MASTER SYLLABUS Course Title: History of American Art Course Number: 1045 Credit Hours: Three Prerequisites: None Course Description: This course is a comprehensive study of the social history and cultural development in American art. Students will survey the evolution of painting, sculpture, architecture, and decorative arts from the early colonial period to the present. Students completing this course will be able to distinguish the stylistic traits that characterize American art and the aesthetic goals and influences of the artists who created it. Students will also explore how the various artists reflect the history of their time and assess ways in which the art of the past influences our aesthetic tastes today. The curriculum of study will focus on important artistic contributions and how to apply the terminology necessary for a scholarly analysis of the works of art. Core Learning Areas: The Core Learning Areas represent a common body of skills and knowledge to which all graduates with associate s degrees should be exposed and for which the college may determine certain levels of competency which will be assessed through the general education curriculum. Cultural Awareness Cultural Awareness is the ability to discern the interdependence of local and transnational political, social, economic, artistic and cultural networks in the context of their aesthetic and historical importance. Competency in this area is measured by the ability to: 35. Explain how culture, social structure, diversity, and other key elements of historical context have an impact on global and individual perception, action, and values 36. Articulate how historical change shapes the arts, ideas, and social and political structures. 37. Demonstrate an appreciation of the creative process 38. Demonstrate an understanding of the essential role of humanities literature and fine arts in the human experience Specific Course Objectives: Students completing this course will have a thoughtful appreciation of art through the study of diverse approaches to the creative arts. Students will learn the specific vocabulary for scholarly discussion of works of art through a variety of assignments designed to increase an awareness of style, to discuss the basic components of design, to measure learning progress, to maintain priorities for attaining the learning objectives for this course, and to develop academic skills through extensive college-level reading and writing. Arts Program Goals: 1. Students will develop/demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the fundamental elements of visual communication, with an emphasis on the design elements common to all media. 2. Students will demonstrate effective oral communication skills when discussing, describing, critiquing, and analyzing works of art. 1
3. Students will assemble, organize, and present a fully developed portfolio of communication materials. 4. Students will develop/demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the roles that the visual arts play in our culture, as well as an appreciation of art from a global perspective. 5. The division will organize and manage a venue for CSM students, faculty, administrators, and the Southern Maryland community to experience a variety of visual arts exhibitions. Instructional Delivery: For the web-based course, material is presented through readings from the textbook supported by professor-designed learning modules. These modules include the thesis, learning objectives, focus points, and discussion guidelines for each reading that support online discussions and student assignments. Videos are included in selected modules. For the lecture course, material in the classroom is presented through images, videos, and lectures. For both the web-based and lecture courses, a great deal of reading and writing is required, and at least one visit to an area museum is recommended. Student evaluation will be determined by accumulated points from the assignments (see Learning Activities). Outline of Topics: The following schedule should be completed for this course based on the currently required text Framing America: A Social History of American Art by Frances K. Pohl (Thames and Hudson, 2 nd edition, 2008). Introduction to American Art: Art and Conquest The Spanish and the Aztecs The Northern Territories of New Spain France Bringing the Faith: The Northeast The Exploration of the Mississippi and Mississippian Culture A Protestant Presence in America The Art and Architecture of Northern British and Dutch Colonies Products of the Needle and the Chisel Foreign Wars and Domestic Unrest Defining America: Representing the Revolution and its Aftermath Presidential Poses: Images of George Washington Architectural Symbols of a New Nation An Architecture of Discipline Nationhood and Native Americans The Schooling of the Nation s Artists: Samuel F. B. Morse & the National Academy of Design The Entrepreneurial Spirit and the Production of American Culture Nature and Nation: Nature and the Sacred in Native American Art God, Nature, and the Rise of Landscape Painting Thomas Cole, Federalism, and The Course of Empire Edward Hicks and The Peaceable Kingdom Landscape Painting at Mid-Century: Frederic Edwin Church and the Luminists Native Americans as Nature Depicting the Looks and Modes of Native American Life Nature Transformed: Settling the Landscape 2
Woman as Nature: The Nude, the Mother, and the Cook Nature Morte: Still Life and the Art of Deception A Nation at War: The War between the United States and Mexico Mexican Culture as American Culture Prelude to the Civil War: Representing African-Americans and Slavery Race and the Civil War Images of Reconstruction Monuments to Freedom Native Americans in the Popular Press: Harper s Weekly and the Washita River Massacre Encyclopedias of Experience: Native American Ledger Art The End of the Ghost Dance The Hampton Institute and Lessons in American History Work and Art Redefined: 100 Years of Independence Taking Stock of America at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition Images of Workers Celebrating the New Male Professionals: Portraits by Thomas Eakins The Female Body and the Rights of Women Domestic Culture and Cultural Production The Feminine Ideal and the Rise of Aestheticism Images of the Particular: Portraiture and Trompe l Oeil Painting The Battle over Public Space The End of a Century: Art, Architecture and the World s Columbian Exposition The Machine, the Primitive, and the Modern: Realism and the Ashcan School Modernism and the Avant-Garde World War I and the Art of Reproduction Modernism, Gender and Sexuality Escape to Mexico Mexico in America: Imaging the American Southwest The Harlem Renaissance Gender, Consumption, and Domestic Spaces Art for the People, Art Against Fascism: A New Deal for Art Modernist Architecture, Domestic Design, and Planned Communities Alternative Visions: Urban Life and the Industrial Worker The Corporate View of Industrial America Women at Work in the City Rural America Art Against Fascism: The Popular Front and the American Artists Congress The War at Home: Japanese American Internment and American Patriotism Social Surrealism, Abstraction, and Democracy From Cold War to Culture Wars: Gestures of Liberation Abstract Art as the New American Art Pastiche and Parody: Another Take on the Real Minimal Forms and Art as Idea 3
Popular Art, Pop Art, and Consumer Culture An Art of Protest: The Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War The Personal is Political: Feminist Art of the 1970s Public Art and the Public Interest Is Less More? Re-evaluating Modernism in Architecture Postmoderism and Art Art Activism The Culture Wars Envisioning the 21 st Century Learning Activities Students are provided with detailed instructions and examples for each class assignment. Late assignments will not be accepted without prior permission from the instructor and may earn partial credit. All assignments must be neatly typed (double spaced) and include name, date, title of assignment, instructor s name, and course number. A brief description of each assignment follows. Introduction: Art Autobiography This class will begin with an opportunity to get acquainted using the model provided by the professor. Using complete sentences, appropriate grammar, and correct spelling, tells us about yourself briefly, focusing on your past experiences with art and how they may have led you towards this class. Class Discussion: Class discussions allow students to build confidence and an understanding of the significant points from each chapter and to participate in interpersonal communication through constructive discussion. Discussion questions are based on the reading assignments. After you have completed the reading assignment and consulted the corresponding Study Guide, formulate your response to share with the class. Discussion contribution may be evaluated and result in earning points. Your response must relate directly to the points raised in the question and reflect an understanding of the concepts that are discussed in the reading as well as your observations of the works of art illustrated in the corresponding section. Keep your answers to the point and use specific examples whenever required. It is very important to pay attention to all student contributions to the discussion, to add something new, and to develop a body of information related to the question. When commenting on a classmate s discussion, make certain that each of your responses is a clearly and fully stated idea. To simply say "I agree" or "good job" does not tell the class what or how you agree. Your comments must add something to the discourse. Quizzes: Quizzes are designed to test the student's understanding of the content of the readings, to measure the student's grasp of the key terms, and to stimulate critical thinking in an artistic context. Questions will deal with chapter content and with key concepts. A summary for each chapter can be found in the Chapter Study Guides. Writing Assignments: There may be up to three major writing assignments, including a Virtual Exhibit paper, an Art Review, a Comparative Paper, and two smaller writing assignments, as well as a research project resulting in a 4
PowerPoint Summary on a topic of the student s choice. Requirements for each are detailed below. Virtual Exhibit Paper: For the Virtual Exhibit assignment students will examine an online exhibit from a major art museum assigned by the professor and select a work of art (or group of related works) for analysis. After looking carefully at all elements of the artwork in the exhibit, discuss the composition in terms of the characteristics of style and the power of the image. It is important to use the vocabulary necessary to communicate a scholarly analysis of the work[s] of art. Review the detailed instructions in the Assignment Guidelines found in the Learning Modules and/or through the attachment in the Virtual Exhibit Assignment page. This must be two pages in length, double-spaced, in 12 point font. Please run spell-check and proofread for grammatical errors. Art Review: This assignment will allow students to participate in critical thinking exercises through a careful reading of art criticism followed by writing a review of the critic s assessment. This assignment prepares students to distinguish between fact, opinion, and inference through evaluating a professional critic s evaluation of an art exhibit. Critical reviews of art exhibits can be found in newspapers (i. e., The Washington Post Style section), magazines, periodicals, and online publications. To fulfill the assignment requirements and to fully address the questions posed, be certain to find a critical review and not merely a notice of an exhibit. Follow the instructions in the Assignment Guidelines found in the Learning Modules and/or through the attachment in the Art Review Assignment page. This must be two pages in length, double-spaced, in 12 point font. Please run spell-check and proofread for grammatical errors. Comparative Paper: The Comparative Paper assignment will allow students to conduct careful observations, accurate descriptions, scholarly interpretations, and significant evaluations of works of art; to understand the relationship between art making, art thinking and finally creating art, it is necessary to recognize the pictorial devices familiar to the artist. For this paper, each student will be assigned two works of art to compare and contrast; the selection may be works by two different artists or two works by one artist. In the process of comparing one work to another related work new ideas and perceptions often reveal themselves. These comparisons can explain stylistic changes within one artist's work or between 2 artists of the same or different periods. Follow the instructions in the Assignment Guidelines found in the Learning Modules and/or through the attachment in the Comparative Paper Assignment page. This must be 2 pages in length, double-spaced, in 12 point font. Please run spell-check and proofread for grammatical errors. Comparative Paper Response: All Comparative Papers will be made available to the class after the assigned due date. For this assignment select two Comparative Papers from your classmates who wrote on art works different from those you wrote about. Follow the instructions in the Assignment Guidelines found in the Learning Modules and/or through the attachment in the Comparative Paper Response Assignment page.. This must be 2 pages in length, double-spaced, in 12 point font. Please run spell-check and proofread for grammatical errors. PowerPoint Summary: The PowerPoint Summary will require students to select an artistic style, period, or artist within the chronological history of American art. Each student will prepare a PowerPoint presentation for the class that will include a summary of the most important points needed for an understanding of the period, style, or artist selected. These topics must be approved by the professor well in advance of the due date, and may not overlap with discussion topics or the examples provided. The PowerPoint Summary must have a minimum of 10 slides and at least 3 fully identified illustrations. Preparing a PowerPoint Summary involves a different approach from the other 5
assignments in the course; it is an opportunity to use computer techniques, design skills, and visual communication. Guidelines regarding plagiarism still apply so all thoughts and observations must be your own, or fully credited. Follow the instructions in the Assignment Guidelines found in the Learning Modules and/or through the attachment in the PowerPoint Summary Assignment page. The purpose of this assignment is to allow students to synthesize periods in the history of American art and culture, to clarify an understanding of the chronological time frame, to assess the cultural diversity in the evolution of American art, and to consider a particular artist whose contribution was/is significant to the study of American art and culture. The summary should begin with a clear thesis and organization of ideas and concepts of artistic expression from a particular period or artist. The content should put forward the ideas, philosophy, cultural influence, and style of the art discussed in a clear and well-developed PowerPoint presentation. This is a formal research project, so no more than one source may be a website. (Students in the lecture course will present these during class meetings). PowerPoint Summary Reviews: All PowerPoint Summaries will be made available to the class after the assigned due date. Once you have reviewed all of them, select two presentations on which to write a review. The selections must be ones in which the style, period of art, or artist is different from the one you submitted for your own presentation. Follow the instructions in the Assignment Guidelines found in the Learning Modules and/or through the attachment in the PowerPoint Summary Assignment page. Policies: The usual college policies will apply in regards to attendance, academic honesty and violations, seeking ADA assistance if necessary, obtaining an audit, withdrawal or incomplete, and unauthorized persons in the classroom. 6