that I've received it unless
I respond with an e-mail acknowledgment. You must also turn in a hard
copy with illustrations as soon as possible.
ORAL PRESENTATION. Ten-minute presentations will be based on the
research done for your papers and will start in Week 7 and continue throughout
the rest of the semester, depending on your topics. Images will be presented
in the ARTstor Offline Image Viewer (you'll be given separate instructions
on using ARTstor and constructing a presentation).
PLAGIARISM - A Reminder
Always be careful about plagiarism, even in short writing exercises and
take-home exams. Plagiarism, as you know from Liberal Studies and/or your
other core courses, is the use of another person's ideas or words without
proper acknowledgement.
Two of the most common forms of plagiarism are defined by Diana Hacker
in The Bedford Handbook for Writers (Boston: St. Martin's, 1994) as
"(1) borrowing someone's ideas, information, or language without
documenting the source and
(2) documenting the source but paraphrasing the source's language too
closely, without using quotation marks to indicate that language has been
borrowed" (477).
When should you document a source? In addition to citing the source of
a direct quote, you should give a citation when you refer to an idea,
opinion, hypothesis, or conclusion from one of your sources, or when you
summarize or paraphrase a section of your source, or when you rely on
one of your sources for a fact that would not be considered common knowledge
for the audience of your paper (Hacker 477-78). The point of all this
is to help the reader (and yourself as writer) to distinguish between
your own ideas and those with whom you are entering into scholarly conversation.
What is meant by paraphrasing a source too closely? This is probably
the kind of plagiarism that I most often see in student papers. It has
often been considered "unintentional", but is nonetheless clearly
recognizable as plagiarism. With the Honor Code now in place at Millsaps,
and with a concerted effort being made by faculty and students alike to
clarify the boundaries of academic dishonesty, you will no longer be able
to plead lack of understanding but will be turned in to the Honor Council.
If you're uncertain about plagiarism, I encourage you to read Hacker,
pp. 467-79, on the process of taking notes in order to properly paraphrase
your sources and on constructing and writing your essay in order to maintain
a strong, clear voice.
HONOR CODE. I want to remind you of the following pledge signed
by all students upon entering Millsaps: "As a Millsaps College student,
I hereby affirm that I understand the Honor Code and am aware of its implications
and of my responsibility to the Code. In the interests of expanding the
atmosphere of respect and trust in the College, I promise to uphold the
Honor Code and I will not tolerate dishonest behavior in myself or in
others."
Please pledge all your written work for this class.
* * *
Learning Disabilities: If you have a learning disability and need special
arrangements you must discuss it with the appropriate person in Student
Affairs and also with each of your instructors. In order for me to be
able to accommodate your needs you must inform me within the first week
of the semester and we must both sign a written contract clarifying any
changes in the expectations and requirements for the course.
* * *
If you're having problems of any sort that are affecting your work in
this course or as a student at Millsaps, please feel free to come talk
to me about it, or write me an e-mail message. I would be happy to talk
with you about any questions or concerns you might have.
* * *
COURSE CALENDER (Tentative and provisional)
Week 1
T, 1/16 Seurat
Th, 1/18 Cezanne
READ: Chipp, 18-23
Week 2
T, 1/23 Van Gogh
READ: Chipp, 29-41
Th, 1/25 Gauguin
READ: Chipp, 67-77
Week 3
T, 1/30 German Expressionism
READ: Edwards & Wood, 13-37
SIGN-UP for paper topic by today
Th, 2/1 Matisse & Fauvism
READ: Edwards & Wood, 39-46, 63-81, 85-99; Chipp, 130-37 (top of page)
Week 4
T, 2/6 Matisse & Bonnard
READ: Edwards & Wood, 109-31
Th, 2/8 Kandinsky
READ: Edwards & Wood, 46-56, 229-46; Chipp 152-55 (top), 159 (top:
"These characteristics"-
64 (bottom), 169 (top: "Between")-70, 346 (bottom)-49
Week 5
T, 2/13 In-class Slide IDs; Cubism
DUE: Take-home exam
Th, 2/15 NO CLASS (I'll be in NY for the College Art Association meeting;
I wish you could all come to the Museum of Modern Art with me!)
Week 6
T, 2/20 Cubism
READ: Edwards & Wood, 135-152; Chipp, 199-202 (middle), 222 (bottom)-24
(through IV), 263-
74 (top)
DUE: Preliminary bibliography for paper, with notations made about whether
books/articles are
available locally or whether you have already requested them through interlibrary
loan
W, 2/21 Cubism
READ: Edwards & Wood, 157-81
Th, 2/22 Cubism
READ: Anna C. Chave, "New Encounters with Les Demoiselles d'Avignon:
Gender, Race, and the
Origins of Cubism," Art Bulletin 74: 4 (Dec. 1994)
DUE: Reading response to Chave
Week 7
T, 2/27 Cubism
READ: Edwards & Wood, 185-221
W, 2/28 Futurism
READ: Chipp, 281-86 (bottom), 292 (bottom: "We Declare")-93,
298-304
Th, 2/29 Mondrian & De Stijl
READ: Edwards & Wood, 246-58; Chipp (all by Mondrian), 321-23, 354
(mid:
"Disequilibrium")-56 (bottom), 361 (mid: "It is, however")-64
(mid)
Week 8
T, 3/6 Malevich & Suprematism
READ: Edwards & Wood, 258-65; W. Sherwin Simmons, "Kasimir Malevich's
'Black Square':
The Transformed Self; Part Three: The Icon Unmasked," Arts Magazine
53 (December 1978), 126-34, and Chipp, 341 (mid)-43 (bottom)
DUE: Reading response to Simmons
Th, 3/8 Dada
READ: Edwards & Wood, 339-55, 414-17; Chipp, 366-76, 392-96
Week 9 Spring Break!
Week 10
T, 3/20 Surrealism
READ: Edwards & Wood, 427-46; Chipp, 410-14 (mid), 421 (bottom: "The
awareness")-24 (mid:
stop at "Such writing")
Th, 3/22 Surrealism
READ: Wood 33-46; Chipp 487-89
Week 11
T, 3/27 EXAM
Th, 3/29 Frida Kahlo
Week 12
T, 4/3 O'Keeffe
READ: Barbara Buhler Lynes, "Georgia O'Keeffe and Feminism,"
in Norma
Broude and Mary D. Garrard, eds., The Expanding Discourse: Feminism and
Art History (NY: HarperCollins, 1992), 437-49
DUE: Reading response to Lynes
W, 4/4 Architecture and Sculpture
DUE: first draft of research paper (stapled, proof-read hard copies for
me, Petra, and your peer
readers, with illustrations and Works Cited page at the back)
Th, 4/5 Abstract Expressionism
READ: Wood, 102-11, 117-43; Chipp, 546-48 (mid)
Week 13
T, 4/10 Abstract Expressionism
READ: Anna C. Chave, "Pollock and Krasner," in Francis Frascina,
ed., Pollock
and After, 2nd ed. (London & NY: Routledge, 2000), 329-47,
DUE: Reading response to Chave
Th, 4/12 Later Abstract Expressionism and Color Field
READ: Wood, 147-83; Chipp, 548-49, 562 (bottom)-64 (top)
Week 14
T, 4/17 High Modernism
READ: Wood, 189-209
W, 4/18 Minimalism
READ: Wood, 215-37
Th, 4/19 Eva Hesse
READ: Briony Fer, "Bordering on Blank: Eva Hesse and Minimalism,"
in On Abstract Art (New
Haven & London: Yale UP, 1997), 109-130
DUE: Reading response to Fer
Week 15
T, 4/24 The "Neo-Avant-Garde" (Rauschenberg, Klein, Oldenburg,
& Beuys)
READ: Wood, 271-80, 289-93, 297-310; Chipp 585 (bottom)-87 (top)
W, 4/25 Pop Art - Lichtenstein and Johns
Th, 4/26 Pop Art - Warhol
READ: Wood, 315-34, 339-60
F, 4/27 DUE in my office by noon (hard copy & e-mail attachment):
Final copy of research paper
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