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H495 - AP ART HISTORY 2012-13
FINE ARTS DEPARTMENT
Course Outline – Jean Thobaben
AP Art History is an upper school elective for students with an interest in either history
or art. Recognizing that art is a manifestation of a particular time and place and using the
textbook as an outline, the teacher uses visual aids to present significant works of art and
architecture from the pre-historic age through the current era. Emphasis will be giving to
introducing students to the vocabulary and language used to discuss works of art. Writing
assignment will be geared towards this end.
In addition to teacher-prepared web and PowerPoint presentations, the teacher utilizes
segments of several video productions including BBC's "Art of the Western World", Sister
Wendy's "The Story of Painting", and Robert Hughes "American Visions". The department
also has a large collection of large format art prints. The course utilizes traditional
pedagogical teaching methods with emphasis on class discussion. Regular quizzes and tests
are given and research project is completed during the spring term. Additionally, all course
materials including chapter and supplementary image galleries are available on-line
through the school website. Students enrolled in the course must do supplementary work in
the summer prior to the course and during the long vacation breaks.
The course is arranged chronologically with an emphasis on the western tradition. Since the
AP exam is 20% non-western art, much of this work will be studied outside of class with
self-study units. Students will complete writing assignments about specific art
examples in the presentations. The instructor will integrate these units into the
classroom work at appropriate times throughout the year.
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These units will be made available to students on-line. Additionally, the teacher
prepared Web and Power Point presentations will be accessible on-line. If a student
cannot access the Internet, CD copies of all presentations are available.
The unit on Primitive and Ethnographic Art, which includes African, PreColumbian, Oceanic and Native American Art, must be completed in the summer.
This work will be referenced into the first unit of the year, Prehistoric Art.
The unit on Islamic Art (including some Hindu and Mughal Art in India) to be
completed over the long break will be integrated with Medieval and Renaissance art.
The Asian Art unit examines ceramics, ink painting, printing and architecture is to
be completed over the spring break and will be references during our study of
Modern Art.
These “term homework” assignments will be posted well in advance of school breaks
so that students may choose to complete them in advance.
Students who fail to complete the supplemental units will immediately have their
course designation changed to regular Art History. The AP designation will be
removed from the transcript.
Optional textbook: A History of Western Art (4th Ed.) - Laurie Schneider AdamsISBN 0-07-282719-X
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H495 - AP ART HISTORY 2012-13
FINE ARTS DEPARTMENT
Course Outline – Jean Thobaben
 The teacher has adapted the course to an all-digital format. Students are not
required to purchase a textbook but are free to do so if they are more comfortable
with printed materials.
 The teacher has created many (virtual) image galleries accessible on the school
website. Each of the galleries includes LINKS to major museums around the world
and many of their online educational programs. Examples include the "Timeline to
Art History" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the "Compass" program at the
British Museum. MOMA, PMA and the National Gallery all have extensive online
programs on specific topics. Copies of most major art history textbooks are kept in
the classroom to reference and compare including:
o Marilyn Stokstad - Art History (2nd Edition)
o H.W. Janson - History of Art (revised 6th Ed.)
o Laurie Schneider Adams - Art Across Time (3rd). Ed.)
o Kleiner - Gardner's Art Through the Ages (11th Ed.)
 Other resources include a nice collection of large-sized art prints that include nonwestern art examples and are displayed in the classroom at appropriate times
throughout the school year. Also available are several Video/CD presentations
including "Great Tales in Asian Art", and "Maria the Potter", and the "Living
Treasures of Japan" among others. Time does not permit the viewing of all the
resources available but students are welcome to borrow from the collection at any
time.
Goals:
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The student will think and write about art and architecture using descriptive
criticism.
The student will be able to identify artistic styles and historical periods.
The student will begin to recognize personal, regional and geographic styles.
The student will discuss artistic paradigms and iconic images from around the world.
The student will see artworks and architecture as a manifestation of culture in a
particular time and place.
The student will recognize the role of art and architecture within culture and
understand the social and political implications of these works.
The student will gain an artistic vocabulary and improve ability to talk and write
about art.
The student will master the writing of descriptive criticism through both homework
and in-class assignments.
The student will be able to make "connections" between art and other course work
especially in the humanities.
The student will complete a web-based research project and presentation.
The student should gain an appreciation and comfort level in visiting art museums
and art galleries.
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H495 - AP ART HISTORY 2012-13
FINE ARTS DEPARTMENT
Assessment:
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Course Outline – Jean Thobaben
Students will be evaluated through a series of graded, objective, vocabulary and
knowledge-based quizzes. These will include image identification.
Students will be evaluated through Chapter Tests, which combine objective and
subjective (essay style) questions. AP tests will include questions from previous AP
exams to familiarize students with the formats used in those exams.
Students submit a written homework each week. This will be a 300 word descriptive
writing about a specific work of art.
(These must be collected in the course notebook (below).
Students will be evaluated informally through participation in class discussions,
alertness and class preparation.
Students will receive a project grade on the research paper during spring.
Alphabetic grades will be recorded by the teacher and reported to the studies office
each marking period.
Students must maintain a course notebook (3 ring binder) including all study
packets, weekly homework, quizzes and tests.
Students will participate in the AP Art History examination on the assigned date.
(The exam takes place annually, usually the second week of May on a date set by the
College Board.
Summer - Self-Study Units:
Primitive and Ethnographic Art -Accessible On-line
The teacher will provide students with web-based activities for this unit. Some concepts
that will be addressed in this unit include:
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The role of technology in art production.
The role of the artist in different cultures
The role of art in religious rites and ceremonies
*Note: Our academic calendar is shorter than many schools due to our long vacation
breaks. It is imperative that we use every minute of every class in a productive way.
Students who miss school due to illness, athletics or inclement weather are
responsible for all assignments at the next class attended.
All the daily lessons are available on the course website.
Extensions will not be granted unless arrangements are made in advance.
STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS
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Read assigned materials. Do not wait until the night before a test.
Complete assignments in a serious and thoughtful manner.
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H495 - AP ART HISTORY 2012-13
FINE ARTS DEPARTMENT
Course Outline – Jean Thobaben
 If you copy someone else work you have done yourself a disservice. The very act of
looking something up and writing it down helps to imprint that knowledge into your
long-term memory.
 Do not wait until the last week of vacation to begin the work. Do the work in smaller
periods throughout the summer or vacation break.
The Course Notebook will be checked periodically.
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It should contain your:
o Course outline
o Weekly homework
o Daily class notes, and all quizzes and tests
The notebook will provide you with an easy study guide prior to the AP exam. It will
also be an excellent reference for those of you who plan to take art history in college.
Web Access- Most of my daily presentations are accessible on my faculty website. I will
also be posting some resources on the school’s internal servers. These will be available to
my students on any school computer. Day students are permitted to copy these file to a
flash drive for home use. Additional links and resources will be accessible online.
Homework:
 Critical writing is an important part of success in the class.
 AP students will submit a weekly homework assignment every Monday unless
otherwise posted.
 Templates for the individual home-works will be posted in advance on the classroom
webpage.
 Late homework will lose points!
Museum Visits - The class will culminate in a full day at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
in May, after the AP exam. Unfortunately, our tight schedule does not allow for us to miss
class to visit museums.
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The art teachers will schedule some weekend museum visits as part of the Weekend
Activities Program. I recommend that you sign up for these when they are offered.
Virtual Museums - Every major museum in the world has a website and most
display collections on the web. Bookmark the links to these museums and visit in
your spare time.
When you are home during the summer and vacations, visit a museum or an art
gallery close to you. Try the closest university. Many of them have varied and
interesting collections.
On the following pages you will find a chart labeled Trimesters-at-a-glance.
I recommend you print the chart and post it by your desk or workspace for easy reference.
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FINE ARTS DEPARTMENT
H495 - AP ART HISTORY 2012-13
Course Outline – Jean Thobaben
TRIMESTERS-AT-A-GLANCE
Students may expect at least one quiz and one test each marking period throughout the year.
 Students in the AP course are required to submit a written homework assignment every week.
FALL TERM - Bring your Summer Study Homework the first class or submit electronically.
Summer homework assignments will be reflected in your “project grade” on your term grade report.
1st Cycle- September -October
Specific artworks and topics include:
Wk 1
C 3 - Prehistoric - Lascaux caves, Venus of Willendorf, Stonehenge Refer to Australian cave art,
"primitive" sculpture examples
Homework 1- Hall of Running Bulls –Lascaux – We will do this together as practice throughout the week.
Please download the homework template from the class webpage. Submit it with next week’s homework.
Wk 2
C 4 - Ancient Near East - Jericho heads, conventions of art, cuneiform, cylinder seals, ziggurats,
praying statues, stele, Persepolis Refer- architecture Pre-Columbian Begin C 5 Egypt - Dynasties,
gods, Palette of Narmer, stepped pyramid Zoser, pyramids Giza, Great Sphinx,
Homework 2 - Due Sept 10
Wk 3
C 5- Egypt - Egyptian art conventions, hypostyle halls, temple Hatchepsut, Book of the Dead,
C 6 Aegean- Amara variations, Tut's tomb. Cycladic figures, palace at Knossos, bull fresco, snake
goddess.
Homework 3 - Due Sept 17
Wk 4
C7- The Greek "ideal", pottery, New York Kouros, Peplos Kore, Kritian boy, Rice bronzes, works of
Polyklitos and Praxiteles.- Late sculpture- Boxer and Loacoon. Architecture - Doric, Ionic and
Corinthian orders, Athenian acropolis, Zeus altar from Pergamon, Discuss ideas of beauty- Greek
vs. non-Western
Homework 4 - Due Sept 24
All homework is due on Monday unless otherwise specified.
Wk 5
C 8 - Etruscan - Apollo temple, Capitoline wolf, Apollo from Veii, funerary urns, sarcophagi and
4 days tomb painting. Begin C 9 - Rome
Wk 6
Homework 5 - Due Oct 2
C 9 – Rome- Architectural forms, Roman forum, Trajan markets, Coliseum and basilicas, Pantheon,
Trajan's column, triumphal arches, portrait busts, equestrian statues, Pompeii murals C10-Early
Christian- Sarcophagi, art in the catacombs,
2nd Cycle - October - November
Homework 6 - Due Oct.8
C10 – Byzantine- examples of basilicas and central plan churches, Ravenna mosaics- San Vitale,
Hagia Sophia, architectural forms, early manuscripts. (Iconoclasts and Islamic taboos on images)
Homework 7 – Due Oct 15
Wk 8
C 11- Early Medieval Great Mosque- Cordoba, Sutton Hoo purse cover, manuscripts - Durrow,
Kells, Carolignian examples, abbeys and monasteries C12 Begin Romanesque - Stavelot Triptych,
Sainte Foy and Autun Cathedrals, vaulting and tympanums.
Homework 8-– Due O 22
Wk 9
C12 – Romanesque- Alhambra and Granada, Later manuscripts, mural Painting and the Bayeux
Tapestry, Examine Islamic and Judaic manuscripts. Begin C 13 Gothic- Architectural forms, St.
Denis,
Plan Ahead: Preview the Self-study Unit on Islamic Art before the end of the fall term. Students may use
the Trimester (Thanksgiving) Break at the end of the Fall term OR the longer Winter Break to complete the
assignment. Consider your travel plans when managing your time. In either case the Homework is due
when you return to campus –January 3.2012.
Wk 7
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FINE ARTS DEPARTMENT
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Wk 12
1 day
H495 - AP ART HISTORY 2012-13
Course Outline – Jean Thobaben
Homework 9- Due Oct 29
C13- Gothic - Chartres, architectural sculpture, stained glass windows, Gothic variation, Rayonnet
style, fan vaulting in England.
Homework 10 – Due Nov 5
C14- Proto Renaissance - Sienna- Cimabue, Duccio and Giotto, Arena Chapel, Lorenzetti's
Allegory of Good and Bad Government, Sculpture - Sluter and Remenschneider, the spread of the
International Gothic Style.
No Homework due this week.
Review for Exam- Chapters 3-14 (Exam may include some “primitive questions)
Exams- 4 Days You may want to begin your Winter Break homework assignment early.
You can work on it during Thanksgiving break as well!
WINTER TERM
1st Cycle – November - December – January
Wk 1
4 days
Wk 2
Wk 3
Homework 11 - Due Tuesday, Nov. 27
C15 - Early Renaissance - Humanism, Vasari's Lives, Brunelleschi-Cathedral of Florence, GhibertiGates of Paradise, Mantegna-Dead Christ, Albert's Window, Ucello and della Francescaperspective, Donatello- David, World- exploration, cross cultural influences. Fra Angelico and
Botticelli, Campin-Merode Altarpiece, Van Eyck- Ghent altar and Arnolfini Marriage, Rogier van
der Weyden
Homework 12 - Due Dec 3
C16- High Renaissance in Italy- Bramante- Tempietto, St. Peter's Cathedral, several works each
by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo, Venetian art - Bellini, Titian and Giorgione.
Homework 13 - Due Dec 10
C17- Mannerism - Reformation and Counter-Reformation, Pontormo, Parmigiano, Bronzino and
Veronese, Cellini's Salt Cellar, Sculpture-Giambologna, Tintoretto and ElGreco, ArchitecturePalladio's Villa Rotunda and San Giorgio Maggiore
Homework -14- Compare two paintings- Any two artists from the chapter – Due D 17
C17 finish Mannerism
Wk 4
3 days
LONG HOLIDAY BREAK – Submit Islamic Term Homework the first day back or submit electronically
Wk 5
Wk 6
No weekly homework due Jan 7
C18- North Renaissance- Netherlands-Bosch and Brueghel, Germany -Durer, Grunewald,
Cranach, Printmaking, Holbein's portraits, Printmaking in Asia and Northern Europe
Homework 15 - Due Jan 14
C19- Baroque- Architecture -St. Peter's, San Carlo alle Quattro, Louvre, Versailles, St. Paul's,
Sculpture- Bernini, Painting- Caravaggio and Gentileschi,
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H495 - AP ART HISTORY 2012-13
FINE ARTS DEPARTMENT
2nd Cycle – January - February
Wk 7
Wk 8
Wk 9
Course Outline – Jean Thobaben
Homework 16 – Due Jan 21
C 19 Baroque- Rubens and Rembrandt, Vermeer and the Little Masters, Velasquez, Poisson,
Claude Lorain, Royal Academy,
Homework 17 - Due Jan 28
C20- Rococo - Enlightenment, Watteau and Fragonard, Hogarth, Rococo Architecture, Revival
Architecture (includes pagodas and onion domes), and Bourgeois Realism-Chardin.
Homework 18 – Discuss an example of Bourgeois Realism (Chardin) Due Feb 5
C 20/21 - Neoclassicism, and Early American Art - Copley and West
Homework 19 –Due Feb 11
C 21 Neo-Classicism - Politics- J.L.David, Ingres, Sculpture- Canova and Houdon, Napoleon's
monuments, Neoclassicism in America, Jeffersonian architecture, Horatio Greenough's statue of
Washington. European interest in Asian Art
Homework 20 - Choose an American Neoclassical building. Discuss European influences- Due Feb 18
Preview the Spring Term Homework – Get an early start to avoid work over the long break!
Wk 11
C 22 Romanticism - trends in architecture, (music and poetry-the "sublime") Sculpture - Rude,
Blake, Gericault, Delacroix, Goya, Caspar David Friedrich, England- Constable and Turner and
American Romantics - America- Hudson River School, primitive art- Hicks, Interest in the exoticnon-Western influences and themes.
Homework 21 – (your choice) from European Romanticism – Due F 25
Wk 12
C23-24- Realism and Impressionism - Barbizon school, Millet, Courbet, Bonheur, Daumier's
4 days
cartoons, early photography, American realism -Eakins, Tanner- transition- Manet, architecture iron and steel -Roebling, Eiffel, Sullivan -Renoir, Degas, Cassatt, Morisot, Monet, sculptureRodin, America- Homer, Sargent, Whistler, Art Deco- and Chinoserie
Don’t forget the Spring Term Homework (Asian Art) posted on the class webpage.
Wk 10
Have a great Vacation
SPRING TERM
1st Cycle –March - April
Bring your Asian Term homework to class or submit electronically. No weekly homework due March 18th
Wk 1
C 25 – Post Impressionism- Influence of 7ukiyo-e, Lautrec and the poster, Cezanne-planes,
Seurat-pointillism, Van Gogh’s brushwork, Gauguin and Polynesia, C 26- early Modern – Munch
4 days
and Rousseau, early Picasso and Matisse, German Expressionists - Die Brucke,Der Blau Reiter
Homework 22 – Due March 25
Wk 2
C 26 – Early 20th century- Early Picasso, Fauvism and Expressionism
Homework 24 – AP Practice Essay – TBA – Due April 1 – Not a joke!
Wk 3
27- 20th Century Isms- Picasso, Braque and Cubism, analytic and synthetic, Guernica, Futurism,
Mondrian and De Stijl, The Armory Show, Brancusi, Influence on America, Dada and Surrealism,
Man Ray, Dali, Magritte, Miro. Sculpture- Ernst, Giacometti, Moore and Calder, Interest in
African and Primitive art forms.
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FINE ARTS DEPARTMENT
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Wk 5
H495 - AP ART HISTORY 2012-13
Course Outline – Jean Thobaben
Homework 25 – AP Practice Essay – TBA – Due April 8
C 27-28 Modern Architecture-Frank Lloyd Wright and the Bauhaus, International Style
American Trends- Social realism, Hopper, Wood, Mexico-Rivera, Kahlo, Abstraction, O'Keefe,
Pelton, Hofmann and Albers
Homework 25 – AP Practice Essay – TBA – Due April 15
C 29 Mid century experimentation, Abstract Expressionism and the New York School, action
painting, Color Field Painting, sculpture- Noguchi, Smith and Nevelson,
2nd Cycle – April – May
Wk 6
Wk 7
Homework 25 – AP Practice Essay – TBA – Due April 22
C 30 -Late 20th Pop-Johns, Rauschenberg, Warhol, Lichtenstein, Oldenberg, Op- Reilly and
Vasarely, Minimalism- Judd, Flavin, Agnes Martin, New realism- Close, Hanson, Mueck, How has
the Global Village impacted Art? Does geography still matter? C 31 – Contemporary trends,
installation art, postmodern architecture
Homework 25 – AP Practice Essay – TBA – Due April 29 - Last Weekly Homework!
AP Exam- Tuesday May 7, 2013
Assemble small groups for web based research project- Choose topics- make assignments.
Seniors must work together because of end-of-year conflicts. Although some students may miss
class due to AP exams – groups will continue to research their presentations.
May 13-16
Wk 8
Continue work on Presentations. Museum Trip?
May 20-24 – Seniors Graduate!
Wk 9
Assemble and finish presentations. Seniors must present and upload projects to the web
May 27-31 Wrap-up and Exams
Wk 10
Wrap Up – Present and upload projects to the web
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