Course Syllabus

JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY

COURSE CODE: "AH 278"
COURSE NAME: "Twentieth Century Art"
SEMESTER & YEAR: Spring Semester 2012

SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Georgi Karen
EMAIL: [email protected]
HOURS: MW 11:30-12:45
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS: 45
CREDITS: 3
PREREQUISITES:
OFFICE HOURS: Monday, 12:45-13:45

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
20^th century art consists of well-known Modernist and Postmodernist styles and movements such as Cubism, Futurism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop art, installations and earthworks, to name a few. It also encompasses lesser-known movements such as the American urban realists, the Regionalists, Soviet Socialist Realism. But what does Modernism mean and how does it relate to the century’s dramatic modernization of daily life, social organization, commercial development, political and cultural nationalism, and two World Wars? Through a critical analysis of the art, artists, and critical discourses in question, the course will consider the fundamental questions: what is art’s relationship to the larger culture? What is the artist’s role in society? What do aesthetic concerns have to do with life? While these questions are always pertinent, they demand particular attention in the century largely defined by the ideology of art’s autonomy, pure creativity, and individual expression.

SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:
The course will be structured around a comparison of European and American Modernist and Postmodernist movements, taking advantage of the art present in the city, and also focusing on a series of international exhibitions from the famous Armory Show in New York in 1913 to the World's Fairs, to the Venice Biennale. These points of artistic interchange will help bring the relevant aesthetic and socio- political issues to the fore, since there were condiserable differences on the opposite sides of the Atlantic in the ways that artistic production and reception responded to and represented such things as technological development, mass consumer culture, individual subjectivity and collective identity, political resistance.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:
Students who conscientiously apply themselves will become conversant in key 20th century American and European movements and artists and the critical discourses with which they were elaborated and defined. They will also develop skills for visually analyzing and recognizing forms and competently assessing stylistic differences with an understanding of how such styles communicated historically. They will begin to grasp the complex role of art in society and the ideological bases for 20th century notions of creativity and the autonomy of art that are still with us today.

TEXTBOOK:

NONE

REQUIRED RESERVED READING:

Book Title	Author	Publisher	ISBN number
Varieties of Modernism	Paul Wood, ed.	Yale University Press with Open University	0300101422
Modernism	Charles Harrison	Cambridge University Press	0521627583
American Art Since 1945	David Joselit	Thames & Hudson, world of art	0500203687
Rise of the Sixties: American and European Art in an Era of Dissent	Thomas Crow		0810927314
Reconstructing Modernism: Art in New York, Paris, Madrid, 1945-1964	Serge Guilbaut		0262071207
Re-orederin the Universe: Picasso and Anarchism	Patricia Leighten		0691040591
Realism, Rationalis, Surrealism	Briony Fer, et. al.		0300055188
A Picasso Anthology:Documents, Criticism, Reminiscenses	Marily McCully, ed.		069104001x
Futurism	Richard Humphreys		'521646111
Mussolini's Rome	Borden Painter		9781403980021

RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:

NONE

GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:

Assignment	Guidelines	Weight
paper		20
presentation		15

-ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:

Assessment Guidelines for assigning main letter grades: A, B, C,D, and F.

A: Work of this quality directly addresses the question or problem raised and provides a coherent argument displaying an extensiveknowledge of relevant information or content. This type of work demonstrates the ability to critically evaluate concepts and theory and has an element of novelty and originality. There is clear evidence of a significant amount of reading beyond that required for the course.

B: This is highly competent level of performance and directly addresses the question or problem raised.

There is a demonstration of some ability to critically evaluatetheory and concepts and relate them to practice. Discussions reflect the student’s own arguments and are not simply a repetition of standard lecture andreference material. The work does not suffer from any major errors or omissions and provides evidence of reading beyond the required assignments.

C: This is an acceptable level of performance and provides answers that are clear but limited, reflecting the information offered in the lectures and reference readings.

D: This level of performances demonstrates that the student lacks a coherent grasp of the material.

Important information is omitted and irrelevant points included.In effect, the student has barely done enough to persuade the instructor that s/he should not fail.

F: This work fails to show any knowledge or understanding of the issues raised in the question. Most of the material in the answer is irrelevant.

-ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS:

One unexcused absence is permitted. You are expected to be fully present and to participate in discussions. Physical attendance alone is not sufficient.

Please refer to the university catalog for the attendance and absence policy.

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

course outline
NOTE: There will be two Friday classes in Spring 2012. They are Friday February 3 and Friday March 9. Please see official academic calendar. These are make-up classes for holidays. Attendance is mandatory.

16 Jan.       Introduction. Paris World's Fair, 1867: American artists encounter Euopean Modernism

18 Jan.      What is Modernism?
                    Reading: Charles Harrison, Modernism, ch. 1 and ch. 3
                    Summary/discussion #1

23 Jan.       Academic art in the US at the turn of the century

25 Jan.        Anti-academicism: Urban realism and the Ashcan School
                    Reading: POST-IT #1 Milton Brown, "The Ashcan School" and
                                      POST-IT # 2 Laural Weintraub on John Sloan

30 Jan.        Armory Show
                    Reading: POST-IT # 3 Frank Trap "the Armory Show"

1 Feb.          Is it Art?
                     Reading: POST-IT #4 Richard Mastellor, "Using Brancusi: . . .    "
                     Summary/discussion #2

3 Feb.          (Make-up class) Cubism: Picasso and Braque
                       Reading: Patricia Leighton, Re-ordering the Universe: Picasso and Anarchism, ch. 4

6 Feb.            Picasso, cont.
                       Reading: William Rubin, Picasso and Braque:Pioneering Cubism,  pp. 15-41 (this book is  in                    main     collection     NON Circulating)

8 Feb.            Guernica
                        Reading: In Marilyn McCully A Picasso Anthology, read the following two examples of Picasso's reception: José                 Bergamin, "Picasso Furioso" and Herbert Read, "Picasso's 'Guernica'"

13 Feb.         The beginning of Dada: Zurich
                        Reading: Briony Fer, et. al. Realism, Rationalism, Surrealism,  Dada section pp. 30-47

15 Feb.          Dada in New York: Duchamp, Man Ray
                        Reading: POST-IT # 5: "Marcel Duchamp, Naturalized American"

20 Feb.          Futurism in Italy
                        Reading: Richard Humphreys, Futurism, ch. 2 and ch. 3

22 Feb.          Futurism cont
                        Reading: hand-out: "Futurist Manifesto" and "Manifesto of Futurist Painters"
                        Summary/discussion #3

27 Feb.          Fascist Modernism in Rome
                        Borden Painter, Mussolini's Rome, ch. 4 up to p. 84.

29 Feb.           MIDTERM EXAM

5 Mar.           1930s in Europe: The politics of realism and abstraction
                        Reading: Paul Wood, ed. Varieties of Modernism, ch.1 up to p.33

7 Mar.            Surrealism
                        Reading: Fer, et. al, Realism, Rationalism, Surrealism, pp. 47-64 and 77-85; Wood, Varieties of Modernism, pp.33-46

9 Mar.            (Make-up class) Visit to Galleria Nazionale dell'Arte Moderna

12 Mar.          1930s in the US: the politics of realism and abstraction
                        Reading: Wood, Varieties of Modernism, ch. 3 up to p. 102

14 Mar.         Mural painting and the Federal Arts Project

******* Spring Break ********

26 Mar.          The rhetoric of photography - interwar period: part 1 Documentary photography

28 Mar.           part 2: Surrealist photography

2 Apr.              Abstract Expressionism: Constructing individual artistic expression
                         Reading: David Joselit, American Art since 1945, ch. 1 and Wood, Varieties of Modernism, pp. 102-111

4 Apr.            Abstract Expressionism: Exporting Individualism
                        Reading: Serge Guilbaut,"Post-war painting Games," in Reconstructing Modernism, pp. 30-51 and 60-74

9 Apr.              HOLIDAY

11 Apr.         Post- Abstract Expressionism, towards post-modernism
                       Reading: Joselit, American Art since 1945, ch. 2
                       PAPER DUE

16 Apr.         Art and consumer culture
                      Reading: Thomas Crow, Rise of the Sixties, ch. 2 up to p. 55

18 Apr.        Art and consumer culture, cont. Pop Art in the US
                      Reading: Crow, Rise of the Sixties, ch. 3 from pp. 83-103

23 Apr.           Review

25 Apr.           HOLIDAY