ARHA 174/AMST 266
Fall, 2010
Davison Art Center 300
Professor Milroy (emilroy@wesleyan.edu).
Office Hours: Tuesdays 11-12:30(DAC 201)
TA – Kevin Donohoe (kdonohoe@wesleyan.edu)
Taking Spaces/Making Places: American Artists and the Landscape
In this course we shall study the evolving significance of landscape representation within American
culture from 1800 to the present. This is a looking as well as reading and writing intensive course, that
explores how the natural world was comprehended and represented – as frontier, site, settlement, environment,
view, “nation” – by landscape architects, painters, photographers and filmmakers as well as writers.
Kevin Donohoe is the Teaching Apprentice for this course. He will review drafts, provide guidance on
Response Papers and will lead some discussion sessions.
REQUIRED TEXTS
Most of the readings for this course are posted to the web as electronic reserves, or can be accessed via one of
the online databases. The required text, available for purchase at Broad Street Books is:
Bill McKibben, ed. American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau (Library of America,
2008)
You may also want to purchase a copy of John Ford’s “The Searchers” 1956 (DVD)
FIELD TRIPS
There will be a mandatory field trip to the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, scheduled for Sunday afternoon,
October 2nd.
ARHA174 in Fall 2010/1
COURSE POLICIES
Attendance: Class attendance and participation are very important and will be reflected in final 10% of your
grade. Please arrive on time; latecomers can be disruptive. Students may be excused from class if they present
documentation (from the deans’ office or health services) for personal emergencies or illness within a week of
the missed class. More than one unexplained absences will result in a reduction of your final grade. Students
who miss four or more classes will fail the course. No exceptions.
Students with disabilities:
Wesleyan University provides reasonable accommodation to students with documented disabilities. Students
are responsible for registering with Disabilities Services, in addition to informing me of their needs in a timely
fashion. If you require accommodations in class (such as extended hours for examinations), please see me at
the beginning of the semester so that I can make appropriate arrangements. The procedures for registering with
Disabilities Services can be found at www.wesleyan.edu/deans/disability-students.html
Cell Phones and Laptop Computers: It is a mark of courtesy to your fellow students and to me to turn all
cell phones completely OFF during class. Taking notes on a laptop computer is not encouraged. This is an
image-intensive course and it is very easy to miss an important point if your eyes (and brain!) are trying to
process the information on two (or more) screens. Better to stick with older technology – a notebook and pen.
** MOODLE **
You will receive paper copies of the syllabus and first assignment during the first class session.
Thereafter the syllabus and all course assignments will be posted to a course Moodle site on-line. You are
responsible for keeping track of all posts that I or Kevin make to the Moodle site.
You can sign in to Moodle from your portfolio or at https://moodle.wesleyan.edu/login/index.php
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CAMPUS EVENTS
Several events taking place on campus this semester relate to the themes and issues we’ll be
exploring in class. Attendance at most is optional, with the exception of the lecture on October
28 which is mandatory (and replaces class that day).
10 September
Connectivity Lost. Opening Reception (Zilkha Gallery, CFA) Gallery talk at 5:30 pm
This exhibition identifies a body of work based on this disconnect that addresses the ways we are estranged
from each other and from the environment in which we live. Among the artists whose work is presented are
Daniel Alcala, Richard Barnes, Matt Bryant, Brian Collier, Maria Hedlund, Matthew Moore and Lucy+Jorge
Orta
Friday, 1 October
Liz Lerman Dance exchange: Drift (featuring Cassie Meador) (CFA Theater) 8 pm
28 October
Lecture: “American Fusion. Moral Experiments in the Landscape” Carol Franklin, RLA
FASLA. Time and location TBA
ARHA174 in Fall 2010/2
ASSIGNMENTS
You will be assessed on classroom participation (including a short in-class presentation) as well as
assignments. Your written work will be evaluated on grammar, content and on clarity. You are strongly
encouraged to purchase Sylvan Barnet’s A Short Guide to Writing about Art. Strunk and White’s Elements of
Style or Turabian’s Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses and Dissertations are helpful general texts.
All papers must be submitted on time to receive a passing grade. No extensions will be granted. All papers
must be printed double-spaced, with proper footnotes or endnotes and bibliography that follow The Chicago
Manual of Style, 15th ed., available in the library and summarized in A Short Guide to Writing about Art.
.Papers must be e-mailed as PDF or Word (.doc or .docx) attachments and must be received by the time noted
with the due date. Be sure to put your name and email address on your papers. When submitting papers
electronically also be sure to:
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Save the file in Word with either the .doc or .docx extension
Name the file clearly with your name— for example: GeorgeCLOONEY_ARHA174 Paper1.doc
There are four assignments:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Response Papers – 50%
Paper 1 – 20%
Paper 2 – 20%
Participation – 10%
Summary Responses and Study Groups
Over the course of the semester students will submit nine response papers on selected readings (noted on the
syllabus). Response papers will be discussed during Thursday class sessions. The papers must be
submitted to me and Kevin on the SUNDAY before that class by 5:00 pm.
The first 7 response papers (4-5 pages) will each be worth 10 points. The last two response papers will be
longer (6-7 pages) and will each be worth 15 points for a total of 100 points (50% of your grade).
At the start of the semester, the class will be divided into study groups, each of which will be assigned to lead
discussion during one of the Case Study classes. The job of that week's team will be to meet before class and
develop a plan for leading class discussion based on what team members have found interesting, puzzling or
controversial. Teams may want to ask fellow students to send them copies of their response papers the day
before so they can look them over (one strategy might be to have each member of a team assigned to read the
papers from 3 other students). Teams won't be evaluating the papers -- just organizing and leading the
discussion.
Team 1 -- 14 October: Rethinking Manhattan – Case Study: Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert
Vaux, Central Park (New York) 1858-1865
Team 2 -- 4 November: Creating the National Parks – Case Study: Hetch-Hetchy
Team 3 -- 11 November: Clouds and Desert Infinity – Case Study: Georgia O’Keeffe
Team 4 -- 18 November: Return to Yosemite – Case Study: Ansel Adams
Team 5 – 2 December: Spiral Jetty (1970) – Case Study: Robert Smithson
ARHA174 in Fall 2010/3
The two short papers will be:
Paper 1: Formal analysis of an object from the Davison Art Center Collection (6-7 pages; 1500 wds). The
aim of this assignment is to acquaint you with an object in the DAC collections. Students will have two weeks
to prepare a first draft of the paper. Kevin will read the papers for matters of style and clarity and return them
so that students may revise for submission. Due Friday, 1 October by 11:59 pm(20%)
Paper 2: Exhibition Review essay. Due Friday, 10 December by 5:00 pm (1500 wds) (20%)
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RESERVE READINGS
Reserve readings can be found online or are posted on electronic reserve. To access the readings – marked ERes on the
syllabus – go to the library homepage at www.wesleyan.edu/libr. Click on the ITEMS ONLINE – ERes link under
RESERVES in the FIND bucket.
Password: ARHA174
You can also access these readings from off campus by using your Wesleyan user name and password.
Readings on the web are marked with the name of the web index. To access these go to the library homepage at
www.wesleyan.edu/libr. Click on the “Indexes” tab and enter the name of the index (ie JSTOR); then enter any search
term (author’s name or title) on the index search page to access the article.
You are expected do the readings BEFORE class. You will want to familiarize yourself with objects/images and themes
to be addressed in lectures and you will be expected to respond to questions from the readings that might be posed in
class. It’s also a VERY good idea to make a print out of on-line readings -- having a hard copy enables you to highlight
important passages and make notes on the print-out.
Readings may be added or deleted during the semester.
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IMAGES
The primary texts with which we will be engaging in this course are designed sites and representations thereof (paintings,
drawings, prints and photographs). Because we can’t view most of these works in situ (in place), images of works to be
discussed in class, and comparatives, will be posted on the web-based database called ArtStor:
How to access Shared Images on ARTStor
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From the library homepage (www.wesleyan.edu/library), click on the ”Indexes” tab
Type in “ARTStor” in search window and click
The click on “ARTStor”
When the ArtStor homepage comes up, click on “Go”
The ArtStor search page will pop up: click on “Log In”
If you are working from off campus, you will be prompted to enter your name and password
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You will need to register the first time you enter the database. Use your Wesleyan email address and password.
Go to “Tools” on the toolbar
Select “Access shared folders”
Fill in your last name, first name and the (case-sensitive) password for the course which is ARHA174
Under “View Image groups” (below the toolbar), click on the pull-down menu for “Select a Folder”
Select ARHA174
Under “Select an image group” click on the pull-down menu to access the date you want
You can double-click on thumbnail images for a full view
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ARHA174 in Fall 2010/4
CLASS SCHEDULE
The most important readings are marked with an asterisk. Reading response papers are so noted. Because
of time constraints, it is not always possible to discuss assigned readings at length in class. You will be
expected to demonstrate some familiarity with a majority of the readings.
Week 1
Lecture 1 7 September Introduction
First paper assigned
Lecture 2 9 September Arrivals
Readings: *Christopher Columbus, “Hispaniola” (1493) ERes
William Cronon, “Seasons of Want and Plenty” in AE
*William Bradford, from “Of Plymouth Plantation” (1620) ERes
Friday, 10 September Connectivity Lost. Opening Reception (Zilkha Gallery, CFA) Gallery talk at
5:30 pm
This exhibition identifies a body of work based on this disconnect that addresses the ways we are
estranged from each other and from the environment in which we live. Among the artists whose
work is presented are Daniel Alcala, Richard Barnes, Matt Bryant, Brian Collier, Maria Hedlund,
Matthew Moore and Lucy+Jorge Orta
Week 2
Lecture 3 14 September: Picturing Old Worlds and the New
Readings: *William Gilpin, excerpt from “On Picturesque Travel. Essay II” (1791), in Three Essays
…pp. 41-53. Eighteenth-Century Collections Online
*Ernst Gombrich, "The Renaissance Theory of Art and the Rise of Landscape" (1950) from Norm &
Form ERes
Brian Lukacher, “Nature and History in English Romantic Landscape Painting” and “Landscape Art
and Romantic Nationalism in Germany and America” in Nineteenth Century Art: A Critical History
(2007) ERes
Lecture 4 16 September: The Eighth Wonder – Case Study: John Trumbull, Niagara Falls from an Upper
Bank (1807)
Readings: *William Bartram, from The Travels (1791) ERes
*Andrew Ellicott “Description of the Falls of Niagara,” The Universal Asylum and Columbian
Magazine (June, 1790), 331-2. American Periodical Series  RESPONSE PAPER #1
“Table Rock Album” in American Earth
Drafts of First Papers to Kevin by Friday, 17 September at 5 pm
Week 3
Lecture 5 21 September: Landscape in the Early Republic
Readings: *Ralph Waldo Emerson, from “Nature” (1836) ERes
*John Stilgoe, “Smiling Scenes” from Views and Visions (1987) ERes
Alan Wallach, “Thomas Cole and the Aristocracy” (1981) ERes
Lecture 6 23 September: Making a Picture… of a View – Case Study: Thomas Cole, View from Mount
Holyoke: The Oxbow (1836)
Readings: *Timothy Dwight, “[View from Mount Holyoke]” from Travels in New England and New
York (1821-22) ERes
*Thomas Cole, excerpts from “American Scenery” (1836) ERes  RESPONSE PAPER #2
Alan Wallach, “Making a Picture of the View from Mount Holyoke” (1993) ERes
ARHA174 in Fall 2010/5
Week 4
28 September: Assignment Workshop
Lecture 7 30 September: The Hudson River School
Readings: *Henry David Thoreau, “Huckleberries,” in American Earth
*John Ruskin, from Preface to the 2nd Edition of Modern Painters ERes
*Asher B. Durand, “Letters on Landscape Painting, no. II” and “Letters on Landscape Painting, no.
III” in The Crayon, vol. 1, no. 3 (17 January 1855) and no. 5 (31 January, 1855). JSTOR
David Schuyler, “The Sanctified Landscape: The Hudson River Valley, 1820-1850” from Landscape
in America (1995) ERes
First Paper Due by 11:59 pm on Friday, 1 October
Friday, 1 October: Liz Lerman Dance exchange: Drift (featuring Cassie Meador)
Sunday, 3 October: FIELD TRIP TO WADSWORTH ATHENEUM - Meet at DAC parking lot at noon.
Week 5
Lecture 8 5 October: Manifest Destiny
Readings: *G. P. Marsh “Man and Nature” in American Earth
*W.J.T. Mitchell, “Imperial Landscape,” from Landscape and Power (1994) ERes
Lecture 9 7 October: “The Profoundest Chasm” – Case Study: Thomas Moran, The Grand Canyon of the
Yellowstone (1872)
Readings: *John Muir “My First Summer in the Sierra” in American Earth
*“The Wonders of the West – II. More About the Yellowstone,” in Scribner’s Monthly, vol. 3, no. 4
(February, 1872), 388-396. American Periodical Series
*”Thomas Moran’s ‘Grand Cañon of the Yellowstone’” in Scribner’s Monthly, vol. 4, no. 2 (June,
1872), 251. American Periodical Series
Week 6
Lecture 9 12 October: Greening the City
Readings: *David Schuyler, “Toward a Redefinition of Urban Form and Culture,” in The New Urban
Landscape (1986) ERes
Lecture 10 14 October: Rethinking Manhattan. Case Study: Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux,
Central Park (New York) 1858-1865  Team 1
Readings: *Andrew Jackson Downing, “The New-York Park” in The Horticulturist, 1 August 1851.
American Periodical Series  RESPONSE PAPER #3
*Frederick Law Olmsted, “A Review of Recent Changes …” in American Earth
David Schuyler, “The Naturalistic Landscape: Central Park,” in The New Urban Landscape (1986)
ERes
Week 7
19 October
No Class (Fall break)
21 October
No class (rescheduled for Wadsworth field trip)
Week 8
Lecture 11 26 October: Impressionism Comes to America
Readings: * Huth, Hans. "Impressionism Comes to America." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 6th ser. 29
(April 1946): 225-52.
*Cecelia Wearn, “Some Notes on French Impressionism” The Atlantic Monthly, vol. 69 (April, 1892),
535-542. Making of America
ARHA174 in Fall 2010/6
Lecture 12 28 October: Modernist Visions. Case Study; Julian Alden Weir, The Factory Village (1897)
Readings: *Larry Lambert, “Naturalizing Technology in Late Nineteenth-Century America: An
Aesthetic of Excess Meaning in the Paintings of J. Alden Weir,” American Communication Journal,
vol. 10 (2008). Online at http://www.acjournal.org/holdings/vol10/s_special/articles/lambert.php>
RESPONSE PAPER #4
Allen Chamberlain, “The Ideal Abandoned Farm” in New England Magazine, 22, no. 4 (June 1897),
473-479. Making of America
28 October: Lecture: “American Fusion. Moral Experiments in the Landscape” Carol Franklin, RLA
FASLA. Time and location TBA
This talk will explore a distinctly American tradition in making landscapes. Designers in this tradition
have a strong moral agenda and an artistic style that takes its energy and its aesthetic power from
our unique American Landscape, our democratic values, our multifaceted society and our latest and
best scientific understanding of the world. By looking at both historic and contemporary designers
we will explore the idea that sustainable design, restoration ecology are the latest expression of
these national concerns. We will ask what is sustainable design in the landscape? How can we restore
badly damaged natural and cultural landscapes what are the critical design ideas for a modern and
democratic world?
Carol Franklin is a founding principal of Andropogon Associates and a Fellow of the American
Society of Landscape Architects. She is a nationally recognized expert in sustainable design and has
been a leader in exploring sustainable landscape initiatives since 1975.
Week 9
Lecture 13 2 November: The Frontier: Myth and Reality
Readings: *Frederick Jackson Turner, excerpts from “The Significance of the Frontier in American
History” American Historical Association, Annual Report (1893)
* Antoinette Ogden, “A Drive through the Black Hills” The Atlantic Monthly, vol. 69 (April, 1892),
449-462. Making of America
Lecture 14 4 November: Creating the National Parks. Case Study: Hetch-Hetchy  Team 2
Readings: *John Muir, “Hetch-Hetchy Valley” (1912) in American Earth RESPONSE PAPER #5
*“The Hetch Hetchy Dam Site” Congressional testimony (1913) ERes
Ethan Carr, “’Conserve the Scenery’: The National Park as 20th-Century Landscape Park,” from
Wilderness by Design (1998) ERes
Week 10
Lecture 15 9 November: Rethinking the Canvas (and the Frame)
Readings: *Alfred STIEGLITZ, excerpts from “Pictorial Photography,” Scribner’s Monthly 26 (1899)
ERes
*Rosalind Krauss, “Stieglitz/’Equivalents’” in October, vol. 11 (Winter, 1979), 129-140. JSTOR
Lecture 16 11 November: Clouds and Desert Infinity -- Case Study: Georgia O’Keeffe’s Sunrise Series
Team 3
Readings: Judith Zilczer, “’Light Coming on the Plains:’ Georgia O’Keeffe’s Sunrise Series,” in
Artibus et Historiae, vol. 20, no. 40 (1999), 191-208. JSTOR RESPONSE PAPER #6
Week 11
Lecture 17 16 November: [Re]Seeing the City
Readings: *Wanda Corn, “An Italian in New York,” from The Great American Thing ERes
Jane Jacobs, from “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” in American Earth
ARHA174 in Fall 2010/7
Lecture 18 18 November: Return to Yosemite – Case Study: Ansel Adams  Team 4
Meet in the Davison Art Center Print Room
Readings: *Eliot Porter, “The Living Canyon” in American Earth  RESPONSE PAPER #7
*Jonathan Spaulding, “Yosemite and Ansel Adams: Art Commerce and Western Tourism,” Pacific
Historical Review, vol. 65, no. 4 (November 1996), 615-639. JSTOR
Week 12
Lecture 19 23 November: Space and Memory – Case Study: John Ford, The Searchers (1956)  RESPONSE
PAPER #8
A DVD of the film is on reserve in Olin. Kevin also will schedule a screening.
Readings: *N. Scott Momaday, “A First American Views his Land” in American Earth
Ronald L. Davis, “Paradise among the Mountains: John Ford’s Vision of the American West,” in
Montana: The Magazine of Western History, vol. 45, no. 3 (Summer, 1995), 48-63. JSTOR
25 November: THANKSGIVING
Week 13
Lecture 20 30 November: Land/Art
Second Paper Assigned
Readings: *John Beardsley, “Traditional Aspects of New Land Art,” Art Journal, vol. 42 (Autumn,
1982), 226-232. JSTOR
Robert Smithson, “Frederick Law Olmsted and the Dialectical Landscape” (1973) from Writings …
ERes
Lecture 21 2 December: Case Study: Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty (1970)  Team 5
Readings: *Edward Abbey, “Polemic: Industrial Tourism and the National Parks” in American Earth
*Robert Smithson, “The Spiral Jetty” (1970) from Writings … ERes RESPONSE PAPER #9
*Jennifer Roberts, “Spiral Jetty/Golden Spike,” in Mirror-Travels (2004) ERes
Week 14
Lecture 22 7 December: Art and Environmental Activism I
Readings: *Rachel Carson, “Realms of the Soil,” from Silent Spring (1962) on ERes
*Ben Tufnell, “Working with Nature” and “Regeneration,” from Land Art (2006) ERes
Susan Platt, “Paradigms and Paradoxes: Nature, Morality, and Art in America,” Art Journal, vol. 51,
no. 2 (Summer, 1992),82-88. JSTOR
Lecture 23 9 December: Art and Environmental Activism II
Readings: *Solnit, “The Thoreau Problem,” in American Earth
*Mierle Laderman Ukeles, “A Journey: Earth/City/Flow,” Art Journal, vol. 51, no. 2 (Summer, 1992),
12-14. JSTOR
Craig Adcock, “Conversational Drift: Helen Mayer and Newton Harrison,” Art Journal, vol. 51, no. 2
(Summer, 1992), 35-45. JSTOR
Second Paper Due by Friday, 10 December at 5:00 pm
ARHA174 in Fall 2010/8
Reserve Readings
These titles are on reserve for browsing in the Art Library. The first provides a good survey of landscape art.
The second two titles are general surveys of American art that provide general background on artists and
issues.
Malcolm ANDREWS Landscape and Western Art (1999) N8213 .A63 1999
Angela MILLER, et al. American Encounters: Art, History and Cultural Identity (2008) N6505 .M55 2008
Frances K. POHL Framing America: A Social History of American Art (2008) N6512 .P59 2008
American Paradise; The World of the Hudson River School. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
1987. ND1351.5 .A49 1987
Nancy ANDERSON, et al. Thomas Moran (1997) N6797.M576 A4
Sarah BURNS. Pastoral Inventions ... (1989) NX650.C69 B87 1989
Kenneth CLARK. Landscape Into Art (1950/1976) ND 1340.C55 1976
William H. GERDTS. American Impressionism (1984) ND210.5 .I4 G474 2001
Martha HOPPIN. Arcadian Vales: Views of the Connecticut River Valley (1981-2) ND1351.5 .A7 1981
Elizabeth M. KORNHAUSER, et al. American paintings before 1945 in the Wadsworth Atheneum (1996)
ND205 .W3 1996
Michael LAILACH, Land Art (2007) N6494.E27 L35 2007
Emily B. NEFF, The Modern West : American landscapes, 1890-1950 (2006) N8214.5.U6 N44 2006
Edward NYGREN et al, Views and Visions; American Landscape before 1830 (1986)
Richard SAUNDERS and Helen RAYE, Daniel Wadsworth, Patron of the Arts (1981)
Andrea STILLMAN, Ansel Adams: 400 Photographs (2007) TR653 .A43
Alan WALLACH et al. Thomas Cole: Landscape into History (194) ND237.C6 A4 +
ARHA174 in Fall 2010/9