AP Art History Syllabus
Course Description
The AP Art History course is intended to prepare students for the AP Art History
Exam. The first semester covers art from the Paleolithic age through Gothic and
Northern Renaissance styles. The second semester will cover the Renaissance
art through current modern art movements and styles. (Curricular Requirement 1: The
syllabus is organized to include course content material from the ancient world through the twentyfirst century.) The main objectives of the course are: (1) Students will be able to
apply art historical methods to their visual environment deciphering the social
symbols and ideologies used in the images. (2) Students will learn critical
thinking skills by evaluating, critiquing(use of the Feldman model),and gathering
evidence before forming opinions about the images. (Curricular Requirement 2: 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. ) (3) Students will work with many cultural
images and use the criteria of the particular culture to evaluate and decode those
images. (3) Students will recognize how social contexts of many cultures can
make connections among other disciplines. (4) Students will learn canons for
western and non western images and understand the many changes and
derivatives that use those canons. (Curricular Requirement 3: Roughly 20% of the course
content is devoted to art beyond the European tradition. ) (5) Students will learn how art
reflects and affects the human experience. (6) Students will develop a lifelong
appreciation for art, different cultures and ideologies.
Required Textbook
Kleiner Gardner’s Art Through The Ages (2009 Thirteenth edition)
Recommended Resources
“The Annotated Mona Lisa”, Strickland
“The Annotated Arch”, Strickland
“A Survival Guide for Art History Students”, Maranci
“A Short Guide to Writing About Art”, Barnet
Student Evaluation
Written Assignments
20%
Tests
40%
Projects
20%
Daily participation
20%
Written assignments: will be reading reviews, essay questions from past AP art
history tests, altered book assignments where students use a page of the book to
illustrate notes using collage, drawings, color; field trip essays and critiques of
works of art (based on a possible trip to the Menil museum, Museum of Fine Art
Houston, Printing museum, Orange show, Art Car museum (contemporary art),
Row Houses Museum (contemporary installations), Diverse Works
(contemporary artists studios), Contemporary Arts museum, an architectural tour
of Houston) Curricular Requirement 1: The syllabus is organized to include course content
material from the ancient world through the twenty-first century,
slide review competitions ( class divides into groups and identifies and elaborates on
previously seen slides). Curricular Requirement 2: 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
Projects: could consist of an internet research, a power point presentation, a
group project, a debate, a community outreach project, building a museum
collection, a group video presentation on non-western tradition art, architecture,
religion, gender orientation, and patronage. There will be three assignments
throughout the year using the listed strategies for the presentation of a project.
Curricular Requirement 3: Roughly 20% of the course content is devoted to art beyond the European
tradition.
Tests: mid-term and Semester final for each of the two semesters. There will be six
week reviews and periodic slide reviews.
Daily participation: is determined by the student’s classroom participation in
discussions, attendance for tutorials, participation on field trips, turning assignments in on
time, attending Saturday reviews (2) for the AP Art History test. Students will be
responsible for turning in note cards for each period or style of art discussed using the
provided images and format from the teacher.
Tutorials: 2:30- 3:30
It is the student’s responsibility to inform the instructor when there is a conflict in testing
schedules with other AP classes. The student may reschedule a test if there are more than
three tests the same day.
Saturday reviews:
There will be two Saturdays set aside to review before the AP test. Students are expected
to take advantage of at least one of the review days.
Plagiarism: Students are expected to adhere to the district’s copy write and fair use guide
lines. Copying or stealing the work of others for any reason is prohibited. Any
plagiarism committed by a student will result in an F for the assignment and being
referred to an assistant principal or advanced placement coordinator.
Calendar: Approximate depending on school scheduling and
unscheduled interruptions
First 6 weeks
Activities C1, C2
Introduction to Art History
Feldman model for critiquing art
Elements and principles of art
Prehistory-Greek Hellenistic period
Hammurabi’s Law Code
Gods and Goddesses of Egypt
Mummification and Immortality
Building the great pyramids
Greek Geometric and Orientalizing period through
Hellenistic period
Greek temple plans, Doric and Ionic orders
Polykleitos’s cannon for the perfect statue
Corinthian Capital
C1—The syllabus is
organized to include
course content material
from the ancient world
through the twenty-first
century.
Curricular Requirement 2: 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.
Assessment Strategies
Reading assignment quizzes
Altered book introduction and first assignment, book due every two weeks
5 minute and 30 minute written essays
Discussions, oral questions
Slide quiz
Research assignment : Create a power point presentation comparing and contrasting how
the space, art and symbols in a Buddhist or Hindu temple compare to the Greek temples
we discussed in class. Due next 6 weeks. C3
Second 6 weeks
Activities C1, C2, C3
Hellenistic Greece – Early Gothic
Buddhism/Hinduism temple power points due
Iconography of Hinduism and Buddhism
Stupa
Daoism and Confucianism
Xie He’s six cannons
Buddhist Japan
Heian Court Culture
Etruscan art- audacity of Etruscan Women
Roman Republic to Late Empire
Roman Concrete Construction
Eyewitness account of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius
Curricular Requirement 3:
Roughly 20% of the course
content is devoted to art
beyond the European
tradition.
Roll playing in Roman portraiture
. C1—The syllabus is
Catacombs and funerary arts
organized to include
course content material
Byzantium
from the ancient world
Pendentives and Squinches
through the twenty-firs
century.
Theodora a most unusual Empress
Icons and Iconoclasim
Field trip to a museum
Assignment for group project to be due next 6 weeks: Students will divide into groups
And choose an art object from the museum from a non western culture. Each group will
devise a presentation showing how the object reflected the culture, religion, values,
politics, of the time it was produced.
Assessment Strategies
Notes illustrated and recorded in the altered book
Reading assignment quizzes
5 minute written essays
1 thirty minute essay on museum trip
Slide review contest
Power point presentations due
Third 6 weeks
Activities C1, C2, C3
High Gothic – Northern Renaissance
Islamic art
Mohammed and Islam
The mosque
Africa prehistory to 1800’s
Idealized Naturalism of Ile-Ife
Christian art: Art of the War lords
Carolingian art: Medieval books
Medieval Monasteries and Benedictine rule
France and Northern Spain
Holy Roman Empire
Italy, Normandy, England
Pilgrimages and Cult of Relics
The crusades
Tapestries
Gothic Europe
Abbot Suger and Saint Denis
Gothic Cathedral
Italy 1200-1400
Artist’s Guilds, commissions, and Contracts
Fresco painting
Artistic training in Renaissance Italy
Northern Europe 1400-1500
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.
(See the most recent
AP Art History Course
Description for further
information.)
Tempera and oil Panting
. C1—The syllabus is
organized to include
Woodcuts, engravings, and etchings
course content material
Italy 1400-1500
from the ancient world
through the twenty-firs
Renaissance Perspectival systems
century.
Italian Princely Courts and Artistic Patronage
Group projects due
Assessment Strategies
Semester final tests.
Altered book assignment
Reading assignment assessment
30 minute essay question; student groups will assess the questions using rubric from
released AP tests.
Fourth 6 weeks
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.
Activities C1, C2,
Renaissance- Impressionism France
1500-1600 Italy, Mannerism
Leonardo and Michelangelo: Painting versus Sculpture
Religious art in counter-reformation Italy
Women in the Renaissance art world
Holy Roman empire, France, Spain Netherlands
Catholic and Protestant views of Salvation
Protestantism and Iconoclasm
1600-1700
Letters of Artemisia Gentileschi
Velasquez and Philip lV
C3—Roughly 20
Northern Europe
percent
Rubens on the consequences of War
of the course content is
devoted to art beyond
Middle class patronage and the art market in the Dutch Republic
the European tradition.
India; Indian miniature painting
(See the most recent
AP Art History Course
Field trip to a museum or architectural tour of the city of Houston
Description for further
Rothko chapel, Menil collection, Contemporary Arts Museum
information.)
Assessment Strategies
5 minute and 30 minute essays
Slide review competition
Altered book notes
Research project : Students will research and present a project on one of the following
topics, Zen Buddhism, Japanese modern art, Anime and its connections to historic
Japanese art styles, Japanese Tea ceremony, Aztec religion and iconography, tattoo in
Polynesia, iconography of North American Indian totem poles, choose a tribe or
geographic area in Africa and illustrate and discuss their religious icons and symbols and
how they may have influenced western culture.
Reading assignment assessment
Fifth 6 weeks
C1—The syllabus is
Activities C1, C2, C3
organized to include
French and American Impressionism- Social Commentary Art
course content material
1700-1900
from the ancient world
through the twenty-firs
West Africa
century.
Gender roles in African art production
African Masquerades
Rocco
Enlightenment
Neoclassicism
Diderot on Chardin
C2—The course teaches
David on Greek style and public art
students to understand
works of art within their
Romanticism
historical context by
Realism
examining issues such
as politics, religion,
Architecture
patronage, gender,
Romantic spirit in Art, Music and literature
function, and ethnicity.
The course also teaches
Daguerreotype, calotype, wet-plate photography
students visual analysis
Impressionism
of works of art. The
course teaches students
Post Impressionism
to understand works
Symbolism
of art through both
contextual and visual
Sculpture
analysis.
Academic Solons and Independent Art Exhibitions
19th Century Color Theory
Japonisms
Altered books
Research due on Non Western tradition subject from last 6 weeks.
Class discussion possible debate by teams on Classicism versus Romanticism.
Assessment Strategies
Test written and multiple choice questions from released AP Art History tests
Altered books due
Slide contest
C3—Roughly 20
Sixth 6 weeks
Activities C1, C2
Color field- Holograms-Complete art/video- Performance art
America and Europe 1900-2000
Matisse on color
Cubism-Picasso
Avante-Garde-Gertrude and Leo Stein
Armory show
Degenerate art
Futurists manifesto
percent
of the course content is
devoted to art beyond
the European tradition.
(See the most recent
AP Art History Course
Description for further
information.)
Painting and Sculpture since 1945
Architecture and Site specific art
Performance and conceptual art, New Materials
Pop art
Chuck Close on painting and Photography
Judy Chicago the Dinner Party (Assignment)
Donald Judd on Sculpture and Industrial Material
Phillip Johnson on Post modern Architecture
Environmental Art
Installation art
Performance art
Review for AP Test
Museum auction
American Art
Art History Exam
Assessment Strategies
Saturday review
Judy Chicago Dinner party assignment due
Altered book assessments, Course surveys