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:

  • Discussion questions are posted on time.
  • Visual materials used in class are organized and helpful.
  • Student consulted with the Professor sufficiently and early enough to resolve any questions or problems.

 

(Content) Discussion includes:

  • Broad overview of all materials assigned for the day.
  • Depth in analyzing a few important works or sources.
  • Connection to other class materials in the unit and/or course.

 

 

In-class leadership:

  • Leadership skills are evident as student takes control of the classroom.
  • All students are engaged/compelled to contribute to the discussion.
  • Preparation and comprehension of course materials are clearly evident.

 

GRADE:

 

 

Final Research Presentation

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:

  • Provides overview at outset
  • Provides necessary context for material in introduction acknowledges prior audience understanding and/or need for background information
  • presents information in a logical order
  • sums up important points in a conclusion

 

CONTENT:

  • Student articulates a critical argument about the work discussed
  • General information is provided as necessary, but the presentation also  goes deep on important points and artwork
  • Student demonstrates mastery of content through clear discussion of                trustworthy scholarly sources and artwork that is appropriate to the topic
  • Each work of art shown has a caption underneath, listing artist, title, and date 
  • The student makes clear reference to sources used, and presents a bibliography in MLA style as the final slide of the presentation.

 

 

PRESENTATION:

  • The presentation is fully-prepared and well rehearsed, with smooth transitions
  • Speech is audible and clear, with moderate pace and good volume
  • The student looks out at the audience frequently, and directs attention to important elements of art work displayed
  • PowerPoint frames are clear and helpful, with little text, no typos, and appropriate stylistic choices
  • Time is well used and appropriate to the assignment.

 

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.