Icons
Fine Arts 92
Spring 2000
Samuel C. Morse
Fay 109 (x2282)
The Course
The course will examine the role of icons in various religious traditions. The primary focus will be on the way icons are constructed and used in the Buddhist and Hindu faiths; however, we will also draw comparisons with their role in Christianity and the religions of Africa and New Guinea. Some of the topics to be covered include the relationship between icons and deities, the ways in which icons are authenticated and animated, connections between icons and power, the place of icons in ritual, and aniconism and iconoclasm.
The class will meet Monday afternoons from 2:00--4:00 in Fayerweather 202-3. There will be two field trips: a visit to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston to look at their extensive collection of Asian sculpture and a visit to the Harvard University Art
Museums to look at Chinese and Japanese Buddhist sculpture with Professor Asai
Kazuharu of Aoyama Gakuen University.
Books
The following texts have been ordered from the Jeffery Amherst College Store on South
Pleasant Street. All other readings can be found on reserve in Frost Library.
Freedberg, David. The Power of Images . Chicago: Chicago University Press,
1989.
Eck, Diana. Dar an. Chambersburg, PA: Anima, 1981.

Requirements
There will be five writing assignments and an in-class presentation modeled after a
College Art Association panel. Two assignments are fomal comparisons of works of art that we will view on our field trips, two will be responses to the readings to foster inclass discussion and to force you to reflect on some of the ideas that we will be developing in class. The last two assignments will allow you to focus on a topic of your choice. You will be responsible for critiquing each others papers as well as responding to the class presentations. All assignments must be typewritten.
1) A preliminary discussion on the nature of icons in response to some of the readings, 3-4 pages, due February 7.
2) A formal comparison of two works in the collection of the Museum of Fine
Arts, four to five pages, due February 28.
3) A reconsideration of the nature of icons in response to some of the ideas developed in class, 3-4 pages, due March 20
1) A formal comparison of two works in the collection of the Harvard
University Art Museums, due April 10
5) A final paper and in-class presentation. An outline of the presentation, due April 17; a fifteen-minute presentation, on April 24 or May 1; and a twelve to fifteen page research paper based on the in-class presentation, due the first day of exam period.

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----. “Facing the Unseen–On the Interior Adornment of Eizon’s Iconic Body.” Archives of Asian Art , no. 50 (1997-1998), pp. 42-61.
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February 14
February 21
February 28
March 6
March 20
March 27
April 3
January 24
January 31
February 7
February 10
Lecture Schedule
Introduction
Methodologies –Icon/Image and Art
Methodologies –Icon/Image and Deity
Guest Lecture –Professor Bernard Faure, Stanford
University. “The Dark Side of Medieval Japanese Buddhism.”
Image and Ritual –Hinduism
Field Trip –Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Image and Ritual –Buddhism
Consecration
Icon/Image and Authority
Guest Lecture
–Professor Richard Davis, Bard College.
Tipu’s Tiger and Its Communities of Response.”
Live Images

April 10
April 17
April 24
May 1
Field Trip –Harvard University Art Museums
Image/Icon and Efficacy
Student Presentations
Student Presentations