Note:  Please print out only one or two pages.   The themes of future chapters may be revised, so stick to the chapters we are covering in class.  I will always have the most current themes on top.

---

Chapter 27: Part II: Manet - Realism to Impressionism to Post-Impressionism

Goals of the Week.

• To observe the decline of the Renaissance-Baroque Tradition and the Grand Manner in the work of Manet whose paintings make the transition from Realism to Impressionism.
• To observe the next step in the transformation from objectivity to subjectivity that began in the Romantic period. This next step is represented by the development from Impressionism (optical, reliance on outside authority) to Post-Impressionism (mind’s eye, seat of reality is the subjective self), which becomes the basis of modern abstraction in the 20th century.

Themes.

1. How much of the Grand Manner of history painting is left in Manet’s Olympia and Luncheon on the Grass? What did contemporaries nevertheless object to in these paintings in both form and content? What were some social causes for the shocked reception to these works?

2. What do we learn about living in the modern world from Manet’s late Impresssionist work A Bar at the Folies-Bergere? Given the developing subjectivity of the European world-view since the Romantic period, why is it fair to say that Impressionism is the “logical conclusion” of Realism?

3. What conclusions can we draw about subjectivity from the comparison of Monet's and Renoir's Frog Pond? How is this related to Magritte’s Human Condition? Relate the paradigm shift (deep-seated change) from objectivity to subjectivity in painting to the social & economic changes brought about by science, technology, social movements, etc.

4. Describe the influence of Japanese prints on painting (both Impressionism and Post-Impressionism) in the second half of the 19th century both in form (parallel, tilted perspective, stress of corners, up-in-the-air viewpoint, no modeling, flat local color, no shadows or modeling) and content (the floating world of ukiyo-e = elusive moments of everyday life = the opposite of history painting).

5. Describe the traditional characteristics of Impressionism as exemplified by Mary Cassatt (US).

• What characteristics of Japanese prints are obvious in her print Maternal Caress?
• How does she present women in a new light?

6. Who were the Post-Impressionists (Seurat, Van Gogh, Munch)? How do they differ from the Impressionists? How can you tell them apart? How would you describe their “signature style” or distinctive brushwork?

Period. Geography, Dates: All 19th century.

• Manet (French) = Realism/ Impressionism;
• Monet (French), Renoir (French), Cassatt (US) = Impressionism;
• Seurat (French), Van Gogh (Dutch), Munch (Norwegian) = Post-Impressionism
• Hokusai (Japanese). The Great Wave. Edo period, 19th century.

I.D.'s: Chapter 27 56-57, 59, 61, 65, 67-68, 72-73 79; Chapter 22, fig. 1 = Hokusai's The Great Wave.

Other: Artistic Allusions in Manet’s Art, p. 1018; Japonism, p. 1020.

Opinions: Why is Impressionism so popular today, even though it was criticized as sloppy and unfinished in its own day? Do you prefer Impressionism or Post-Impressionism?

---

Chapter 28. The Rise of Modernism in Europe and North America

Goals of the Week:

• To develop a vocabulary which allows us to discuss and explain the transition from the illusionistic Renaissance-Baroque Tradition to 2-D modern abstract art, so that we can appreciate the art of the 20th century.
• To see modern abstraction as a PROCESS and a long chain of rethinkings, and not an arbitrary, on-the-spot invention that came out of nowhere. You can think of the larger trend as the “history of flatness.”

Themes:

1. How does Klimt’s The Kiss bridge the 19th and the 20th centuries, between Impressionism/Post-Impressionism and the Early Modern styles of Picasso and Mondrian? What two world-views are represented? What two radically different approaches to painting?

2. Describe the long PROCESS OF ABSTRACTION illustrated in the development of Picasso’s and Mondrian’s art.

• What were some of the stages on the long road toward thinking in two-dimensional terms?
• WHY did this process take place? Consider the social, economic, political, technological, scientific changes taking place, especially Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity.
  

3. Describe the stylistic characteristics of the following early modern art movements:

• Cubism = Picasso (Spanish)
• De Styjl = Mondrian (Dutch)
• Expressionism (The Blue Rider) = Kandinsky (Russian) and Klee (Swiss)
• Dada and Surrealism = Duchamp (French), Dali (Spanish), Meret Oppenheim (Swiss)

4. Compare and Contrast Rockwell’s Freedom from Want with Stuart Davis’ Swing Landscape. (Both American) What artistic devices distinguish one from the other? Talk about the differences in expression: specific vs. general, literal vs. poetic, space vs. flatness, focused vs. ambiguous meanings.

Period, Geography, Dates: Identify all of the work in this chapter as “Early Modernism.” Art students are welcome to use the names of the movements instead. See parentheses above for nationalities. All are 20th century.

I.D.'s: Chapter 28 1, 3, 13, 15, 19-21, 25-26, 49, 63, 67-68, 76, 79.

Other: Suppression of the Avant-Garde, 1097.

Opinions: Since all art is abstract, why is abstraction so hard to understand?

---

Chapter 29 – The International Avant-Garde since 1945

Goals of the Week:

• To gain an appreciation of Abstract Expressionism as a formalist art movement that
• Paralleled the US post-war rise to world power
• And grew out of the early modern movements of

Cubism (Picasso)

Expressionism (Kandinsky and Klee)

Surrealism (Duchamp and Dali)

• To appreciate the last modernist (formalist) movements: Pop and Minimalism.
• To observe the switch from emphasis on form to emphasis on content (from formalism to conceptualism) in our own post-modern, contemporary period.

Themes:

1. Analyse the art historical ingredients of Pollock’s drip paintings, Rothko's clouds of color and Nevelsen’s scrap wood assemblages. What parts have their roots in cubism? Which in expressionism? Which surrealism? This is Abstract Expressionist formalism.

2. Pop (Warhol) and Minimalism (Judd) are the last modernist movements of the 1960s. Though the former is figurative and the latter nonobjective, they are both still “formalist.” What does that mean? (What you see is what you get) Why do they represent the “end” of modernism? How do they reflect preoccupations of society with commodities and machines?

Please note: I will not be quizzing you on examples after p. 1148 (Joseph Kossuth. One and Three Chairs, fig. 35).

• For the final exam, you will chose your own example of recent art and write an essay to be handed in at the final. See assignment below.
• Presentations on contemporary art from now on are geared to helping you write that essay. Take notes on ideas that will help think and write about the example of your choice.
• Examples in the presentations on contemporary art will include a selection of the following: 37, 57, 58, 62-63, 67, 69-70, 73, 81, 83, 85, 88-90, 92-95. We will probably not get to all of them. This is just to let you know that they are available to you in Stokstad.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ART SINCE C. 1970:

3. Shift from form to content: Halley (fig. 70), Whiteread (fig. 88), Lin (fig. 85) AND Christo and Jeanne-Claude (fig. 58) grew out of minimalism (emphasis on form) and made the transition to postmodern (since 1970) preference for charged, personal CONTENT drawn from lived experience. Less emphasis is placed on form or style as a means of expression for its own sake per se.

4. New FORMS of contemporary art:

• Conceptual art = the idea behind the art is more important than its appearance (began with Duchamp) = Kossuth (fig. 35)
• Performance art = Beuys (fig. 37)
• Installation art and non-traditional materials = Wenda Gu (fig. 95)
• New media = Paik (fig. 92), Holzer (fig. 90), Viola (fig. 93)
• Appropriated images = Polke (fig. 69).

5. New SUBJECTS and issues:

• Gender, sexual identity and race = Judy Chicago (p. 1163), Mapplethorpe (fig. 81), Saar (fig. 62), Basquiat (fig. 67), Morimura (fig. 83)
• Religion: Serrano (not in Stokstad), Ofili (p. 1175)
• Mass media: Kruger (fig. 73)
• Environmental concerns: Smithson (fig. 57), Mel Chin (fig. 89)
• Global and cultural awareness: Neshat (fig. 94)
• What issues of our times do you consider most important?

FINAL REVIEW QUESTION:

6. Looking back, list five of the most important ways that art changed between the time of Giotto and of Christo and Jeanne-Claude? What stayed the same?

Period, Geography, Dates: Pollock, Rothko, Nevelson = Modern Abstraction or Late Modernism; Warhol = Pop; Judd = Minimalism. All are American 20th century.

I.D.'s: Chapter 29 quizzable = 810, 13, 16, 27, 33, 35. I will not be quizzing you on examples after p. 1148 (Joseph Kossuth. One and Three Chairs, fig. 35)

Other: The Idea of the Mainstream, p. 1128; The Dinner Party, p. 1163; Appropriation, p. 1166; Recent Controversies Over Public Funding for the Arts, p. 1175.

Take-Home Essay on Contemporary Art

(to be handed in at the final)

• Pick an example of art in Stokstad (not architecture) after p. 1148 that dates from the 1970s to the present (NO earlier!), one that is puzzling but intriguing to you. 
• Do not pick anything that you know already or feel comfortable with. However, LET YOUR CHOICE REFLECT WHAT ISSUES YOU FEEL STRONGLY ABOUT. BE ADVENTUROUS. WRITE ABOUT SOMETHING THAT MEANS SOMETHING TO YOU.
• Go on the internet and find more info about the artist and/or work. Include the internet address.
• Use your own words. If you must quote or paraphrase--either Stokstad or your website--use proper citation.
• Read, think, and reflect upon the example until you can write an engaging essay of at least 250 words in the spirit of class presentations, Stokstad and the museum assignment.
• Describe the work (formal description): What does it look like? What new forms and materials are involved that make it contemporary?
• Interpret it (content): What new subjects or issues are involved? What does it mean?
• How does it apply to your life (application)? Make it your own. Relate it to something important in your world.
• Be sure the essay includes:
• Your name.
• A title different from the title of the work. 
• An introduction
• Three paragraphs (one for each topic above: description, interpretation, application).
• A conclusion.
• An image of the work.
• A list of any internet sources consulted.

---

FINAL EXAM THEMES

The final exam will be timed for two hours. You are welcome, indeed encouraged to stay for the additional hour. Course evaluations will be administered after the final. Insert your take-home essay in the blue book.

I. 25-30 I.D.’s Renaissance to Minimalism.

Chapter 17: 2-7, 11, 14, 33-34, 51-52, 58-61, 63, 67-68, 73.

Chapter 18: 2, 4, 7, 10-13, 15, 17, 32-33, 35, 37, 49, 52-53, 55, 70, 72.

Chapter 19: 1-3, 8-10, 16, 18-24, 39, 45-46, 57, 64.

Chapter 26: 9, 13, 33, 37, 48-49.

Chapter 27: 1-2, 4, 6, 12, 15-18, 31, 33-37, 41-42, 44, 46, 48, 51, 56-57, 59, 61, 65, 67-68, 72-73 79, 95.

Chapter 28:1, 3, 13, 15, 21, 25-26, 49, 63, 67-68.

Chapter 29: 10, 13, 16, 27, 33, 35.

II. Recycled, recombined THEMES. 

• Compare and contrast Giotto’s Arena Chapel with Jeanne-Claude’s and Christo’s Running Fence. Now that you have seen the art that evolved between them, explain first the differences, then the commonalities. Prepare three to five major points that you explain and elaborate.
• Describe and discuss the artistic devices used by Renaissance artists to create illusions that added up to the window concept of painting: modeling, perspective (linear and atmospheric), foreshortening, manipulation of light and dark, consistent scale, natural proportion and color, etc. As examples, study Masaccio’s Tribute Money, Perugino’s Delivery of the Keys to St. Peter, Leonard’s Last Supper and Raphael’s School of Athens.
• Contrast the northern European (Netherlands and Germany) way of seeing in terms of surface with the southern (Italian) way of seeing in terms of structure: Campin’s Merode Altarpiece vs. the Ideal City, or Michelangelo’s Last Judgment vs. Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights.
• Review the sculpture of Donatello and Michelangelo. What makes it typical of the Renaissance? In what respects does it rise above to its own level?
• Using Wölfflin’s Principles of Art History systematically, contrast Michelanagelo’s Sistine ceiling with Gaulli’s Triumph of the Name of Jesus.
• Taking Bernini’s contributions to St. Peter’s basilica or the complex at Versailles as examples, define “Gesamtkunstwerk”. What art and architecture are involved? How are they related to the political and religious circumstances of their times?
• Using examples such as Raphael’s School of Athens, Rubens’ Henry IV Receiving the Portrait of Marie de’ Medici, West’s Death of General Wolfe and David’s Oath of the Horatii, explain the Renaissance-Baroque, Grand Manner of history painting and explain its importance to the Academic Tradition before modern art. Whose art was this?
• Describe the dangers of applying the word “realistic” to western photography and painting of the 19th century even during the Realist movement: Consider the photographs in Chapter 27 and the paintings by Bouguereau, Bonheur, Courbet, LeClear and Repin.
• Explain what is meant by the unity of form and content. Practice by analyzing Grunewald’s Isenheim Altarpiece, Caravaggio’s Calling of St. Matthew, Goya’s May 3, 1808, Renoir’s Moulin de la Galette and Munch’s The Scream.
• BEFORE THE FINAL, select FOUR OR FIVE works that, in your opinion, plot the course of increasing abstraction from Manet to Pollock. Be prepared to cite them and the movements they represent, and explain the radical changes that take place over this century.

 END OF FINAL

---

Chapter 27 – Part I (Romanticism and Realism). 

Goals of the Week:

• To observe the transition from Romanticism to Realism which marks the decline of the Grand Manner, the gradual end of the Renaissance-Baroque Tradition, and the eventual development of the “isms” (Impressionism, Expressionism, etc.) of Modern art.
• To understand the 19th century as divided (roughly) into four major movements: Romanticism (with its subcategory of Neoclassicism), Realism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, all of which succeed each other but overlap to a certain degree. This section focuses on Romanticism and Realism.
• Distinguishing between form and content is crucial when analyzing 19th century painting. The beginning of the century places more emphasis on content, the end of the century on form.
• Read the introduction to the chapter carefully: the art from now on is best understood as a reflection of rapid technological and social changes.

Themes:

• Think of European Romanticism in general (with a capital “R”) as a new world-view where reality becomes grounded in the SELF (I think therefore I am - Descartes), as opposed to hard-wired in the external, “objective” world of the authority of church or state.
• Think:  “subjectivity,” “The Sublime.”

1.)  French Romanticism (with a capital “R”):

• Refers to the art of the late 18th century and early 19th century.
• Includes both the Neoclassism of David and Ingres (aka Poussinistes) and the romanticism (small “r”) of Delacroix and Gericault (aka Rubenistes).
• Renaissance (classical) and. Baroque (romantic) according to Wolfflin’s Principles coexist and have taken on political associations:
  • Neoclassism (linear, planar, closed, etc.), once associated with the French Revolution (David), becomes the conservative style (Ingres) of the 19th century
  • Romanticism (painterly, diagonal, open, etc.) is the style associated with progressive movements (Delacroix, Gericault).
  • Together they are known as the Neoclassical-Romantic controversy or dichotomy. These associations still exist to a certain extent today. 
• Be prepared to explain these differences in a comparison. 
• Ingres and Delacroix detested each other on both the political and personal level, yet what did their art have in (history painting, taste for the exotic, last of the Grand Tradition)?
• The works of these French artists could be categorized as Grand Manner, but, for our purposes, identify David and Ingres as Neoclassical, Delacroix and Gericault as romantic.
• Gericault’s Raft of the Medusa: why a perfect example of romantic Romanticism? What aspects nevertheless point ahead in time to Realism?

2. Goya (Spanish): 

• How does his portrait of the Family of Charles IV reflect the erosion of belief in the divine right of kings, especially in comparison to Velasques’ Las Meninas and Rigaud’s Portrait of Louis XIV?
• Describe the unity of form and content in Goya’s Third of May.
• Why is his engraving “Sleep of Reason” a good transition from the Age of Reason (18th century) to the Romanticism of the 19th?

3. Caspar David Friedrich (German): How does his brand of Romanticism contrast with the above?

4. Were early photographs “realistic”? Why or why not? What does photography specifically “capture” in the visual world? What is unreal about it? What strategies did early photographers develop? Revisit our discussion of Magritte and LeClear from the first days of the semester.

• Daguerre, Nadar (French)
• Fox Talbot, Cameron (British)
• Rejlander (Swedish)
• Muybridge (US)
• Identify all as “Early Photography”

5. What do these Realist works have in common?

• Courbet’s Burial at Ornans, Bonheur’s Plowing in the Nivernais (French); Repin’s Bargehaulers on the Volga (Russian)
• How do they contrast with Romantic works such as Gericault’s Raft of the Medusa, David’s Napoleon or Goya’s Third of May?

6. How would you categorize Bouguereau’s Nymphs and Satyr (French)? Realist? Romantic? Describe this hybrid in terms of form and content.

7. Describe the plurality of styles of 19th century architecture. Use these stylistic designations for ID’s:

• Paris Opera: Grand Manner, Renaissance-Baroque (aka Beaux-Arts or Academic style) = a mixture of past styles.
• Houses of Parliament: Romantic Revival (in this case Neo-Gothic) = an imitation of one main past style (like Neo-Classical).
• Brooklyn Bridge, Eiffel Tower: Progressive (aka engineering architecture) = looked to the future embracing new materials, technology and building stypes.

Period. Geography, Dates: (See Stokstad, p. 1056-7) 

Periods: Neoclassical = David and Ingres; Romantic = Gericault, Delacroix, Goya, Friedrich; All photographs = Early Photography; Realism =Courbet, Bonheur, Bouguereau, Repin; Architecture, See subcategories above.

Geography is embedded above in parentheses beside names and titles.

Dates: All 19th century.

I.D.'s: Chapter 27 – 1-2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 15-18, 31, 33-9, 41-42, 44, 46, 48, 51, 95. 

Other: The Raft of the Medusa, p. 986.

Opinions: 

Is a “neutral manner” in art possible? In other words, is it possible for an artist to paint or sculpt in a way which is an exact replication of “reality” without any coloring of the artist’s temperament? 

In either case, which works of the Realist period look most “realistic” to you? On what grounds?

---

Chapter 26:  Eighteenth Century Art

Goals:  To apply the “R’s” of the 18th century Age of Enlightenment and Rationality to art: Rococo to Revolution (political, technological, industrial, scientific), Age of Reason and Reform.  In art, from Rococo to Romanticism (including Neoclassicism). 

Themes:

1.) Compare Baroque and Rococo painting (Rubens vs. Watteau/Fragonard):  How are they similar in form?  What makes Rococo different?  What class was its primary audience? 

2.) Using Wölfflin’s Principles, compare and contrast the Rococo style of Watteau/Fragonard from the beginning of the 18th century with the revolutionary Neo-Classical/Romantic style of David from the late 18th century. 

3.) Discuss the Grand Manner = the Renaissance-Baroque Tradition.

• “History painting” 
• Large, multi-figured scenes of subjects from history, literature, mythology or the Bible 
• Occupied the top rank of hierarchy of ranked forms of art above landscape, portrait, still life and genre painting
• Mirrored a class-conscious, hierarchical society. 
• Privileged by the ruling elite as a form of propaganda and self-representation;
• A vehicle for conveying Enlightenment ideas.
•  Other characteristics: aiming for a “neutral” or “official” style, self-conscious historicism, combinations of devices from the past, sometimes leaning toward the Renaissance, sometimes toward the Baroque
•  Other aspects: founding of Academies, the age of the Grand Tour, official patronage.
• In the late 19th century, early modern artists would rebel against this top-down art.

4.) Explain the complex relationship between Neoclassicism and Romanticism. Which is the larger term? When do they overlap? When are they mutually exclusive?

Period. Geography, Dates:  All 18th century. Watteau & Fragonard = French Rococo; Zoffany (Hungarian), Reynolds (British), Wright of Derby (British) = Grand Manner; Kauffmann (Swiss) = Grand Manner on the Neoclassical side; West (US) = Grand Manner on the Romantic side; Jacques-Louis David = French Neoclassical (Romantic) 

I.D.'s:  Chapter 26 – figs. 9, 13, p. 950 (Zoffany), 33, 35-37, 48-49, Chapter 27 fig. 2..

Other:  Academies and Academy Exhibitions, p. 944; Women and the Academies, p. 950, esp. Johann Zoffany. Academicians of the Royal Academy.

---

Chapter 19: Baroque Art in Europe

Goals:

To understand and describe

·      How 17th century Baroque art-- ON THE FORMAL LEVEL ONLY--contrasts with 16th century Renaissance art (painting, sculpture and architecture) using Wölfflin’s Principles of Art History, Stokstad, p. 799.

·      To appreciate Baroque art’s propagandistic power and how it gave expression to the Counter-Reformation (Italy), the absolutist doctrine of the divine-right of kings (France), and developing Protestant, nationalistic values in the wake of the Reformation (Holland).

·      To distinguish the broad variety of Baroque art that spans a wide spectrum of human experience: extroverted and introverted, loud and soft, violent and still, ideal and real; Catholic in the South and Protestant in the North; religious and secular.

Themes:

1.) Describe in detail Wölfflin’s five sets of opposite “principles”, which we first saw developing in the 16th century in the architecture of Michelangelo (Capitoline Hill) and Venetian painting (Leonardo vs. Tintoretto), in all three categories of painting, sculpture, and architecture. See p. 799. Compare:

* The Baroque part of St. Peter’s (nave, façade and colonnades) with its Renaissance apse.

* Mike’s Sistine Ceiling with Gaulli’s Glorification of the name of Jesus.

* Bernini’s David with Donatello’s and Michelangelo’s. How does each sculpture reflect its respective century?

2.) Define (and spell) “Gesamtkunstwerk” = a total work of art, a merging of architecture, painting and sculpture plus non-art aspects. Describe the components of specific examples such as

* Large: St. Peter’s in Rome, Versailles

* Middle-sized: Il Gesu, Rome.

* Small: Ecstasy of St. Theresa, a painting by Rubens, Caravaggio, etc..

3.) What is illusionistic ceiling painting?

4.) What are the main characteristics of Caravaggio's style? What was objectionable about his paintings? Yet how did they perfectly fulfill Counter-Reformation aims? Keep track of artists who are influenced by Caravaggio’s “tenebrism” or "dark manner" (Gentileschi, Velasquez, Rembrandt, etc.)

5.) Discuss a variety of levels of interpretation of Velasquez’s Las Meninas. What do you think is going on?

6.) Compare the FLEMISH Baroque art of Rubens: large, loud, sensuous, imperial, official, Catholic, religious, commissioned art that is dominated by one master with assistants in a centralized, hierarchical economy

VS.

The DUTCH art of Holland as represented by Rembrandt and Vermeer: small, quiet, restrained, middle-class, republican, Protestant, secular art that is produced by individual artists in business for themselves and working mostly alone, who specialize to produce commodities to be sold on a capitalist free market.

How does the style of the art from each geographic region clearly reflect the political, religious, economic and social circumstances of its region of origin?

7.) Describe the aspects of Versailles (FRENCH) that make it a perfect example of:

• A Gesamtkunstwerk
• A Baroque work of art according to Wolfflin's Principles
• Absolutism and the epitomy of belief in the Divine Right of Kings Period.

Geography, Dates:

* All of the work in Chapter 19 = Baroque, 17th century (1600s).

* See. P. 922 and 923 for geographic categories. Pay special attention to geography in this chapter.

I.D.'s: Chapter 19- 1-3, 8-10, 16, 18 - 24, 37, 39, 45-46, 57, 64, 67.

Other: Science and the Changing World View, p. 759; Caravaggio and the new Realism, p. 775; French Baroque Garden Design, p. 780; *Wölfflin’s Principles of Art History, p. 799, the Dutch Art Market, p. 803.

Chapter 18: Renaissance Art in Sixteenth-Century Europe =
Italy (South) and Germany, Spain and Flemish (Netherlands)

Goals of the Week:

• To gain insight into the art of the classical Renaissance (formerly High Renaissance) of the 16th century in Italy traditionally considered a highpoint in the western tradition,

• To appreciate variations in Renaissance ideals both within Italy, and in other parts of Europe.

Themes:

1. How do Leonardo’s and Raphael’s art works epitomize ideals in form and content of 16th century classical Italian Renaissance painting, especially as compared with the painting of the previous two centuries? What’s so “great” about it?

2. What are the subjects of Michelangelo’s Sistine Ceiling and the east wall of the Sistine Chapel (don’t forget that they were painted twenty years apart). What is “illusionistic” architecture? How did he adjust his style? What do the “gnudi”, the seated nudes of the frame, add to the program?

3. Discuss a variety of ways that Michelangelo treats human figures in both painting and sculpture. How do they express varying states of the human soul? What is meant by “energy in repose”?

4. Michelangelo’s architectural designs can be categorized as Classical Renaissance (St. Peter’s), Mannerist (Vestibule of the Laurentian Library), and proto-Baroque (Capitoline project = Piazza del Campidoglio). Describe the characteristics that place them in separate categories.

5.Italian Mannerism:

• Compare an example of mannerist painting with one from the classical phase of the Renaissance. Which do you prefer?
• Do the same for architecture: Compare and contrast Bramante’s Tempietto as the epitome of classical Renaissance architecture comparable to Leonard’s and Raphael’s painting, and Giulio Roman’s Palazzo del Tè as “mannerist,” or at least “mannered.” The same goes for Cellini's Salt Cellar of Francis I as an example of mannerist sculpture.

6. Northern (German) Renaissance:

• Describe why Grünewald's Isenheim Altarpiece is a good example of the unity of form and content in the western tradition.
• Dürer considered himself the Leonardo da Vinci of the North: did he accomplish this goal? Or, does he stand safely within the established northern tradition going back to Campin and Van Eyck?

7.Spanish Renaissance: El Greco’s Burial of Count Orgaz shows us two different worlds, a spiritual and a material realm: how did the artist vary artistic devices to separate them visually? El Greco’s artistic education and cultural background were astoundingly diverse, involving Byzantine icons, Venetian painting, Roman mannerism, and Spanish religious realism. Analyze the Burial with an eye toward picking out these various influences.

8. Northern (Flemish/ Netherlandish) Renaissance: Compare and contrast Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights with Michelangelo’s Last Judgment. What is typically northern about Bosch’s approach, typically southern about Michelangelo’s? Without underestimating all of the obvious differences in size and tradition between the two, what aspects of form and content do they—surprisingly--share? Which of them is more sympathetic or condemning of the human condition? Which strikes a deeper chord in you?

9. Using Wölfflin’s Principles of Art History, Stokstad, p. 799, compare Leonard’s classical version of the Last Supper with Tintoretto’s proto-baroque version from the church of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice: Linear vs. painterly, parallel vs. diagonal, closed vs. open, absolutely vs. relatively clear, multiple vs. unified.

Period. Geography, Dates: All of Chapter 18 = 16th century.

• Leonardo, Raphael, Bramante, and Michelangelo’s painting and sculpture = Classical Italian Renaissance.
• See #4 above for classification of Mike’s architecture.
• Giulio Romano, Pontormo, Parmigianino, Bronzino, Cellini = Italian Mannerist.
• Grünewald and Dürer = German Renaissance.
• El Greco = Spanish Renaissance.
• Bosch = Flemish Renaissance.
• See also Stokstad, p. 754-755.

I.D.'s: Chapter 18 2-7, 10-15, 17-18, 20-21, 32-35, 37-38, 44-45, 48-49, 51-53, 55, 60-62, 70, 72.

Other: The Vitruvian Man, p. 690; Sistine Restoration, p. 698; Saint Peter’s Basilica, p. 702; Painting on Canvas, p. 707. Chapter 19, p. 799: Wölfflin’s Principles of Art History.

Opinions:

• Is the “great” art of the classical Renaissance still “great”? Why/ not? What specific examples are you thinking of?
• Do you like Mannerist art? Or, do you prefer the Classical Renaissance? Why/ not?

---

FINAL EXAM THEMES

I.  25-30 I.D.’s Renaissance to Minimalism.

Chapter 17:  2-7, 11, 14, 22, 33-35, 49-52, 58-61, 63, 67-68, 73.

Chapter 18:  2-4, 7, 10-13, 15, 17, 26, 32-33, 35, 37, 49, 52-53, 55, 60, 70, 72.

Chapter 19:  1-3, 8-10, 16, 18-24, 39, 45-46, 57, 64-65, 67.

Chapter 26:  9, 13, 33, 36-37, 48-49.

Chapter 27:  2, 4, 6, 15-18, 31, 33-37, 39, 41-42, 44, 46, 48, 51, 56-57, 59, 61, 65, 67-68, 72-73 79.

Chapter 28:  3, 13, 15, 21, 24-26, 49, 63, 67-68.

Chapter 29: 10, 13, 16, 27, 33, 35.  

II. Recycled, recombined THEMES. 

Note:  * = likely to be a COMMON essay.

• *Compare and contrast Giotto’s Arena Chapel with Jeanne-Claude’s and Christo’s Running Fence.  Now that you have seen the art that evolved between them, explain first the differences, then the commonalities. Prepare three to five major points that you explain and elaborate.

• *What artistic devices allowed painters of the Renaissance-Baroque Tradition from Giotto to Bouguereau, regardless of region of origin or historical period, to create the illusion of space on a two-dimensional surface? What formal, artistic devices--modeling, perspective (linear and atmospheric), foreshortening, manipulation of light and dark, consistent scale, natural propostion and color, etc.—are necessary to make a painting look like a window or a hole in the wall?

• Within that illusionistic world of painting during the 15th and 16th century Renaissance, contrast the northern European (Netherlands and Germany) way of seeing in detail with the southern (Italian) way of seeing in terms of structure:  the Merode Altarpieces vs. the Ideal City, or Michelangelo’s Last Judgment vs. Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights.

• What is characteristically Renaissance about the work of Brunelleschi, Donatello, Botticelli, Mantegna, Perugino, DaVinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Grünewald and Dürer? They all use the same illusionistic devices, but what variety of new ideas do they express about architecture or about the human condition. Spend time with examples of their work and decide what is uniquely Renaissance.

• Compare a work of the Classical Renaissance with a Mannerist work.

• *Using Wölfflin’s Principles of Art History sustematically, contrast a work from the Renaissance with one from the Baroque period.

• What is a “Gesamtkunstwerk”?  Describe and explain a number of examples and how they are related to the political and religious circumstances of their times.

• Characterize Caravaggio’s style.  Refer to at least three painters who were influenced by his “dark” manner.

• What are the characteristics of Rococo art?  How is it related to previous and subsequent styles.  What class and moment in history does it represent?

• Describe an example of the Grand Manner of history painting and explain its importance in the Academic Tradition.

• *Describe the dangers of applying the word “realistic” to western photography and painting of the 19th century in spite of the term “Realism.”  Use a CREATIVE variety of examples to illustrate your discussion.

• *Discuss the basics of the paradigm shift from objective to subjective art of the 19th century as reflected in the shift from the Romantic Grand Manner to Post-Impressionist art.  Use four to five examples of your choice to mark the stages.

• *Discuss the process of abstraction that is typical of the development of early modern artists.  Above all, justify WHY the process took place in response to the changing technical and social realities of modern life. 

• *Explain how the abstract art of the abstract expressionists (late modernists) drew from early modern movements such as cubism, expressionism and surrealism.  How did this art reflect the US rise to world power after World War II?

• Discuss the characteristics of the last (late) modernist movements of Pop and Minimalism.  How are they opposite sides of the same coin, namely the end of the history of flatness (what you see is what you get), sculpture about sculpture, painting about painting? 

III.  TAKE-HOME  Essay on Contemporary Art (to be handed in at the final exam).

• Pick an example of art in Stokstad after p. 1148 that dates from the 1970s to the present (NO earlier!), one that is puzzling to you but nonetheless intriguing. 
• Do not pick anything that you know already or feel comfortable with. However, LET YOUR CHOICE REFLECT WHAT ISSUES YOU FEEL STRONGLY ABOUT.  BE ADVENTUROUS but WRITE ABOUT SOMETHING THAT MEANS SOMETHING TO YOU.
• Go on the internet and find something more about the artist and/ or the work. Include the www address.
• Use your own words. If you must quote or paraphrase--either Stokstad or your website--use proper citation.
• Read, think, and reflect upon the example until you can write an engaging essay of at least 250 words in the spirit of class presentations, Stokstad and the museum assignment.

• Describe the work (formal description): What does it look like? What new forms and materials are involved that make it contemporary?
• Interpret it (content): What new subjects or issues are involved? What does it mean?
• How does it apply to your life? Make it your own. Relate it to something important in your world.

Be sure the essay has:

• An introduction
• Three paragraphs (one for each topic above: description, interpretation, application),
• And a conclusion.
• Give your essay a title that is NOT the title of the artwork.
• An image of the work.
• Your name. 

The final exam will be timed for two hours.

You are welcome, indeed encouraged,

to stay for the additional hour.

Course evaluations will be administered after the final.

---

VIDEO WEEK: FEB. 12 - 16

This week classes will consist of art history videos focused on the material of the course as I will be away in New York at the national conference of the College Art Association:

Mon. Feb. 12 – Medieval World (includes Early Renaissance)

Tues. Feb. 13 – Renaissance

Wed. Feb. 14 – Baroque

Fri. Feb. 16 – Rococo to Revolution

Take notes every day while watching the videos. Shape your notes into summaries following this format:

1.) Start with the period title.

2.) List three major works highlighted by the video. Pay attention so that you catch the names of artists, monuments, geography and century. This will be easy at first because you will recognize the works. Bring Stokstad to class. For the later periods that we have not yet covered, refer to the text for identifications.

3.) Summarize at least three major points from each video.

4.) Type up to hand in.

DUE ON MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19TH.

---

Introduction

We will start with the very basics of terms and concepts. Be patient with yourself, but also trust your instincts. We are often dealing with exactly what we're looking at merely finding words to describe it. Take good class notes. Illustrations used in class are either in Stokstad or on the Images pages on this website.

1. Compare and contrast Giotto’s Arena Chapel (chapter 17-2 & 3) with Christo’s Running Fence (Chapter 29-58): Start with the obvious differences, then go on to some of the surprising similarities.
2. Be prepared to define, describe, and discuss the difference between form and content (See below and glossary in Stokstad) in regard to specific examples.
3. Be prepared to describe the difference between illusionistic and abstract art in regard to specific examples using the vocabulary developed in class, especially the "artistic devices" involved.

   • Coppo da Marcolvaldo (mosaic ceiling of the Florentine Baptistery) vs. Giotto's Arena Chapel
   • Stuart David vs. Norman Rockwell)      
4. What are the dangers of using the words "realistic" in regard to images?
5. What parts of Barbara Kruger's Untitled are illustionistic? Which are abstract? What is your interpretation of this image?

Period, Geography, Dates for I.D.’s:

Chapter and figure numbers in Stokstad:

• Chapter 17-2,3: Giotto, Last Judgment, Arena Chapel, Proto- Renaissance, Italy, 14th century.
• Chapter 28-49: Piet Mondrian. Composition with Yellow, Red, and Blue, Dutch Modernism (Rationalism), 20th century.
• Chapter 28-76: Norman Rockwell, Freedom from Want, Regionalism, US, 20th century.
• Chapter 28-79: Stuart Davis, Swing Landscape, Modern Abstraction, US, 20th century.
• Chapter 29-35: Joseph Kosuth. One and Three Chairs, US Conceptual Art, 20th century.
• Chapter 29-58: Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Running Fence, US Earthworks, 20th century.

Click on Images page for:

• Coppo da Marcovaldo, Last Judgment, Italo-Byzantine, Italy, 2nd half of 13th century.
• Thomas LeClear, Interior with Portraits, Academic Realism, US, 19th century.
• René Magritte, This is not a Pipe, Surrealism, Belgium, 20th century.
• -----------------, The Human Condition".
• Barbara Kruger, Untitled (I Shop Therefore I Am), Contemporary, US, 20th century.

---

ART = FORM + CONTENT

FORM = VISUAL COMPONENTS = FORMAL ELEMENTS

           Lines, shapes = forms, colors, textures

           Spatial qualities: flatness vs. mass, volume, space

           Overlapping, picture plane (surface), picture space

           Perspective: intuitive, linear, aerial - atmospheric

           Fore, middle and background

           Overall arrangement = Composition

CONTENT

           Intrinsic (Focus on the work)Title, description, subject matter

           Extrinsic (Focus outside the work)

Meaning, interpretation, ideas

            Larger context: Who made it? For whom? Why? Where?

---

All art is abstract and all art is from nature, but some the form of some art is more abstract, while the form of other art is more tied to nature.

ILLUSIONISTIC ART    VS.   ABSTRACT ART

3-dimensional                                                                2-dimensional

perceptual                                                                      conceptual

observation (eyes open)                                                  mind’s eye (eyes closed)

picture space                                                                 flat

visual                                                                            symbolic

specific                                                                         generalized

world of accidental appearances                                      world of fundamental forms
transitory aspects                                                           characteristic aspects

---

Chapter 17: Early Renaissance Art in Europe, Northern Europe

We will continue to analyze form and content, explore the "window concept" of painting, and critique the word "realistic," now using examples from Chapter 17. We will begin in northern Europe (parts of present-day Belgium, Holland, and France), and then switch to southern Europe, primarily Tuscany in northern Italy.

Themes:

FORM:

PAINTING of northern Europe in the 15th century art is characterized by:

• a near-sighted vision, seeing close up in fragments or sections,
• emphasis on surface rather than internal structure,
• jewel-like oil color carefully modeled (painting),
• Objects seen in an airless, clear, sharp-focus space (painting).
• Intuitive space = distorted space
• Piles of drapery with little regard for anatomy.
• No visual unity: no consistent scale or sense of natural proportion
• "Invention" of oil painting
• True portraiture

Be prepared to describe these qualities in regard to specific examples along with general, illusionistic artistic devices used in the window concept of painting such as:

• modeling,
• foreshortening,
• manipulation of light and dark (use of highlights, shadows and cast shadows),
• linear (not one-point) perspective.

CONTENT: Northern painting combines

• Religious and GENRE subjects (scenes of everyday life)
• Traditional religious and "veiled" or "hidden" symbolism from everyday life. Be prepared to explain these terms in reference to specific examples.

SCULPTURE of northern Europe in the 15th century: Seen within a long view of the history of sculpture, both into the past (early Middle Ages) and into the near future (Renaissance), where does Klaus Sluter's Well of Moses stand in the development?

Period, Geography, Dates:

• For the purposes of identifying works of art on tests (called "I.D.’s" for short), refer to all of the examples in Chapter 17 (except for Giotto's Arena Chapel) as "Early Renaissance, 15th century, meaning the 1400’s.
• Giotto’s Arena Chapel is Proto-Renaissance and dates from the 14th century, or the 1300’s (See last week).
• Consult p. 682-683 in Stokstad for geographic regions.
• The Early Renaissance Art of the North in the so-called "Low Countries" is also referred to as Early Netherlandish, Flemish or Franco-Flemish. Again, see Stokstad or ask me, if you have questions.

Figs in Stokstad (I.D.'s): Chapter 17: 1-5, 6-7, 11, 13-14, 62 (that's right, way out of order!), 22.

Other: Map on p. 616, Renaissance Perspective Systems on p. 621, Altars and Altarpieces, p. 628.

OPINION: Is the kind of close-up, sharp-focus way of seeing the world the same as yours, or not? How so?

Tips on Tests

• The first test is your baseline. Aim for progress from there.
• Divide your essay into paragraphs, meaning indent at least three times: introduction, body and conclusion. The body can be further broken down into parts.
• Make your essay specific to points made in class.
• Refer to specific features of named examples of art.
• Plan to write more each week until you can fill the page (unless you are already doing this).
• To those of you with teeny weeny handwriting: can you please write larger? %--(
• If I have asked you to see me:
• Bring your class notes and studying materials from the last test.
• We will discuss strategies that will save you time and make your note taking, planning for essays and studying time more effective.
• I am available: (email ahead for a spot)
• Mon. Feb. 4, 2-3:30
• Tues. Feb. 5, 2:45 – 4:15
• Fri. Feb. 8, 2:00 - ?

---

Chapter 17, Early Renaissance Art in Europe, Italy = Southern Europe

Goals of the week: a.) to get familiar with the art of the Early Renaissance of the 15th century in Italy: its humanism, its new way of thinking, and its roots in Antiquity, b.) to start looking at architecture in addition to painting & sculpture, and c.) to learn to contrast the southern (structure, unity) with the northern (surface, fragmented) approach to the visible world in painting.

Themes:

Architecture:

• What is typically Renaissance about Brunelleschi's problem-solving approach to the construction of the dome of Florence Cathedral (Process of thinking rather than appearance of style)
• How does the Renaissance style differ radically from the preceding Gothic style?

Sculpture:

• What is original and versatile about Donatello's sculpture, both three-dimensional and in relief?
• How do Ghiberti's reliefs on the Gates of Paradise of the Baptistery in Florence create illusions similar to those in painting?

Painting:

• What does Gentile da Fabriano's Adoration of the Magi have in common with the Rich Hours of the Limboug Brothers?
• Compare Gentile's Adoration with Masaccio's Tribute Money, especially depiction of space, weight-shift, treatment of light and characterization.
• What is one-point perspective and how does it change representation?
• Be prepared to describe the artistic devices that create the illusionistic window concept of painting using works be a variety of Italian, 15th century (Pre-Raphaelite) painters such as Uccello, Castagno, Mantegna, Perugino.
  • Consider: Linear (one-point) and atmospheric perspective, foreground-middleground-background, foreshortening, modeling, consistent light source, weight-shift, consistent scale, natural proportion, drapery separate from the figure, gesture, variation, etc.

  In other words, how do these artists "paint away the walls," or create a three-dimensional illusion on a two-dimensional surface?

• Using the various comparisons made in class, compare the northern and southern sensibilities in painting:
• seeing in detail up close (NORTH) vs.
• seeing in generalities from afar (SOUTH)
• such as Campin's city view in the Merode Altarpiece vs. the Ideal City, fig. 5,
• Or Van Eyck's Arnolfini Wedding Portrait vs. Masaccio's Trinity.

• Explain how the formal treatment of Botticelli’s paintings is old-fashioned (archaic), while the Neo-Platonic subjects and content point to the future, even to our own day.

Period. Geography, Dates: Early Renaissance/ South = Italy/ 15^th century.

I.D.'s - Chapter 17: 1 , 4 & 5, 33-35, 49-52, 58-63, 67-68, 73.

Other: Alberti’s Art Theory in the Renaissance, p. 655.

OPINION: Now that you have seen both, how does your "sensibility" line up: with the northern or the southern sensibility?

Video Assignment - Date TBA

Sir Kenneth Clark – The Hero as Artist: A look at how Pope Julius II sponsored men like Michelangelo and Raphael – from the BBC Series Civilization: A Personal View by Lord Clark, first broadcast March 23, 1969.

• Giant