Historiography and Theory of the Visual Arts 1750 to 1960

AH 510 Historiography and Theory of the Visual Arts 1750 to 1960

Fall 2011 Hannah B Higgins Mon: 5:30-8:30, 303 HH Office: 310 Henry Hall Office Hours: 10:00-12:00 Thursdays Phone (emergency only): 7735519810 E-mail (preferred): [email protected]

Part I of this course examines the intellectual and institutional framing of art history through the middle 20th Century using the canonical scholars in the field as benchmarks. We will conclude this part of the course with an in depth reading of Erwin Panofsky’s Perspective as Symbolic Form and consider iconology and iconography today.

Part II of this course is a workshop on the art of becoming an art historian. Through a month-long peer review workshop of research, writing, and scholarly presentation, this course initiates an editorial process that will teach the much needed historians’ skills of research evaluation, organization, peer review and presentation strategy.

Books: UIC Bookstore

Sylvan Barnet, A Short Guide to Writing about Art Donald Preziosi, The Art of Art History: A Critical Anthology Eric Fernie, ed., Art History and its Methods Erwin Panofsky, Perspective as Symbolic Form

Recommended: Laurie Schneider Adams, The Methodologies of Art

Note: Readings not contained in these books are on blackboard

Course Requirements: This course is develops the skills used for reading, discussing, writing and performing art history. Attendance, participation, feedback and on-time submission of written assignments are mandatory. Late submission will not be accepted without a medical excuse or prior approval. It is essential that you use available resources to support all of your writing: Sylvan Barnet is cheap and required, but The Chicago Manual of Style, and a good dictionary (Oxford English Dictionary through the UIC Library’s online Resources) are also helpful. It is essential that you write carefully, with correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure as key concerns in every submitted piece of writing. With the basic mechanical skills in place, you can work on craftsmanship, argument, persuasion, voice, tone, and style.

Discussion/Participation: You are expected to read all the assignments for the class. The kind of reading that is necessary is analytical, critical reading: what is/are the author’s thesis/theses; what are the main arguments in support of that thesis; how does the author structure the argument to persuade you of those points, and the thesis that is being presented? How are the ideas and issues framed; how does the choice of words further the argument; what are the underlying assumptions? Come to class prepared to discuss what you have read by identifying specific passages and questions as discussion worthy. Students will be graded on preparation and participation (10%).

Power Point and Written Presentation of Readings: During the first week of class, you will identify three different weeks for presentation. You will be assigned one of these, for which you will prepare a one page summary and introduction to the authors for distribution to the class. Bring sufficient copies for everyone. These will form a course summary for you for future reference: as time goes by you will be happy to have them! If more than one student is presenting, you will divide the readings between you. (10%)

As presenter, you will also guide discussion by identifying key themes, discussion points in the texts, and visual support for the classroom discussion in Power Point format. Digital projection is required. As discussant you are expected to introduce and contextualize the authors and readings historically, to guide and engage us in discussion, and to propose some ways in which the readings can be explored, expanded and critiqued using the visual evidence of artworks and specific passages in the texts. These presentations are intended to develop the word/image balance necessary to virtually every format of art historical presentation. (10%)

Presenting Research Workshop: During the last month of the semester, you will prepare preliminary and final research presentations. Remember that you are constructing a visual argument! Look for the most demonstrative examples, illustrate your story, watch your speed. Digital projection is required for both. Each presentation should take eight to ten minutes per student.

For the preliminary research presentation you should identify one or two objects (or series if appropriate), and discuss an argument. Depending on whether you are assigned to Group A or Group B, your first presentations will be on October 31or November 7. Your presentation should run about ten minutes. (10%)

Using the conversational feedback from your peers, one week later you will distribute a seven to ten page rough draft for review to classmates (see schedule). Even though this is a rough draft, photocopies of all discussed images, proper footnote style, grammar, spelling, a clear thesis statement and argument trajectory are expected. Please bring six copies of your draft to class for your work subgroup. (20%)

Your work subgroup will respond orally and with one paragraph written feedback per paper the following week. Please bring one extra copy for me. (10%)

The final presentations (November 28 and December 5) should be fifteen minutes in length (assuming you read at about two minutes per page) and should be a clean, clear, polished, scholarly presentation. We will not have time for discussion. (10%)

Final Paper: The final paper (twelve to fifteen pages) is due in class December 5, the Monday of exam week. (20%)

Reading/Presentation Schedule

1. Aug. 22: Introduction to the Course (5:30 to 7:00) Orientation to UIC Art History Programs (at 7:00 excused if this does not apply)

I. Historiography of Art

2. August 29: Art as History Donald Preziosi, “Art as History” in Preziosi, pp. 13-22. Giorgio Vasari, from Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, Preziosi, pp. 22- 27. Johann Joachim Winckelmann, “Reflections on the Imitation of Greek Works in Painting and Sculpture,” Preziosi, pp. 27-35 Whitney Davis, “Winkelmann Divided: Mourning the Death of Art History,” in Preziosi, pp. 35-45. Michael Baxandall, Patterns of Intention, Preziosi, pp. 45-55.

3. Sept. 5: Happy Labor Day! Class will be made up December 5.

4. Sept. 12: Aesthetics in Form and Style Immanuel Kant, The Critique of Judgment, in Preziosi, pp. 62-80. G. W. F. Hegel, “Philosophy of Fine Art,” in Preziosi, pp. 80-89. Heinrich Wölfflin, “Principles of Art History,” Fernie, pp. 127-151. Henri Focillon, “The Life of Forms in Art,” Fernie, pp. 168-178. Ernst Gombrich, “Style,” Preziosi, pp. 129-141.

5. Sept. 19: MA Symposium, Institute for the Humanities

6. Sept. 26: Anthropological Frameworks Donald Preziosi, Introduction to “Anthropology and/as Art History,” Preziosi, pp. 151-155. Alois Riegl, “Leading Characteristics of the Late Roman Kunstwollen,” Preziosi, pp. 155-162. Henri Aby Warburg, “Images from the Region of the Pueblo Region…”, Preziosi, pp. 162-188. Edgar Wind, Warburg’s Concept of Kulturwissenschaft and its Meaning for Aesthetics, Preziosi, pp. 189-195. Claire Farago, “Silent Moves…”, Preziosi, pp. 195-214.

7. Oct. 3: Large Scale Narratives: Psychological, Ontological, Sociological Sigmund Freud, “On Dreams,” 1900-1901. http://www.mariabuszek.com/kcai/DadaSurrealism/DadaSurrReadings/FreudDreams.pdf Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility,” Preziosi, 435- 443. Martin Heidegger, “The Origin of the Work of Art,” Preziosi, pp. 284-296. Meyer Shapiro, “The Still Life as Personal Object: A Note on Heidegger and Van Gogh,” Preziosi, pp. 296-301.”

8. Oct. 10 Iconography/Iconology Donald Preziosi, “Art History: Making the Visible Legible,” in Preziosi, pp. 7-13. Erwin Panofsky, “Iconography and Iconology, An Introduction to the Study of Renaissance Art,” Preziosi, pp. 220-236. Hubert Damisch, “Semiotics and Iconography,” in Preziosi, pp. 236-243. WJT Mitchell, “Obama as Icon,” Journal of Visual Culture 2009 8: 125-129. Here is your free article access link: http://vcu.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/8/2/125? ijkey=zMpDzNebHM/RI&keytype=ref&siteid=spvcu&utm_source=eNewsletter&utm_medium=emai l&utm_campaign=1J22

9. Oct. 17 Perspective as Symbolic Form I Erwin Panofsky, Perspective as Symbolic Form, Introduction and Section I, pp. 7-36 and footnotes.

10. Oct. 24: Perspective as Symbolic Form II Erwin Panofsky, Perspective as Symbolic Form, Sections II-IV, pp. 37-73 and footnotes.

II. Presenting Research Workshop

11. October 31: Preliminary Presentations Group A: Research Project Power Point, Thesis and Bibliography for discussion

12. Nov. 7: Preliminary Presentations Group B: Research Project Power Point, Thesis and Bibliography (Group A Distribution of rough drafts for Group B feedback)

13. Nov. 14: Feedback to Group A of rough drafts (Group B Distribution of rough drafts for Group A feedback)

14. Nov. 21: Feedback to Group B of rough drafts

15. Nov. 28: Final Presentations Group A (15 minutes).

16. Dec. 5: Final Presentations Group B (15 minutes). Final papers due.