University of Illinois at Chicago
Department of Art History

Art History 261

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Hannah Higgins Henry Hall 208C Office phone: (312) 413-2089 Office Hours: TH 2:00-3:00 PM and by appointment.

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Art History 261: American and European Trends in Art Since 1900
a.k.a. "European and American Art from 1913 to the Present

T TH 11:30-12:45 Stevenson Hall 320

This course surveys major developments in European and American art from the 1900-2000. Of primary concern is the development of the avant-garde, modernist and postmodernist art from within the context of the political and cultural revolutions, as well as the military conflicts that characterized the twentieth century and its global metropolis.

Note: The course has been organized for lecture and discussion formats. On days marked discussion, please be prepared with discussion topics, questions and a thorough attempt at the readings. I will not lecture on these days.

Responsibilities: Participation (25%), Mid-Term (25%), 7-10 Page Paper (25%), Final Exam (25%).

Key dates:

2/13: Modernism in the Art Institute of Chicago (Field Trip)
2/15: Discussion of Mid-Term Exam and Paper Projects
3/6: Mid-term Exam (In Class)
3/8: Avant-Garde Film and Performance (screening)
4/26: Final Papers Due (No exceptions without a doctor's excuse!!!)
5/3: Final Exam (10:30-12:30)

Required Books

-Primitivism, Cubism, Abstraction: The Early Twentieth Century. Charles Harrison, Francis Frascina, Gil Perry, New Haven and London: Yale University Press and the Open University, 1993.
-Realism, Rationalism, Surrealism, Briony Fer, David Batchelor, Paul Wood, New Haven and London: Yale University Press and the Open University, 1993.
-Modernism in Dispute, Paul Wood, Francis Frascina, Jonathan Harris, Charles Harrison, New Haven and London: Yale University Press and the Open University, 1993.
- Movements in Art Since 1945, Edward Lucie-Smith,London: Thames and Hudson, 1995.
-Art in Theory: 1900-1990. Charles Harrison and Paul Wood, ed., Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 1992.

Lecture/Discussion/Reading Schedule

Wk. 1: Expressionism I

1/7: Introduction
1/9: Lecture: Expressionism Gill Perry, "Primitivism and the 'Modern,'" Part 1: "The Going Away" in Primitivism, Cubism, Abstraction: The Early Twentieth Century, pp. 3-45.

Wk. 2: Expressionism II

1/16: Lecture: Expressionism Gill Perry, "Primitivism and the 'Modern,'" Part 2: "The decorative, the expressive, the primitive" in Primitivism, Cubism, Abstraction: The Early Twentieth Century, pp. 45-86. 1/18: Discussion: Expressionism Readings in HW, "Expression and the Primitive" by Kirchner, Worringer, Matisse, and Fry (67-86).

Wk. 3 Cubism and Semiotics

1/23: Lecture: Cubism Francis Frascina, "Realism and Ideology: An Introduction to Semiotics and Cubism," in Primitivism, Cubism, Abstraction: The Early Twentieth Century, pp. 87-183. 1/25: Discussion: Cubism Readings in HW, "Cubism" by Apollinaire (178-183) and Kahnweiler, Braque and Picasso (203-216).

Wk. 4 Pure Form

1/29: Lecture: Pure Form Charles Harrison, "Abstraction," in Primitivism, Cubism, Abstraction: The Early Twentieth Century, pp. 184-212.
1/31: Lecture: Malevich/Mondrian Charles Harrison, "Abstraction," in Primitivism, Cubism, Abstraction: The Early Twentieth Century, pp. 213-263.

Wk. 5: Modernisms: Formal Modernism and Avant-Gardism

2/6: Discussion: Pure Form Readings in HW, "Abstraction and Form" by De Stijl, van Doesburg, Mondrian, and Malevich (278-297) Kandinsky, and Marc (86-100), Bell (113-116), Lenin (136-140)
2/8: Lecture: Dadaism in Context David Batchelor, first half: "'This Liberty and This Order': Art in France After the First World War," in Realism, Rationalism, Surrealism, pp. 3-47.

Wk. 6: Instructional Interlude

2/13: Modernism in the Art Institute of Chicago
2/15: Discussion of Mid-Term Exam, Presentations and Paper Projects

Wk. 7: Branch Formations of the Avant-Garde I

2/20: Discussion: Dissent and Dadism Readings in HW, "Dissent and Disorder," by Ball, Duchamp, Tzara, H_lsenbeck, Blok, and Novembergruppe (246-66), "Modernity" Blok (143-145) and Benjamin (512-520). 2/22: Lecture: Surrealism as Revolution Second half: "'This Liberty and This Order': Art in France After the First World War," in Realism, Rationalism, Surrealism, pp. 47-86.

Wk. 8: Branch Formations of the Avant-Garde II

2/27: Lecture: Surrealism and Psychoanalysis "Briony Fer, "Surrealism, Myth and Psychoanalysis," in Realism, Rationalism, Surrealism, pp. 170-246.
3/1: Discussion: Surrealism readings in HW, "Literature and Revolution (1922-3)" by Trotsky and "First Manifesto of Surrealism (1924)," Breton, "On Dreams (1901)," Freud, (26-33) "The Author as Producer (1934)," Benjamin.

Wk. 9: The End of the Historic Avant-Garde

3/6: Mid-term Exam 3/8: Avant-Garde and Surrealist Film and Performance (screening)

3/12-3/16: Have a Nice Break!!!

Wk. 10: An Art for the Public: Official Art Between the Wars I

3/20: Lecture: Art for the Public - Realisms through the 1930s Paul Wood, "Realisms and Realities," in Realism, Rationalism, Surrealism, pp. 250-333.
3/22: Discussion: Realisms in the 1930s Readings in HW "Realism as Figuration" by Rivera, Sironi, Zhdanov, Siqueiros, Davis and Wood (404-418) and in "Modernism as Critique," by Breton, Rivera, Trotsky, Greenberg (526-541).

Wk. 11: A Public for the Art: Official Art Between the Wars II

3/27: Lecture: American Hegemony and Arts for the Public I Jonathan Harris, "Modernism and Culture in the USA, 1930-1960," "Part 1: Capitalist crisis and artistic culture during the 1930s," in Modernism in Dispute, pp. 3-41
3/29: Lecture: American Hegemony and Arts for the Public II Jonathan Harris, "Modernism and Culture in the USA, 1930-1960," "Part 2: Abstract expressionism and the poltics of criticism," in Modernism in Dispute, pp. 42-76.

Wk. 12: The Triumph of New York

4/3: Discussion: Abstract Art in the Context of American Hegemony Readings in HW "Individualism in Europe," Artaud, Sartre (595-605), and in "Modernist Art," Greenberg, Adorno (754-764), Fried (769-778).
4/5: Lecture: Pop, Pops, Popular Arts Edward Lucie Smith, "Pop, Environments and Happenings," 115-160.

Wk 13: The Postmodern Principal

4/10: Discussion: Art and Consumer Culture Readings in HW "Art and Modern Life," Debord (693-700) and Cage, Johns, Hamilton, Oldenburg, Warhol, Lichtenstein, Kubler, McLuhan (717-741)
4/12: Lecture: Minimalism and Late Modernism Charles Harrison and Paul Wood, from "Modernity and Modernism Reconsidered," through "A Counter Tradition?," in Modernism in Dispute, pp. 170-196.

Wk. 14: Politicized Art

4/17: Lecture: Conceptualism and its Legacies Charles Harrison and Paul Wood, from "Modernity and Modernism Reconsidered," through "Contexts and Constraints," in Modernism in Dispute, pp. 196-216.
4/19: Political Arts of the 1970-90s Charles Harrison and Paul Wood, from "Modernity and Modernism Reconsidered," through "The Critique of Difference," in Modernism in Dispute, pp. 216-240.

Wk. 15: The State of Art: 2000

4/24: Discussion: From "Modernist Art" in Harrison and Wood, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, "Eye and Mind," 750-754, Theodor Adorno, "Commitment," 760-764, Stanley Cavell, "A Matter of Meaning It," 779-784, Richard Wollheim, "The Work of Art as Object," 787-797.
4/26: Exam Review

5/3: Final Exam (10:30-12:30)

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