Art 192B: Senior Seminar in Art History
Thursday 3-5:50 pm Library Media Center 1522 Professor Elaine O’Brien Office: 190 Kadema Hall Hours: W 1-2:30, Th 6-7:30 Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.csus.edu/indiv/o/obriene/
Seminar Description: This is the culminating course for the art history major. It focuses on the research, writing, and oral presentation of a 25-30 page thesis in your area of interest. Seminar readings, discussions, and activities develop basic career skills and support the thesis project. Readings survey methodologies and historiographies of art history: exemplary figures in the history of art history; connoisseurship and contextual understanding; iconography and iconology; Marxist and psychoanalytic approaches; postmodern issues of multiculturalism and anti-aesthetics; feminism and visual culture; postcolonialism, transculturalism, and globalism.
NOTE: The senior seminar will help present the CSUS Art History Symposium, Collaboration and Competition, on Saturday, April 14. Attendance is required, so please make needed arrangements now and see me if you foresee any problem with attendance.
NOTE: On Friday, March 2 we will take is a field trip to UC Berkeley for the art history symposium on Picasso in the Late 1920s. If everyone can come we will cancel the March 1 class. Please make arrangements now and let me know if you cannot come.
Prerequisites: Senior status, completion of all lower-division requirements, History 100, the CSUS Foreign Language Proficiency Requirement and demonstration of Writing Proficiency as prescribed by CSUS.
Learning Objectives: 1. ability to apply the skills and knowledge gained in BA studies in art history to an advanced research and writing project 2. familiarity with the history of art history and the most important historical and contemporary methodological approaches 3. ability to situate your own ambitions and values within the field and discourses of art history 4. advanced research skills 5. advanced analytic and critical thinking 6. greater ease with public speaking
Required texts: Steve Edwards, ed., Art and Its Histories, Yale UP, 1999 Sylvan Barnet, A Short Guide to Writing about Art, 8th edition, 2005 Bring your books to class each week marked for discussion.
Course Requirements and Grade Basis :
Before beginning the writing assignments (below) you are required to complete the Information Competence Assignment. Go to http://library.csus.edu/content2.asp?pageID=205 and follow directions to the WebCT exam and tutorial. Due before February 19.
40% Senior Thesis: 25-30 pages. This culminating project has 8 parts: 1) proposal, consisting of a one-paragraph thesis statement and complete bibliography (survey of the literature), 2) notes from thesis conference with O’Brien 3) outline, 4) first draft, 5) peer-reviewed second draft annotated by student colleague, 6) final draft, 7) a 300-word process memo in which you describe your writing process and why you chose your approach (social history, iconographical/formal, etc., and 8) portfolio including all 8 parts.
Use Sylvan Barnet as well as online resources for writing research papers. Recommended online workshop for writing research papers: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/workshops/hypertext/ResearchW/index.html
Develop your thesis from a previously written art history term paper.
Evaluation criteria for senior thesis: Unacceptable performance (D or F level work) is full of mechanical mistakes in structure, grammar, spelling and format. It might not respond to the assignment or show no sign that enough time was spent thinking about the subject. It might merely parrot clichés, be repetitive, vague, tangential, uninteresting, or much too broad in scope. It might not be on time or accompanied by required materials. D or F work fails to demonstrate knowledge, comprehension, analysis, or evaluation. Competent Performance: (C level work) often has flaws in grammar, spelling, and structure. It might not quite follow the assignment. It has an organizing idea but it might be vague, broad or uninteresting, obvious, clichéd. It might be excessively subjective, mostly opinion, and not have enough supporting evidence. It might demonstrate knowledge but doesn’t question, analyze, synthesize, evaluate. Above Competent Performance: (B level work) No writing mistakes. Presentation is neat and orderly with good structure and argument. The thesis is proportioned to the assignment, worthwhile, and well composed with no digressions.
2 Outstanding Performance: (A level work) has all the good qualities of B level work, but is also unique, lively, and interesting. Methodology and perspective are evident. The writing has style and all elements in the piece are necessary for the thesis development. There is a feeling that the writer is engaged with the ideas and is attentive to effective use of language.
Thesis dates: o February 19: Peer review of original art history term paper o February 22: Complete Information Competence Assignment o March 1: Proposal and research bibliography o March 8: Outline o April 5: First draft o April 19: Second draft submitted for peer-review o April 26: Peer-reviews due o May 3: Final draft and portfolio, including 300-word process memo o May 10, 17: Presentations o May 22: Art & Its Histories Public Symposium
15% Collaborative presentation of one section of Art and Its Histories These are formal 15-minute illustrated presentations of the textbook readings. Create a one-page handout to distribute to the class before your presentation. The handout is an outline of your talk. For each reading, identify the author, date text was written, the thesis, key points, key terms (defined). Show examples (in addition to those given in the book) of specific works of art that can be interpreted from the perspective under consideration, such as connoisseurship, style/formalism, social history of art or Marxism, gender critique, and postcolonialism. A culminating symposium will replace the final exam and bring together the section presentations in revised professional form. The Art and Its Histories symposium will conclude the course and act as a review. We will attempt an overview of “art history” as a discipline and a discourse with its own history and identity.
15% 2-page reader-response papers for each assignment from Art and Its Histories. These papers are meant to prepare you for active participation in class discussion. Identify author, nationality, title, original publication date, and thesis for each text. Turn the response paper in after class. I will give them a check plus, check, or check minus. NOTE: Always bring your book to class. Mark it for discussion by writing “discuss” in the margin next to the section you want to discuss.
10% Presentation of Senior Thesis: 20-minute PowerPoint lecture based on your senior thesis. Presentations are scheduled for the end of the semester.
20% Participation: a positive, collaborative attitude is extremely important and is evident in how much of a team player you are – never whiney, grumpy, lazy…. Attendance policy: Arriving late or leaving early is counted as a partial absence. Each unexcused absence lowers your grade by a whole letter. Illness is excused if
3 you bring me a note from your doctor or the student health clinic. Work, transportation problems, and scheduled appointments are not excused. Late Assignments are accepted with excused absences due to illness (see above) but are otherwise marked down 1/2 letter grade per week. If you have a situation that may affect the quality of your participation this semester, please see me after class or during my office hours early in the semester. Disability: If you have a disability and require accommodations, you need to provide disability documentation to SSWD, Lassen Hall 1008, (916) 278-6955. Please discuss your accommodation needs with me after class or during my office hours early in the semester.
Schedule (subject to change in class or via email)
NOTE: Please make arrangements now to attend the art history symposium brunch and lectures on Saturday, April 14, 11am – 5pm.
February 1: Introduction of people and topics, plan the April 14 art history symposium, form three-student peer-review groups, schedule presentations and thesis conferences. Reading: Sylvan Barnet, A Short Guide to Writing about Art, pp.11-40,156- 166,198-237. Underline and annotate your book for class review. Assignment: bring 3 copies of the art history research paper that you plan to expand and develop as your senior thesis.
February 8: Exchange term papers with your peer group members and decide as a group how you will work together throughout the semester. Discussion of Barnet readings with emphasis on research thesis: topics, proposals, bibliographies. Art history research workshop in CSUS library. Reading: Due February 22: Barnet: chapters 10 & 11; Edwards: “Introduction” Assignment: Due February 22: peer review research papers using check-off sheet in Barnet pp. 164-65 and meet as a group to discuss thesis proposals. For help with writing the thesis statement go to: http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/thesis_statement.shtml
February 15: O’Brien at CAA conference/ Make up class: April 14 Symposium Reading: and “Section One: Academies, Museums and Canons of Art: Introduction and Source Texts pp.17-72
February 22: Information Competence Assignment due O’Brien’s report on CAA conference, peer-review sessions, planning Collaboration & Cooperation symposium, discussion of thesis proposals and bibliography; presentation and discussion of reading Reading: “Section One: Critical Approaches: Academies, Museums and Canons of Art: Critical Approaches: E.H. Gombrich, from “Norm and Form,” Alex Potts, from
4 “Oneness and the Ideal,” and Thomas Crow, from “Introduction. The Salon Exhibition…”
March 1: Thesis proposal and research bibliography due (typed and in proper MLA or Art Bulletin bibliography format); discussion of thesis outlines; symposium planning, presentation and discussion of readings Reading: Edwards, Section Two: The Changing Status of the Artist: Introduction and Source Texts
Friday March 2: U.C. Berkeley symposium: Picasso in the late 1920's An international gathering of scholars will discuss Picasso's work between 1925 and 1932. Participants include Dawn Ades, Yve-Alain Bois, Benjamin Buchloh, Elizabeth Cowling, John Elderfield, Lisa Florman, Hal Foster, Michael Fried, Amy Lyford, Jeremy Melius, Eric Michaud, Charles Miller and Sebastian Zeidler.
March 8: Thesis outline due Reading: Edwards, Section Three: Gender and Art: Introduction and Source Texts
March 15: Group 2 presents Reading: Edwards, Section Three: Gender and Art: Critical Approaches
March 22: Reading: Edwards, Section Four: The Challenge of the Avant-Garde: Introduction and Source Texts
Spring Break
April 5: Thesis first draft due Reading: Edwards, Section Four: The Challenge of the Avant-Garde: Critical Approaches
April 12: Presentation of Section 4 entire: Julie Smith and Susanna Tu Reading: Edwards, Section Five: Views of Difference: Different Views of Art: Introduction and Source Texts
Saturday, April 14: Art History Symposium on Collaboration and Competition – attendance required from 11am-5pm. Please make arrangements and see me if you cannot. Our class is presenting this symposium. You are also asked to attend the 11 am brunch for guest speakers in the University Library Gallery. At the brunch you are encouraged to informally interview the speakers about their education and career choices.
Keynote: “Participation Post-Kaprow (the art of doing something, anything)" by Jeff Kelley, editor of Essays on the Blurring of Art and Life by Allan Kaprow and author of Childsplay: The Art of Allan Kaprow
“Anthony van Dyck and Peter Paul Rubens” by Renate Prochno, Ph.D., University of Salzburg, Austria
5 “Forging the Way in Early Japanese Photography: Collaboration between Ueno Hikoma and Tomishige Rihei” by Karen Fraser, Ph.D., Santa Clara University
“Collaboration as Boundary Making” by Steven Doctors, Ph.D. Candidate, Architecture, U.C. Berkeley
“Robert Rauschenberg’s Soundings: A Perfect Protest” by Melissa Geiger, Ph.D., East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania
“Collection, Collaboration, and Confrontation: The 2004 Sydney Biennale and the “Network of Uncollectible Artists“ by Royce Smith, Ph.D., Wichita State University
Take notes on each lecture and write a 100-word reflection paragraph on each lecture for seminar discussion.
April 19: Second draft of thesis due - submit for peer-review Presentation of Section 5 entire: Khasi Solomon, Tracy Anstead, and April Orcino Reading: Edwards, Section Five: Views of Difference: Different Views of Art: Critical Approaches
April 26: Peer-reviews due Presentation of Section 6 entire: Leah Jackson, Emily Mills, and Eileen Peifer Reading: Edwards, Section Six: Contemporary Cultures of Display: Introduction and Source Texts
May 3: Thesis final draft and portfolio due Reading: Edwards, Section Six: Contemporary Cultures of Display: Critical Approaches
May 10: Thesis presentations
May 17: Thesis presentations Assignment: revise group presentations in preparation for the Art and It’s Histories symposium
Tuesday May 22, 3-5: Art and Its Histories Senior Seminar Symposium
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