Professor Amy B. Werbel
Saint Eds 133
Home: 802-660-4918
Office: 802-654-2271
e-mail: awerbel@smcvt.edu
office hours: WF 8:30-11; W 1:45-3
Syllabus - Art 361
Art, Architecture and Material Culture of the United States
Spring, 2010
Tuesday, Thursday, 10-11:40 a.m. JEM 391
Texts you really should purchase (there will be one copy of each on reserve as well):
Unit 1: Native North America and New World Encounters
January 12 Introduction: Guiding Questions
January 14 Native North American Art I
Reading: Berlo and Phillips, 1-43, 63-69.
January 19 Native North American Art II
Reading: Berlo and Phillips, 71-133.
January 21 Foundations of European-American Art, Architecture, and Town Planning
Reading: The Old World and the New 23-42, 57-67, in American Encounters (on ECollege) and Michael J. Schreffler, Vespucci Redsicovers America: The Pictorial Rhetoric of Cannibalism in Early Modern Culture Art History (June, 2005): 295-310 (on eCollege).
January 26 The Other New World
Reading: James H. Merrell, The Indians New World in Material Life in America, 1600-1800, 95-112; James Deetz, The African American Past, in In Small Things Forgotten, 212-260; (all essays on e-College).
January 31 Unit Paper # 1 Due in the correct dropbox by 10 p.m.
Unit 2: Colonial and Early Republic Culture
January 28 Material Culture and Fine Art
Reading: Robert Blair St. George, Set Thine House in Order: The Domestication of the Yeomanry in Seventeenth-Century New England in Common Places: Readings in American Vernacular Architecture, 336-364 (eCollege); Wayne Craven, The Seventeenth-Century New England Mercantile Image, in Reading American Art, 1-11.
Discussion Leader:
February 2 Early American Painting
Reading: Paul Staiti, Character and Class: The Portraits of John Singleton Copley, in Reading American Art, 12-37; Jules Prown, Benjamin Wests Family Picture, in Art as Evidence: Writings on Art and Material Culture (on eCollege).
Discussion Leader: Cerridwen
February 4 Charles Willson Peale
Reading: Roger B. Stein, Charles Willson Peales Expressive Design, in Reading American Art, 38-78; David Steinberg, Educating for Distinction? in Seeing High and Low, 25-37 (on eCollege).
Discussion Leader:
February 9 American Land and Landscape
Reading: Alan Wallach, Thomas Cole and the Aristocracy, in Reading American Art, 79-107; and Kathryn S. Hight, Doomed to Perish: George Catlins Depiction of the Mandan in Reading American Art, 150-162; Dell Upton, White and Black Landscapes in Eighteenth-Century Virginia in Material Life in America, 1600-1800, 357-369 (on eCollege).
Discussion Leader:
February 14 Unit Paper #2 Due in Correct Dropbox by 10 p.m.
Unit 3: Antebellum America
February 11 and 16 No Class
February 18 Visual Culture, and Visual Overload
Reading: Patricia Johnston, Introduction: A Critical Overview of Visual Culture Studies, and Samuel F.B. Morses Gallery of the Louvre, in Seeing High and Low, 1-24, and 42-65.
Discussion Leader: Faith
February 18 EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITY: attend one of the following events, and add to the discussion thread Tim Wise on eCollege between now and next Tuesday, the 25th:
1 p.m. ~ Vermont Room ~Workshop: Beyond Diversity: Racism and Denial
7 p.m. ~McCarthy ~ Race and Racism in the Age of Obama
Author of more than 20 articles and books, Tim Wise is one of the most prolific and provocative speakers in the nation on race, antiracism, and white privilege.
February 23 Nation-Building Art
Reading: Vivien Green Fryd, excerpt from Art and Empire: The Politics of Ethnicity in the United States Capitol, 1815-1860 (on eCollege), 9-61.
Discussion Leader: Heather
February 25 Slaves, Heroines, and Working Mothers
Reading: Joy S. Kasson, Narratives of the Female Body: The Greek Slave, in Reading American Art, 163-189; and David Lubin, Lilly Martin Spencers Domestic Genre Paintings in Antebellum America, in Picturing a Nation: Art and Social Change in Nineteenth-Century America, 159-204, (on ECollege).
Discussion Leader: Maggie
March 2 Class(y) Art
Reading: David Jaffee, A Correct Likeness, and Oedel and Gernes, The Painters Triumph in Reading American Art, 109-149.
Discussion Leader: Alex
March 7 Unit Paper #3 Due in the Correct Dropbox by 10 p.m.
Unit 4: Civil War and the Lingering Problem of Race
March 4 Slavery and Survival
Reading: John Michael Vlach and Leslie King-Hammond, in: Landscape of Slavery: The Plantation in American Art, 16-29, 58-85 (on eCollege); and Lisa E. Farrington, Creativity and the Era of Slavery, in Creating their Own Image: The History of African-American Women Artists, 26-49 (on eCollege).
Discussion Leader: Alyssa
March 9 Art for Rabble (-Rousing)
Reading: Sarah Burns, Cartoons in Color, Melissa Dabakis, Aint I a Woman, and Patricia Hills, Cultural Racism in Seeing High and Low, 66-123.
Discussion Leader:
March 11 Civil War Photography
Reading: Alan Trachtenberg, Albums of Warin Reading American Photographs (on eCollege).
Discussion Leader: Christiana
March 16, 18 No Class Break
March 23 Photography and Race
Reading: Smith, Photography on the Color Line, 1-76
Discussion Leader: Emily
March 25 Photography and Race II
Reading: Smith, Photography on the Color Line, 77-160
Discussion Leader: Tara
March 28 Unit Paper #4 Due in Correct Dropbox by 10 p.m.
Unit 5: The Gilded Age
March 30 Culture as National Stimulus
Reading: Sarah Burns, Being Big: Winslow Homer and the American Business Spirit, in Inventing the Modern Artist: Art and Culture in the Gilded Age, 187-217 (on eCollege); Jules Prown, Winslow Homer in his Art and Griselda Pollock, Mary Cassatt: Painter of Women and Children, in Reading American Art, 264-301.
Discussion Leader: Neil
April 1 Emergent Modernity
Reading: Amy Werbel, excerpt from: Thomas Eakins: Art, Medicine, and Sexuality in Nineteenth-Century America, Chapter One and Chapter Four (on eCollege)
April 6 (Sub-) Cultures Adapt
Reading: Katherine Martinez, At Home with Mona Lisa, in Seeing High and Low, 160-176; David W. Penney, Expressions of Ethnicity: Nineteenth-Century Dress, in Art of the American Indian Frontier, 28-54; and Elizabeth Hutchinson, Handicraft, Native American Art, and Modern Indian Identity, in Seeing High and Low, 194-209.
Discussion Leader: James
April 8 Architecture and the American Dream
Reading: Craig Whitaker, Architecture and the American Dream, Chapters 1 and 3 (on eCollege)
April 11 Unit Paper #5 Due in the Correct Dropbox by 10 p.m.
Unit 6: Art and Social Change, 1914-1944
April 13 Art and Social Change between the Wars I
Reading: Introduction, Alan Trachtenberg, Signifying the Real, Juan A. Martinez, Social and Political Commentary in Cuban Modernist Painting of the 1930s, and Mary Coffey, The Mexican Problem in The Social and the Real, xiii-xv, 3-70.
Discussion Leader: Catherine
April 15 Art and Social Change between the Wars II
Reading: Jonathan Weinberg, I Want Muscle, Jaqueline Francis, Making History, and Marlene Park, Lynching and Anti-Lynching, in The Social and the Real, 115-180.
April 20 Art and Social Change between the Wars III
Reading: Anthony W. Lee, Workers and Painters, Diana L. Linden, Ben Shahns New Deal Murals, and Sally Stein, The Presidents Two Bodies, in The Social and the Real, 201-222, 241-260, and 283-31.
April 22 Workshop: Final Presentations
April 25 Unit Paper # 6 Due in Correct Dropbox by 10 p.m.
April 27 Final Presentations
April 29 Final Presentations
Exam Day (t.b.a.) Final Presentations
Course Requirements:
Unit Analysis Papers
Each Unit Analysis Paper is due the Sunday night following the conclusion of the unit, uploaded into the Correct Dropbox on eCollege by 10 p.m. The intention of these papers is that you demonstrate mastery of the content within the unit, as well as a synthetic understanding of the major themes, concepts, and ideas of the unit. You should reference both readings and class discussions in your paper, and refer to specific works of art and material culture we have studied. Focusing on a major theme of the era will help you organize your essay. Papers should contain approximately 1250 words, and must be formatted as a .doc or .docx file. You should reference quotes from class readings briefly with in-text citations, e.g. (Trachtenberg, 85), and italicize the titles of works of art, e.g. Samuel Morses Gallery of the Louvre. No bibliography is necessary. Late unit papers will be penalized one-third grade for every twelve hours of lateness. Use the following grading rubric to guide your preparation for this assignment:
|
Essay Component |
Comments |
|
CONTENT & CRITICAL THINKING Is the unit material addressed fully? Are art historical terminology and concepts understood and discussed correctly? Does the paper use quotes from the reading, and discussion of appropriate works of art that demonstrate comprehension of assigned course materials? Does the paper exhibit analytical and critical thinking about the significance and meaning of American visual culture? Does the paper have a thesis? Does the paper have a developing (speculative) idea that is an extension of the thesis? |
|
|
ORGANIZATION & STRUCTURE Is the essay focused? Is the flow of information logical? Paragraphs: Are they organized in a deliberate and helpful way? Paragraphs: Are they fully developed and appropriate in length? Transitions: Do they help the reader move from thought to thought? |
|
|
LANGUAGE CONTROL Style: Is it controlled and easy to read? Style: Is it appropriate to the assignment and a general academic audience? Language: Are Standard Written English guidelines followed for: o sentence structure o grammar o word choice/usage o punctuation o quotations/citations o spelling |
|
|
GRADE: |
|
Leading Class Discussion
Each student will lead class discussion on one day of the semester. 72 hours prior to the assigned day, the student will post discussion questions for the class to consider. On the day of the presentation, the student will bring in a PowerPoint or Artstor presentation with works for discussion. It is highly recommended that students think ahead about the order of questions and works of art that will be considered, and how class discussion may assist comprehension and analysis of assigned readings for the day. All students should meet with me to review your preparation prior to the assigned day. Discussion leaders will be graded using the following criteria:
|
Discussion Leadership Component |
Comments |
|
Preparation:
|
|
|
(Content) Discussion includes:
|
|
|
In-class leadership:
|
|
|
GRADE: |
|
The final research presentation is an opportunity for students to exercise critical thinking in the analysis and interpretation of works of art and visual culture. Students are expected to formulate an original thesis, and to support it well with trustworthy sources. A minimum of eight published academic sources should be used in preparing these presentations. Internet websites are only permissible as sources if they are sponsored by accredited museums, universities or if they are on-line publications of academic journals. Research should be started early, since materials often must be ordered by inter-library loan from other institutions. You must hand out a bibliography in class at the time of your presentation, and indicate during your presentation who you are quoting when you do so.
Your research presentations should be created in PowerPoint or a comparable slide viewing program such as ArtStor. You must bring your presentation on a flash drive, in addition to keeping a copy elsewhere (i.e. on the College server).
|
PRESENTATION COMPONENT |
COMMENTS |
|
ORGANIZATION:
|
|
|
CONTENT:
|
|
|
PRESENTATION:
|
|
|
GRADE: |
|
Class Participation
It is expected that students will be prepared for each class, and fully participate in all class discussions in a collegial manner. Two classes may be missed, unexcused, with no penalty. Each additional unexcused absence will result in a 2-point deduction from the final grade.