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FALL 2012
Rhode Island School of Design
Department of Art and Architectural History
H583: African American Art
Fall 2012
Instructor: Dr. Bolaji Campbell
ARTH H583
Office: 515, College Building
CB 302 M 9:40-12:40
Office Hours: Tuesday/Thursday 12:30-2:00
Phone: 277-4870
or by appointment
email: bcampbel@risd.edu
course website:
http://faculty.risd.edu/faculty/bcampbel/Afr_Ame_Art-2003-a.html
AFRICAN AMERICAN ART
From the little known to the less acknowledged; the partially ignored to the highly celebrated, from folk
tradition to High art tradition, this course explores the diversity of form, stylistic and narrative content of
works created by African American artists from the antebellum era to the present. Specific attention will
be devoted to several underlining issues including but not limited to identity, race, class, ethnicity,
representation, sexuality, and aesthetic sensibilities. We will focus attention on the life and careers of a
few artists while examining their contribution to the American cultural melting pot. Our mission is to
provide art-historical knowledge about this important aspect of American history, while facilitating the
way of seeing and writing about art.
COURSE PLAN
The required texts:
1) Patton, S (1998) African American Art, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press
(available at the College & Brown University Bookstores).
Recommended texts:
2) Powell, Richard, Black Art, Thames and Hudson
Students are expected to read and take notes on all assigned readings prior to their presentation in class in
order to make meaningful and intelligent contribution in class.
REQUIREMENT
Two papers are required. The 1st is approximately 3 typewritten pages on the critical analysis of the work
of an African American artist, based on formal or style elements. The style analysis paper is due on
November 5. You may attach a color photograph or line illustration (drawing) to your essay. The second
essay is a contextual exploration of your style analysis paper. It is expected that students will engage
matters of identity, ethnicity, race, gender, representation, and sexuality, etc and this may include
materials gleaned from popular visual culture, including print and electronic media.
The expectation is a 4/5page paper, which may be developed into an interactive web design in
consultation with the instructor. The project/expanded paper/essay is due on November 26.
In addition, there are two examinations, a mid-term exam on Monday October 29 and a Final on the
Liberal Arts Exam Day, Wednesday December 12, 2012.
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EVALUATION
Each student is expected to attend all lectures and complete class projects and papers, take exams on
scheduled dates and attend relevant art exhibitions and or lectures with a critical eye. No make up exams
will be given. Students will be evaluated based on the following:
Preparation, Attendance and Participation in class
Midterm exam
Paper/Project
Final Examination
25%
25%
25%
25%
The examinations will basically test students’ understanding and knowledge of the course materials
presented and discussed in class, in addition to assigned readings. Students are therefore expected to
attend all classes, take class notes, review all assigned readings, complete a final paper of an approved
topic in consultation with the instructor and or execute an approved interactive web project related to the
course materials. You are allowed 2 unexcused absences after which your grade will be lowered one
category (example: A becomes AB).
Extra credit projects that are related to the course materials (which may attract a maximum of 3 points)
are particularly encouraged.
COURSE OUTLINE
Week 1: September 17: Introduction, review of syllabus, expectations and procedures
FILM: AFRICAN AMERICAN ART; PAST AND PRESENT
Week 2: September 24: Learning to see and the Language of Art: The Analysis of a work of Art
*Preble and Preble, ARTFORMS, 40-114—course packet
*Barnet, Sylvan, A Short Guide to Writing about Art,
pp. 15-28, 101-124, 150-171
AFRICAN AESTHETICS
The African Heritage: Slave Drum, Slave Houses, Textiles and
Patchwork Quilts, Stoneware Pottery and Architecture,
Metalwork and Woodcarving
Patton, S. pp.30-41; 58-71; Powell, R. pp. 7-22
*Lawal, Babatunde. 2005. “Divinity, Creativity and Humanity in
Yoruba Aesthetics” in Before Pangea: New Essays in Transcultural
Aesthetics, Edited by Eugenio Benitez, Australia: Sydney Society of
Literature and Aesthetics, pp. 161-174
*Thompson, “Aesthetics”, in BLACK GODS AND KINGS, Ch: 3/1-7
*Joseph Holloway, “The Origin of African American Culture” in
Africanism in American Culture
*Jacqueline L. Tobia and Raymond G. Dobard, “Steal Away” and
African American Quilts: Styles and Traditions” in Hidden in Plain
View, 1999 pp. 130-161
Week 3: October 1: Abolitionist Illustrations; Early American Portraiture:
Patrick Reason; The Limner Tradition: The Art of Joshua Johnson
Patton, S. pp. 42-49; 74-79; Powell, R. pp. 23-28
*Weekley, Carolyn “Who was Joshua Johnson”, in Joshua Johnson and
Early American Portrait Painters “Joshua Johnson Portraits”
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Week 4 October 8: 19th Century Neo-Classical and Romantic Traditions: the High Art–
Robert Duncanson, Edmonia Lewis and Edward Bannister
Patton, pp.71-98
*Kirsten P. Buick, “The Ideal Works of Edmonia Lewis: Invoking
Week 5: October 15: Realism, Genre and Biblical Narrative– Henry Tanner
Patton, pp.98-103; Powell, R. pp. 28-50
The New Negro movement: Literary and philosophical Background
Week 6: October 22: The Harlem Renaissance and the New Negro Artist, WPA
Patton, pp.105-159
*Benjamin, Tritobia Hayes in Bearing Witness (ed. Robinson)
“Triumphant Determination: The Legacy of African American Women
Artists”, pp.49-81
FILM: From These Roots
Painting, Graphic Design and Photography: Aaron Douglas,
Augusta Savage, Sargent Johnson
Jacob Lawrence, Meta Warrick Fuller, Archibald Motley
Palmer Hayden and William Johnson
Augusta Savage, Sargent Johnson
Harris, M. D. Colored Pictures, pp. 149-178
REVIEW
Week 7: October 29: Mid Term Exam
Week 8: November 5: Abstract Expressionism: Romare Bearden,
Patton, S. pp. 167-181; FILM: Jacob Lawrence: The Glory of
Expression
STYLE ANALYSIS PAPER DUE
Week 9: November 12: Modernism and Postmodernism:
Hale Woodruff; Norman Lewis
Wilfredo Lam; Richard Hunt
*Clement Greenberg, “The Avant Garde and Kitsch, 1939” in 20th
Century, Art Theory: Urbanism, Politics, and Mass Culture
(ed.) Richard Hertz and Norman M. Klein
Powell, R. pp. 100-107
Week 10: November 19: Black Feminism and Art: Elizabeth Catlett and Faith Ringgold
*Freida High, “Afrofemcentrism and Its Fruition in the Art of Elizabeth
Catlett and Faith Ringgold”, in Expanding Discourse: Feminism and Art
History; pp.475-485
*Gibson, Ann, “Faith Ringgold’s Picasso’s Studio
FILM: The Last Story Quilt
The Postmodern Condition
Patton, S. pp. 232-253; Powell, R. pp. 186-194
Howardena Pindell, Freida High, Adrian Piper,
Robert Colescott, Jean-Michel Basquiat,
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*Wallace, Michele, “Modernism, Postmodernism and the Problem of the
Visual in Afro-American Culture”, in Out There: Marginalization and
Contemporary Culture, pp. 39-50
THANKSGIVING BREAK (November 20-24, 2011)
Week 11: November 26: Ambivalence and Parody:
Betye Saar, Lorna Simpson, Renee Cox, Kara Walker,
Patton, S. pp. 200-204; Powell, R. pp. 228-241;
Harris, M.D. Colored Pictures: pp. 117-124; 141-143; 210-219
*Janus, Elizabeth, “As American as Apple Pie”
*Sheets, Hilarie, “Cut it Out”, ArtNews, April 2002
*Wagner, Anne. “The Black White Relation”, in Kara Walker, pp. 91-101
2nd Paper Due
Week 12: December 3: Reclamation of Identity and the African Past:
Renee Stout, Michael Harris, Babette Wainwright, Sonya Clark
*Harris, M.D. “Resonance, Transformation, and Rhyme”, in
Astonishment and Power, pp. 107-155
*Campbell, B. “Altars of Memory and Of Identity: The Art of Sonya
Clark”, in Marvels of the African World pp. 395-410
*Campbell, B “Of Storytelling and the Slippery medium of Clay:
Babette Wainwright Image of the Woman at the Diasporic Crossroads”
in African and Black Diaspora: an International Journal (Routledge
Taylor & Francis Group, UK)
FINAL REVIEW
Week 13: December 12: Liberal Arts Exam Day: Final Exam Wednesday December 12, 2012 10:4012: 00 in CB 521