7/28/16 Art History II

Today's Class- Today I distributed the second exam to all who were present.  It's a take home open book exam, which is due back on Monday morning.  We also heard a few more current events articles.  I returned a few research papers I had received already.

Homework- The exam should be returned on Monday morning.  I will grade them that night so you can get them back on Tuesday.  Written assignments (research paper, current events) should be turned in as soon as possible, and definitely by the last day of class.  The extra credit museum/gallery visit paper can still be turned in.  Nothing will be accepted after Wednesday's last day of class.

7/27/16 Art History II

Today's Class-  We just did some reviewing today, and I collected some of the research assignments.

As part of the review process I gave a list of some of the events and world changes mentioned in each day's lecture, things that could be reference in essay questions on the final.  Even though this information was already on the blog for each day, I promised I would repost these summary statements here tonight, so here they are:

6/30/16- Empires come and go.  Wars, Science
7/6/16- Paper arrives in Europe, Book Arts develop
7/11/16- Sensuality, Bible and Mythology together, Reformation/counter-Reformation
7/12/16- Rendering skills, emotion and drama, economic changes
7/19/16- Neoclassicism, revolutions, scientific advances
7/20/16- History Painting on the rise
7/21/16- Political Art on the rise
7/25/16- Romantic Landscape, colonialism and Imperialism, academies, salons, photography

Homework- the last current events articles will be presented tomorrow.  Any other written assignments will need to be turned in soon, as we have just one week to go.

7/26/16 Art History II

Today's Class- We finished our look at the 19th century, which is as far as we are going for this summer class.  We've reached a point where art is as much about itself as it is about any particular subject.  

Important terms- nothing we haven't seen before

Important works- Starry Night (Van Gogh), Mahana no atua (Gauguin), The Scream (Munch), Burghers of Calais (Rodin), Still Life With Basket of Apples (Cezanne)

Homework- Last current events article should be done for Thursday's class.  Research assignments are due tomorrow, and the extra credit assignments on Thursday, but they will be accepted next week as well.

Next class- We will review the last few weeks and begin preparing for the second exam.

7/25/16 Art History II

Today's Class- We continued our look at the 19th century, in which art bridged from the traditions of the past to radical ideas of modernism.  Romantic landscape painting could carry a wide variety of emotional states.  Advances in technology fueled colonialism and imperialism, and affected art directly by introducing photography and manufactured paints.  Just as the church and kings were having less power over the everyday lives of people, they were losing their control of art.  For the first time, artists were making a lot of the decisions about their art, and finding new ways to exhibit it and sell it.  Perhaps the biggest change was the beginning of artists making decisions based on artistic and formal qualities, and not on economic factors.

Important terms- abstract, daguerreotype, en plein air, Orientalism, sublime, ukiyo-e

Important works- The Hay Wain (Constable), The Birth of Venus (Cabanel), The Snake Charmer (Gerome), The Stone Breakers (Courbet), Le Dejeuner Sur L'Herbe (Manet), Olympia (Manet), A Bar at the Folies-Bergere (Manet), The Gross Clinic (Eakins), Impression: Sunrise (Monet), Moulin De La Galette (Renoir), The Tub (Degas), Mother and Child (Cassatt), Paris Street, Rainy Day (Caillebotte), Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (Seurat), Japonaiserie: Flowering Plum Tree (Van Gogh)

Homework- various written assignments due later this week

Next class- we finish our look at the 19th century.

7/21/16 Art History II

Today's Class- We opened the class with more current events articles, then we continued with 19th Century art.  As the years advance, things start to happen faster; art movements can come and go not just in centuries, but in a few years.  We saw more examples of Romanticism and Historical Painting, but some new concepts, too.  We see some early examples of art created in the Americas, influenced by both Spanish colonialism and indigenous religions.  Political art from the point of view of common people starts to become popular, something not seen when the church and kings commissioned all fine art.  And a new medium- lithography- is invented in the 1790's and quickly becomes a fast and inexpensive way of making and distributing fine art.  

Important terms- atrial cross, lithography, odalisque

Important works- The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (Goya), The Family of Charles IV (Goya),
Third of May, 1808 (Goya), Atrial Cross (Mexico), Virgin of Guadalupe (Salcedo), The Raft of the "Medusa" (Gericault), Liberty Leading the People: July 28, 1830 (Delacroix), Large Odalisque (Ingres), Rue Transnonain, le 15 Avril 1834 (Daumier)

Homework- One last current events article, to be presented in class next Thursday.  We have a little less than 2 weeks left in the summer session.  I'm seeking the research assignments on Wednesday July 27th, and those choosing to do extra credit museum/gallery visit reports should turn them in by July 28th.  If I find any issues with the assignments, I will allow students who turned them in on time to revise them for a better grade.  I will accept the assignments during our last week in August, but you'll get whatever grade you earned.

Next Class- We continue studying the 19th Century.

7/20/16 Art History II

Today's Class- Today we continued our look at 18th Century Art, mostly painting.  Artistic training moved from the studios of artists to academies (often linked to specific nations), and the most respected topic became history painting, although portraits, still life, genre, and religion all had their demand as well.  We also saw the beginning of the Romantic movement, art that expressed a lot of emotions.  Academic training produced artists skilled in rendering objects. spaces, and people, so the best works of this era often match the skills developed in the Renaissance and Baroque periods.

Important terms- academy, history painting

Important works- The Marriage Contract (Hogarth), An Experiment on a Bird in the Air-Pump (Wright of Derby), Academicians of the Royal Academy (Zoffany), The Death of General Wolfe (West), The Nightmare (Fuseli), Watson and the Shark (Copley), The Village Bride (Greuze), Death of Marat (David)

Homework- The third current events article should be ready to be presented in class tomorrow.

Tomorrow's Class- We move into the 19th Century, a march toward modernism.

7/19/16 Art History II

Today's Class- Back to Art History today.  We started looking at Volume 6 of our textbook, and the periods up first are the Rococo and NeoClassicism.  The former is characterized by a lot of gaudy decorations and fancy clothes.  The latter is yet another way of celebrating the glories of the ancient past.  The Classic periods (Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome) gave birth to much of what influenced the society.  The 18th Century began a period of revolutions in western society, starting with America, then France, and then so many others.  These new democratic republics were inspired by aspects of the classical societies of thousands of years earlier, and artistic styles often imitated that art as a way of gaining association with the greatness of the past.  The graded midterm tests were returned and reviewed.

Important terms- fete galante, pastel, putto

Important works- Pilgimmage to the Island of Cythera (Watteau), Girl Reclining: Louise O'Murphy (Boucher), The Swing (Fragonard), Charles Sackville, 2nd Duke of Dorset (Carriera), The Doge's Palace and the Riva Degli Schiavoni (Canaletto), View of the Pantheon, Rome (Piranesi), Pauline Borghese as Venus (Canova)

Homework- next current events article for Thursday

Next Class- We continue with the 18th Century.

7/18/16 Art History II

Today's Class- Today we had the first test of the summer.  Everyone was there and completed it.  I expect to return the graded tests tomorrow.

Homework- Have the next current events article ready for this Thursday.

Tomorrow's Class- We move on to the Volume 6 book and such movements as Rococo and the NeoClassical.

7/14/16 Art History II

Today's Class- Review day for our first exam as we approach the halfway point of our summer class.  We opened with some students presenting their latest current events articles, with brief discussions about each topic.  Then we moved on to the review.  I had prepared review sheets, which are basically the information that is found on this blog, but just organized a little differently.  

What I tried to make clear was that the key to answering the short essays would be having some general knowledge of art and the cultures in question, all of which is available in the textbook.  Nothing will be on the test that isn't in the book, and wasn't talked about in the lecture.  And though the list of important artworks and art vocabulary may seem daunting, it's actually shorter than the lists I provided to students I had taught in fall and spring classes, and most of them did fine.  I suggested that any piece I talked about a lot, any subject or concept that came up multiple times, was more likely to be the subject of an essay.  There are no diagrams to label, no ID questions, though some students requested that I show images of the works to be written about, so they can see the elements for themselves.  I will consider the possibilities of doing so as I start putting the test together tomorrow.  In class I quickly went through the list of important works, giving one or two sentence summaries of why the works were important.  It seemed that many of the students knew some of these items already, so with a few days of studying, confidence will come up.  The general questions on the review sheet can be a guide, and the introductory summaries on this blog provide clues to the important items, things likely to be on the test.

This test is just the first points of the class.  There will be a second test in a few weeks, all the written assignments, and optional extra credit.

Homework- The third current events article should be done for next Thursday, the 21st.

For next class- our first exam.

7/13/16 Art History II

Today's Class-We continued with the 17th century.  I opened with some slides (material not in your textbook but things that may provide you with a more thorough understanding of the concepts and artists), including additional works by familiar artists.  Then we moved on to the textbook, concentrating on the Dutch Baroque.  Before the class ended, we were done with Book 4, and the material that will be covered by our first test.

Important Works- The Raising of the Cross (Rubens), Prometheus Bound (Rubens), Still Life with Flowers, etc (Peeters), Officers of the Haarlem Militia (Hals), Malle Babbe (Hals), The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp (Rembrandt), Three Crosses (Rembrandt), Woman Holding a Balance (Vermeer)

Important Terms- vanitas, orthogonal, impasto, painterly, camera obscura

Homework- Next current events article should be in for tomorrow's class.

Next class-We will hear some more current events reporting from the class, and review for the first exam.

7/12/16 Art History II

Today's Class- We picked up from where we left off yesterday, continuing our look at Northern Renaissance art, supplementing what the book has with examples I brought from home of Bosch and Bruegel.  Then we moved on to the Baroque period, which spread across all of Europe.  What it all has in common is artists taking the skills in rendering value and texture (such as skin and cloth) developed in the renaissance to new heights, coupled with an emphasis on emotion and drama in narrative art.  Still a lot of religious art, but the combination of economic and church changes leads to the development of other styles and subjects.

Important works- The Garden of Earthly Delights (Bosch), Money Changer and His Wife (Massys), Return of the Hunters (Bruegel), The Harvesters (Bruegel), The French Ambassadors (Holbein), Ceiling of the Gallery, Palazzo Farnese (Carracci), Bacchus (Caravaggio), The Calling of St. Matthew (Caravaggio), The Conversion of St Paul (Caravaggio), Judith Beheading Holofernes (Gentileschi), Martyrdom of St Bartholomew (Ribera), St Serapion (Zurbaran) Water Carrier of Seville (Velasquez)

Important terms- tenebrism, narrative image

Homework- 2nd Current events article should be done for Thursday

Next Class- We continue with the Baroque period across a variety of mediums and nations.

7/11/16 Art History II

Today's Class-Today we continued looking at 16th Century Art, some in Italy, some in Northern Europe. This included a brief detour into the Italian Mannerist period, but mostly this was more Renaissance art.  So plenty of depictions of religion, but we also have artists making references to the  pleasures of the flesh and the beauty of nature.  Bible stories and ancient myths side by side in the world of art.  The Reformation and the Counter-Reformation have their effects on the world of art, as do the political changes and the constant threat of disease and death.  Life in the 16th Century.

Important Works- Assumption of the Virgin (Correggio), The Pastoral Concert (Giorgione or Titian), Venus of Urbino (Titian), Madonna of the Long Neck (Parmigianino), Allegory with Venus and Cupid (Bronzino), Capture of the Sabine Women (Giambologna), Feast in the House of Levi (Veronese), Self Portrait (Durer), Isenheim Altarpiece (Grunewald), Nymph of the Spring (Cranach)

Important Terms- allegory

Homework- The second current event art article summary should be ready to be presented to the class by Thursday, July 14th.

Next Class- We continue looking at 16th Century art in Northern Europe.

7/7/16 Art History II

Today's Class- Today we started looking at chapter 21, 16th Century Art in Italy.  This is the height of the Italian Renaissance, stars so big that there are Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles named after them.  We saw a variety of works from Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo, multiple mediums.  In each case I tried to give some context to the works, cultural influences, relationships to earlier art, and influences on what was to follow.  We also heard the first examples of current events articles.

Important works- Virgin of the Rocks, The Last Supper, Mona Lisa, Vitruvian Man (all from Leonardo), The Small Cowper Madonna, Agnelo Doni and Maddalena Strozzi, The School of Athens (all from Raphael), Pieta, David, Sistine Chapel (all from Michelangelo)

Important terms- canon of proportions, chiaroscuro, modeling, sfumato

Homework- One down, three more current events articles to go- have the next one for next Thursday.

Next class- next week we continue with 16th Century Italian Art.

7/6/16 Art History II

Today's Class- We continued looking at early Northern European Renaissance art, with a focus on printmaking.  The introduction of paper to Europe in the early 15th century made mass printing of words and images practical, art and books reproduced from carved wood blocks and etched and engraved metal plates.  Many of the examples I showed in class were from 35mm slides in my collection, and are not in the textbook, so will not be on the exam.  After the break we moved on to chapter 20, Italian Renaissance art of the 15th century

Important Terms- woodcut, etching, engraving, dome, perspective, contrapposto, foreshortening, quatrefoil, vanishing point

Important Works- Dome of the Florence Cathedral (Brunelleschi), Competition Reliefs (Brunelleschi and Ghiberti), David (Donatello), Equestrian Statue of Erasmo Da Narni (Donatello), Gates of Paradise (Ghiberti), Christ Giving the Keys to St Peter (Perugino), Trinity with the Virgin, St John the Evangelist, and Donors (Masaccio), Battista Sforza and Federico  Da Montefeltro (Piero della Francesca),  David (Vercocchio), Birth of Venus (Botticelli), Four Horseman of the Apocalypse (Durer)

Homework- Tomorrow I'd like to see the first current events art articles from everyone.  

Next Class- We'll hear about some current events from the class, and move on to chapter 21- 16th century Italian art.

7/5/16 Art History II

Today's Class- We continued looking at early Renaissance art, not in Italy, but in Germany, France, the Netherlands, and England, all of which contributed their influences on the period.  Most of the work we saw before today was painting and sculpture, and we saw more of both, but today we also looked at some architecture, book arts, and a woven tapestry.  We also assigned the topics for the written research assignment, and I distributed an optional extra credit assignment.

Important Works- Exeter Cathedral, Vesperbild Pieta, Hedwig Codex, Arnolfini Wedding Portrait (Van Eyck), Tres Riches Heurs manuscript (Limbourg Brothers), Unicorn Tapestry, Merode Altarpiece, The Ghent Altarpiece (Van Eyck)

Important Terms- pieta, codex, Book of Hours, tapestry, stained glass, vault, aisle, ambulatory, cathedral, clerestory, altarpiece, illumination, grisaille, horizon line, diptych, triptych

Homework- Finish reading Chapter 19.  First current events art article summary due on Thursday, July 7, 2016.

Next class-  we continue on chapter 19, plus a look at the graphic arts of the era.