History of Architecture and Art 111

World Art from the Renaissance to the Present

Professor Peter Hales

208-A Henry Hall, 413-2461

Office hours: M 1-3 W 1-2 [except when I have meetings] and by appointment

email: pbhales@uic.edu

website: http://www.uic.edu/~pbhales

This is the second half of the survey of world art history, beginning with the Renaissance in Europe, and ending in the shopping malls of Africa sometime in May, 1998. If you're attentive and interested, you will leave this class with a mastery of the broad sweep of human culture-- the way the human world has changed over time, the way different times and places deal with similar ideas, questions, doubts and desires [death, God, love and sex, friendship, aloneness]. You'll look at beautiful paintings of religious subjects, scenes of steamy lust, masks used to call the gods from the forests [or keep them in the forest], airports, shopping malls, cathedrals, country homes, cities glowing and in decay, landscapes transformed by human ambition and human greed. If you're bored in this class, you'll make a good xerox repair-person or food service representative.

This course is what college is supposed to be about: confronting difficult and thrilling issues; seeing and reading of matters you've never seen or thought of before; thinking deeply on difficult subjects; struggling to put into words ideas that you have discovered for yourself, that you believe in, that you are afraid, perhaps, to show to others. I have high ambitions of this course: of myself, my fellow lecturers, my discussion leaders-- and of you.

This is a world survey of art; you will learn not only about Europe and North America, but about Apache, Navajo, and Pueblo arts of native America; about African art, about Japan, and China. Some will be confusing and new to you. But it may be the artistic and cultural heritage of the person sitting next to you, for whom your everyday life is a strange amalgam of the exotic, the immoral, and the offensive.

The course has four interrelated elements. The readings provide the broad overview and the general context for understanding history, culture, and art since 1400. The lectures look deeply and carefully at individual artists, artworks, buildings, cities, movements, institutions, or moments, to show the way the broad sweep of history is played out in the details and specifics of a time and place. The discussion sections give you close contact with me and with the section teachers, and with each other, and the chance to think about, to discuss, and to question, the arts we study. All three are essential to understanding the subject and all are required. If you enter the lectures without having done the reading, you will probably find yourself completely at a loss as to what is being shown you, and what is being said. You won't last long in the class if you haven't done the reading before the lectures. Similarly, the discussion sections depend upon your understanding of the lectures, and they make it possible for you to get a real understanding of the ideas the lectures and readings convey. But the discussion sections are discussion sections. The lectures are amazingly huge. That's because they're more like theatre than seminars-- you're supposed to sit back and drink it in, actively in your mind and in your notebook, but without a real chance to talk back to the issues. That's why the discussions It's hard to figure out whether it's safe to speak at moments when you don't know other people and are afraid you'll say something-- something wrong! But one of the core experiences of college is learning to take that risk, to say wrong things, flunk papers, be off base, argue, fight, all on the way to figuring out what you understand. That's part of the role of those discussion classes. They're also the places where you can ask questions, of me or the section teachers, review for exams, and get a better sense of the material of the week before.

Finally, though, there is the work you yourself do: exercises, museum critiques, short papers, exams, and a longer paper involving research. You will not simply talk back to the works of art: you will write about them, in a variety of circumstances. These will engage you in a more solitary way with the materials and with an imaginary audience you will be speaking to, through your words, seeking with those words to convince of the justice and reason of your ideas.

This course has no single teacher. Instead, it is taught by the department as a whole, with one faculty member supervising the course, providing continuity, and directing its outcome. I am the conductor; the orchestra is composed of all the lecturers and the discussion leaders. You will be exposed to a wide variety of subjects, and a wide variety of teaching styles. Some will enthrall you; some will bore you stiff. While you are bored, the person behind you will be full of excitement. Do not think that any lecture or lecturer is more or less important than any other.

I will give about half the lectures. I will also be in many of the discussion sections. And I will be available in my office during office hours and, if you have a problem about meeting during those hours, you can call and make an appointment for another time. This course is my responsibility; don't hesitate to come to me if you have a problem or complaint. If you don't raise these issues, everyone will continue to suffer. I can't promise I'll fix things, but I will do my best.

Readings: You will be reading in a large and fairly expensive textbook: Marilyn Stokstad, Art History. It is large and expensive because it has many large and excellent illustrations. It is available at the bookstore in the basement of Circle Center, or, if they are out, at the Bookstore of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, or, at a discount, on the web at Amazon.com. You will be depending on that book, along with a short guide to writing: Sylvan Barnet's A Short Guide to Writing About Art.

Discussion Sections: Attendance at the discussion sections is not optional. It is required. We will take attendance, and your attendance will have a marked effect on your final grade. If you sign someone else up on the attendance sheet, both you and the student in question will be flunked-- not dropped, flunked-- from the course. Attendance is essential for two reasons. First, the discussion sections give you the chance to have a true seminar on the materials-- to discuss, argue, and come to terms with the paintings, statues, buildings, cities and civilizations, to voice your opinions and to hear those of others, including my graduate student assistants and myself. All but one of the discussion leaders have studied with me and I will vouch for their intelligence, love of the material, and ability to communicate clearly and well. I will spend a good deal of time in these sections as well, so that all of you have real contact with me. Do not let the discussion sections turn into rehashes of the lectures or reviews for the exams. You will be short-shrifting yourself if you do.

Assignments: The study of art involves every part of the intellect-- your ability to remember, to develop and test ideas against hard evidence, intuition, emotion. All of these will be demanded of you in various assignments. Quizzes, both prearranged and surprise, are designed to make sure you are reading, listening and understanding. The midterms test your mastery of the readings and your ability to synthesize the in-depth material of the lectures with the more general material in the readings. Short writing exercises help you confront and put into concrete form your understanding of specific works at the Art Institute. A longer paper enables you to study a subject in greater depth, by reading and studying library materials.

Papers and exercises are due in your discussion section the week listed on this syllabus. LATE PAPERS ARE DOCKED 10% FOR EACH 24 HOURS OR PORTION THEREOF. Still, hand in the papers as soon as you can-- a 40% averages better than a 0%!

Makeup quizzes aren't given. Midterm and final makeups are only given if you have a legitimate written medical excuse, on printed letterhead stationary, with a phone number I can call for confirmation. I mean this seriously. Do not call me or your discussion leader with some lame-ass excuse about the car accident or the train breakdown-- even if it's true.

Grading: Your final grade will be based upon your scores on all the assignments. Each part counts as follows:

Classroom writings, quizzes, and class participation: 10% TOTAL

Exercises: 10% TOTAL

Midterms: 20%` TOTAL

Research Paper: 20%

Final Exam: 30%

In addition, your grade may be raised or lowered based upon your participation in the discussion sections, and upon your attendance at lectures and discussion sections. Your final grade will be a letter grade; all other grades will be number grades.

A=89-100

B=79-88

C=69-78

D=59-68

Below 59= E-- a failing grade.

There is no curve.

Plagiarism and Cheating: These are not fooling-around offences with me. Your writing assignments and your research papers are to be the product of your own thinking, of the research you've done in multiple books and other sources (encyclopedias don't count), and of your writing, even if you've read it to people or had them read it and suggest corrections and improvements. In the end, every word must be yours, or it must be quoted or cited in footnotes. If you have any questions about this, consult Sylvan Barnett's book on writing about art. For matters of style and so forth, The Chicago Manual of Style has a shortish paperback version that tells you how to do everything. You can always ask.

Ditto with tests. Don't bring readings or study materials in, and don't leave anything around your desk. Be warned: if you cheat, you will flunk the course-- no excuses, no tears, no "I didn't understand about footnotes" stories. And if it angers me enough, I'll start proceedings to have you dismissed from the university. If you aren't clear about the consequences, read the University Student Discipline Manual-- I'll be glad to lend you mine.

Starting and Finishing Times: Lectures and discussion sections start promptly at the hour. Please be in your seats with your materials out before the bell rings. If there is steady tardiness, I will begin to lock the doors to the lecture center at 12:05. I don't like to be so tough about this, but with over 400 students in the class, noise and disruption really makes everyone's concentration hard to keep. I know it's lunchtime-- you can eat quietly.

Lecture and Readings Schedule

AH 111

Spring 1999

I. Conceiving the Renaissance in Europe: the 15th Century

Reading: Stokstad, Chapter 17

Monday, January 11

What is (the) Renaissance?

Wednesday, January 13

Brunelleschi, Alberti, and Renaissance Architecture

Guest Lecturer: Professor Pollak

Friday, January 15

Donatello and the Early Renaissance in Italy

Guest Lecturer: Professor Munman

II. Renaissance Italy

Reading: Stokstad, Chapter 18

Monday January 18

MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY: NO CLASS

Wednesday, January 20

Piero della Francesca's The Baptism of Christ

Friday, January 22

The High Renaissance: Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael I

Guest Lecturer: Professor Munman

III. Renaissance Europe

Reading: Stokstad, Chapter 19

Monday January 25

Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael II

Guest Lecturer: Professor Munman

Wednesday, January 27

The Northern Renaissance in the 16th century

Guest Lecturer: Professor Ehresmann

Friday January 29

Venice: Palladio and Titian

IV. Baroque Europe

Reading: Stokstad Chapter 20

Monday, February 1

Baroque as Gesture: Bernini, Borromini, Carravagio

Wednesday, February 3

Production, Studio, Enterprise: Rubens and Rembrandt

Friday, February 5

The Baroque Imagination: Velasquez' Las Meninas

V. Arts of the East

Reading: Stokstad, Chapters 21 and 22

Monday, February 8

China

Guest Lecturer: Woodman Taylor

Wednesday, February 10

Japan

Guest Lecturer: Woodman Taylor

Friday, February 12

Sites of Power, West and East: Baroque Versailles and Katsura Palace

VI. America and Native America: Conflict and Colonialism

Reading: Stokstad, Chapters 12 , 23

Monday February 15

Enlightenment Thought and the New Global Expansion of European Culture: America as a Test Case

Wednesday February 17:

Arts and Culture in Dispersal: Native American Arts

Friday February 19:

Navajo and Pueblo Cultures

VII. Africa and the Diaspora

Readings: Stokstad, Chapters 13 and 25, Robert Farris Thompson, African Art in Motion (on reserve)

Monday February 22

African Tribal Arts

Guest Lecturer: Pamela Franco

Wednesday February 24

Benin

Guest Lecturer: Pamela Franco

Friday February 26

Enslavement and the Arts of the Diaspora

Guest Lecturer: Pamela Franco

VIII. Rococo, Enlightenment, Neoclassicism and Romanticism: European Arts of the 19^th Century

Reading: Stokstad, Chapter 26

Monday, March 1

Rococo: Architecture of the Drawing Room, Painting of the Social Landscape: Watteau and Fragonard

Wednesday, March 3

David and The Death of Marat

Friday: March 5

The Tyranny of the Academy and the Art of Ingres and Delacroix

IX. Romanticism, Realism and Impressionism in America and Europe

Reading: Stokstad, Chapter 27

Monday March 8

The Generation of 1848: Realism and Courbet's The Stone Breakers

Wednesday March 10

Flaneurs, Nocturnes and Impressions: The Painter of Modern Life

Friday March 12

MIDTERM EXAM

March 13-21 SPRING BREAK

X: Post-Impressionism and Modern Urban Life in Europe and America

Reading: None for this week-- skim Chapter 27 to remind yourself of what you forgot during Spring Break!

Monday, March 22

Radical Oppositions: from Aestheticism to Expressionism

Wednesday, March 24

The White City and the Grey: The Chicago World's Fair of 1893 and the American City

Friday, March 26

Approaching Modernism: Cezanne

XI Modernism

Reading: Stokstad, Chapter 28

Monday March 29

Modernity and the Modern City: Architectural Modernism is Born

Wednesday, March 31

Picasso's Still Life With Chair Caning: Cubism

Friday, April 2

dada

XII.Modernisms

Reading: Stokstad, Chapter 29

Monday April 5

Designing Radical Art: Rodchenko, Moholy-Nagy and El Lissitzky

Guest Lecturer: Victor Margolin

Wednesday, April 7

Art and Propaganda: The 1930s in America and Europe

Friday, April 9

Postwar Arts: the Rise of Abstract Expressionism

XIII. After the War is Over: Architecture and the Arts in America and the Globe

Monday, April 12

Mies in Chicago

Guest Lecture: Professor Bruegmann

Wednesday, April 14

Levittown and New York: Big Town and the 'burbs: Architecture and Photography

Friday, April 16

Life, the Beats and the Culture of Alienation: Jackson Pollock, Robert Frank , The Family of Man, and New Documents

XIV. Formalism and Modernism

Monday, April 19

Mass and Pop Culture: Art Markets and Andy Warhol

Wednesday, April 21

Big Art/Can't Sell It!: Environmental and Earthworks: Smithson's Spiral Jetty and Walter de Maria's Lightning Field

Friday, April 23

Postmodern Art and Politics: Alfredo Jaar, Andres Serrano, Robert Mapplethorpe, Jesse Helms and the Death of the National Endowment for the Arts

XV. Contemporary Global Arts: Contests, Intersections, and Negotiations

Monday, April 26

Architecture: The Boom Years and Chicago's Block 37

Wednesday, April 28

Africa and the Diaspora: Mixing Metaphors

Friday, April 30

Shopping for Treasures at Pueblo de Taos, Gambling for Dollars at Acoma's Sky City Pueblo Casino: Authenticity, Power and the Arts

FINAL: Friday, May 7, 8-10AM DO NOT MISS THIS EXAM: THERE WILL BE NO TIME FOR MAKEUPS