The course is an engagement with Art History as an academic discipline. This is approached in part through considerations of the development of the field and the changing approaches to the study of art and visual culture, and, in part, through discussion of current directions.

The course is structured as a three-part team-taught module, each part taught by a specialist in the fields of respectively ancient, medieval, and early modern and modern art. In this way the course complements, and adds to, both introductory and advanced thematic studies in art history.

The advantage of considering art historical thinking through a period specific prism is two-fold. Firstly, it highlights how the material (and the perception of this) of diverse periods has conditioned methods of study and the questions that can be asked of it. Secondly, it highlights how the articulation of academic theories and methods are influence by contemporary concerns. Hence, the course format offers an engagement with the agency of art as well as the art historian.

Each section of the course is structured around a series of thematic case studies that throw light on both historiographical and current approaches. The case studies are based on textual and visual material linked to the study of art of the period in question. To highlight similarities as well as differences across the sections, the case studies are organized under four overarching headings that deal with: the role of style, the role of the artist, the role of the image, and the role of connoisseurship.

The aim of the course is to build up a well-rounded appreciation of art historical traditions and contemporary approaches in order to establish a firm grasp of what the methodologies of the field offer: for the understanding of the creation of art, the study of art, and the interdisciplinary nature of art history.

Proficiencies
Understanding of the historiographical study of Art History as a field
     •   Significant individuals and theories that have shaped the field
     •   The historical and cultural context that shaped these
Understanding of key art historical methodologies
     •   The character of their theoretical/practical basis
     •   Their advantages and limitation
Understanding of material- and period-specific methodologies
     •   The impact of context (material and cultural) for interpretation
     •   The impact of terminology and expectation
Understanding of current approaches
     •   Exploring how the material can frame new research questions
     •   Impact of new finds and findings

Skills
Cognitive skill: Research – analysis – interpretation
     Evaluation and consideration of evidence; reasoned consideration of methods and motives: willingness to adapt/revise ways of thinking;
     openness to alternative perspectives
Communication skills: verbal and writing abilities
     Organization of material; effective presentations; nuanced discussion; formulation of analytical responses
Collaborative skills
     Investigative response-skills; collaborative contributions; explore complex ideas; thoughtful dialogue

Attendance requirements
You are expected to participate in all scheduled classes; absences will be noted. Please refer to the university catalogue for the attendance and absence policy.
All classes start promptly; late arrival will be noted. You are expected to have dealt with food, drink and bathroom needs before class.
Make-up work is not offered, except in exceptional circumstances and after consultation with the Dean of Academic Affairs.
No recording (of any type) of the class is permitted.

Information on / cancellation of class
Additional course information, etc will be posted on MyJCU. Please check this regularly and, certainly, in advance of each class.
In case of unavoidable cancellations of class, notification will be posted at the front desk at Guarini campus. A suitable date and time for a make-up class will subsequently be established.

2. Thurs. Sept 1 The Beginnings of Art History in the Italian Renaisssance.
An introduction to the traditional modes of art-historical thinking: Naturalism and Convention; Style and Connoisseurship; Interpretation and Iconography
Biography, The Artist as Individual, Psychology Social History and Contextual Issues

Discussion: Giorgio Vasari, Prefaces to the Lives (1568) and Irving Lavin, “The Crisis of Art History
– How does Vasari look at art, write about it, and to whom? What “modes of art history” does he inititiate/develop, and which are less important to him? What are his opinions on the three periods: Antiquity, Medieval, and the Renaissance? How does he rationalize and envision the development of art of his own legacy and time? How have Vasari’s assumptions been challenged by subsequent art historians? What “new directions “is Lavin describing, and what approaches have you encountered in your own art-historical reading might reflect these? What kind of methods does Lavin find fault with, and why? Do Vasari and Lavin have any common ground?

---E. Fernie, ed. Art History and Its Methods, (1995) 2008 – Part I, Introduction(pp 10-12) (Fernie) and  Section 1, Vasari’s Three Prefaces (and Fernie’s Intro.), pp. 22-42  RES

---Irving Lavin, “The Crisis of Art History”

3. Tues. Sept. 6  Style; or, why we like to “compare and contrast”:
The definition of Renaissance vs. Baroque style according to an inescapable early scholar.
Discussion – Heinrich Wolfflin, “Principles of Art History” (1915)

---Fernie, Section 10 (text and introduction)

4. Thurs. Sept. 8 Roger Fry and the “Discovery” of Cézanne: Pure Formalism
Discussion - Fry, “Vision and Design” (1920)

---Fernie, Section 12 (text and introduction)

5. Tues. Sept. 13 Naturalism and Convention, Vision and Culture:
Discussion: Gombrich, Art and Illusion (1960), selections

---Part I: The Limits of Likeness – I) “From Light Into Paint” and II) “Truth and Stereotype”  RES

6. Thurs. Sept. 15 Panofsky and Iconography – the three levels of interpretation
Discussion: Panofsky, “Iconography and Iconology: An Introduction to the Study of Renaissance Art” (1939)

---Panofsky, Meaning in the Visual Arts, pp.26-54 and reproductions for text RES

7. Tues. Sept. 20 The Social History of Art: Art as the Product of historical dynamics
Discussion: T.J. Clark, “The Conditions of Artistic Creation” (1974)

---Fernie, Section 21(text and introduction)

More Recent Approaches:  Extending and Challenging the Traditional Modes of Art History

8. Thurs. Sept. 22 Style Questioned: The artist as mind and as hand in Later Renaissance art
Discussion: Artists and art theorists on judgement, and the nature of the act of art-making

--- Philip Sohm, “Maniera and the Absent Hand: Avoiding the Etymology of Style,”  RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics , no. 36 (1999)  JStor

9. Fri. Sept. 23 Feminism and Gender: Women as Seen / Male and Female terms in art and dance theory in the Renaissance
Discussion: Simon or Fermor (pick one, or both)

Patricia Simons, “Women in Frames:  The Gaze, the Eye, the Profile in Renaissance Portraiture,” in N. Broude and M.D. Garrard, eds.,  The Expanding Discourse:Feminism  and Art History (1992)  RES

--- Sharon Fermor, “Movement and Gender in 16C Italian Painting,” in Kathleen Adler and Marcia Pointon, eds., Body Imaged: The Human Form and Visual Culture since the Renaissance, Cambridge UP (1993)  RES

10. Tues. Sept. 27  A More Global Vision
Discussion: Reception and Cultural Interpretation
Thomas Cummins, “From Lies to Truth. Colonial Ekphrasis and the Act of Crosscultural Translation,” in ed. Claire Farago, Reframing the Renaissance. Visual Culture in Europe and Latin America 1450-1650 (1995)  RES


11. Thurs. Sept. 29  Take-Home Examination for this Section Due
Guidelines forthcoming