One Form Supplementary Materials
Art 259
Art Now: History and Theory of Contemporary Art
Reasons for the Proposal:
A. This course will function as a basic introduction to the primary issues under
consideration in contemporary art practice, and will serve students seeking to
acquire a broad knowledge of the history of art through the various survey and
specialty courses offered within the Art Department. This course will be the first
survey course covering the topic of contemporary art offered by the Art Department
at UMB. It is an important course for any student interested in pursuing the study of
modern or contemporary art, and will be useful for students who wish to
understand the various contexts and frameworks out of which the particular forms
of contemporary art emerge. The course will offer a comparative framework for
students to understand the issues that arise in contemporary art in relation to
themes and problems that occur in other periods. In particular, it will address the
relationship between contemporary art and modernism, the topic covered by Art
250, which will serve as the first course in a two-course sequence that will cover the
late 19th century to the present. It enriches the curriculum of the department,
expands the range of topics offered within the department, and fills a gap in its
existing course offerings. The goals of this new course are to give students a critical
appreciation of contemporary art, to introduce them to the ways in which issues in
contemporary art are related to and divergent from earlier art practices, and to
teach critical reading, writing and thinking skills related to the study of art.
B. This course will better prepare students seeking to pursue graduate degrees in both
art history and studio art. It offers them a view into the media and discourses that
have become relevant in present day art practice. It will be an essential course for
any student who wishes to further their education in fields pertaining to either
modern or contemporary art.
Rationale for Distribution Fulfillment:
1. This course fulfills the description for Arts and Humanities—specifically Art—under
the Distribution Requirements for General Education at UMass Boston. As is
specified in the Tan Document, courses fulfilling the Arts and Humanities
requirements should “investigate a variety of ways in which aesthetic, moral,
intellectual and/or spiritual aspects of the human condition are articulated.” Art 259
will examine the way that contemporary art both reflects and acts as an agent of
change in patterns of seeing, acting, and thinking for subjects in the particular place
and time in which the art is produced. Art is often considered to be an area of
inquiry that specifically engages the human condition. A study of contemporary art
will stimulate thinking about what it means to exist in the world in the present day,
and will encourage students to consider how art provides concrete interventions
into the conditions of everyday life in contemporary society. In addition, this course
will promote the practice and understanding of “humanistic modes of inquiry” such
as historical research and analysis through the assignment of reading and writing
exercises that engage students with the theoretical and historical discourse
pertaining to contemporary art. Readings will foster students’ ability to critically
engage with textual sources, while writing exercises will promote the development
of coherent arguments that gather together and analyze both textual and visual
material covered in the course.
2. Students will have an opportunity in this course to write a paper of sufficient
analytical content, sources, and length to be submitted for the Writing Proficiency
Requirement Portfolio.
3. General Education Capabilities covered in this course include Critical Reading and
Analysis, and Effective Communication.
a. Critical Reading: This course involves reading of textual sources that provide
theoretical commentary on the works of art studied in the class. Lectures will
directly incorporate these textual sources and demonstrate how to perform
critical readings. Class discussions will allow students to practice their
critical reading skills through close analysis of ideas contained within the
reading. This course includes introductory sessions that discuss four of the
important critical methodologies used in art historical analysis, including, for
example, psychoanalysis and the social history of art. These sessions are
designed to teach students what it means to think critically in an art
historical context. The course will also involve assignments that ask students
to formulate arguments on the basis of a well-developed thesis and critically
engaged use of evidence.
b. Effective Communication: Effective communication will be developed in this
course through the incorporation of class discussion and written
assignments. This will work to develop students’ skills in communicating
orally as well as in written form. The number of written pages in this class
will add up to 10-12 pages in accordance with the requirements for Effective
Communication, including both in-class writing assignments in the form of
blue book exams and a paper assignment to be completed out of class. One
paper assigned for the course will meet the requirements to be submitted for
the Writing Proficiency Portfolio. All graded papers will include written
feedback from the professor.
4. The pedagogical methods that will be employed to ensure coverage of the Arts area
of the Distribution requirements will focus primarily on students’ critical
engagement with textual and visual sources. Lectures will be used to demonstrate
the principles of verbal reasoning, critical reading, and effective communication, and
class discussions will allow students to develop these skills for themselves. Written
assignments will help them to translate their practice in making oral arguments into
a more formal, written form. Students will be assessed in both areas of oral and
written communication, and will receive regular feedback from the instructor on
their progress in both areas. Assessment will be based on student’s ability to digest
material presented in lecture/discussion as well as the assigned reading. They will
be required to complete three blue book exams in which they will identify 10 images
and then write two essays, either based on a given image comparison or on a more
general question about themes presented in the course. Generalized questions will
ask students to compare movements or periods in contemporary art history in
order to demonstrate their understanding of lineages and precedents in the
development of different modes of art practice from 1945 to the present.
Assessment will be based on students’ ability to produce a clearly structured pair of
essays and their ability to provide relevant examples of artworks that fall within the
time period or movement about which they are being questioned. The paper
assignment for the course will require students to write a 5-6 page analysis of a
work chosen from the Contemporary collection at a local museum and to
contextualize it in terms of the historical moment in which it emerges and in
relationship to other works produced by the same artist or works made within the
same time period. Assessment will be based on students’ ability to construct a clear,
linear argument with a distinct thesis and supporting evidence.
5. Syllabus: See attached
6. Sample Assignments: See attached (after syllabus)
Art 259
Art Now: History and Theory of Contemporary Art
Spring 2014
MWF 9:00-9:50
McCormack Rm. 03-430
Professor Meredith Hoy
Email: meredith.hoy@umb.edu
Office: 458B McCormack
Office Hours: MWF 10-11. To secure an appointment, please sign up for office hours on the
sign-up sheet posted outside my office.
Contact Info for Classmates (email and/or phone):
Course Description:
Art Now covers the recent history of contemporary art from 1945 to the present. Beginning
with a review of the final years of modernism in the 20th century, this course examines new
forms that begin to emerge after Abstract Expressionism and continue to develop into the
21st century. Over the course of the semester, the course will examine key works that
demonstrate the conditions of contemporaneity in their given moment, taking into account
that formal and conceptual signals of the contemporary will change over time. The course
will consider the most important innovations, ideas, and questions raised by artists in the
20th and 21st centuries, including issues surrounding new technologies, site-specific works,
installation, performance, land art, institutional critique, relational art, and even the
disappearance of the object altogether. In scrutinizing these topics, the course will address
the role of the medium, the viewer, and the situational context in generating the “meaning”
of the artwork, its construction of a network of relations between viewer, object, and
environment, and its particular intervention or interventions into the history of art.
Students will be expected to come to class prepared to discuss rigorously the material at
hand. Each class session will combine readings from a survey textbook as well as secondary
articles pertinent to the period in question. By the end of the semester, students are
expected to produce a research paper on the topic of their choosing related to
themes/issues in contemporary art. The course progresses chronologically, but each
session will examine particular themes that arise in specific moments in the last half of the
20th century and the first years of the 21st, the relationship of these themes to one another
and to the modernist traditions that are being expanded and reevaluated in contemporary
culture.
In accordance with the Art and Humanities Objective of the General Education
requirements, Students will develop an informed appreciation of contemporary art, and
will learn how people have come to understand and express “artistic, aesthetic, moral,
spiritual, and philosophical dimensions of the human condition” through the specific issues,
problems, and themes that arise through the study of contemporary art. Art 259 will
examine the way that contemporary art both reflects and acts as an agent of change in
patterns of seeing, acting, and thinking for subjects in the particular place and time in
which the art is produced. Art is often considered to be an area of inquiry that specifically
engages the human condition. A study of contemporary art will stimulate thinking about
what it means to exist in the world in the present day, and will encourage students to
consider how art provides concrete interventions into the conditions of everyday life in
contemporary society. In addition, this course will promote the practice and understanding
of “humanistic modes of inquiry” such as historical research and analysis through the
assignment of reading and writing exercises that engage students with the theoretical and
historical discourse pertaining to contemporary art. Readings will foster students’ ability to
critically engage with textual sources, while writing exercises will promote the
development of coherent arguments that gather together and analyze both textual and
visual material covered in the course. In this class students will write a paper that may be
submitted for the Writing Proficiency Requirement Portfolio.
General Education Capabilities covered in this course include Critical Reading and Analysis,
and Effective Communication.
Critical Reading: This course involves reading of textual sources that provide theoretical
commentary on the works of art studied in the class. Lectures will directly incorporate
these textual sources and demonstrate how to perform critical readings. Class discussions
will allow students to practice their critical reading skills through close analysis of ideas
contained within the reading. Student progress will be assessed based on their ability to
discuss course material cogently and incisively. The course will also involve assignments
that ask students to formulate arguments on the basis of a well-developed thesis and
critically engaged use of evidence.
Effective Communication: Effective communication will be developed in this course
through the incorporation of class discussion and written assignments. This will work to
develop students’ skills in communicating orally as well as in written form. The number of
written pages in this class will add up to 10-12 pages in accordance with the requirements
for Effective Communication, including both in-class writing assignments in the form of
blue book exams and a paper assignment to be completed out of class. All graded papers
will include written feedback from the professor.
Course Requirements:
Required Texts:
H.H. Arnason and Elizabeth C Mansfield. History of Modern Art, Seventh Edition, Vol. II.
Pearson, 2013.
Kristine Stiles and Peter Selz. Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of
Artists’ Writings. Second Edition. University of California, 2012.
Please note that all course readings not contained in these textbooks will be made available
online via Wikispaces.
Grading:
Participation (Attendance, Discussion, Museum Visit):
10%
Exam #1:
20%
Exam #2:
20%
Exam #3:
20%
5-6 pp Paper:
30%
The following grading scale will be used: 100-93/A, 92-90/A-, 89-86/B+, 85-83/B, 8280/B-, 79-76/C+, 75-73/C, 72-70/C-, 69-66/D+, 65-63/D, 62-60/D-, 59 and lower/F.
Please note that all assignments must be completed in order to pass the course. This
includes students taking the course pass/fail. Plagiarism, cheating, or submission of
another person’s work is cause, without exception, for a failing grade and expulsion from
the course.
Assignments:
Wiki:
There will be a wiki page associated with this course, the URL for which will be
https://art259-s14-hoy.wikspaces.umb.edu. I will post assignments, slide lists, and other
notifications on the wiki as the need arises.
Papers:
There will be one paper assigned in the course. It will be a 5-6 pp research paper
incorporating close analysis of an artist or artwork located in the Contemporary Wing of
the MFA. For this assignment, students will gather and assess readings and artworks
extending beyond the scope of assigned course materials. Assessment of this paper
assignment will be based on students’ ability to construct a clear, linear argument with a
specific thesis and supporting evidence for the initial claim. This paper will be of
appropriate length for submission for the Writing Proficiency Exam portfolio.
Late Papers:
Papers are due at the beginning of class on the day they are due. Late papers will
not be accepted. If you need an extension this must be worked out with me at least a week
in advance of the due date. Emailed papers will not be accepted without prior approval.
Exams:
Students will be required to take three exams over the course of the semester. The
format for all will be a bluebook exam, which will cover material from the readings, group
discussion, and selected works of art.
Please note that there will be no accommodations made for make-up exams. You
must be present in class on the day the exam is given to receive credit.
Reading:
Please come to class having read the assignment for that day. You should be
prepared to speak up about the reading—to offer your viewpoints and ask pertinent
questions. Recommended readings are not obligatory, but would help in adding to your
depth of understanding of the required course material if you should choose to read them.
In keeping with the Arts and Humanities general education requirements, this course
involves reading of textual sources that provide theoretical commentary on the works of
art studied in the class. Lectures will directly incorporate these textual sources and
demonstrate how to perform critical readings. Class discussions will allow students to
practice critical reading skills through close analysis of ideas contained within the reading.
Participation:
Attendance:
Attendance is a requirement for taking and passing this course. I will take
attendance at the beginning of each class. If you arrive after I finish taking attendance, you
will be marked tardy. Three tardies equal one absence, and more than 3 unexcused
absences during the semester will result in a failing grade for the participation portion of
your grade. If you choose to leave early from class without arranging it in advance with me,
you will be marked tardy.
Discussion:
Students are expected to come to class prepared to actively engage and speak up. I
encourage students to respond not just to me but also to each other. Treat this class as a
forum for group discussion and debate, as this will bring forth a greater depth and range of
questions and topics related to the artworks and texts at hand.
Each class meeting will include close analyses of the assigned texts and of artworks,
the latter of which will include both works supplied by me and works proposed for
discussion by students in the course. It is suggested that students supply, via email or
directly to me in class, links to projects pertinent to topics discussed in this course. In
accordance with the Arts and Humanities Distribution requirement, effective
communication will be developed in this course through the incorporation of class
discussion. This will work to develop students’ skills in communicating orally as well as in
written form.
Museum Visit:
During the course of the semester, students will have the opportunity to visit the
Museum of Fine Arts in Boston to see artworks related to the work we will discuss in class.
Seeing digitized reproductions of artworks on the screen is no match for seeing them in
person. Nuances that remain invisible in the slide format unfold when you observe the
artwork in its proper medium and context. For this reason, the museum visits are required
and will be factored into your participation grade.
A Note on Laptops and Cell Phones:
ALL cell phones must be kept in bags or out of sight during class. If you need to take
notes on something other than a laptop, please bring pen and paper. Laptops are to be used
for note-taking purposes only. If I notice web-surfing or other recreation taking place
during class I will be forced to ban laptops. While all of us engage in multi-tasking
behaviors, we simply do not learn as effectively if we are shopping, chatting, or browsing in
lecture.
Accommodations:
Section 504 of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 offers guidelines for
curriculum modifications and adaptations for students with documented disabilities. If
applicable, students may obtain adaptation recommendations from the Ross Center for
Disability Services, M-1-401, (617-287-7430). The student must present these
recommendations and discuss them with each professor within a reasonable period,
preferably by the end of Drop/Add period.
Student Conduct and Academic Honesty:
Students are required to adhere to the University Policy on Academic Standards and
Cheating, to the University Statement on Plagiarism and the Documentation of Written
Work, and to the Code of Student Conduct as delineated in the University Catalog and
Student Handbook. The Code is available online at:
http://www.umb.edu/life_on_campus/policies/code/. Violations of the code must be
reported to the Chair of the Art Department.
Writing Tutor:
Several tutorial programs are offered at UMass Boston for assistance with writing
skills. For information please visit Acadcemic Support Programs at
http://www.academicsupport.umb.edu/ or Student Support Services at
http://www.studentsupportservices.umb.edu/.
Schedule of Classes (Subject to Change at Professor’s Discretion):
Week I: Background
Monday, January 27
Intro, Hand Out Syllabus
Wednesday, January 29
Arnason: xiii-xxii
Friday, January 31
Arnason: xxiv-xxxi
Week II: Gestural Abstraction
Monday, February 3
Arnason: 377-384
Greenberg: “Modernist Painting”
Wednesday, February 5
Arnason: 386-391
Rosenberg: “The American Action Painters”
Friday, February 7
Selz and Stiles: 13-37
Week III: Color Field and Geometric Abstraction
Monday, February 10
Arnason: pp. 392-400
Selz and Stiles: 77-91, 100-120, 124-132
Wednesday, February 12
In Class Film: The Cool School
Friday, February 14
In Class Film: The Cool School
Week IV: Sculpture and Photography
Monday, February 17
NO CLASS: PRESIDENT’S DAY HOLIDAY
Wednesday, February 19
Arnason: 401-407
Selz and Stiles: 37-42, 601-602, 605-609
Friday, February 21
Arnason: 408-409, 442-443, 487, 526
Selz and Stiles: 790-791
Jeff Wall: “Frames of Reference”
Week V: Postwar European Art
Monday, February 24
Arnason: 411-422
Selz and Stiles: 210-211, 216-221
Wednesday, February 26
Arnason: 423-440
Selz and Stiles: 47-50, 54-56, 91-94, 243-245
Friday, February 28
Exam #1 Review Session
Week VI: Nouveau Réalisme, Fluxus, Situtationism
Monday, March 3
Exam #1
Wednesday, March 5
Arnason: 444-451
Selz and Stiles: 109-111, 327-329, 470-474, 614-623
Friday, March 7
Arnason: 452-454
Selz and Stiles: 800-803, 827-833, 848-851, 858-860
Week VII: Pop Culture and the 60’s
Monday, March 10
Arnason: 456-464
Selz and Stiles: 236-243, 325-327, 331-334, 343-47, 373-378, 388-390
Wednesday, March 12
Arnason: 466-487
Selz and Stiles: 385-388, 833-838, 390-396
Allan Kaprow: “Happenings in the New York Scene”
Friday, March 14
Arnason: 490-508
Selz and Stiles: 29-32, 133-136, 147-148, 453-454, 480-483, 647-648
Monday-Friday March 17-21
NO CLASS: SPRING BREAK!
Week VIII: Minimalism
Monday, March 24
Arnason: 510-526
Selz and Stiles: 128-131, 136-147, 149-150, 700-704, 688-689, 713-717
Wednesday, March 26
Michael Fried: “Art and Objecthood”
Friday, March 28
Rosalind Krauss: “LeWitt in Progress”
Selz and Stiles: 987-92
Week IX: Architecture, Conceptual, and Video Art
Monday, March 31
Arnason: 527-557
Wednesday, April 2
Arnason: 558-566
Selz and Stiles: 161-169, 680-682, 955-970, 976-985, 992-997, 1002-1003, 10191031, 1040-1044
Friday, April 4
Arnason: 567-568
Selz and Stiles: 450-466, 494-499, 501-525, 717-720
Week X: Performance and Feminist Art
Monday, April 7
Arnason: 558-586
Selz and Stiles: 799-820
Wednesday, April 9
NO CLASS: MFA Visit
Friday, April 11
Exam #2 Review Session
Week XI: Post-Minimalism, Earth Art, and the New Imagists
Monday, April 14
Exam #2
Wednesday, April 16
Arnason: 587-595, 606-627
Selz and Stiles: 253-260, 279-281, 694-696, 779-783, 775-779,
Friday, April 18
Arnason: 596-606
Robert Smithson: “Spiral Jetty,” “A Tour of the Monuments of Passaic,” “Cultural
Confinement”
Week XII: Postmodernism
Monday, April 21
NO CLASS: PATRIOT’S DAY
Wednesday, April 23
Arnason: 629-636
Selz and Stiles: 686-699
Friday, April 25
Arnason: 640-663
Selz and Stiles: 588-600
Week XIII: Painting
Monday, April 28
Arnason: 666-676
Selz and Stiles: 191-201, 67-69, 359-363, 277-279, 281-283, 290-291
Wednesday, April 30
Rosemary Hawker: “Idiom Post-medium: Richter Painting Photography”
Friday, May 2
Arnason: 680-692
Selz and Stiles: 67, 172-173, 266-272, 283-285, 339-340, 426-428, 432-435
NY Times Graffiti Articles
Week XIV: Art and Audience, Street Art
Monday, May 5
Arnason: 695-713
Selz and Stiles: 525-529, 663-665
Wednesday, May 7
In Class Film: Beautiful Losers
Friday, May 9
In Class Film: Beautiful Losers
Week XV: Globalization
Monday, May 12
Arnason: 729-759
Wednesday, May 14
Exam #3 Review Session
5-6 pp. paper due in class
Final Exam: TBA
Sample Assignment A: Verbal Reasoning, Critical Reading, Effective Communication
Art 310
Art Now
Fall 2011
Professor Hoy
ICA Response Paper
Assignment:
Due Thursday, October 13
2 pages, double spaced. 12 pt. Times New Roman, 1 inch margins.
Please attach your ticket stub from your museum visit
Any sources you use for additional information about this painting MUST BE CITED in
proper MLA or Chicago format.
To complete this assignment, please take a trip individually or in a group to the ICA Boston.
Thursday nights from 5 to 9 pm the museum offers free admission to the public.
Please select one or more works from either of the two exhibitions we will be touring as a
class: Eva Hesse: Studiowork or Swoon: Anthropocene Extinction. Consider how these works
relate to the issues we have been discussing concerning contemporary art. Some possible
questions to contemplate and address in your paper include: How do these works intersect
with or deviate from the modernist program of painting, as articulated by Greenberg? How
do they relate to and or extend the notion of “painting”? What is their relationship to the
notion of space—how do these works speak to or challenge the way that painting creates a
sense of spatiality? What are these works trying to accomplish—how do they redefine the
notion of the work of art as a unified, discrete object? What kinds of experience do these
works activate?
Before you start writing, use your preliminary answer to these questions, or a set of
questions of your own devising, to formulate a distinct thesis: that is, a claim for which you
must supply evidence and an argument to prove. In other words, your claim should not be
of “the sky is blue” or “Hesse’s work is interesting” variety. The former is a truism, while
the latter is too general and based on unfounded opinion to be of value to a potential
reader. You should point out not only that either Hesse’s or Swoon’s work is interesting,
but engage more specifically with the question of how these works use specific mechanisms
to advance their internal argument(s). Every artwork is making an implicit argument—it is
your job to define and interpret how and why this argument is being made. What is the
piece you have chosen trying to be “about,” and what devices does it use to telegraph what
it is “about” to a viewer?
Compose a 3-4 page essay that clearly states your claim and uses the body of the paper to
prove that claim. The conclusion need not reiterate what you have already written, but
should rather point to further conclusions or new ideas about these works and its larger
social, political or aesthetic implications to which your essay might lead.
Sample Assignment B: Verbal Reasoning, Critical Reading, Effective Communication
Art 310
Art Now
Fall 2011
Professor Hoy
Midterm Exam
Please answer all questions in your bluebooks. Be sure to cite relevant textual sources in
each of your answers.
1. Describe photoconceptualism. How does photoconceptualism demonstrate
principles of Conceptual art? How is it similar to or different from other instances of
Conceptual art? Name and discuss two practitioners of photoconceptualism and put
them in dialogue with one example of non-photographic Conceptual art.
2. How does Partially Buried Woodshed (1970) intersect with and deviate from the
notion of “sculpture” as it is traditionally understood? Name the term used by
Smithson to describe the condition of contemporary sculpture and explain how it
applies to this work. Name another example of contemporary sculpture that
embodies this phenomenon in a different way than PBW, and discuss this difference.
3. How are the properties of Minimalism expressed by Donald Judd’s Untitled (Stack)
(1967)? Identify and define at least three aspects of Minimalist art are deployed in
this sculpture. List two ways in which David Smith’s Cubi XVII (1963) is unlike
Minimalism, and thus how Minimalism deviates from high Modernist sculpture.
4. Explain how Barnett Newman’s Vir Heroicus Sublimis (1950-1) demonstrates the
conditions of a) Abstract Expressionism and b) the Sublime. Discuss the similarities
and differences between Newman’s approach to Abstract Expressionism and the
formal and conceptual strategies employed by two other Abstract Expressionist
painters.
Sample Assignment C: Verbal Reasoning, Critical Reading, Effective Communication
Art Now
Professor Hoy
Research Paper Assignment
6-8 pages
Double-spaced
Times New Roman
Due December 16, 2011
For this paper, please select a topic of your choosing that pertains to the study of
contemporary art. You may choose to conduct your research on a particular artist, artwork,
medium, theoretical idea, or a comparative study. You may cover a topic that we have
addressed in class, or you may select a topic in which you are interested that was not
within the focus of the course.
When you have selected your topic, please email me with a brief proposal stating
what your topic is to be, a preliminary thesis that you would like to argue, and a brief
bibliography of sources (5-6 sources) that you plan to read for your research. I will approve
your topic via email or suggest that you revise your topic before beginning your paper.
In framing this paper, you want to make sure that you are introducing a specific
claim that requires support to be proved. I am not looking for this paper to function as a
report on the life of an artist, for example, but to propose an idea you have about that
artist’s work and to follow up that idea in the form of a coherent, critically engaged
argument.
For your final paper, you must include a bibliography or works cited page that
includes three scholarly sources. Any additional non-scholarly sources you use must be
cited as well. All references must be properly cited in Chicago or MLA format.