Syllabus for AP Art History
Art History: Fine Arts elective. Open to all students in grades 11 and 12. Tenthgrade students will be considered with prior approval. This is a yearlong course,
and all students will be required to take the AP examination in May.
The art history course offers a chronological survey of Western art from the dawn
of civilization to the present time, including the most modern trends and ideas in the
world of art. Although there is an effort to involve students with images and ideas
that are outside of the Western tradition, the main context in which these images are
discussed is Western. The course combines proper historical techniques and
procedures with an emphasis on the unique position and role played by both the
artist and the work of art, its context, and the critic. Special attention is given to our
interpretation of a work of art based upon its intended use, audience, and role in a
particular society. As a survey course, the material is approached as an
introduction to the discipline. Two goals of the course are to encourage the student
to pursue further study in college as well as become versed in the visual language of
art. (C2)
Below is a week-by-week description of the course content. (C1) Although the
major emphasis is on art from the Western tradition, I always try to incorporate art
from beyond the European tradition in class each week. Approximately twenty
percent of the course will be dedicated to non-Western art as is evidenced in the
third column below. (C3)
Course Curriculum (General Overview):
Periods of Art
Discussed in
Class
Week Pre-Historic Art
1
Week The Ancient
2
Middle East
MesopotamiaSumerian Art
Egyptian Old
and New
KingdomSculpture/Relief
Week Egyptian Old
Concepts/Skills Introduced





Examples from NonWestern Art

Indigenous Art of
the American
Indian



Art, Art History, Culture
Where does art come from?
What does art do?
Ways of looking at art.
Strategies for analyzing
sculpture
Conventions/Canons
Basic Sculpture Techniques
Nkisi figure
(Kongo)
Kofun Haniwa
figures (Japan)

Basic Architectural


Shang Dynasty-
3
Week
4
Week
5
Week
6
Week
7
Week
8
and New
KingdomArchitecture
and Painting
Assyrian and
Persian Art
Proto-Greek
Art-Cycladic,
Minoan,
Mycenaean
Kamares
Pottery
Greek
SculptureArchaic through
Hellenistic
Greek
ArchitectureArchaic and
Classical
Periods
Greek Painting:
Ceramics
Hellenistic
Greece:
Architecture
and Sculpture
Roman
Republican and
ImperialArchitecture
and Sculpture
Roman Wall
Painting
Early Christian
and Byzantine
ArtArchitecture,
Sculpture, and
Mosaics
Week Northern
9
European ArtViking,
Hiberno-Saxon
Art


Terminology
Piece-Mold Techniques
Bronzes and
Neolithic
Ceramics
Elements of Design-Shape,
Pattern, Motif
Basic Ceramic Techniques
Strategies of Abstraction


Conventions of Representing
the Human Figure
Orders of Architecture
Comparative AnalysisStrategies


Indian Buddhist
ArchitectureStupa at Sanchi

Elements of Art: Line and
Contour
Strategies of Analyzing
Archtecture
Idealism vs. Expressionism



Appropriation/Propaganda
Roman Building Technology
Fresco Technique/Illusionism

Mesoamerican
Art: Teotihuacan
Chinese Painting

Contextualizing Art: Power
and Authority
Space and Light in
Architecture

Islamic
ArchitectureDom
e of the Rock,
Mosque of
Cordoba
Organic vs. Geometric
Illuminated manuscripts
Techniques

Islamic
Manuscripts
Indian Hindu
Rock-Cut
Temples at Ellora
















Inuit Art-Carving
Nok HeadNigeria
Olmec-Ceramic
Figurines
Qin Dynasty
Warriors-Shi
Huangdi
Indian Art: Hindu
Temple
Visvanatha
Temple
Carolingian and
Ottonian Art
Week Romanesque
10
Sculpture and
Architecture
Late Medieval
Manuscripts
Week French Gothic
11
Architecture
Gothic
Sculpture
English and
Italian Gothic
Week International
12
Gothic Style
Painting


Shinto Shrine,
Ise, Japan

Medieval Europe-Crusades,
Pilgrimages, Cult of Saints
Sacred Sites: Ritual/Form



Architectural Innovations
Stained Glass Technique
Context: Cult of the Virgin

Buddhist
ArchitectureStupa at
Borobudur and
Angkor Wat
Hindu Sculpture:
Chola Bronzes:
Shiva



Ways of Creating Illusionary
Form
Egg-Tempera Technique



Neo-Platonic Academy
Classicism
Changing Role of the Artist


Ways of Creating Illusionary
Space




Oil Painting Technique
Printmaking Techniques
Sanctification of Sight


Northern and Southern
Renaissance Comparisons

Duccio and the
Sienese School
Giotto
Week
13
Week
14
Week
15
Week
16
(Thanksgiving
Week)
Florentine
Renaissance
Art:
Architecture
and Sculpture
Florentine
Renaissance:
Painting
Northern
Renaissance:
Painting and
Printmaking
(Christmas
Break-Three
Weeks)
High
Renaissance in
Italy: Sculpture,
Painting, and

West African
Sculpture: The
Human Figure
Ritual and Belief
Illusionary Space
in Chinese
Painting
Indian Mughal
Court Manuscript
Paintings
Sculpture of the
Benin Court
Week
17
Week
18
Week
19
Week
20
Week
21
Week
22
Week
23
Week
24
Architecture
Mannerist
Painting
Late
Renaissance
Italian Art
Southern
Baroque:
Painting,
Sculpture, and
Architecture
Northern
Aristocratic
Baroque:
Architecture,
Painting, and
Sculpture
EighteenthCentury Styles:
Rococo,
Naturalism, and
Portraiture
Neoclassicism
Romanticism
American
Landscape
Painters
Realism
American
Realists
Impressionism
Early
Photography
PostImpressionism
Late 19th
Century
Architecture
and Sculpture
Early 20th
Century
Painting:
Expressionist
MovementsFauvism and
German

Analyzing Painting: Elements
of Design and Composition

Aztec Sculpture
and Relief

Renaissance and Baroque
Comparisons
Papal Power and Authority
Counter-Reformation Agenda

The Zen Garden
and the Japanese
Palace



Divine Right of Kings
Oil Painting Techniques
Still Life and Landscape as
Metaphor

Taj Mahal



18th Century Music’s
Relationship to Art
Escapism and Revivalism
West African
Sculpture
Baule and Dogon


Imperialism
Colonialism

America: The
New Eden



The Salon Tradition
Impressionist Color Theory
Early Photographic
Techniques

Japanese
Woodblock Prints


Roots of Modernism
Modern Architectural
Technology

Oceania:
Sculpture of New
Guinea


What is Modernism?
Jung and Freud

Aztec Sculptural
Reliefs



Week
25
Week
26
Week
27
Week
28
Week
29
Week
30
Week
31
Week
32
Week
34
Expressionism
Early 20th
Century
Painting
Formalist
Movements:
Cubism and
Futurism
Non-Objective
Painting and
Sculpture
Constructivism
Dada and
Surrealism
Modern
Architecture in
Europe and the
United States
American Art
from 1945:
Abstract
ExpressionismColor Field,
Pop Art, and
Op Art
Modern
Sculpture and
Earthworks
NeoExpressionism
Post
Modernism
Conceptual Art
Performance
Art
(AP Exams
Begin)
Seminars in
German
Expressionist
Film
Seminars in
Surrealist Film
Seminars on
The Harlem
Renaissance


Formalism vs. Expressionism
Expressionism

Abstraction vs. NonObjective Art


Conceptual Art
Modern Building Technology

Modern Sculpture Techniques



Modern Sculpture Techniques
What is Post Modernism?
Feminist Art

West African
Sculpture: The
Dogon and Mali

Modern Mexican
Muralists

American
Southwest:
Navajo Art

The Zen Garden
Week Seminars on
35
Multicultural
Cosmologies
(C3)
Week Seminars on the
36
WPA Artists
and Outsider
Art
Week Seminars on
37
Altar Making
Techniques of
the African
Diaspora (C3)

Criteria for Multicultural
Cosmology Project Given

Presentations of MCP
Throughout the Week

Criteria for Final Project:
Making Altars that Reflect
One’s Own Personal
Cosmology that Incorporate
Multiple Elements from
Many Periods of Art
Week Final Exam
38
Presentations
Grades:
Students’ grades will be based on the following criteria, and will be weighted. In
other words, each grading category will have a certain percentage of weight. Each
category will then be calculated according to their weight.
Homework-20%
Classwork-20%
Participation/Projects-10%
Quizzes-20%
Tests-20%
Final Exam-10%
Instructional Materials:
Primary Textbook:
Kleiner, Fred S., and Christin J. Namiya. Gardner’s Art Through the Ages, 12th ed.
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2005
Supplemental Texts:
Cunningham, Lawrence S., and John J. Reich. Culture and Values: A Survey of the
Humanities, 6th ed. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth Learning, 2006
Janson, H.W., A History of Art, 4th ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice
Hall, 1991
Maranci, Christina. A Survival Guide for Art History Students. Upper Saddle River,
NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2005
Stokstad, Marilyn. Art History, revised 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2005
Warner Marien, Mary, and Fleming, John. Arts and Ideas, 10th ed. Wadsworth
Publishing, 2004
Internet Resources:
College Board site:
www.collegeboard.org/ap/art
www.collegeboard.com/apcentral
Textbook sites:
Gardner:
www.wadsworth.com/cgiwadsworth/course_products_wp.pl?fid=M20b&product_isbn_issn=0155050907&dis
cipline_number=37
Stokstad:
www.prenhallart.com
Janson:
www.prenhallart.com
Periodicals In the Library:
Art Bulletin, Art Journal (publications of the College Art Association)
Art News, Modern Painting, Art in America
The Grove Dictionary of Art: www.groveart.com
Curricular Requirements:
C1: The syllabus is organized to include course content material from the ancient world
through the 21st century.
C2: The course teaches students to understand works of art within their historical context
by examining issues such as politics, religion, patronage, gender, function, and ethnicity.
The course also teaches students visual analysis of works of art. The course teaches
students to understand works of art through both contextual and visual analysis.
C3: Roughly 20 percent of the course content is devoted to art beyond the European
tradition.
AP Art History Contextual Issues
First semester: Introduction to Art History through the art of the Northern Renaissance.
Second semester: The Italian Renaissance through the present.
Week I and II: Ancient Near Eastern Art [C1]
Introduction to art history: why study it? How to write about an object and
place it on context. Learning the vocabulary: form, content, style; and context;
learning to look; the concept of style; identifying work through descriptive and
analytical writing. [C2]
The birth of art and the relationship of imagery to those who created it, its
context, magic and ritual. Transformations into identifiable cultures with the
specialization of art and the artist. Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Hittite,
Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian, and Persian cultures. Stylistic comparison between
Neolithic and Paleolithic work.
Influences of geography, economic and political structures, and agriculture
on the nature of art.
Reading: excerpts from the Epic of Gilgamesh and Akkadian Creation stories as
well, Genesis, Chapters I and II.
Student groups begin their understanding of the region or culture
they are assigned: mythic origins of non-western cultures. (Continental African,
Chinese, Japanese, Central and South American, and Indian cultures.) Students
present a Powerpoint presentation on their findings. These presentations are saved
to the class Web site for later review. [C3]
Test: Ancient Near Eastern Art
Week III and IV: Egyptian Art and Art of the Aegean
Comparison between Egypt and the ancient Near East (geography, materials, civilization,
nature of royal figures and divinities, funerary and temple structures, etc.)
Time is spent identifying Old, Middle, and New Kingdom architecture; painting;
and sculpture. The Armana Period of Akhenaton is given weight because of
its “stylistic revolution.” Discussion of naturalism and idealism compared with
the stylization of imagery from the ancient Near East. Portraiture is discussed in
relationship to the figures rank. [C2]
Creation and development of a monumental stone architecture in the form of
the pyramid. Comparisons with the ancient Near Eastern Ziggurat. Art in service
of a culture that focuses upon the afterlife. Mastaba and Temple decoration.
Reading: from the Book of the Dead focusing on the weighing of the heart.
The Aegean
Focus on Cycladic, Minoan, and Mycenaean Cultures. Compare and contrast with
Egypt and Ancient Near East. (Approach to nature and the landscape, with architectural
forms: palaces, tombs, and temples.)
The relationship between culture and art/architecture is particularly strong
when comparing Minoan and Mycenaean works (fresco stucco and fresco secco).
Test: Egyptian Art and Art of the Aegean
Weeks V and VI: Greek Art
Archaic, early classical/transitional, classical, late classical/early Hellenistic, Hellenistic.
(Tie each period to a specific date: why did these styles change?)
Protogeometric, geometric and archaic Greek cultures. Compare and contrast
with Egypt and ancient Near East. (Approach to nature and the landscape, with
architectural forms: palaces, tombs, and temples.)
Vocabulary terms include learning the Greek vase shapes, temple types, and
architectural components of the Greek orders.
Begin to define and identify the concepts of Greek idealism, beauty,
individuality.
Look at the emerging shape of the human figure from the Sumerian Votive
figures to the Greek kore and kouros figures.
Describe and be able to identify and describe the stylistic transformations that
appear in Greek sculpture and architecture (proportion, scale, and type) canon of
sculptural proportions. Define the changing role of architectural sculpture (compare
with role of Egyptian architectural sculpture)
Discuss the relationship between the Greek building and its site.
Discuss the origins of the Greek city and city plan. (agora, stoa, acropolis)
Reading: excerpts from Plato and Aristotle, exploring the relationship between
the artist and society
Group student assignments: Introduce the basic tenets of Buddhism, Hinduism,
Animism, Daoism, and Confucian beliefs. Other religious beliefs are also introduced
at this time. A PowerPoint presentation that is saved on the Web site. [C3]
Test: Greek Art
Weeks VII and VIII: Etruscan and Roman Art.
Compare and contrast with Greek Art and the debt each society owed to the
Greek culture. Point out specific contributions which distinguish each culture. Be
able to distinguish between the two. Focus on Etruscan ideas of death and burial
(tumulus/necropolis). Elaborate on the Etruscan temple, origins of the true arch,
and elements of portraiture in canopic urns.
Introduce Roman art through its verism (portrait sculpture, compare with
individualized images from Egypt and Greece) and architecture (the difference
between a trabeated and arcuated system of building). Relationship between
building and its site [C2]
Roman city planning and orientation, compare with Greek. Incorporate
the Roman atrium house and insulae. Discuss the four Roman fresco styles,
(comparing with Minoan and Egyptian)
Art in service to the state. Roman building types and techniques. Discussion
of the Roman temple types. Incorporate architectural building techniques as well
as new materials.
Unlike the Greek styles, introduce the notion of Roman figure styles ranging
from verism to idealism, depending on the emperor. Portraiture and commemorative
sculpture.
Compare the pan-Athenic frieze from the Parthenon with the Procession
from the Ara Pacis. Contrast historical backgrounds. Discuss the loss of the narrative
and the “archaicizing” of Roman art seen in the Column of Trajan throughout
the end of the empire.
Reading: Livy: The Early History of Rome (The Rape of the Sabine Women, Battle
of the Horatii and Curiatii).
Test: Roman and Etruscan Art
End of First Quarter
Week I: Early Christian and Byzantine Art.
Begin by concentrating on early Christian art as late Roman art. Nature of the
artwork from the early period of persecution to the age of recognition after the
Edict of Milan by Constantine.
Influence of Augustine (City of God). Read excerpts.
Specific identification of the nature of Jesus (Good Shepherd to Judge) and the
context associated with these images. Context belongs with the formation of the
Gospels and growth of the early church. Institutionalization of the early church
(heresy/orthodoxy, monasticism, ecumenical councils. Arian, Gnostic, Epicurean,
Manichean controversies, Septuagint, destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem).
Definition and description of the early Christian basilica, from Roman imperial, Roman
secular, and catacomb sites. Compare with other temple forms. Begin identifying
iconography of figures. Become familiar with the stories.
Emergence of manuscript and mosaic forms.
Breakup of Christendom into Eastern and Western churches. Focus on the
histories of both.
Compare and contrast identifying stylistic differences in iconography and
manner of representation.
What distinguishes the Early Christian and Byzantine styles?
Discuss the origins and development of the icon and icon representation. [C2]
Architectural innovations of the Hagia Sophia.
Ravenna mosaics of San Vitale in the Age of Justinian. The Iconoclastic
controversy and subsequent flowering of Byzantine art.
Student presentations: Sacred spaces and sacred objects. Relate objects and
spaces to the tenets of the cultures being studied. [C3]
Test: Early Christian and Byzantine Period
Week II: Early Medieval [Carolingian, and Ottonian Art] and
Islamic Art [C3]
Emergence of Islam: Basic tenets of the faith and its spread. Discuss the relationship
between the design of the mosque and the tenets of faith. Liturgical needs
that determine its form. Identify its features. [C2]
Paralleling both faiths until the fall of Constantinople. Spread of Islam
through North Africa and into Spain.
Manuscript illumination, Kufic script, and textiles.
Read passages from the Koran.
The Birth of a Native Northern Style
From the heyday of Greek, Roman, and Byzantine art, return to the migratory
tribes of Northern Europe. Introduce as the beginnings of a style that will
ultimately become known as Northern. Focus upon Irish/Celtic roots.
Carolingian Renaissance: architecture, painting borrowed from Southern
styling (One of the initial borrowings of Roman work in the North). Coincides
with Iconoclastic Controversy in the East.
Definition of the Northern Cathedral as well as the understanding of the bay
system. Focus is given to the transformations from the Carolingian church to the
Ottonian church (alternating support system).
The reemergence of sculpture in the context of the Ottonian church
(Bishop Bernward).
Test: Early Medieval and Islamic Art
Week III: Romanesque Art.
The Year 1000 (Europe breathes a sigh of relief) Rethink as the Romanesque
Renaissance?
Medieval society and structure. The position of the Medieval church and royalty.
Emergence of the Cluniac and Cistercian reforms. (St. Bernard and Hugh of
Cluny)
Regional stylistic differences in structure and design of Romanesque cathedrals
(Cluniac/Burgundian, Norman, German/Lombardian, Tuscan). Discussion
of vaulting systems.
The concept of the pilgrimage and its impact. [C2]
Reference is made to redefining of the human figure as monumental architectural
figures.
Architectural sculpture and iconography is emphasized and compared with
Greece and Rome.
Reference is made back to the images of power and authority in comparison
with the Maestas Domini Figure along with images of the Last Judgment and its
iconography.
Manuscript illumination and its relationship with sculpture.
Test: Romanesque Art
Week IV: Gothic Art.
The development of the French style. Abbot Suger, the rise of the university, and
St. Thomas Aquinas and Scholasticism. Comparison with the Romanesque Period
as well as defining the way in which the Gothic style evolved (early, high, and late
French Gothic styles). Cult of the Virgin and the emergence of chivalry. Medieval
society during this period. Impact of the crusades and the travels of Marco Polo.
Emphasis upon teachings of Aristotle. Appearance of the Franciscan (influence
of St. Francis) and Dominican orders. Pope Innocent III and the battle of power
between the church and state. Rise of the role of women in society. [C2]
Focus on Gothic building styles, vocabulary, and techniques.
Focus on Gothic sculptural styles and related iconography. Emile Mâle’s
Gothic Image, is a major source book for this period. Relationship between architecture
and sculpture.
Spread of the Gothic beyond France into England, Germany, and Italy.
Regional styles are emphasized.
With light and harmony as two of the guiding principles of the Gothic, how
does the Gothic ideal compare with the Greek ideal?
Development of the secular Gothic style in Italy.
Reading: The Golden Legend, by Jacopo da Voraigne, whose stories are more
authoritative for the artist than any copy of the Bible at the time.
Student project searching for Romanesque and Gothic architectural features
in Pasadena. Compare with classical buildings found earlier.
Test: Gothic Art
Week VI: Proto-Renaissance Art (Late Gothic Art in Italy)
Development of Art in Avignon, Assisi (Basillica of San Francesca), Florence
(Cimabue and Giotto) and Sienna (Duccio, Martini, Lorenzetti Brothers).
Relationship of this new art and the Greca Mannera.
Giotto and the new naturalism (the Arena Chapel). New subject matter in the
work of Ambrogio Lorenzetti. Effect of the Black Death and devastating decade of
the 13 40s. Conservative reaction to new naturalism. International style as seen in
the work of Martini from the Avignon Court.
Argue the questions of the origins of this new style: to what extent is it Gothic
and to what extent is it Renaissance (new)?
Reading: from Vasari’s Lives of the Artists, and Dante’s Inferno
Test: Proto-Rennaissance
Week VII: The Renaissance in the North
The Burgundian style and the international style (the Limbourg brothers). What
distinguishes this painting style from Gothic painting? Is this a Renaissance, and
if so, what is being reborn? How does this period compare with works produced
in Italy? Flemish style of Campin and the Merode Altarpiece. Van Eyck with the
Ghent altarpiece (Compare with Masaccio Brancacci Chapel) Compare the
representations
of Adam and Eve. Optimistic, hopeful images in this altarpiece. Rogier
Van Der Weyden, Escorial Deposition. Influences from South begin appearing
in midcentury. Hugo Van Der Goes and the Portinari Altarpiece painted in the
North but installed in Florence. Ending with the bizarre and pessimistic images
of Bosch. The spread of this new style throughout Northern Europe, preparing the
way for the Northern High Renaissance.
Is there such a thing as a Renaissance in the North? How does it differ from
a Gothic context?
Test: The Renaissance of the North (End of the Second Quarter)
Final Exam for First Semester
Ancient Near East through Northern Renaissance (Also material beyond a
European tradition)
Second Semester
First Quarter
Week I and II: The Renaissance in Italy. (15th Century)
What is meant by the Renaissance? Did it emerge all at once or was it the accumulated
series of events that led up to it? Role of patronage (Medici). Compare the
role of the church in previous centuries. [C2]
New classicism, naturalism, perspective, light and chiaroscuro. Major fresco
cycles of artists from Masaccio to Della Francesca, Donatello (first of many
Davids), and Brunelleschi.
Define the Renaissance painting composition and compare with protoRenaissance.
Central plans for churches culminating in the Pazzi Chapel. Description of the
In-town Italian villa by Michelozzo.
Historical circumstances that separate the first half of the century from
the second, fall of Constantinople, advent of the printing press, discoveries and
exploration).
Spread of the Renaissance ideal throughout Italy. Rise of classical subject matter.
Alberti and his theories in comparison with Brunelleschi. Verrochio (teacher
of Leonardo) in comparison with Donatello. Many painters: Ghirlandaio (teacher
of Michelangelo), and Botticelli in Florence (Neoplatonic circle surrounding
Lorenzo de Medici), Pollaiuolo (intaglio printmaking and dissection of human
body), Perugino (chosen by Pope Sixtus IV to paint walls of Sistene Chapel and
teacher of Raphael), and Mantegna (manipulated perspective).
Discussion of the tension between the individual style of the artist and an
overall definition of a Renaissance style. Lead up to the High Renaissance but stop
shy of it.
Artists will be discussed in terms of their modern context as well as introducing
the students to the chronicles of Giorgio Vasari in his Lives of the Artists.
Test: Renaissance Art in Italy (1400–1500, in Italy)
Weeks I and II: The High Renaissance in Italy and the North
The second semester begins with a discussion of the works of Leonardo,
Michelangelo, and Raphael. Time is spent comparing them with the artists of the
second half of the 1400s as well comparing their individual views and approaches
on art with one another. What makes these artists so different that one would
form a whole period on their work? Questions are raised about notions of genius,
masterpiece, and lasting influence. In what ways did these artists continue what
went before them and in what ways did they seek to diverge from that definition?
Much is written by and about these artists, and that is taken into account.
One of the threads linking the quattrocento with the cinquecento is the rebuilding
of St. Peter’s. Like the image of the three Davids by Donatello, Verrochio, and
Michelangelo, the rebuilding of St. Peter’s is a common thread linking the High
Renaissance with the Baroque.
Another issue is the role of the artist in society and the relationship that develops
between the artist and the patron.
Although small in material, this section parallels the developments in Italy
with those in Germany. Under the umbrella of the beginning Reformation, Durer,
Altdorfer, Cranach, Grunewald, and Holbein create work which takes into account
the monumental nature of this time period. (This two-week span allows me to
take longer than a week to cover the High Renaissance while moving naturally
into this period.) The obvious comparisons are made between these Northern
artists and their Southern counterparts. Is there anything about this work that
defines a Northern style. whose roots go back through the Romanesque and
Gothic periods?
Work to set the context of this period in the reformation and in the writings
of Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli.
How do the artists of Italy react and respond to the work of Leonardo,
Michelangelo, and Raphael?
Reading: Excerpts from the writings of both Leonardo and Michelangelo; excerpts
from Luther’s 95 Theses; and Erasmus, In Praise of Folly.
Test: The High Renaissance in Italy and the North
Weeks III and IV: The 16th Renaissance in the North, Mannerism
and The Venetian Renaissance
Begin with a look at the Florentine and Roman Mannerist styles passing through the
Panofsky definitions of anticlassical mannerism and then the elegant phase. Talk about
the reasons behind these strange images and definitions of compositions. Leonardo
and Fiorentino make a straight transition of this style from Italy to France.
Before heading North, examine Venetian art beginning with Bellini and concentrating
on the work of Titian and Palladio. These artists offer a complementary
view of the Renaissance to that found in Florence and Rome. Questions about
mannerist influences arise.
The redefinition of a classical architectural style in the work of Palladio is
emphasized.
The question of the peculiarity of Venetian style is one whose roots go back to
the Byzantine period.
This section focuses primarily on the Netherlands (Bruegel), France, and
Spain. At issue is the French importation of a southern classical (mannered) style.
In addition, the heart of the period is the assertion of the power of the royalty in
France and Spain.
Spain is featured by the work of El Greco. Questions of his ties with a
mannered style arise.
This prepares the way for the appearance of Spanish power during the reign
of Phillip IV and Velasquez.
Test: 16th Century Renaissance in the North, Mannerism, and the
Venetian Renaissance
Week V: The Baroque (Italy, Spain, Flanders).
These countries are grouped together in the strength of their ties with the CounterReformation movement and Catholic backgrounds.
The baroque period in many ways begins in St. Peter’s square and ends in the
court at Versailles. The movement from the sacred to the secular is important
from a symbolic sense. One begins with Maderno, Bernini, Caravaggio (tenebrism),
and Borromini in Rome. Comparisons are made with Renaissance and
High Renaissance works. Gardner cites concepts in space, time, light, and motion
as important to this age. We talk about a baroque composition. While these artists
dominate, we point to the Carracci and the origins of the school of art in Bologna
as the beginnings of the institutionalization of the artistic process.
Since there are a number of good books containing writings of artists from
here on out, I strive to present as much of that material as supporting evidence for
their work.
Moving from Italy, we look at Velasquez in Spain and Rubens in Flanders.
Although they are not the only artists working at the time, certainly most of the
attention is focused on their work and their contributions to the art in their countries.
While Rivera and Zubaran in Spain and Van Dyck in Flanders and England
are discussed, they are not given as much weight.
Test: The Baroque in Italy, Spain, Flanders, and Holland
End of Third Quarter
Weeks I and II: The French Baroque and the 18th Century
The focus of this section is upon countries whose art reflects concerns other than
those of the Catholic church. The majority of French art is connected with Louis
XIV and the rebuilding of Versailles, which surplanted the Vatican as the center of
the European Art world as well as the envy of every court in Europe. Poussin and
the French Academy are highlighted. Establishment of the grand manner.
This period begins with Watteau’s Gersaint’s Signboard and leads up to the
French Revolution and the art of David. The art of David is compared with that of
Goya. (Both were influential painters for the state, whose influence far outstrips
their own time period.
The 18 th century is approached as a collage of differing trends and ideas as the
definition of the “old world” collides with an emerging definition of the “new,” or
“modern” world; from the rococo, chinoiserie, the English garden, Academic art,
the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, and the emergence of an architecture
whose vocabulary is iron. Establishment of the French Salon.
Definitions of beauty as well as the picturesque and the sublime are brought
into focus. I de emphasize the definition of Romanticism as it is approached in
the text.
Reading: artist quotes; the writing of Rousseau and Voltaire are introduced; and
art criticisms of Diderot.
Test: French Baroque and the 18th Century
Week III and IV: Neoclassicism to Manet (1784 1863)
The art of the Revolution in France and of Goya’s Spain. By comparing and contrasting
of the work of David and Goya, from there a picture is drawn of Academic
art in France after David, involving mostly pupils of David, culminating in Ingres.
Dominance of the Salon. Use Baudelaire’s definition of Romanticism to introduce
Gericault and Delacroix. The artists’ own writings and those of critics are used.
Since the landscape has been a theme throughout this course, Turner,
Constable, Frederick, Cole, and Church are discussed, the international presence
of Romanticism. That leads to a discussion of the Barbizon school, featuring Corot
and Millet.
Realism (pastoral and urban) is discussed with Courbet and Daumier.
Throughout this century, one of the major features to the work has been the evolving
definition of the artist and his/her role in society. Mention the significance of
the Pavillion of Realism by Courbet. Without a doubt, the main focus of this portion
of the course is to develop a definition of “modernism” that arises out of France.
Manet is introduced through the writings of Emile Zola and the Café Guerbois.
The Salon des Refusés. Photography is introduced at this time, and along with it,
the questions it raises for artists working at that time. Nadar and subsequent
photographers
redefine how we look at ourselves, our wars, and our world.
American art is introduced with an attempt to establish a national identity in
painting and in architecture.
Reading: artist quotes; Baudelaire, Les Fleur du Mal; Emile Zola, Nana. (excerpts)
Test: French Academic Art through Manet
Week V : Impressionism through Surrealism, through the end
of the 19th century
The question arises to the radical nature of the work of Manet and his desire to
break from the past. Definition of the avant garde. How does one go about trying
to define the style of Manet’s work? (He was not an impressionist.) This same
dilemma can be seen in the work of Rodin.
Monet and Impressionism are treated in a context that excludes 20th-century
coffee tables and t-shirts. As a style that dealt with, among other things, landscape
themes, how is it so radical? What is it about the style that gives artists a new
view of the world after experiencing it? 187 0s Postimpressionism is approached
in terms of artists emphasizing structure (Cezanne and Seurat) and those more
interested in emotion (Van Gogh and Gauguin). 188 0s
Where do we come to that definition of artist as rebel against society? What
is the function of art in this era? What does that say about the patron or the
consumer of art?
What do we mean when we speak of the rise of the modern? Compare ideas of
beauty and truth with those of reality and the individual.
The plurality of styles is seen in the decade of the 1890s. Freud and his work
are important.
Defne symbolism. Is it a movement? To what extent is it related to Romanticism
of the early part of the century? Munch and Rousseau are favorites, but what do
they have in common? Maurice Denis’s quote of the formal definition of painting.
Japanese prints.
Iron architecture from the international expositions experiments of the
Crystal Palace to the Eiffel tower to the defining of an American businessman’s
architecture in Chicago with Burnham and Sullivan.
Reading: artist quotes; excerpts from Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams
Test: Impressionism Through to End of the Century
Week VI: The Beginning of the 20th Century through Surrealism
This first section focuses upon the primacy of color. Exploration of
the internal world of the artist.
Redefining the art object. Emphasis on color and form. Role of artist in society.
The minority viewpoint. Movement away from beauty to truth and individual
reality. What does modernism say about us and the institutions we’ve grown up
with? The creation of new myths and the rewriting of the old ones. The inclusion
of chance and the irrational in art. Freud and the world of the dream.
Arts and Crafts movement in England and the reaction against the machine
with the appearance of Art Nouveau.
Expressionism: Fauve (including Maillol and Lembruck): Color for color’s
sake. Composition as expression.
Die Brücke (Ernst and Nolde): Continuing the long tradition of northern expressionism.
Blue Rider and its “spiritual dimension” with Kandinsky (Concerning the
Spiritual in Art). Movement towards total abstraction: Suprematism: White on
White by Malevich in 1917 . What does one do with Brancusi?
Concern with form: cubism (Picsasso, Braque, Lipschitz)—Break-up of the
Renaissance tradition and window, futurism (1909 Manifesto, Boccioni)—adaptation
of a machine aesthetic.
African masks—continuing to look for inspiration beyond the European
tradition. [C3]
Armory show of 1913 and the importation of modernism to this country.
Frank Lloyd Wright and the development of the Prairie style. Influence upon
Werkbund, De Stijl and neoplasticism: Redefining the terminology with which we
speak about art, the Bauhaus and European architects. Rise of Walter Gropius,
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier.
Art in the context of continental and global warfare. Art in response to war.
Dada: antiart and chance. The influence of Duchamp in the art of the last half
of the century. Constructivism (Realist Manifesto of 1920) Connection with the
Russian Revolution. Surrealism: Restoring the figure, figuratively. Biomorphic
surrealism and veristic surrealism.
Reading: artist quotes
Film clips: The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, Ballet Mechanique, Metropolis, and Un
Chien Andulou, Entartete Kunst
Test: The Beginning of the 20th Century Through Surrealism
Week VII and VIII: Art after 1945 [C1]
Ascendancy of the New York School. The nexus of the art world shifts to the
shores of this country after the war.
Abstract Expressionism. The development of a truly American style, independent
of European art? The banishment of the figure. Bohemian lifestyle and rise of
the “beat generation.” Abstract formalism (postpainterly abstraction)
Color field painters and the end of the ’50s.
What does this work say about us? Where do we go from here? The relationship
between the artist and the critic becomes more important than before?
Existential philosophy and the theories of Carl Jung. The transitional work of
Rauschenburg and Johns.
Beginnings of a postmodern style and context? How do we define it? Pop
Art: Commercialism at its best. Influence of Warhol. Aesthetic of the banal.
Photorealism or superrealism. Earthworks and Land Art, Happenings, Conceptual,
Performance Art.
Contemporary Art. How do we define art and how we see ourselves reflected
in it? [C1, C2]
Postmodern architecture
Definition of the International style and how the architects of the 1970s
address its ideas and appearance.
Second and third generation architects Phillip Johnson., I. M. Pei, Michael
Graves. Frank Gehry
AP Exam