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Art 1012: Art History Survey
**SHORT SCHEDULE**
Fall 2012
Description of the Art History Survey: This course presents a general global view of art
history through slide lectures, video resources and museum visits. It selectively surveys
the visual arts from the c. 1300 AD to the present covering concurrent historical periods in
Europe, Asia (India, China, Japan), Africa, and the Americas.
Learning Objectives
Students will:
 Gain a broad understanding of the historical development of the visual arts from c.1300AD
to the present through a wide range of cultural artifacts.
 Build a basic art history vocabulary, and conduct "close looking" formal and contextual
analysis by engaging with a variety of works of art and cultural artifacts using that
vocabulary.
 Format and structure an Art History response paper after a museum visit,
and expand this into a longer non-research essay.
 Discuss works of art and cultural artifacts in their appropriate contexts: aesthetic, historical,
archaeological, philosophical, social, economic, political, etc.
 Demonstrate an ability to critically analyze a variety of texts in order to complete class
assignments, and develop close analysis skills of text and objects in conjunction with
each other.
Textbook:
Required readings are listed in the syllabus and will be expected to be undertaken weekly. They
will be posted to Bboard at the start of the course.
The scanned readings are mainly sourced from Neil MacGregor’s A History of the World in
100 Objects, and Hal Foster, Rosalind Krauss, Yve-Alain Bois, Benjamin H. D. Buchloh, et al.
Art Since 1900. You do not need to buy these books unless you wish to. All materials will be
available on Bboard within the first week of the semester.
COURSE CALENDAR
Course Span: Early Renaissance (c. 14th Century AD) – Present (21st Century AD)
Homework: be prepared to undertake approx. 1-1.5hrs hour of homework per
week.
I will indicate particular areas of reading focus below in the course syllabus that you will
undertake for homework. Sometimes instead of reading, I will assign films that you can
watch online.
As we move though the course, we will have in-class quizzes, a mid-term, and a final. If
you are present in class and do the homework, these exams should come as no surprise to
you. They will help you summarize your learning as we move through the course.
The museum visits are a chance to enjoy object-based learning outside the confines of the
classroom, and they take advantage of great NYC collections.
Section: Early Modern Art
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Week 1
Readings for this week: Michael Baxandall, Painting and Experience in Fifteenth Century Italy,
pp. 1-27. For background, Stokstad Chapters 17 & 19.
 Tues Aug 27
Focus: Introduction to the course
 Thurs Aug 29
Focus: Italian Renaissance in the 14th and 15th Centuries
Week 2
Readings for this week: MacGregor #75 (“Dürer's 'Rhinoceros, Germany'”). For background,
Stokstad Chapters 18.
 Tues Sept 4
Focus: NO CLASS (INSTRUCTOR AWAY)
 Thurs Sept 6
Focus: Northern European Renaissance in the 15th Century
Week 3
Readings for this week: Read MacGregor #85 (“Reformation centenary broadsheet, Germany”).
For Background, Stokstad, Chapters 20 & 21.
 Tues Sept 11
Focus: The High Renaissance in Europe in the 16th Century (Reformation & Counter-Reformation)
 Thurs Sept 13
Focus: Metropolitan Museum Visit (Choose essay topic. Short 1-2 page visual analysis due next
class – Sept 20)
Section: Revolution and Conquest
Week 4
Readings for this week: Watch Simon Schama on Bernini from The Power of Art BBC series
(see Bboard for online link to video, 1 hr duration). For background, Stokstad Chapter 22. Tues
Sept 18
NO CLASS
 Thurs Sept 20
Focus: European Baroque in the 17th Century
 Writing Center Visit
 Formal Analysis Paper Due
Week 5
Readings for this week: Watch Simon Schama on David from The Power of Art BBC series (see
Bboard for online link to video, 1 hr duration). For background, Stokstad Chapter 29 (first half).
Revise for your in-class quiz.
 Tues Sept 25
NO CLASS
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Thurs Sept 27
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Focus: Rococo to Revolution in Continental Europe in the 18th Century (Fragonard, David)
 QUIZ 1
Week 6
Readings for this week: MacGregor #63 (“Ife Head, Nigeria”), #77 (“Benin plaque: the oba with
Europeans, Nigeria”), #69 (“Sculpture of Tlazolteotl”), and #78 (“Double-headed serpent, Mexico”).
For background, read Stokstad Chapters 26 & 28.
 Tues Oct 2
Focus: African Art in the Modern Era (Film)
 Thurs Oct 4
Focus: Aztec and Native American Art of the Americas, 14th – 19th Century
 Essay Thesis workshop
Week 7
Readings for this week: MacGregor #70 (Hoa Hakananai'a, Easter Island). For background, read
Stokstad Chapter 27.
 Tues Oct 9
Focus: Art of the Pacific Cultures
 Thurs Oct 11
Focus: Exam Revision Class
Week 8
Readings for this week: MacGregor #82 (“Miniature of a Mughal prince”) and #83 (“Shadow
puppet of Bima, Java”). For background, read Stokstad Chapter 23.
 Tues Oct 16
Focus: MID TERM EXAM
 Thurs Oct 18
Focus: South East Asian Art (Rubin Museum Visit)
Section: Art & Modern Life
Week 9
Readings for this week: MacGregor #64 (“The David Vases, China”), #72 (“ Ming banknote,
China”) and #93 (Hokusai's 'The Great Wave', Japan”). For background, read Stokstad Chapters
24 & 25.
 Tues Oct 23
Focus: East Asian Art
 Thurs Oct 25
Focus: The 18th Century in Britain and the USA: The Enlightenment and Revolution (Hogarth,
Derby, Jefferson). Watch: Jefferson’s World: Monticello
Week 10
Readings for this week: For background, read Stokstad Chapters 29 (second half) & 30 (first
half).
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 Tues Oct 30
Focus: Romanticism and Realism, the Salon and the Academy
 Thurs Nov 1
Focus: European Art: 19th Century European Art: Watch “Manet: The Man Who Invented Modern
Art” narrated by critic Waldemar Januszczak
Section: 20th Century Art and Architecture
Week 11
Readings for this week: Watch PBS “Art of the Western World” series, episode A Fresh View:
Impressionism and Postimpressionism: Manet, Monet, Degas, Renoir, Van Gogh. For background,
read Stokstad Chapter 30 (second half).
 Tues Nov 6
Focus: Impressionism and Post-Impressionism
 Thurs Nov 8
Focus: Late 19th Century European Art & the Rise of Photography
Week 12
Readings for this week: Read Art Since 1900 ‘years’ 1909 (Futurism), 1910 (Fauvism & Salon
d’Automne), 1911 & 1912 (Cubism), 1916a (Dada), & 1924 (André Breton). For background, read
Stokstad Chapter 31
 Tues Nov 13
Focus: European Avant-Gardes 1900-1918: Cubism, Futurism, Expressionism
 Thurs Nov 15
Focus: European Avant-Gardes 1918-1923: Dada, Surrealism
Week 13
Readings for this week: Read Art Since 1900 ‘years’ 1917b (De Stijl) & 1923 (The Bauhaus). For
background, read Stokstad Chapter 31
 Tues Nov 20
Focus: 1920s & 30s: The Bauhaus and the International Style in Europe (Constructivism, De Stijl)
 FINAL PAPER DUE
 Thurs Nov 22
NO CLASS - THANKSGIVING
Week 14
Readings for this week: Read Art Since 1900 ‘years’ 1933 (Mexican mural movement), 1936
(New Deal, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange), 1949a (Jackson Pollock) & 1964a (Joseph Beuys).
For background, read Stokstad Chapter 32
 Tues Nov 27
Focus: Mid-Century Art & Architecture in America: Skyscrapers, FL Wright, Jackson Pollock
 Thurs Nov 29
Focus: Post-war Art & Architecture in Europe and America: Beuys, Pop Art, Rebuilding
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 QUIZ 2
Week 15
Readings for this week: Read Art Since 1900 ‘years’1972a (Marcel Broodthaers installs his
“Musée d’Art Moderne, Département des Aigles”), 1974 (Trans-fixed, in which Chris Burden is
nailed to a Volkswagen Beetle), 1975 (feminist artists Judy Chicago and Mary Kelly), 1984b
(Fredric Jameson publishes “Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism”). For
background, read Stokstad Chapter 32.
 Tues Dec 4
Focus: The Post-war “isms”: Minimalism, Conceptualism, Feminism
 Thurs Dec 6
Focus: Postmodernism & Performance: Art & Architecture
In-class Video: “Damned in the USA” & discussion on censorship in the visual arts
Week 16
Readings for this week: none, revise for final exam.
 Tues Dec 11
Focus: Exam Revision
Final Exam (date on Baruch Exam calendar)
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