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Professor Amy B. Werbel Home: 660-4918 e-mail: awerbel
Syllabus - Art 361 Art, Architecture and Material Culture of the United States Spring, 2008 Tuesday, Thursday, 10-11:40 a.m. JEM 391
Texts you really should purchase: Marianne Doezema and Elizabeth Milroy, eds., Reading American Art Alan Trachtenberg, Reading American Photographs Jonathan Weinberg, Ambition and Love in Modern American Art
Optional texts (there will be two copies on reserve):
Janet C. Berlo and Ruth B. Phillips, Native North American Art Amy Werbel, Thomas Eakins: Art, Medicine, and Sexuality in Nineteenth-Century Philadelphia Lisa E. Farrington, Creating Their Own Images: The History of African-American Women Artists David Lubin, Shooting Kennedy: JFK and the Culture of Images Craig Whitaker, Architecture and the American Dream
Daily Topics and Assignments:
January 15 Introduction: Guiding Questions
January 17 Native North American Art I Reading: Berlo and Phillips, 1-35 DUE TODAY: Questions, Quotes and Comments
January 22 Native North American Art II Reading: Berlo and Phillips, 71-105 DUE TODAY: Questions, Quotes and Comments
January 24 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) DUE TODAY: Questions, Quotes and Comments
January 29 Early Massachusetts Painting Reading: Wayne Craven, “The Seventeenth-Century New England Mercantile Image,” and Paul Staiti, “Character and Class: The Portraits of John Singleton Copley,” in Reading American Art, 1-37 DUE TODAY: Questions, Quotes and Comments
January 31 Charles Willson Peale Reading: Roger B. Stein, “Charles Willson Peale’s Expressive Design, in Reading American Art, 38-78 DUE TODAY: Questions, Quotes and Comments
February 5 American Land and Landscape Reading: Alan Wallach, “Thomas Cole and the Aristocracy,” in Reading American Art, 79-107 DUE TODAY: Questions, Quotes and Comments
February 7 Slaves and Heroines Reading: Joy S. Kasson, “Narratives of the Female Body: The Greek Slave” and Kirsten P. Buick, “The Ideal Works of Edmonia Lewis: Invoking and Inverting Autobiography” in Reading American Art, 163-207. DUE TODAY: Questions, Quotes and Comments
February 12 Lilly Martin Spencer Reading: David Lubin, “Lilly Martin Spencer’s Domestic Genre Paintings in Antebellum America,” 159-204, in Picturing a Nation: Art and Social Change in Nineteenth-Century America (on ECollege) DUE TODAY: Questions, Quotes and Comments
February 14 American Art History Slam I DUE TODAY: Five-minute Presentations of First Book Review
February 19, 21 No classes
February 26 Thomas Eakins I Reading: Amy Werbel, “From Benjamin Franklin to Thomas Eakins,” in Thomas Eakins: Art, Medicine, and Sexuality in Nineteenth-Century America, 1-27 DUE TODAY: Questions, Quotes and Comments AND Finished Book Review #1
February 28 Thomas Eakins II Reading: Amy Werbel, “The Agnew Clinic, The Gross Clinic, Crucifixion, and Swimming: Dissecting Eakins’ Paintings,” in Thomas Eakins: Art, Medicine, and Sexuality in Nineteenth-Century America, 28-52 DUE TODAY: Questions, Quotes and Comments
March 4 Cassatt and Homer Reading: Jules D. Prown, “Winslow Homer in His Art,” and Griselda Pollock, “Mary Cassatt: Painter of Women and Children,” 264-301, in Reading American Art DUE TODAY: Questions, Quotes and Comments
March 6 Early American Photography Reading: Trachtenberg, 3-70 DUE TODAY: Questions, Quotes and Comments
March 11 Civil War Photography (Town Meeting Day – vote in honor) Reading: Trachtenberg, 71-118 DUE TODAY: Questions, Quotes and Comments
March 13 Camera Work / Social Work Reading: Trachtenberg, 164-230 DUE TODAY: Questions, Quotes and Comments
March 18, 20 No Class – Break
March 25 African-American Women Artists Reading: Farrington, chaps. 1-3 DUE TODAY: Questions, Quotes and Comments
March 27 African-American Women Artists Reading: Farrington, chaps. 4-6 DUE TODAY: Questions, Quotes and Comments
April 1 Architecture and the American Dream Reading: Craig Whitaker, “Architecture and the American Dream,” 3-31, (on E-College) DUE TODAY: Questions, Quotes and Comments
April 3 Architecture and the American Dream Reading: Craig Whitaker, “Architecture and the American Dream,” 69-97 (on E-College) DUE TODAY: Questions, Quotes and Comments
April 8 Jackson Pollock Reading: Michael Leja, “Jackson Pollock: Representing the Subconscious, 440-464, in Reading American Art DUE TODAY: Questions, Quotes and Comments
April 10 Kennedy and Visual Culture in the 1960s Reading: David Lubin, Shooting Kennedy, 39-104 DUE TODAY: Questions, Quotes and Comments
April
15 Kennedy and Visual Culture in the 1960s DUE TODAY: Questions, Quotes and Comments
April 17 American Art History Slam II DUE TODAY: Five-minute Presentations of Second Book Review
April 22 Sally Mann Reading: Weinberg, ix-2, 54-72 DUE TODAY: Questions, Quotes and Comments
April 24 Collaborations Reading: Weinberg, 179-210 DUE TODAY: Questions, Quotes and Comments
April 29 Warhol and Basquiat Reading: Weinberg, 211-241 DUE TODAY: Questions, Quotes and Comments
May 1 Short Presentations of Final Papers DUE TODAY: Questions, Quotes and Comments
Course Requirements:
(2) 4-page book reviews: 13 points each = 26% (2) 5-minute presentations of book reviews: 5 points each = 10% (app. 20) Questions, Quotes and Comments sheets on readings: 2 points each up to a total of 40 points = 40% (1) Final Research paper and short presentation (10 pp.): 25 points = 25%
Questions, Quotes and Comments Questions, Quotes and Comments sheets will be used to guide our conversation every day. These should be no more than one-page typed, single-spaced, in 12-point font. Each day’s QQC should demonstrate your thoughtful reflection on all the reading for the day, and contribute to productive and interesting class discussion. When you are brainstorming your QQC, think about connections between this and previous readings and also about how this text relates to our major ‘guiding questions:’
Fundamentally, American visual culture helps us understand who we are and how we got here – what do these readings tell you about that path? Images and historical events that surprise you are usually especially good topics for conversation. Late QQC are not accepted because they do not contribute to class discussion.
Book Reviews and “Slam” Presentations of Book Reviews For each book review, you will read and critique a book about American art, architecture, and or material culture chosen in consultation with the Professor. Your book review should be approximately 4 double-spaced pages. Make sure to include a thesis that presents your critical assessment of the merits of the text i.e. what are its strengths and weaknesses? What does the book teach us about American visual culture? This is a formal writing assignment so grading will take into account your focus on the topic, critical thinking about the subject matter, and also elements of style: grammar, word choice, flow between and within paragraphs, etc. These papers are due in the correct dropbox in ECollege on the dates listed. Be sure to work in MS Word, even if you have to type it in a lab – no Macs!!! Presentations of your review in-class should be approximately five minutes, and should discuss several images from the reviewed text.
Final Research Paper and PresentationThe final research paper is an opportunity for students to exercise critical thinking in the analysis and interpretation of works of art. Students are expected to formulate an original thesis, and to support it well with trustworthy sources. A minimum of ten published academic sources should be used in preparing these papers. 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. Citations on long papers should be in the form of endnotes and bibliography in MLA style – this is the style used in the readings you will be doing for class. In-text citations are not used in art history papers (pet peeve!!). Titles of art works discussed in your paper should always be underlined and identified as [fig. 1, 2, 3, etc.]. For example: “Thomas Eakins’ Spinning Wheel Studies [fig. 1] is an excellent example of the artist’s use of preparatory perspectival studies.” Zeroxed illustrations of each work you discuss should be included behind the endnotes and bibliography with corresponding identification by figure number. These illustrations should also include artist, title, medium, date and location of the work, i.e.: [zerox of Spinning Wheel Studies ] Fig. 3 Thomas Eakins, Spinning Wheel Studies, charcoal on paper, 1883, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Your research paper presentations should be created in PowerPoint or a comparable “slide viewing” program such as ArtStor. You should bring your presentation on a CD-Rom or USB drive, in addition to keeping a copy elsewhere (i.e. on the College server).
Keeping in Touch with Me: This is important. I read my e-mail, and check my office messages frequently every day. Although I don’t spend much time sitting still in my office, I am happy for you to call me on my cell phone in the evenings and on weekends, and I can almost always find time to speak with students, correspond via e-mail, and/or meet with you on either campus during the day and on many evenings.
Presentation Scoring Sheet Use this set of criteria when planning your presentations.
FORMAL ESSAY FEEDBACK/REVISION CHECKLIST
Use this list to help you revise your papers before you hand them in. Essay Component
CONTENT __Assignment: Is it addressed fully? __Class concepts: Are they understood and applied correctly? __Other:
CRITICAL THINKING __Thesis: Is it explicit and arguable? __Argument: Is it logical? __Evidence: Is it sufficient, appropriate, credible? __Analysis: Does it show how evidence supports thesis? __Counter-arguments: Are they addressed, if necessary? __Focus: Does the essay stay on topic?
ESSAY STRUCTURE __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: __sentence structure/grammar __word choice/usage __punctuation/mechanics __quotations/citations __spelling
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