COURSE DESCRIPTION
The art of the Twentieth century is characterized by a radical break with all preceding art. Or is it? In this course, we will study the art produced in Europe and the United States between 1900 and 1945. We will examine its innovations--in style, materials, subject matter, and philosophy--and its continuing relation to artistic traditions.
The lectures, readings and discussions focus on six major themes: 1) The relationship between art and politics (class, gender, nationalism); 2) Abstraction versus realism or "outer" versus "inner" vision; 3) Primitivism and the search for origins, innocence and freedom from societal constraints; 4) Reactions to modernity, including attitudes toward originality, tradition and the rise of technology; 5) The relation between "high" art and popular culture; and 6) The role of artists and art in a modern society.
Are artists political revolutionaries? Spiritual leaders? Working-class producers? Or the spoiled lap-dogs of the moneyed classes? Is art politically or spiritually meaningful or is it merely expensive decoration? Can it transcend the mundane world or is it mired in particular economic and social relations? Are art and artistic values universal and eternal or are they personal and mutable? These are the questions and issues we will address.
Our weekly sessions will generally include discussion of the reading assignments as well as lectures. Therefore, with the exception of the first class, it is important that you read the assigned chapters and articles before coming to class that day.
Office Hours: I will be available for meetings after class on Wednesdays. Other times may be arranged upon request.
Class Texts: Available at the Pennsylvania Book Center, 130 South 34th St.
C. Harrison, F. Frascina & G. Perry, Primitivism, Cubism, Abstraction: The Early Twentieth Century. B. Fer, D. Batchelor & P. Wood, Realism, Rationalism, Surrealism: Art Between the Wars. S. Barnet, A Short Guide to Writing About Art.
Reading Packet (RP), available at Campus Copy, 3907 Walnut St.
COURSE SCHEDULE
Jan. 13 INTRODUCTION ****** POST-IMPRESSIONISM
Harrison: 3-34. Recommended: Fred Orton & Griselda Pollock, "Les Données Bretonnantes: La Prairie de la Représentation," (article in English) Modern Art & Modernism: A Critical Anthology, ed. F. Frascina & C. Harrison (London, 1982): 285-304. Abigail Solomon-Godeau, "Going Native," Art in America 77 (July 1989): 118-128, 161.
Jan. 20 FAUVISM (THE WILD BEASTS) ****** THE DEVELOPMENT OF ANALYTIC CUBISM
Harrison: 46-62. Henri Matisse, "Notes of a Painter" (Reading Packet). Barnet, "Writing About Art": 1-21; "Analysis": 22-61, 71-85; "Some Critical Approaches": 104-20. Recommended: Leo Steinberg, "The Philosophical Brothel," October 44 (Spring 1988): 7-74. Fer: 158-62. Roger Benjamin, "Matisse in Morocco: A Colonizing Esthetic?" Art in America (Nov. 1990): 156-213.
Jan. 27 SYNTHETIC CUBISM, COLLAGE, CONSTRUCTED SCULPTURE, PUTEAUX CUBISM
C. Greenberg, "Collage," from F. Frascina, ed., Modern Art and Modernism, 105-108 (RP). R. Rosenblum, "Picasso and the Typography of Cubism," in Penrose & Golding, eds., Picasso in Retrospect, 49-75 (RP). Barnet, "In Brief: How to Write an effective Essay": 121-35.
Recommended: Christine Poggi, "Frame of Reference: Table and Tableau in Picasso's Collages and Constructions," In Defiance of Painting: 58-89. (Fine Arts Reserve) F. Frascina, "Realism and Ideology: An Introduction to Semiotics and Cubism," in Harrison: 87-183.
Feb. 3 RODIN & BRANCUSI ****** FUTURISM
Leo Steinberg, "Rodin," from Other Criteria (RP). Futurist Manifestos (RP). Barnet, "Style in Writing": 136-53.
Feb. 10 GERMAN EXPRESSIONISM
Harrison: 34-35, 62-82. Vassily Kandinsky, excerpts from Concerning the Spiritual in Art (RP). Barnet, "Manuscript Form": 154-86.
Recommended: Hermann Bahr, "Expressionism" (RP).
Feb. 17 THE RETURN TO ORDER IN FRANCE & THE NETHERLANDS: PURISM & DE STIJL
FIRST PAPER DUE IN CLASS!
Le Corbusier & Ozenfant, "Purism," from Herbert, Modern Artists on Art (RP). Ken Silver, "Purism: Straightening Up After the Great War," Artforum 15/7 (March 1977): 56-63 (RP). Harrison: 250-62.
Recommended: Piet Mondrian, "Plastic Art and Pure Plastic Art" (1937) & statement (c. 1943) (RP). Fer, "Mondrian," in Fer: 153-58. Batchelor, "This Liberty and this Order," in Fer: 3-84.
Feb. 24 EARLY AMERICAN MODERNISM: THE ASHCAN SCHOOL, 291, THE ARMORY SHOW, PRECISIONISM
Meyer Schapiro, "The Introduction of Modern Art in America: the Armory Show," (1952) Modern Art: 19th and 20th Centuries: 135-78 (RP). M. Friedman, "The Precisionist View," Art in America 48/3 (1960): 30-37 (RP). Barnet, "Essay Exams": 213-17.
Recommended: R. Zurier, R. Snyder & V. Mecklenburg, Metropolitan Lives: The Ashcan artists and Their New York (Washington: National Museum of Art in association with W. W. Norton & Co., New York, 1995). Gail Stavitsky, "Reordering Reality: Precisionist Directions in American Art, 1915-1941," in Precisionism in America 1915-1941: Reordering Reality (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers in association with The Montclair Art Museum, New Jersey): 12-39.
Mar. 3 MIDTERM EXAM ***** GERMANY: ARTISTS AS SOCIAL CRITICS & THE BAUHAUS
Recommended: P. Wood, "Weimar Germany," in Fer: 283-311.
Mar. 10 SPRING BREAK!
Mar. 17 RUSSIA: EARLY MODERNISM, SUPREMATISM & CONSTRUCTIVISM
Harrison: 228-49. Kasimir Malevich, "Suprematism" (RP). Barnet, "Writing a Comparison": 86-103; "The Research Paper": 187-212; review "Manuscript Form": 156-86.
Recommended: Naum Gabo & Anton Pevsner, "The Realistic Manifesto," in Herschel B. Chipp, Theories of Modern Art: 325-30. Margit Rowell, "Vladimir Tatlin: Form/Faktura," October (Winter 1978): 83-108. Mar. 24 RUSSIA: CONSTRUCTIVISM & PRODUCTIVISM ***** PHOTOGRAPHY: DOCUMENTING THE CITY
Walter Benjamin, "The Author As Producer," (RP). El Lissitzky, "Prouns," from S. K. Lissitzky, El Lissitzky, 343-45 (RP). Fer: 96-138. Barnet, "Photography": 61-71.
Recommended: Fer: 139-67.
Mar. 31 DADA
Fer: 40-61. Hannah Höch, "Dada Photo Montage," in Chipp, Theories of Modern Art: 396 (RP). Maud Lavin, "Heartfield in Context," Art in America (Feb. 1985) (RP). W. Benjamin, excerpts from "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" (RP).
Recommended: R. Huelsenbeck, En Avant Dada: A History of Dadaism (1920), in Chipp, Theories of Modern Art: 377-82 (RP).
Apr. 7 SURREALISM
SECOND PAPER DUE!
André Breton, "Surrealism & Painting" (1928) & "What Is Surrealism?" (1934) in Chipp, Theories of Modern Art: 402-17 (RP). Max Ernst writings from Chipp, Theories of Modern Art: 427-31 (RP). Fer: 171-247.
Apr. 14 RESPONSES TO FASCISM AND THE RISE OF AMERICAN MODERNISM
André Breton & Leon Trotsky, "Manifesto: Towards a Free Revolutionary Art," (1938) in Chipp, Theories of Modern Art: 483-86. (RP). Picasso on Guernica (1945), in Chipp, Theories of Modern Art: 487-89 (RP).
Recommended: Wood, "Realisms and Realities," in Fer: 250-83; 311-31.
Apr. 21 COURSE EVALUATIONS ***** FINAL EXAM
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
All of the assignments listed below must be completed in order to receive a passing grade for this course.
Feb. 17 First Paper due (15%). 3-5 page visual analysis of one work of art (produced in the United States or Europe between 1900-1945) in a public collection.
Mar. 3 Mid-term exam (20%).
Apr. 7 Second Paper due (25%). 8-10 page comparison paper. You may also research and write on a topic of your own choice with the approval of the instructor.
Apr. 21 Final exam (25%).
Participation (15%). Attendance at lectures is required. Discussion of the assigned readings is an extremely important part of the class. Students will be asked to introduce one article from the assigned readings to the class, and to turn this in to the instructor in written form (1-2 pages).