Masterpieces of Western Art (Humanities W1121.003)
MW 8:40am–9:55am in Schermerhorn 608
Spring 2013
Kori Lisa Yee Litt
Email: kly2106@columbia.edu
Mailbox: 826 Schermerhorn
Office Hours: MW 10:00am–11:00am in the Stronach Center, Schermerhorn 8th Floor
COURSE SYLLABUS
Art Humanities a rigorous core curriculum class at Columbia University that offers students an
introduction to European and American art from antiquity to the present. The course is designed
not as a simple art history survey but rather a formative investigation into the ways in which
works of art intersect with issues of broader humanistic concern: while we will focus on
developing the basic tools of art historical analysis, we will also consider the ways in which
objects justify their cultural status, construct systems of value, and negotiate social and ethical
dilemmas. As you gain familiarity with the prescribed set of significant “masterpieces,” you will
also develop your own sense of intellectual responsibility in an environment that will prioritize
discussion, debate, and your own individual investment in the objects of study.
REQUIREMENTS
Attendance and Class Participation (25%). Because participation in classroom discussion is
an essential part of this course, it will count as a significant portion of your grade, and your
physical and mental attendance in every class is mandatory. Absences will be considered
excused in cases of illness, family emergencies, or religious observance if they are certified by a
Dean's note or a doctor's note. Unless the emergency or illness does not permit you to do so, you
are required to provide advance notice of absence, and you should complete a short writing
assignment to make up for each missed class. Any unexcused absences will result in the lowering
of your final grade by one-third of a letter grade. More than two unexcused absences will earn
you an F as your final grade.
Museum Visits. Individual and group museum visits are also an integral part of the course.
There will be one mandatory group visit to the cathedral church of St. John the Divine and one
mandatory visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. If you cannot attend the group trip, you
must visit the church or museum on your own and complete a writing assignment or presentation
to make up for the missed group trip. In addition to these group visits, each of the three
assignments will require an individual trip to a museum in the city.
Exams (35%). There will be one midterm (15%) and one final examination (20%). Each of the
exams may include the following: slide identifications, comparisons of two works of art, and
essay questions concerning the general themes covered in class and in the readings.
Assignments (40%). There will be two short papers (4-5 pages max) and one final project
assigned throughout the semester. The first written assignment (10%) will ask you to draw and
then formally analyze a Neo-Classical or Neo-Gothic building, while also considering the issue
of periodization and the biases that we associate with certain period styles today. The second
paper (15%) will ask you to take a stance on the attribution (and, in some cases, re-attribution) of
one Renaissance work, while also considering the role of connoisseurship and attribution in the
current art market. The final project (15%) will ask you to consider your definition of
modern/contemporary art, along with current museum practices, in your choice of a paper or a
one-on-one guided tour (with you as the guide).
All three of the assignments will involve an analysis of an original work of art located here in the
city. You will have between two and three weeks per paper to visit the object in person and
compose your essay.
Assignments will be due at the beginning of class on the day they are due. Unless you have made
other arrangements with me in advance, papers will be penalized by one-third of a letter grade
for each day they are late.
A short note about grading. I strongly believe that college courses should be designed to help
you develop your skills in a discipline, and I also understand that most—if not all—of you do not
have previous experience with this particular discipline. For those reasons, even though I will be
holding you to a high standard of academic art historical writing, you will have the option with
your first two papers to compose a 2-page response to my comments. All thoughtful responses
will result in the raising of that paper’s final grade by one-third of a letter grade.
A slightly longer note about plagiarism. For all three papers papers, you must cite all of your
sources, including internet sites. Plagiarism (using as one’s own work writing taken from books,
journals, internet sources, etc. without acknowledgement) is theft of intellectual property and a
serious offence with equally serious consequences. Plagiarism will lead to a student’s immediate
expulsion from class and an automatic F. Issues of plagiarism will be reported to the student’s
dean as a breach of the academic code of honor. It is your responsibility to avoid even
unintentional plagiarism.
READINGS
Required Readings. Each week you will find on the Courseworks Calendar a list of assigned
readings that you should be prepared to summarize and discuss for the next week’s class
meetings (usually around 20 pages per class meeting). All of the readings are already available in
.pdf form in the Files & Resources section of our Courseworks site. Please feel free to read
ahead, but do note that the assigned readings do not simply provide background information
about each topic; rather, they have been chosen in order to problematize and therefore enhance
your understanding of each subject. The readings will function as a central part of each day’s
discussion, so be sure to review each one prior to class if you do decide to read ahead. Also, if
you come to class having not prepared the readings, you will be marked as absent for the day.
Suggested Readings. The following books also provide useful introductions to the analysis and
interpretation of works of art. All four are available at Avery Library, and the first three are also
available at the Columbia University Bookstore:
Sylvan Barnet, A Short Guide to Writing About Art (Boston, 1981)
Stein Eiler Rasmussen, Experiencing Architecture (Cambridge, 1959)
Joshua C. Taylor, Learning to Look: A Handbook for the Visual Arts (Chicago, 1981)
James Pierce, From Abacus to Zeus: Handbook of Art History (Englewood Cliffs, 1977)
RESOURCES
Courseworks. All powerpoints, assignments, readings, and handouts used in class will be posted
on the Courseworks website: http://courseworks.columbia.edu/.
Art Hum Website. An online resource for Art Humanities has been designed by the Department
of Art History and Archaeology and the Media Center for Art History. This includes the general
course syllabus, a database of images, a glossary of terms, and other useful information. It can be
viewed at: http://www.learn.columbia.edu/arthumanities.
Username: ahar
Password: 826sch
Images. In addition to the image database on the Art Humanities website, there are a few other
helpful websites that you can use should you need to access images for presentations or papers.
ArtStor (http://www.artstor.org) is a rather comprehensive database, and it has the added benefit
of allowing you to create your own image portfolio for saving images. The Web Gallery of Art
(http://www.wga.hu) also contains a number of high quality images. Many museums (including
the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art) also have high quality images
of objects in their collections available on their websites. Links to these image resources can be
found on our Courseworks website under “Study Tools.” Note: If you use Google Images instead
of one of these resources, your image must be of good quality and you must be sure that you can
provide all of the relevant information for the image (artist, title, date, location, size, etc.).
Writing Center. While all three of your writing assignments require a critical eye and a keen
mind, writing about works of art also requires a clear understanding of the mechanics of
language. Students are therefore encouraged to make use of the Writing Center.
The Undergraduate Writing Program sponsors a writing center in 310 Philosophy Hall that offers
individual writing instruction and consultations to students enrolled in Columbia University
courses. I encourage you all to take advantage of this resource. You may use the Writing Center
at any stage in your writing process. The Writing Center is open Monday-Thursday from 10:00
am to 8:00 pm and Friday from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. You may walk in during open hours or
schedule an appointment online. For more information, please visit the Writing Center webpage
at: http://www.college.columbia.edu/core/uwp/writing-center/.
READINGS
Note: For the most part, each unit includes one day of primary source readings to give you some
additional historical/literary context for the topic and one day of more recent readings that relate
to a larger topic. These topics will provide the framework for many of our discussions and
debates, and each will ask you to question your own ethical stance on sensitive issues. If you
would like to do additional reading or conduct further research on any of the topics to feel better
prepared for the discussion, please feel free to do so.
PARTHENON I: PRIMARY SOURCES
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
Homer. The Iliad. Translated by Richmond Lattimore. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1951. Book XVIII, ll. 368–616.
Pliny the Elder. Natural History. Translated by K. Jex-Blake. Chicago: Argonaut, 1968.
Book XXXIV.VII–X; Book XXXIV.XIX; Book XXXV.V; Book XXXV.XXXIV–XXXVI.
PARTHENON II: REPATRIATION
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
Mary Beard. “Why the Parthenon Might Make You Cry.” In The Parthenon, 1–23.
London: Profile Books, 2002.
Michael Kimmelman. “Stolen Beauty: A Greek Urn’s Underworld.” New York Times,
July 08, 2009.
OLD ST. PETER’S: ICONOCLASM

Pope Gregory the Great. “The Proper Use of Images.” Reprinted in Early Medieval Art:
300–1150: Sources and Documents, compiled by Caecilia Davis-Weyer, 47–49. Toronto;
Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, 1986.
AMIENS I: PRIMARY SOURCES
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VERTICAL TOUR AT ST. JOHN THE DIVINE
The Holy Bible. Revised Standard Version. New York: New American Library, 1974.
Rev 1:1; 20:1–27; 21: 1–21.
Abbot Suger. 1140–44. Excerpts from On the Abbey Church of Saint-Denis, edited and
translated by Erwin Panofsky. Reprint, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1946.
Renaud de Cormont. “Inscription in the Labyrinth at Amiens.”
AMIENS II: SYMBOLISM/SEMIOTICS

Emile Mâle. “General Characteristics of Medieval Iconography.” In The Gothic Image:
Religious Art in France of the Thirteenth Century, 1–22. New York: Harper and Row,
1972.
AMIENS III: MEMORIALS

Amanda Fortini. “Pixelated Stain Glass.” New York Times, December 09, 2007.
DONATELLO: PRIMARY SOURCES
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
Giorgio Vasari. 1568. “Preface to Part II.” In Lives of the Most Eminent Painters,
Sculptors, and Architects, translated by Gaston DuC. DeVere, 57–66. Reprint, New
York: Modern Library, 2006.
Leon Battista Alberti. 1435. “Dedication,” “Book II,” and “Book III.” In Leon Battista
Alberti: On Painting, translated by Rocco Sinisgalli, 17–19; 44–73; 74–85. Reprint, New
York: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
LEONARDO: PRIMARY SOURCES
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Giorgio Vasari. 1568. “Preface to Part III.” In Lives of the Most Eminent Painters,
Sculptors, and Architects, 221–26. Translated by Gaston DuC. DeVere. Reprint, New
York: Modern Library, 2006.
Leonardo da Vinci, “The Science of Art.” In Leonardo on Painting: An Anthology of
Writings, edited by Martin Kemp, 13–20. New Haven; London: Yale University Press,
2001.
Leonardo da Vinci, “The Difference between Painting and Sculpture.” In Leonardo on
Painting: An Anthology of Writings, edited by Martin Kemp, 38–46. New Haven;
London: Yale University Press, 2001.
RAPHAEL: PRIMARY SOURCES

Giorgio Vasari. 1568. Excerpts from the “Life of Raphael of Urbino.” In Lives of the
Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, translated by Gaston DuC. DeVere.
Reprint, New York: Modern Library, 2006.
MICHELANGELO I: PRIMARY SOURCES
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
Giorgio Vasari. 1568. Excerpts from the “Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti.” In Lives of
the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, translated by Gaston DuC. DeVere.
Reprint, New York: Modern Library, 2006.
Michelangelo. Selected Poems from The Poetry of Michelangelo: An Annotated
Translation, edited by James M. Saslow. New Haven and London: Yale University Press,
1991.
MICHELANGELO II: CONSERVATION/RESTORATION
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Douglas McGill. “Sistine Chapel Restoration Stirs Up Controversy.” New York Times,
November 09, 1986.
Harriet Shapiro. “Art Historian James Beck Urges the Vatican to Clean Up Its Act, Not
Michelangelo's Frescoes.” People Magazine 27, no. 13 (30 March 1987): 69–74.
Art/History Musings Blog. “To Restore or Not to Restore: The Case of the Sistine
Chapel.” February 09, 2012. http://arthistorymusings.tumblr.com/page/5.
BRUEGEL I: PRIMARY SOURCES
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
Carel van Mander. 1604. “Pieter Bruegel of Bruegel.” In Dutch and Flemish Painters,
translated by Constant van de Wall, 153–57. Reprint, New York: McFarlane, Warde,
McFarlane, 1936.
Francisco de Hollanda. 1548. Excerpts from Four Dialogues on Painting, translated by
Aubrey F. G. Bell, 15–17. Reprint, London: Oxford University Press, 1928.
BRUEGEL II: ART THEFT
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
“Works by Monet, Brueghel Stolen from Museum.” Reuters, August 7, 2007; Elana
Schor. “Frenchman Pleads Guilty to Trying to Sell Stolen Monet and Brueghels.” The
Guardian, July 10, 2008.
Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen. “Restitutions: Restitution of a Floral Still-life
from the Workshop of Jan Brueghel the Elder by the Bayerische
Staatsgemäldesammlungen.” ress release, July 10, 2012.
REMBRANDT I: HISTORICAL FICTION

Video: Peter Greenaway. Nightwatching. Motion Picture. Netherlands: Nightwatching
Productions Inc., 2007. Accessible online: http://www.indiemoviesonline.com/watchmovies/nightwatching. Run Time: 134 min.
REMBRANDT II: ART MARKET
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
METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
Carlo Ginzburg. “Morelli, Freud, and Sherlock Holmes: Clues and Scientific Methods.”
History Workshop 9 (Spring 1980): 5–36.
Hubert von Sonnenburg. “Illusion and Deception.” In Rembrandt/Not Rembrandt in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art: Aspects of Connoisseurship, 2 vols., vol. 1, 3–9. New
York: Metropolitan Museum of Art; distributed by Harry N. Abrams, 1995.
BERNINI I: PRIMARY SOURCES
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
Ovid. Ca. 8 A.D. “Daphne.” In Metamorphoses, translated by David Raeburn, 28–33.
Reprint, London and New York: Penguin Books, 2004.
Saint Teresa of Avila. “Chapter XX” and Excerpt from “Chapter XXIX.” In The
Complete Works of Saint Teresa of Jesus, 3 vols., translated and edited by E. Allison
Peers, vol. 1, 119–30; 192–93. Reprint, London and New York: Sheed & Ward, 1946.
BERNINI II: PERIODIZATION

Heinrich Wőlfflin. 1932. Excerpts from The Principles Of Art History: The Problem of
the Development of Style in Later Art, translated by M. D. Hottinger. Reprint, New York:
Dover, 1950.
GOYA I: PRIMARY SOURCES
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Francisco Goya y Lucientes. “Address to the Royal Academy of San Fernando of
October 1792.” Reprinted in Goya in the Twilight of Enlightenment, by Janis A.
Tomlinson, 191–94. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992.
Francisco Goya y Lucientes. “Letters from Goya to Vice-Protector Bernardo de
Inarte, 1794.” Reprinted in Goya and His Critics, by Nigel Glendinning. New Haven:
Yale University Press, 1978.
Francisco Goya y Lucientes. “Advertisement for Los Caprichos, February 1799.”
Reprinted in Goya and His Critics, by Nigel Glendinning. New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1978.
GOYA II: VOYEURISM/IMAGES OF VIOLENCE

Susan Sontag. “Looking at War: Photography’s View of Devastation and Death.” The
New Yorker (09 December 2002): 82-98.
PRINTMAKING
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COLUMBIA RARE BOOK & MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY
Video: Artsmia. “Printmaking Processes: Relief.” June 23, 2008. Video clip, Youtube,
http://youtu.be/O0skLwaFpn0. Run Time: 4 min 33 sec.
Video: Artsmia. “Printmaking Processes: Intaglio.” June 24, 2008. Video clip, Youtube,
http://youtu.be/SNKn4PORGBI. Run Time: 8 min 14 sec.
MONET I: PRIMARY SOURCES
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Louis Emile Edmond Duranty. 1876. The New Painting: Concerning the Group of Artists
Exhibiting at the Durand-Ruel Galleries. Reprinted in The New Painting, Impressionism,
1874–1886, 37–49. San Francisco: Fine Arts Museums, 1986.
Louis Leroy. 1874. “Exhibition of the Impressionists.” Reprinted in The History of
Impressionism, by John Rewald, 318–24. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1973.
Charles Baudelaire. 1869. “Crowds.” In Paris Spleen: Little Poems in Prose, translated
by Martin Sorrell. Reprint, Richmond: Oneworld Classics, 2010.
MONET II: FORGERY

Euan Ferguson. “Making Monet.” The Guardian, July 15, 2006.
PICASSO I: PRIMARY SOURCES
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Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler. 1920. Excerpts from The Rise of Cubism, translated by
Henry Aronson, 10–12. Reprint, New York: Wittenborn, Schultz, 1949.
Picasso. “Picasso Speaks.” The Arts. New York (May 1923): 315–26. Reprinted in
Alfred H. Barr, Jr. Picasso: Fifty Years of His Art, 270–71. New York: The Museum of
Modern Art, 1946.
PICASSO II: MODERN ICONOCLASM


Simon Schama. “Rembrandt’s Ghost: Picasso Looks Back.” New Yorker, 26 March 2007.
KHOU.com Staff and Associated Press. “Suspect Charged with Defacing Priceless
Picasso Painting at Houston Museum.” KHOU News, June 22, 2012.
WRIGHT AND CORBUSIER: THE MODERN MUSEUM
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
Frank Lloyd Wright. “In the Cause of Architecture.” The Architectural Record 2, no. 3
(March 1908). Reprinted in In the Cause of Architecture, Frank Lloyd Wright: Essays,
edited by Frederick Gutheim, 53–63 (illustrations, 64–119). New York: McGraw-Hill,
1975.
Le Corbusier. “Eyes That Do Not See…Automobiles” and “Architecture: The Lesson
of Rome.” In Toward an Architecture, 2nd ed., translated by John Goodman, 177–212.
Reprint, Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2007.
POLLOCK: PRIMARY SOURCES AND THE END OF ART
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
Clement Greenberg. “Modernist Painting.” In Forum Lectures (Voice of America).
Washington, D. C.: U. S. Information Agency, 1960.
Noah Horowitz. “Your 4-Year-Old Can’t Do That.” The New York Times, June 11, 2011.
WARHOL: THE END OF ART HISTORY
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
Arthur Danto. “The Artworld.” The Journal of Philosophy 61 (1964): 571–84.
David Carrier. “Warhol, Danto, and the End of Art History.” ArtUS 26 (2009): 92-97.