Konstantinos Kourelis
Landmarks of European Architecture
Art History 246
Class: TR 9-10:30, Jaffe 113
Office hours: R 10:30-12:30 (or by appointment), Jaffe 207
Email: kkoureli@sas.upenn.edu
Tel #: 215-387-1981
READING ASSIGNMENTS
The small book by O’Gorman will be our introductory textbook for the first week. It is highly recommended for beginners to the study of buildings. Trachtenberg and Hyman’s historical survey will be the textbook for the rest of the course. It is a big and expensive volume but far superior to other and less expensive ones. Both books are available at the Penn Book Center (34th Street between Walnut and Chestnut). Weekly readings from Trachtenberg and Hyman are marked as "TH" followed by the chapter and page numbers.
O'Gorman, James F. 1998. ABC of Architecture. Philadelphia.
Trachtenberg, Marvin and Isabelle Hyman. 1986. Architecture, from Prehistory to Post-Modernism. The Western Tradition. New York.
The course is organized under twelve weekly topics which will serve as our interpretive paradigms in studying the periods and landmarks under consideration. A thematic readings for each week will supplement the linear historical narrative of the primary textbook. Unless otherwise specified the textbook assignment is due on Tuesdays while the thematic reading is due on Thursday. The latter will be available in xerox form at the Fine Arts Library Reserve desk under the course number. Both textbook and thematic readings are mandatory.
SYLLABUS
09-Sept-01: INTRODUCTION – Architectural History
Reading: O’Gorman, 1-63
13-Sept-01: On-site analysis
Eero Saarinen and Associates, Hill College House Dormitories (1960)
Penn campus, 3333 Walnut St.
Reading: O’Gorman, 64-107
18-Sept-01: LITURGY – Early Christian Architecture
Reading: TH 4:159-169
20-Sept-01: Saint Peter’s, Rome, Italy (319-20 & 1505-1613)
Reading: Markus, Robert A. 1990. "Holy Places and Holy People." In The End of Ancient Christianity, 139-155. Cambridge, New York, Port Chester, Melbourne and Sydney.
25-Sept-01: AUTHORITY – Byzantine Architecture
Reading: TH 4:169-183
27-Sept-01: The Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey (532-7)
Reading: Paul Silentarius. "Descr. S. Sophia" (sixth century ekphrasis). Anonymous. "Narratio de S. Sophia" (medieval legend). In Cyril Mango ed. 1986. Sources and Documents. The Art of the Byzantine Empire 312-1453, 80-91, 96-102. Toronto, Buffalo and London.
02-Oct-01: NARRATIVE – Romanesque Architecture
Reading: TH:5:185-201
04-Oct-01: Saint Lazarus, Autun, France (1120-30)
Reading: Revelation to John, The Apocalypse. In Herbert G. May and Bruce M. Metzger eds. 1962. The New Oxford Annotated Bible. Revised Standard Edition, 1493-1514. New York.
09-Oct-01: CRAFT – Gothic Architecture
Reading: TH 7:225-246
11-Oct-01: Chartres Cathedral, France (1194-1220)
Meeting at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Reading: Ruskin, John. 1854. "The Nature of Gothic." In The Stones of Venice. London. Reprinted in Wilmer, Clive ed. 1976. Unto this Last and Other Writings by John Ruskin, 75-109. New York.
16-Oct-01: GEOMETRY – The Renaissance
Reading: TH 8:281-326
18-Oct-01: Donato Bramante, Tempietto, Rome, Italy (1502)
Reading: Wittkower, Rudolf. 1971. "The Centrally Planned Church and the Renaissance." Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism, 1-32. New York.
23-Oct-01: PERFORMANCE – The Baroque
Palace, Versailles, France (1624-78)
Reading: TH 9:335-370
25-Oct-01: MIDTERM EXAM
30-Oct-01: UTOPIA – The Enlightenment
Reading: TH 10:387-429
01-Nov-01: Étienne-Louis Boullée, Newton’s Cenotaph, France (1783)
Reading: Burke, Edmund. 1757. Excerpts from A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful. In Charles Harrison, Paul Wood and Jason Gaiger, eds. 2000. Art in Theory 1648-1815. An Anthology of Changing Ideas, 516-526. Oxford and Malden MA.
06-Nov-01: ORIGINS – Historicism
Reading: TH 11:431-462
08-Nov-01: Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Altes Museum, Berlin, Germany (1824-8)
Reading: Winckelmann, Johann. 1764. Excerpts from A History of Ancient Art. In Charles Harrison, Paul Wood and Jason Gaiger, eds. 2000. Art in Theory 1648-1815. An Anthology of Changing Ideas, 466-475. Oxford and Malden, MA.
13-Nov-01: EXHIBITION – Materialism
Reading: TH 11:462-485
15-Nov-01: Gustave Eiffel, Eiffel Tower, Paris, France (1887-9)
Reading: Barthes, Roland. 1979. "The Eiffel Tower." In The Eiffel Tower and Other Mythologies, trans. R. Howard, 3-17. New York. Reprinted (1996) in A Barthes Reader, ed. Susan Sontag, 236-250. New York.
20-Nov-01: TRANSPARENCY – Modernism
Reading: TH 12:487-551
22-Nov-01: THANKSGIVING
27-Nov-01: Le Corbusier, Villa Savoye, Poissy, France (1928-9)
Reading: Rowe, Colin and Robert Slutzky. 1963. "Transparency: Literal and Phenomenal." Perspecta. Reprinted (1976) in The Mathematics of an Ideal Villa and Other Essays, 159-183. Cambridge.
29-Nov-01: IDEOLOGY – Modernism
Esposizione Universale di Roma (EUR), Rome, Italy (1942)
Reading: Fuller, Mia. 1996. "Wherever You Go, There You Are: Fascist Plans for the Colonial City of Addis Ababa and the Colonizing Suburb of EUR ’42." Journal of Contemporary History 31:397-418.
04-Dec-01: CRITIQUE – Post-Modernism
Reading: TH 13:553-579
06-Dec-01: Frank Gehry, Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain (1993-7)
Reading: Venturi, Robert, Denise Scott Brown and Steven Izenour. 1972. "Ugly and Ordinary Architecture, or the Decorated Shed." In Learning from Las Vegas, part 2, 64-87. Boston. Revised edition (Cambridge MA and London, 1977) 87-127.
14-Dec-01 FINAL EXAM
Consult Registrar listing
GRADES
Grading is divided into four equal parts:
1. Midterm Exam, Thursday, Oct. 25
2. Final Exam, Friday, Dec. 14 (8:30-10:30 a. m.)
3. Class participation (including short writing assignments)
4. Short interpretive essay due at the end of the semester
Both exams will contain slide identification and comparisons. The writing assignments comprise of short exercises in the observation of individual buildings. Details will be given in class.
OUT OF CLASS ACTIVITIES
The class of Thur. Oct. 9 will be held at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Optional site visits and video screenings will be assigned for extra credit through the course of the semester.
|
Week |
Date |
Topic |
Period |
Building |
Reading |
|
|
9/11/01 |
Introduction |
|
|
O'Gorman, 1-63 |
|
|
9/13/01 |
|
|
Hill House Philadelphia |
O'Gorman, 63-107 |
|
1 |
9/18/01 |
Liturgy |
Early Christian |
|
TH 4:159-169 |
|
|
9/20/01 |
|
|
Saint Peter's Rome |
Markus |
|
2 |
9/25/01 |
Authority |
Byzantine |
|
TH 4:169-183 |
|
|
9/27/01 |
|
|
Hagia Sophia Istanbul |
Paul Silentarius |
|
3 |
10/2/01 |
Narrative |
Romanesque |
|
TH 5:185-201 |
|
|
10/4/01 |
|
|
St. Lazarus Autun |
Revelation to John |
|
4 |
10/9/01 |
Craft |
Gothic |
|
TH 7:225-246 |
|
|
10/11/01 |
|
|
Cathedral Chartres |
Ruskin |
|
5 |
10/16/01 |
Geometry |
Renaissance |
|
TH 8:281-326 |
|
|
10/18/01 |
|
|
Tempietto Rome |
Wittkower |
|
6 |
10/23/01 |
Performance |
Baroque |
Palace Versailles |
TH 9:335-350 |
|
|
10/25/01 |
|
|
|
MIDTERM EXAM |
|
7 |
10/30/01 |
Utopia |
Enlightenment |
|
TH 10:407-429 |
|
|
11/1/01 |
|
|
Newton Cenotaph |
Burke |
|
8 |
11/6/01 |
Origins |
Historicism |
|
TH 11:431-462 |
|
|
11/8/01 |
|
|
Altes Museum Berlin |
Winckelmann |
|
9 |
11/13/01 |
Exhibition |
Materialism |
|
TH 11:462-485 |
|
|
11/15/01 |
|
|
Eiffel Tower Paris |
Barthes |
|
10 |
11/20/01 |
Transparency |
Modernism |
|
TH 12:487-551 |
|
11 |
11/27/01 |
|
|
Villa Savoye Paris |
Rowe and Slutzky |
|
|
11/29/01 |
Ideology |
|
EUR Rome |
Fuller |
|
12 |
12/4/01 |
Critique |
Post-Modernism |
|
TH 13:553-579 |
|
|
12/6/01 |
|
|
Guggenheim Bilbao |
Venturi et al |
|
|
12/14/01 |
|
|
|
FINAL EXAM |