Course Syllabus

JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY

COURSE CODE: "AS 307"
COURSE NAME: "Portrait Painting"
SEMESTER & YEAR: Spring 2024

SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Michele Tocca
EMAIL: [email protected]
HOURS: TH 3:30 PM 6:15 PM
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS: 45
CREDITS: 3
PREREQUISITES: Prerequisite: One previous course in Drawing /Painting. This class requires a materials fee of €75/$85 to cover all basic art supplies.
OFFICE HOURS:

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This advanced course enables students to investigate a variety of approaches and narratives that make portrait painting relevant today. Questioning traditional tropes and conventions, students are guided to expand on the formal processes behind the rendition of the human face as a means to develop a critical and poetic awareness of their own position as a practitioner.

SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:

Through seminars, studio sessions and group crits, students are expected to make a body of works that add to portrait painting’s long history, witnessing an increased criticality towards its practical and conceptual possibilities today.

The course revolves around the notion of ‘painting as flesh’ to explore the human face via a series of major issues, including age and time, the self and the other, the portrait as a mask. Reflecting and expanding on portraiture’s traditional methods and meanings, students are therefore encouraged to find their individual voice within portrait’s current concerns. Issues of identity, social status, otherness, are presented during lectures and discussions that serve as a conceptual framework to inform and contextualize studio sessions, assignments and individual research. Practical demonstrations and one-to-one tutorials on such formal aspects as anatomy and texture are given to allow students to gain mastery of portrait’s basics. Visits to museums are fundamental moments to look at paintings in the flesh and acquire the necessary skills to observe and evaluate their works. Students mainly work from observation, except for specific assignments, and are expected to set an independent agenda and studio routine.

Readings and Books

Readings and extracts from books and catalogues will be provided throughout. Essential bibliography:

Faigin, G., The Artist’s Complete Guide to Facial Expression, New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2008

Hyman, Timothy, The World New Made, Figurative Painting in the Twentieth Century, London: Thames&Hudson, 2022

MacGibbon, Rab et al, Icons and Identities, London: NPG, 2020

Mullins, Charlotte, Painting People, London: Thames&Hudson, 2007

West, Shearer, Portraiture, Oxford: University Press, 2004

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Demonstrate an understanding of fundamental traditions and current problems in portrait painting and apply this with growing skill in the work.

Demonstrate a growing awareness of techniques and processes, focusing on the interdependency between form and content within the work.

Demonstrate an awareness of your identity as practitioner in relation to portraiture and an ability to manage an independent studio practice.

Demonstrate an ability to critically reflect upon and evaluate your own work and the work of others during group critiques, discussions and visits.

TEXTBOOK:

NONE

REQUIRED RESERVED READING:

NONE

RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:

NONE

GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:

Assignment	Guidelines	Weight
Midterm Review	Assignments and independent projects will be given throughout the course and will be presented and assessed during group critiques. There will be two formal critiques - one at midterm and the other during final week. Students will be required to present their work to the class and to answer questions about their work by the professor. Students will be encouraged to comment on the work of their classmates. Attendance is mandatory. Failure to be present will result in a significant drop in assessment at the end of the term.	25%
Attendance, participation and initiative	Attendance is mandatory. Independent work will be expected from each student. Students should expect to spend at least three days a week on developing and finishing projects.	15%
Research Paper	Each student is expected to present a 1000-word research paper about a topic or one/more artist/s that is/are relevant to their studio practice.	10%
Final Portfolio	The students' final body of works must reflect their identity and potential as practitioners within the current concerns of portrait painting, whilst giving evidence of an awareness of historical traditions to sustain ideas and approaches to making. Evaluation criteria include: experimentation, resourcefulness, inventiveness, expressiveness, acuity of observation, concision, complexity, improvement, intentionality, clarity, awareness of historical models, and other aspects of technical skill and artistic quality.	50%

-ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
AWork of this quality shows excellent mastery of the course content along with exceptional levels of technical skill, artistic awareness, originality, resourcefulness, commitment, quantity of work and improvement. There has been excellent collaboration and leadership in group projects, and there have been no attendance problems.
BA highly competent level of performance with work that directly addresses the content of the course, with a good quantity of work produced.
CAn acceptable level of performance: the work shows awareness of the course content, but is very limited in quantity, quality, commitment and skill.
DThe student lacks a coherent grasp of the course material and has failed to produce much work.
FNegligent in attendance, academic honesty, engagement with the course content, or production of work.

-ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS:
ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS AND EXAMINATION POLICY
You cannot make-up a major exam (midterm or final) without the permission of the Dean’s Office. The Dean’s Office will grant such permission only when the absence was caused by a serious impediment, such as a documented illness, hospitalization or death in the immediate family (in which you must attend the funeral) or other situations of similar gravity. Absences due to other meaningful conflicts, such as job interviews, family celebrations, travel difficulties, student misunderstandings or personal convenience, will not be excused. Students who will be absent from a major exam must notify the Dean’s Office prior to that exam. Absences from class due to the observance of a religious holiday will normally be excused. Individual students who will have to miss class to observe a religious holiday should notify the instructor by the end of the Add/Drop period to make prior arrangements for making up any work that will be missed. The final exam period runs until ____________

ACADEMIC HONESTY
As stated in the university catalog, any student who commits an act of academic dishonesty will receive a failing grade on the work in which the dishonesty occurred. In addition, acts of academic dishonesty, irrespective of the weight of the assignment, may result in the student receiving a failing grade in the course. Instances of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Academic Affairs. A student who is reported twice for academic dishonesty is subject to summary dismissal from the University. In such a case, the Academic Council will then make a recommendation to the President, who will make the final decision.

STUDENTS WITH LEARNING OR OTHER DISABILITIES
John Cabot University does not discriminate on the basis of disability or handicap. Students with approved accommodations must inform their professors at the beginning of the term. Please see the website for the complete policy.

SCHEDULE

Week 1- Jan 18

Introduction to the Programme (Expectations, Rules, Grading, Introduction to Studio Work and Portfolio-building)

Seminar: The History and the Tropes of Portrait as a Genre.

Initial Drawing Exercises

Home assignment: Portrait of a friend

2 Jan 25

Individual Presentation of Previous Works

Seminar: Painting as Flesh

Practical session: Making the Palette, Sketching the Pose

Home assignment: Street Portraits

3 Feb 1

Portaying the Model

Home assignment: Expressions

4 Feb 8

Visit to Galleria Doria Pamphili – meet outside Apple Store on via del Corso*

Discussions and sketching from painting

5 Feb 15

Portrait n. 1

The making of a portrait from observation

6 Feb 16 (Make-up day for April 25)

Completion of the first portrait

7 Feb 22

Midterm Critique

8 March 7

Seminar: The Portrait as Identity: Self-Portrait

Studio Work

Research for paper begins

Home Assignment: Self-portrait in the mirror

9 March14

Completion of Self-Portrait n. 1 and individual tutorials.

Home assignment: Selfies

10 March 21

The Fragment and Collage: Self-portrait n. 2

11 March 28

Informal Group Critique and Discussion of Research

Completion of Self-portrait n.2

12 April 4

Seminar: The Mask: The Self Disguised, the Persona, the Double

Meet at the Galleria Nazionale**

13 April 11

Making of final piece: The Portrait and the Mask

One-to-one tutorials

14 April 18

Submission of Written Research

Conclusion of final project

15 May 2

Final Critique

*The visit requires an entry fee of euro 17

**The visit requires an entry fee of euro 11