Art History Slide Examination for M.A. Students

GUIDELINES:

ART HISTORY SLIDE EXAMINATION FOR M.A. STUDENTS

Wayne State University

(revised June 4, 2007)

Students are expected to take the slide examination as soon as they have earned 15 graduate credits, ideally distributed among the required fields: Classical, Medieval, Renaissance/Baroque, Modern/Contemporary. Please note that the exam is not to be construed as an exit exam. Indeed, under no circumstances will students be permitted to proceed to the essay/thesis research stage unless they have passed the slide examination. A score of 80 points constitutes a passing score. The slide examination may be retaken only once. Careful preparation is, therefore, of the utmost importance.

Scope and structure of the Examination

The examination relies on the monuments covered in Gardner's Art Through the Ages (12th edition, 2006 ) and covers all major periods and cultures except those discussed in chapters 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15, 25, 26, 27, 30, 31, and 32. The monuments on the exam will be selected to test the periods and media with roughly equal distribution. The exam consists of two parts.

Part I: The first part of the examination consists of 20 slide identifications and analyses. Each slide is shown for 5 minutes and counts for 31/2 points.

Identification requires the following information: Artist (if known) or (if no artist is known) period or culture (e.g. Egyptian, Old Kingdom; Hellenistic; Byzantine, etc.) Title or name of the work Approximate date of the work and location (for architecture and other site-specific works associated with architecture)

For purposes of dating, only approximations are required. For works produced prior to 1400 the date must be within 25 years. From 1400 on the date must be within 10 years.

Students then write an analysis of each work shown, focusing on the work's importance within a larger historical context (see the instructions on the following page).

Part II: The second part of the examination consists of 3 comparative slide analyses. The works chosen may be drawn from the same period or from different cultures, provided the underlying conception and content offer opportunities for a fruitful comparison. Here, too, students begin by identifying the individual works as specified above and the proceed to relate the works to each other in terms of possible similarities or differences, drawing on issues of style, conception, content, and historical significance. Students have 15 minutes to write each comparative analysis; each analysis is worth 10 points.

Suggestions on How to Prepare for the Examination

In preparing for the examination, students should not only seek to master the fundamentals of style and iconography, but also be aware of factors that contributed to the genesis of a given work. These factors differ from culture to culture, although it is fair to say that collective dictates of institutions, religious beliefs, and political aspirations tend to be more pervasive in the earlier periods, whereas personal outlooks, theories, or biographical factors often help to explain a more modern work.

Students should, therefore, take careful note of the larger context in which a given work was created: Akhenaton's theocracy and its possible relationship to the unexpected development of naturalism in Egyptian art (3.36-39); or the historical context of works that celebrate actual events, such as the Ara Pacis Augustae (7.31-33) and the reliefs on the Arch of Titus (7.43-45). The seminal character of certain monuments, like St. Sernin, Toulouse (12.3-5), Chartres Cathedral (13.13-15), or Sant'Andrea, Mantua (21.4042) also needs to be acknowledged. In the latter case (especially since the book discusses four different buildings by the architect) the student should be able to expand the analysis so as to touch on Alberti's indebtedness to earlier theoretical sources, such as Vitruvius, and on Alberti's own influential theoretical work.

The Gardner text provides the monuments for which the student is responsible. It should be borne in mind that this is an introductory, undergraduate textbook. It is expected that M.A. students will have a far greater breadth of learning in art history, both from their advanced undergraduate coursework, and their graduate coursework. Students will find it useful to round out the information in Gardner by thoroughly reviewing course notes from their required distribution of upper-division courses that most likely dealt with many, if not all, of the same monuments in greater depth. Student should also be prepared to check and expand the information in the Gardner text by recourse to standard handbooks focusing on the period to which the monument belongs. If in doubt about these standard handbooks, students should consult the bibliographies from their course syllabi and the faculty member in the relevant area.

Grading Policy: The examination earns a total of 100 points: each slide analysis: date: 1/2 artist (or period/culture): 1/2 title or name of work: 1/2 formal and iconographic analysis: 1 position of work in context: 1 each slide comparison: date for each slide: 1/2 each artist (or period/culture): 1 formal and iconographic analysis of each work: 1 comparative analysis: 5