ARCL0162

UCL, INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY ARCL0162 MAKING AND MEANING IN

ANCIENT GREEK ART

COURSE-HANDBOOK

Module coordinator: Dr. Eva Mol

[email protected] Office: Room 105. Tel: 0207 679 1525 Online office hours: Weekly Monday morning Chat session 12-1PM, or by appointment

Please see the online IoA Student Handbook for instructions on coursework submission, IoA referencing guidelines and marking criteria, as well as UCL policies on penalties for late submission ARCL0162

1. Overview of course

Introduction This module is designed to develop in students the skills of careful looking, detailed visual analysis, and critical rethinking of Greek art. The module will be grounded in a strong awareness of the major theoretical and contemporary issues central to research in classical art history. Classical Greek art is an object of study in archaeology since Winckelmann wrote his canonical book ‘Geschichte der Kunst des Altertums’ in 1764. His work has shaped art- history and classical archaeology, and left us with a particular scholarly approach and canon.

The past decades this canon and approach has been seriously questioned, and Classical art history is slowly emerging out of traditional scholarship and more in sync with current art historical thinking, engaging with topics such as agency, materiality and globalisation theory. This means we live in exciting times where we need to rethink the body of objects that were deemed ‘the canon of Greek art’, as well as how we study them and this is exactly what this course attempts to do.

Together we will study new ways to look at ancient art, this year’s theme will be on: the Other in Greek Art. We will deal with how the ‘other’ (as non-Greek) are depicted in visual culture and how we can study this, or how other cultures have appropriated Greek art. Also on how we can study other viewpoints giving space to different material, spirits, or other scholarly perspectives that can broaden up how we look at Greek art. The Other also resonates in today’s current society and the issues that Greek art have, and a large part of the course will be focused on how, amidst the era of Covid19 and Black Lives Matter, we make Greek art relevant.

Module schedule:

Seminars will be held online, 2-4pm every Tuesday

Week Date topic 1 6-10 Introduction to the course: some key concepts and approaches 2 13-10 Geometric Greek art. Memory, narrative, and the world of Homer 3 20-10 Orient and orientalising: early Greek art and cultural contact 4 27-10 Archaic art, agency, and animism 5 3-11 Rethinking Greek vases I: Context and Sensoriality 10-11 Deadline reflection essay 6 No class Reading week 7 17-11 Winckelmann’s victims: Classical art in the museum and beyond 8 24-11 Rethinking Greek vases II: Making the ‘Other’ in Greek art. 9 1-12 The ideal body and naturalism: gender and sexuality in Greek art 10 8-12 Style, power, and identity in the Hellenistic world 11 15-12 Final discussion and presentations 12-1 Deadline research essay

Essay submission deadlines: reflection essay- Nov 10 2020; Research paper -Jan 12, 2021.

ARCL0162

Teaching methods: Seminars The seminars will be held each week, and will consist of student presentations, discussion, in-class exercises and discussions on objects and readings. They will focus on new theoretical approaches and debates in Greek art, and their application to case studies. Time in class is used as an opportunity for students to work out their own ideas and accumulate knowledge to be able to read about the topic and research by themselves. Your questions and interests will structure the seminar. Check this page for UCL online etiquette: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/students/academic-support/netiquette-good-online-behaviour-ucl

Lectures Very brief 5 to 10-minute lectures introducing the topic discussions will be provided with each seminar and need to be watched beforehand. The links to these can be found on the moodle page.

Moodle forum blog posts Discussion will also take place on moodle forum, where students have to submit weekly ‘blog posts’ of 200-150 words reflecting on the readings and engaging with specific questions posted beforehand.

Joint reading with Hypothesis.is Occasionally, specific key literature will be integrated as an hypothesis exercise and subsequently used for seminar discussion. Students will read one article together and need to annotate and reflect. When the paper is done by Hypothes.is will be indicated.

Chat sessions Additional chat-sessions on moodle of an hour are organised (not compulsory) on Monday morning 12-1PM. These are meant to ask last minute questions on the readings, course material and assignments for the seminar the day after.

Workload: There will be 20 hours of seminars for this course. Students will be expected to undertake 80 hours of reading for the course, and 50 hours preparing for and producing the assessed module work. This adds up to a total workload of 150 hours for the course.

20 hours Staff-led teaching sessions (lectures, seminars, tutorials, discussion-board sessions) 80 hours Self-guided session preparation (reading, listening, note-taking and online activities), about 8 hours a week 10 hours Reading for, and writing, object essay 40 hours Reading for, and writing, the research essay

Prerequisites: It is really important that students have a basic background in classical (Greco-Roman) art, the goal of the class is to rethink Greek art, so students need to be aware of basic literature, the ‘canon’, periodization, and stylistic categories. To brush up your knowledge, you are advised to read Richard Neer’s Greek Art and Architecture, for each session the appropriate background material will be provided. Students without the right background may take the course, subject to consultation with the module coordinator.

ARCL0162

Communications:  Moodle is the main hub for this course.  Important information will be posted in the Announcements section of the Moodle page and you will automatically receive an email notification for these.  Weekly chat session on moodle will take place during the course to ask about course content, Monday 12-1 PM  For personal queries or making an appointment, please contact the co-ordinator by email. [email protected]  For tips on writing, policies and other coursework related subjects consult https://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/current-students. The IoA: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/current-students/ioa-student-handbook

2. AIMS, OBJECTIVES AND ASSESSMENT

Aims:  To provide a seminar for the study of Greek art at an advanced level, preparing students to develop dissertation research at MA level and beyond.  To provide an advanced level exploration of classic and contemporary theoretical frameworks and methodologies for the understanding of Greek art.  To provide a basis in skills of problem definition and visual analysis prerequisite to developing innovative research in Greek art.  To address a range of key problems in the history of Greek art through close engagement with online collections and connection to current societal issues.

Objectives:  Students will develop and advanced critical understanding of a range of key issues in the history and historiography of Greek Art.  They will develop an active mastery of key theoretical frameworks and methods of analysis in contemporary approaches to the history of Greek art.  They will develop key skills of close looking and detailed visual analysis through first hand engagement with objects from the collections of London museums.  They will acquire the ability to identify significant research problems in the history of Greek art, as a preparation for developing their own independent research projects.

Outcomes Students will: 1) Be able to demonstrate a good understanding of the key principles which inform the systematic and critical visual analysis of works of art 2) Be able to demonstrate a good understanding of key classical and contemporary theoretical and methodological frameworks for the understanding of Greek art 3) Be able critically to evaluate existing research in Greek art, and identify ways in which a range of research programmes might be taken forward 4) Be familiar with the range of visual, textual and archaeological sources relevant to the understanding of Greek art 5) Be able to understand and appreciate the range of problems involved in the interpretation of complex, ambiguous and often incomplete data.

ARCL0162

Assignments&Assessments: The module contains weekly assignments for all students synchronous and asynchronous. Asynchronous: watching lectures, weekly readings, posting on the moodle forum and occasional hypothes.is reading. This is meant to engage with the literature individually and as a group, but also to make the seminars more fun, and stimulate your own critical thinking. Synchronous: weekly seminars in which we discuss the readings and the forum posts, one student presentation, and a variety of objects. The assessed coursework, consists of two essays: a smaller reflection essay (1000 words 25%) and a research essay of 3000 words (75%).

Non-assessed coursework Readings There will be 2-3 readings a week and background reading, the number is kept low because I want you to seriously reflect on it and read it slow and carefully.1 Slow reading is the intentional reduction in the speed of reading, carried out to increase comprehension and pleasure. The background reading is meant to re-familiarise yourself with the historical framework and objects and requires less concentration. Additional literature (for your presentation, blog posts, and essays) can be found in the supplementary reading list-file on Moodle. Some of the theoretical literature will not directly relate to Greek art, this is because it is meant for you to make the connection and for all of us to expand our current ideas on Greek art. The hypothes.is indication means that we will be reading the same article together. In this way, you can comment, highlight things you do not understand, answer questions that emerge from others or comment on their writings, associations with how this could help Greek art further, and of course, you can vent your personal approval or disapproval. This is always the best starting point for the more theoretical literature, ask yourself whether you liked or disliked the text. Why?

Presentations Each student needs to do two presentations during the seminar. One is a 10-15 min. presentation during one of the seminars, connecting the seminar topic and the readings to a particular object, the other is a 5-min pitch of your research-essay topic during the final session. For the first presentation you will be assigned the object and topic, the other one is your own choice. To do your session-presentation you have a few options: you make a powerpoint and present and discuss it live, however, if you rather not do that you can also make a pre-recorded powerpoint or make a videoblog we will watch during the seminar. Include the following aspects in your presentation: 1: present the object in terms of applying visual analysis and contextualization, 2: connect the main readings to the object(s) you need to present 3: engage with the key-topics of discussion, and 4: come up with two discussion points (which can be taken from the discussion forum). If you are the presenter of the week, you are exempt from posting on the discussion forum.

Blogs Weekly blogs on the moodle forum will make the seminars a lot of fun, and gives you the opportunity to think and reflect on the course material at your own pace. For each week, you are assigned to Group A or Group B and have to post accordingly. In group A you need to post an original comment, in group B you have to respond to that comment. You can write this, but again, if you rather record something to state your ideas, you are very welcome to do so! Not more than 3-5 mins. Group A: I think.. in fewer than 200 words, post an original comment on the discussion forum based on the reading assignment for that week.

1 Want some help with slow reading and read in peace? https://freedom.to/ ARCL0162

Group B1: I agree and.. in fewer than 150 words, compose a comment that states agreement with a peer’s post and expand on the original post with an additional piece of evidnce, further details another close reading etc. B2: I disagree, because.. in fewer than 150 words, compose a comment that states your position of disagreement with a peer’s group A or Group B1. Explain why you disagree. Suggest how and why your own interpretation or viewpoint differs from the original post and provide a reason to substantiate your disagreement convincingly.

Assessed coursework Reflection Essay (25%) This needs to be submitted Nov 10. It needs to deal with the topic, ‘what is your personal relation with Greek art, what are the current issues with ancient Greek art, and can you think of a ways how this can be solved’-aka how can we make Greek art relevant in today’s society? They need to a personal reflection of your own relationship to and experience with Greek art, but also engage with issues that currently exist in studying and curating ancient Greek art. In the essay answer the following things: 1. What is your personal relation to Greek art (do you feel a personal relation or does it feel distant to you and why) and how did museums and other forms of media shaped your knowledge of Greek art and what do you think is lacking because of this? 2. What do you think is the canon of Greek art and where does it come from? 3. How does the way Greek art is represented affects current society in different ways, depending where you are from. In this third part you need to engage with one of the topics in particular: elitism, classicism, racism, sexism and gender politics, or disability, and use this as a case study to talk about a current issue in Greek art; combine the topic with naming or showing 1 object that exemplifies this.

It is important you refer to peer-reviewed sources to back up your arguments and discuss the issues of the current canon of Greek art. Useful references are provided in the reading list, it is also useful to use peer-reviewed blogs, such as eidolon. A guide to write a reflective essay can be found here: (https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/blog/complete-guide-to-writing-a-reflective-essay/). Remember, it is a reflective work, so you will not be judged on existing knowledge, but on your critical reflection, awareness of current issues and art their art historical historiography and the originality of ideas. You will use your reflective essay for the discussion in session 6, and also for the final discussion.

Research Essay (75%) You are also required to write a research essay of 3000 words that analytically approach how we can rethink Greek art, using the seminar discussion topics and readings as a starting point for your enquiry. As a general theme, the central idea of the course, ‘how the Other and alternative ways of viewing can help us rethink Greek art’, will also be your guiding question. This of course, gives you a lot of space to design your own research question, set of objects, approaches, sites or periods. To help you choose an essay topic you can select something from the session that inspired you most (the one that you presented already provides you with some background). You can pick any subject that you prefer, as long as they connect to the class topics and literature, and: you are very much encouraged to connect your topic to your thesis-research, interest or specialization. At MA-level, you are required to have knowledge on how to write an academic essay, for extra guidance on UCL-rules, see the Institute of Education website (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe-writing-centre/) or IoA Study Skills Guide https://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/current-students/ioa-study-skills-guide.

Students (e.g. from KCL, MA Reception etc) taking this module as a 20 credit option will be required to write, in addition to their standard essay, a (max) 1000 word review comparing two pieces of literature in depth from the supplementary reading of one of the sessions (decided together with me). ARCL0162

This should be handed in by the same date as the revised version of the research essay. It will be marked on a pass/fail basis. Mark for the module as a whole will be that received for the standard essay, but the module cannot be completed without a pass for the short presentation report.

3. RESOURCES AND PREPARATION Useful textbooks are Neer, R., 2018, Greek Art and Archaeology c. 2500 – c.150 BC, Thames and Hudson (online, indicated in the Syllabus as Neer) and Stansbury-O'Donnell, M., 2011, Looking at Greek Art, Cambridge University Press. Another very useful website, particularly for the visual analysis, is Munsterberg’s writing about art (https://writingaboutart.org/) Class readings are provided via the online-reading list, to get a fuller sense of the range of current work on a given topic and for you to use for presentations and your assessments there is a supplementary reading-list posted on moodle.

SYLLABUS

SESSION 1 (week 1). INTRODUCTION TO THE MODULE: THE ART OF LOOKING Preliminary reading – please read before first class. Required reading: Vout, C., 2018, The Death of Classical art? (chapter 9), in Classical Art, A Life History from Antiquity to the Present, Princeton, Princeton University Press (online) Squire, M., 2012 A place for art? Classical Archaeology and the contexts of art history’, in S. Alcock and R. Osborne (eds.), Blackwell Companion to Classical Archaeology, second edition, (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell), pp. 468–500 https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/jul/15/slow-reading Background: Neer Introduction (4 pages). Watch: intro lecture on Moodle Prepare: Think about your personal relation to Greek art, how you have learned about it. This class is about looking at Greek art and I will introduce the key concepts by looking together at a few objects and practising how scholars look at and describe Greek art. No blog posts required.

SESSION 2 (week 2). GEOMETRIC GREEK ART: THE FIRST NARRATIVE IMAGE? WHAT DO PICTURES WANT? Topic outline: Although the ‘Dark Age’ was not as isolated and regressive as scholars once used to believe, it is true it takes almost four centuries before the Greeks start to depict humans, animals, and gods again after the so-called Bronze Age collapse, a revolutionary change. Similarly, this is also the period in which the epics of the Trojan war become canonized by Homer. What is the cause of these developments in image and narrative and its effects on society? How do the details of depiction of geometric art inform us about these issues? This class will think about the agency of the image and its social context. What are the dynamics behind its development? How can we account for the character, and diversity, of Geometric Greek art? How far and by what means can we best interpret and explain the characteristic forms of geometric Greek art?

Required reading for class discussion: HYPOTHES.IS reading: Mitchell, W. J. T. "What Do Pictures "Really" Want?" October 77 (1996): 71-82 Snodgrass, A. M. 1988, ch. 2: Learning to read in the dark, and chapter 3: The geometric artist reassessed, in Homer and the Artists Thomas, C., 1989, Greek Geometric Narrative Art and Orality, Art History, September ARCL0162

1989, Vol.12(3), pp.257-267 (online) Ekphrasis, https://writingaboutart.org/pages/ekphrasis.html (1 page) Background: Neer Chapter 3. Geometric Greece, c. 1100–c. 700 BCE. Susan, Langdon. 2009. Art and Identity in Dark Age Greece, 1100-700 BCE. Chapter 1: art made to order. Objects:  The London Abduction Krater (BM) https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1899-0219-1  Bronze horse from the Met https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/251050_ Watch: moodle lecture. Preparation for class: comment on hypothes.is, what do you think of the ideas of Mitchell? What do you like, not like, criticise or not understand, and how does this help us expanding the study of Greek art? Study the objects and post a blog on the discussion forum. For group A answer either: how do you think we should interpret the abduction krater and what does this say about narrative art in the geometric period? Or: what do pictures want- using the krater or the horse statuette as example (or compare the two objects). Group B: respond to one of the posts of group A.

SESSION 3 (week3). ORIENT AND ORIENTALISING: EARLY ‘GREEK’ ART AND CULTURAL CONTACT Topic: What do we mean by ‘orientalising’? Is it a helpful analytical concept for us, a concept which may have been potentially meaningful to ancient viewers, or simply a relic of modern European ‘orientalism’. How far might alternative concepts help us to understand the character of artistic production in the Greek world of the seventh century BC? Specifically, to what extent do concepts of “postcolonialism” or “hybridity” take us beyond traditional ideas of cultural “influence” in understanding either: the kouros, protocorinthian pottery, or iconography?

Required reading for class discussion: Purcell, N., 2006, Orientalizing, Five Historical Questions, in C. Riva and N. Vella, Debating Orientalization: Multidisciplinary Approaches to Change in the Ancient Mediterranean, London, Equinox Publishing Gunter, Ann C. 2014, Orientalism and orientalization in the iron age Mediterranean, Critical Approaches to Ancient Near Eastern Art, Walter de Gruyter, 79-108 Papalexandrou, N., 2010, Are there hybrid visual cultures? Reflections on the orientalising phenomenon in the Mediterranean of the early first millennium BCE, Ars Orientalis 31-48

Background reading: Neer chapter 4: The Protoarchaic Period, c. 710–c. 600 BCE. Background on SAID: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/becoming- modern/introduction-becoming-modern/issues-in-19th-century-art/a/orientalism.

Watch: lecture –link on moodle Objects:  Harpy Tomb (Student presentation) https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/marble-reliefs-harpy- tomb-british-museum-2020-55af62b530cc4e3cbf4ebd72a41c84cc  Wild Goat style pottery: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1888-0601- 456  Greco-Scythian art: the Kelermes Mirror: https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/digital- collection/25.+archaeological+artifacts/3495082

Preparation: Moodle forum blog post. Student presentation on the Harpy Tomb. For the ARCL0162

discussion forum blog: Group A: try to answer one of the questions in the topic description above using either the Kelermes mirror or the wild Goat style pottery as an example (or compare the two) Group B: respond to one of the posts of Group A.

SESSION 4 (week 4). ARCHAIC ART, AGENCY, AND ANIMISM: CAN OBJECTS REALLY SPEAK? Topic outline: Gell’s art and agency brought about a paradigm change in art history, although considerably less so in Classical art. His thesis is a major challenge to two assumptions that have dominated the study of Greek art: the aesthetic, and the semiotic (Whitley 2012). For this session, we will think again about Mitchell’s ‘what do pictures want’ from two weeks ago and the semiotic approach and compare it to Gell’s art and agency. What is the difference in approaching objects? Does this bring us closer to how art was experienced in Archaic Greece? And can objects speak? This session is to think more radically about other ways of viewing objects in Archaic Greece.

Required readings for class discussion Hypothes.is reading: Gell, Alfred, Vogel’s Net, Traps as Artworks and Artworks as Traps, Journal of Material Culture¸1996, 15-38 Whitley, J., 2017, The Material Entanglements of Writing Things Down in: L.C. Nevett (ed.), Theoretical Approaches to the Archaeology of Ancient Greece, Manipulating Material Culture University of Michigan Press. (2 Bahrani, Z., 2014, chapter 7, The speaking image, in The Infinite Image, Art, Time, and the aesthetic dimension in antiquity Background reading: Neer chapter 6. Early Archaic Sculpture, c. 600–c. 520 BCE. Whitley, J., 2012, Agency in Greek Art, Companion to Greek art, 579-595 (for Gell) Objects:  Kouros/ Kore: Phrasikleia (student presentation) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Phrasikleia_Kore  Sophilos dinos: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1971-1101-1  Mantiklos Apollo: https://collections.mfa.org/objects/152660/mantiklos-apollo?ctx=b4906bda-0430- 4f4a-a515-8b775bff451d&idx=0

Preparation: Student presentation on the Phrasikleia statue. For the forum discussion: (Group A) answer the question on the moodle forum: can objects really speak? Group B: respond. Together read Gell on hypothes.is.

SESSION 5 (week 5) RETHINKING GREEK VASE PAINTINGS PART I: CONTEXT AND THE SENSES Topic outline: Last week, we already went beyond traditional art historical approaches by considering whether objects can speak. This week we continue the path by reconsidering how we can look at Greek vase paintings. Greek vase paintings have been the key subject of Classical art and their study (and collection) therefore have a long history. Aside from discussing how Greek art history emerged through the study of vases and what we can still learn from its main protagonists (such as Beazley) about how to look at ancient art, we will also take more modern art historical approaches to the topic through sensoriality. Within art history, criticism is voiced against the focus on viewing as the primary sense of inquiry and reflection. Until recently, art historical analyses only rarely went beyond the investigation of visually embodied observers, and therefore thinking about other senses to approach the past can broaden up the scope of interpretation significantly.

Readings for in class discussion Boulay, T., 2018, Tastes of wine: sensorial wine analysis in ancient Greece, in K. Rudolph, ARCL0162

Taste and the ancient senses, pp. 197-211 Nevett, Lisa C. 2010. Domestic Space in Classical Antiquity , Ch. 3: A space for ‘hurling the furniture’? Architecture and the development of Greek domestic symposia, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 43-62 Balachandran, S, 2019, Bringing Back the (Ancient) Bodies: The Potters’ Sensory Experiences and the Firing of Red, Black and Purple Greek Vases

Background: Patrizia Di Bello and Gabriel Koureas Introduction, Other than the Visual: Art, History and the Senses, in Art beyond the visual: Art, History, and the Senses: 1830 to the Present (online) Objects:  Skyphos https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/attic-skyphos- 930dcf46606a406285244be7a4c6e496  Neck Amphora: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/197016-neck-amphora- 0bb2525bdd734bf69d5a7b2b051928ad  Houses of Olynthos: http://web.mit.edu/21h.405/www/olynthos/homc.html and http://web.mit.edu/21h.405/www/olynthos/vii4.html

Preparation: For the Blog, Group A think about how context works in understanding of objects, both in terms of physical context and sensorial context. For instance, how do your senses affect your knowledge of things? Think about how the traditional study and museum display of Greek sympotic pottery has affected our current understanding of them. How does the symposium as physical and sensorial context aid our understanding of pottery? Group B, respond to this using the literature. Further, as we are half-way, there will be a mid-term evaluation of the course. What do you think works well and what can be improved?

WEEK 6: READING WEEK NO CLASS

SESSION 6 (week 7). CLASSICAL ART IN THE MUSEUM: WINCKELMANN’S VICTIMS

“I don’t think so; we’re still looking at it!”

Topic outline: The Classical as a category was created in the 18th century with vast consequences for the contemporary world (education, class, race) that we still have to deal with today. The museum and the way objects are displayed, have an effect in how they are experienced and used. Today we will discuss how it has affected museums and how museums perpetuate this image, by their way of display. Issues such as of class, whiteness, elitism and colonialism will be central. For instance, in the nineteen-thirties, restorers at the British Museum polished the Elgin marbles, the most treasured sculptures from the Acropolis, until they were as white and shiny as pearls. How did museums perpetuate the idea of Classical art and how does this affect society, what can we do about this? Especially in consideration that the Covid-19 pandemic restricts access to museums and countries, how should we deal with current collections and repatriations? How does the digital world change things? Are creative solutions possible?

Key readings required for class discussion: Duthie, E., 2011, The British Museum: An Imperial Museum in a Post-Imperial World, Public History Review, 01 December 2011, Vol.18, pp.12-25. Tzortzaki, D., 2012, Myth and the Ideal in 20th c. Exhibitions of Classical art, Companion to Greek Art (online) https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/10/29/the-myth-of-whiteness-in-classical-sculpture https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/learn-speak-act/2018/02/15/classics-and-the-alt-right/ https://blog.cambridgescptest.uk/centring-africa-greek-and-roman-literature-while- ARCL0162

decolonising-classics-classroom https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/24/arts/design/detroit-institute-of-arts.html https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/11418432/Night-at-the-museum-Only-if-youre-middle- class-says-report.html watch: https://youtu.be/x73PkUvArJY objects:  Elgin Marbles- https://sketchfab.com/danielpett/collections/parthenon-marbles-british- museum  Apollo Belvedere http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/collezioni/musei/museo-pio- clementino/Cortile-Ottagono/apollo-del-belvedere.html#&gid=1&pid=1

Student presentation: either Museums and colonialism or current Classical art abuse (see supplementary readings-file session 6)

Preparation: blog group A: what do you think are the most important current issues with classical art and museums? Which one do you think are most important to discuss? Use your own experience as a background (American museums have different issues from British or Asian museums for instance). Group B: respond, and can you think of solutions?

SESSION 7 (week 8). RETHINKING GREEK VASE PAINTINGS PART II: MAKING THE OTHER IN GREEK ART Topic Outline: We know that issues of race and class exist in the museum, but how did it exist in the Greek world? What does the other look like and how is it constructed? Did racism exist in ancient Greece? Since we know more about the social and contextual use of these vases from part I, we can discuss in more depth the iconographic intricacies in thinking about Self and Other in art. The Other in Greek art was diverse: they could be mythical (monsters and otherworldly creatures such as centaurs and amazons), but also real, such as different ethnicities of non-Greeks called Barbarians. At the end of the Archaic period one big ‘Other’ emerged, the Persians, that would redefine Greek cultural identity and the future of Greek society. This class will discuss how we deal with this aspect of the Other, and what we learn about Greek society.

Readings required for in class discussion Stansbury-O'Donnell, M., 2011, Looking at Greek Art Cambridge University Press, chapter 5, Identity Miller, M., 2006, Persians in the Greek Imagination, Mediterranean Archaeology, Vol.19/20, pp.109-123 (online) McNiven 2000, Behaving like an Other: tell-tale gestures in Athenian vase painting, in B. Cohen (ed.), Not the Classical ideal, Athens and the construction of the Other in Greek Art Objects:  oinochoe (jug) MET: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/246891  Amphora British Museum (Student presentation see session 7 supplementary readings) https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1849-0518-10  Oinochoe Boston MFA: https://collections.mfa.org/objects/153828  Eurymedon vase (Berlin) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurymedon_vase#/media/File:Eurymedon_vase_B_side.jpg

Watch: intro lecture Preparation: For group A: what do images tell us about the Self and the Other in Greek art? Pick one example and use visual analysis to point out details. Approach critically in relationship to context. Can you name modern examples of such visual ‘Othering’ in art? Group B respond to this. ARCL0162

SESSION 8 (week 9). THE IDEAL BODY AND NATURALISM: ISSUES OF GENDER AND SEXUALITY Topic outline: The human body is at the heart of what we call classical art. In the Archaic period, body sculptures became more naturalistic and the technical skill of Greek sculptors in depicting the human form in a variety of poses greatly increased. From about 500 BC statues began to depict what we nowadays consider ‘real people’ or naturalism. But what do we mean by real or natural in these representations? This will be a central concern of this class next to how the category affected ancient and current ideas on gender, sexuality, and the ideal body. To what extent do sexualised representations of women in ancient Greece correspond to that of modern west, as described by John Berger: objectification linked to patriarchy? How far do modern concepts - ‘the nude’, ‘heroic nudity’, ‘pornography’ – inflect our reading of and response to ancient art? How far do modern conceptions of the relationship between beauty and eroticism impede our understanding of, and response to, the aesthetic characteristics of Greek art?

Required reading Hypothes.is reading Berger, John. 1972. Ways of Seeing. London: BBC. Picture Essay 2, pp. 36-43 (only images); Essay 3, pp. 45-64. Salomon, N., 1997, Making a world of difference: gender, asymmetry and the Greek nude, 197-219 in A.O. Koloski-Ostrow and C.L. Lyons eds. Naked Truths: Women, Sexuality and Gender in Classical Art and Archaeology. London: Routledge. Squire, M., 2011, chapter 3: The ancient ‘female nude’ (and other modern fictions), in The art of the Body, Antiquity and its legacy, Oxford, Oxford University Press Platt,V., 2016, Classical Cover-Ups, Eidolon: https://eidolon.pub/classical-cover-ups-65d1fe015a1a

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpipFt3p0YM Objects:  Venus of Knidos (student presentation)  Discobolus https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1805-0703-43

Preparation: For the hypothes.is reading, do you agree with Berger? He has written one of the most canonical pamphlets for art history and gender and the male gaze has been an extremely influential idea. Do we still see this today? You are all group A this time: Go outside, or search on google, how many male vs female public statues are in your neighbourhood (where you’re from or where you are currently located)- do these statues reflect ‘the male gaze’ Why, why not?

SESSION 9 (week 10). STYLE, POWER, AND IDENTITY IN THE HELLENISTIC WORLD Topic outline: In this Hellenistic period we witness a shifting power dynamics, moving from city-states to kingdoms, and including a wide and expanding territory of cultural interaction with a profound impact on art. We will look at these changes through portraiture and monuments. What do ruler representations tell us about power, personhood, and individual identities in the Hellenistic world? How are these values constructed and communicated in different parts of the Hellenistic world such as the Ptolemaic kingdom, that had a different stylistic language?

Required reading for class discussion Versluys, M.J., chapter 3: Identity, Visual Style and Constructing Identity in the Hellenistic World: Nemrud Dağ and Commagene under Antiochos I, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press Tanner, J. 2007. Portraits and agency: a comparative view, 70-94 in R. Osborne and J. Tanner eds. Art’s Agency and Art History. Oxford: Blackwell. Kroll, J.H. “The emergence of ruler portraiture on early Hellenistic coins: the importance of ARCL0162

being divine”, in P. Schultz and R, von den Hoff eds. Early Hellenistic Portraiture: Image, Style and Context. Cambridge. 113-122 Watch: introduction lecture Objects:  Hellenistic rulers on coins (student presentation): https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1919-0820-1 https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1879-0401-5  Ptolemaic Portraits: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Ptolemy_I_as_Pharaoh_of_Egypt.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemy_I_Soter#/media/File:Ptolemy_I_Soter_Louvre_Ma849.jpg  Nereid monuments https://artsandculture.google.com/streetview/british- museum/AwEp68JO4NECkQ?sv_h=0&sv_p=0&sv_pid=DfS00xyiDnlXQ4gsitRKFg&sv_lid=35820097 57710443819&sv_lng=- 0.1278733838181552&sv_lat=51.51901582828823&sv_z=0.6911292499459274  Nemrud Dag: http://www.learningsites.com/NemrudDagi/NemrudDagi_models.php

Preparation: On the blog, Group A chooses either the Ptolemaic and Hellenistic portraits and compare those two, or choose the monuments of Nemrud and Nereid and compare those. In your comparison focus on the question of power, style and identity in a changing Hellenistic world. Group B: respond to the post by adding more arguments and discussion points.

SESSION 10 (week 11). FINAL DISCUSSION AND RESEARCH PAPER PRESENTATION Readings: no readings, but re-read your reflective essay. Watch: watch each other’s videos or recorded powerpoints

Preparation: make a 5-minute video or pre-recorded powerpoint in which you discuss your research project. Submit a blogpost that reflects on your first essay, what have you learned in between?

No reading required except for the literature you selected for your presentation and making a short presentation (with ppt, handout or any other way you would like to present your topic). Discuss in this presentation: the main research question, the main sources, approach, theory you will use, your case study (which can be one museum object, or a group), why your approach will change the way we can look at Greek art, and your references. The presentation should be short, about 5 minutes.