The Goal: How were images, architectures, and crafted objects perceived in an era when the concept of Art, as we know it today, was not operative?  What were the desires and motivations behind these emblems of early visual culture?  What were the qualities for which these objects were valued?  What was the place of these art objects in their society?  The objects and images that w e will study in this class were deeply involved in the lives of the people who created them.  No art object from this era ever stood alone.  Be they cave wall paintings, Assyrian gateway sculptures, Egyptian pyramids, Minoan frescoes, Archaic Greek sculptures of athletes, Roman wall paintings, Early Christian ivories, Carolingian Bibles, or Gothic cathedrals, the wide array of images we will explore existed and thrived within complex and powerful ritual, social, and political contexts.  Throughout the class, we will form a critical return to these contexts, in order to better understand the interactions of their images and participants. back to top


The Classroom:  14,000 years of art in 14 weeks offer us an expansive panoply of materials for discussion, and as much as I will introduce our topics in lecture, I am also very eager to hear your comments on our subjects.  Discussion and participation are thus crucial (20% of your grade).  This grade is just as challenging to attain as those for tests and writings, i.e. attendance alone does not entail class participation: you must truly participate to do well. Because I do conceive of this classroom as a group, attendance is a must: after the third unexcused absence, your final grade goes a third of a letter grade down.  Attendance at Punch-card Events (to be explained) is also considered towards your classroom participation grade. back to top

The Readings: You will be reading texts as well as images for this class.  Gardner's Art through the Ages, v. 1 and Critical Perspectives on Art History await you at Fine Print Bookstore (off the square in Greencastle).  Though the number of pages from Gardner's to be read is small, the effort you are expected to put into learning these artists, images, and contexts is not.  Please take the time to visually analyze and even memorize the images included in your reading: visual "literacy" will render this class much more fulfilling. Via short response worksheets and class discussion, we will analyze the claims and assumptions of scholarly articles which focus on a particular image and its context.  Please purchase the reading packet from the campus bookstore.  Some of the readings will be on the new, easy to use e-Reserve through Blackboard, or as a PDF file in the I:Drive folder for our class (to be explained). back to top

Writings: 4 short response papers (2-3 pages each) will ensue from these readings and comprise 20% of your grade.  These writings seek to progressively attune you to the difficult but exciting transition from visual form to verbal state. back to top

Final Projects: You will have the opportunity to put together your own image gallery, as predicated upon a particular theme of your own choosing. The galleries will be due on Thursday, December 5, and will be accompanied by essays defining and justifying your theme in accordance with the images. These projects will be discussed in greater detail as the semester progresses and will be worth 15% of your final grade. back to top

Tests and Quizzes: In order to lessen the timed intensity of tests and allow for more time for essays in the tests, slide identifications will be tested separately in 4 quizzes (every third week). As for the tests, there will be two (2) of them, which, with the quizzes, will comprise the remaining 45% of your grade.  They will not be cumulative; instead, they will focus very specifically on the themes and issues raised in that particular segment of the course.  I am interested in your visual literacy, your ability to make connections between images we will have discussed separately, and your ideas about these works of art as expressed in essay form. back to top

Grades and Attendance:  back to top

*Class Participation ­ 20%                                        *3 absences are allowed
*4 Writing Assignments ­ 20%                                  *after the 3^rd absence your final grade goes down
*Final Projects ­ 15%                                                    1/3 of a letter grade
*2 Tests and 4 slide quizzes ­ 45 %                          *each punch card event less than the required 4 counts as an absence

THE CLASS CALENDAR: back to top

Thursday, August 22: Introduction and Timeline

Week 1: The Three Media of Art

Tuesday, August 27: Venus of Willendorf

Gardner's 2-6.

Barasch, Mose. “Discovering Prehistoric Art,” in Theories of Art, 3: from Impressionism to Kandinsky.  Routledge, 1998: 210-228. Packet

Fascinating site about the Venus of Willendorf!
Venus and her Sisters!

Wednesday, August 28: Opportunities to Screen Nova "Secrets of the World - Stonehenge" (1 hour)
4-5 p.m.; 6-7 p.m.; 8-9 p.m.; and 10-11 p.m.

Thursday, August 29: Caves and Stonehenge

Gardner's 6-15.

Hauser, Arnold.  “Old Stone Age: Magic and Naturalism,” and “New Stone Age: Animism and Geometrism,” in The Social History of Art vol. 1. New York: Vintage Books, 1951:3-21 Packet

Ray, Benjamin.  “Stonehenge, a New Theory,” History of Religions 26:3 (February 1987): 225-278. Packet

Cave of Lascaux official web site!
Cave of Chauvet official web site!
All the phases of Stonehenge!

Week 2: Language and Ritual

Tuesday, September 3: Gudea

Gardner's 18-31.

Winter, Irene J.  "'Idols of the King:' Royal Images as Recipients of Ritual Action in Ancient Mesopotamia," Journal of Ritual Studies 6:1 (Winter 1992): 13-42.  e-Reserve

Davis, Richard. “Loss and Recovery of Ritual Self among Hindu Images,” Journal of Ritual Studies 6:1 (Winter 1992): 43-61.e-Reserve

A Gudea statue at the Detroit Institute of Art!

Thursday, September 5:  Assyria

Gardner's 31-41.

Tablets VI-VIII from the Epic of Gilgamesh . e-Reserve

The Epic of Gilgamesh!
Terrific images of art for this week!

WRITING  ASSIGNMENT #1 DUE: Using metaphor for image translation

Week 3: Dynasties

Tuesday, September 10: Old and Middle Kingdom Egyptian Art

Gardner's 44-60.

Barasch, Mose. “Understanding Distant Cultures: the Case of Egypt,” in Theories of Art, 3: from Impressionism to Kandinsky.  Routledge, 1998: 243-261. Packet

Another great NOVA site about the pyramids!

Slide ID Quiz #1

Thursday, September 12: New Kingdom Egyptian Art

Gardner's 59-74.

Hauser, Arnold. “Naturalism and the Age of Akhenaton,” in The Social History of Art vol. 1. NewYork: Vintage Books, 1951: 43-49.  Packet

Robins, Gay. “The Great Heresy,” in The Art of Ancient Egypt. Harvard University Press, 1997: 149-165. Packet

Awesome Akhenaten!
Terrific images of art for this week!

Week 4: Bodies and Beauty

Tuesday, September 17: Minoan and Mycenean Art  and Archaic Greek Sculpture

Gardner's: 78-95, 98-113. 

Spivey, Nigel.  "Heroes Apparent,"  in Understanding Greek Sculpture; Ancient Meanings, Modern Readings.  London: Thames and Hudson, 1996: 105-122. Packet

Astounding British School at Athens QuickTime Virtual Tour!

Images of Knossos (including frescoes)!
Virtual Tour of Knossos!
Images of Minoan and Mycenean Art!
Images of Archaic Greek Sculpture!

Thursday, Sesptember 19: Vase Painting and Classical Statuary

Gardner’s 114-126.

“Ode on a Grecian Urn” (Hand-out)

Techniques and Examples of Vase Painting!
Images of classical statuary!

Week 5: State Ideologies

Tuesday, September 24: The Acropolis and the Parthenon

Gardner's 126-136.

Funeral Oration of Pericles, 431 B.C.E.

Chapter 1: “Democracy and the Greek Ideal,” in Critical Perspectives on Art History. Ed. John C. McEnroe and Deborah F. Pokinski. Prentice-Hall, 2002: 1-13.

The Acropolis!
Images of the Parthenon!

Thursday, September 26: The Elgin Marbles

Chapter 2: “The Parthenon and Patrimony,” in Critical Perspectives on Art History: 14-28.

British Museum
The Acropolis Museum!

WRITING  ASSIGNMENT #2 DUE: Debating the ownership of art

Week 6: Thanatopsis

Tuesday, October 1:  Late Classical and Hellenistic Sculpture and Statuary

Gardner's 139-144, 148-159.

Click here for Laocoön passage from the Aeneid.
Scroll through and read the lines between these verses:
"A greater omen, and of worse portent,
Did our unwary minds with fear torment,
Concurring to produce the dire event.
…………………………………………
And to the tow'r of Pallas make their way:
Couch'd at her feet, they lie protected there
By her large buckler and protended spear."

Chapter 3: “The Classical Tradition,” in Critical Perspectives on Art History: 29-36.

Images of late classical statuary!
Images of the Laocoon!

Slide Quiz #2

Thursday, October 3: TEST 1

Week 7: Art and Empire

Tuesday, October 8: The Roman Republic, Pompeii and the Early Empire

Gardner's 246-274.

Chapter 4: “Portraits and Politics,” in Critical Perspectives on Art History: 37-51.

Good explanation of 4 Styles of Roman Wall Painting!
Everything on Augustus!

Thursday, October 10: The High and Late Empires

Gardner's 274-296.                

Veyne, Paul.  "Pleasures and Excesses," in A History of Private Life, vol. I: From Pagan Rome to Byzantium.  ed. Paul Veyne.  Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1987: 183-205. Packet

The Colosseum
The Pantheon
Baths of Caracalla!
Demo of bath construction!

Week 8: Geist Shift

Tuesday, October 15: The Early Christian Sensation: Constantine and Early Christian Rome

Gardner's 296-299, 302-316.

Pierce, Philip.  “The Arch of Constantine: Propaganda and Ideology in Late Roman Art,” Art History 12:4 (1989): 387-418. Packet

Art and Architecture of Constantine!
Arch of Constantine!
Official site of the Christian Catacombs of Rome!
Great Early Christian images!

WRITING ASSIGNMENT #3 DUE: analyzing the political uses of art

Thursday, October 17: The Early Christian Sensation: Ravenna

Gardner's 316-323.

Elsner, John.  "Christian Sacrifice,"  in Art and the Roman Viewer; the Transformation of Art fromthe Pagan World to Christianity.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995: 221-245. Packet

Monuments of Ravenna!

FALL BREAK: Enjoy! back to top

Week 9: Mysticism

Tuesday, October 29: Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire, including Ravenna

Gardner's 326-340.

Barber, Charles.  "The Imperial Panels at San Vitale: a Reconsideration," Byzantine andModern Greek Studies.  14:4 (1990): 19-42. e-Reserve

Cormack, Robin. “Interpreting the Mosaics of S. Sophia at Istanbul,” Art History 4:2 (June 1981):131-149. Packet

Great Byzantine Images!
Byzantine Icons
Byzantine Ravenna - click on pages 1, 6, 7, 8, and 9

SLIDE QUIZ #3

Thursday, October 31: The Iconoclasm Controversy and Islam in the Middle East

Gardner's 342-343, 360-367.

Chapter 6: “Iconoclasm, Vandalism, and the Fear of Images,” in Critical Perspectives on Art History:65-78.

Cameron, Averil. “The Language of Images: the Rise of Icons and Christian Representation,” in The Church and the Arts. Ed. Diana Wood. Blackwell, 1992: 1-42. Packet

Iconoclasm Texts
Dome of the Rock site
Dome of the Rock history site
Dome of the Rock pictures and links
Description of the Pilgrimage to Mecca (the Hajj)

Week 10: Abstraction

Tuesday, November 5: Islam in Spain

Gardner's 367-369.

Dodds, Jerrilynn D.  "The Great Mosque of Cordoba," in Al-Andalus: The Art of Islamic Spain.  New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992: 11-30. Packet

Great Mosque at Cordoba

Thursday, November 7: Hiberno-Saxon and Visigothic Art

Gardner's 428-436.

Lewis, Suzanne. “Sacred Calligraphy: the Chi Rho Page in the Book of Kells,” Traditio 26 (1980): 139-159. Packet

Images of Anglo-Saxon Art
Great Images of Hiberno-Saxon Art

Week 11: Power

Tuesday, November 12: Carolingian and Ottonian Art

Gardner's 436-451.

Kantorowicz, Ernst. "The Frontispiece of the Aachen Gospels," The King's Two Bodies; A Study in Medieval Political Theology.  Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1957: 61-86. Packet

Thumbnail Images of Carolingian Art
Hildesheim Doors

Thursday, November 14: Romanesque Manuscripts, Textiles and Sculpture

Gardner's 475-485.

Dahl, Ellert. “The Statue of Sainte Foy of Conques and the Signification of the Medieval ‘Cult Image’ in the West,” Acta ad Archaeologiam et Artium Historiam Pertinentia 8 (1978): 175-191. PDF file on I:Drive

Eck, Diana. “Seeing the Sacred: Darsan,” in Darsan; Seeing the Divine Image in India. Columbia University Press, 1998: 3-10. Packet

The entire Bayeux Tapestry on one page!
Visit Sainte Foy Abbey Church!
Click-able images of the statue of Sainte Foy!

WRITING ASSIGNMENT #4 DUE: Comparing art as presence across cultures 

Week 12: Pilgrimage

Tuesday, November 19: Romanesque Pilgrimage Architecture

Gardner's 454-475.    

Chapter 8: “Anti-Semitism and Stereotypes,” in Critical Perspectives on Art History: 92-105.

Click-able Autun images
Click-able Vezelay images

SLIDE QUIZ # 4

Thursday, November 21: Early Gothic Architecture

Gardner's 488-502.

Chapter 5: “The Gothic Cathedral,” in Critical Perspectives on Art History: 52-64.

Click-able Chartres images

Week 13: Love and War and Thanksgiving

Tuesday, November 26: Secular Gothic Art

Duby, Georges. “Love,” from Women of the Twelfth Century vol. 3: Eve and the Church. trans. Jean Birell.  University of Chicago Press, 1998: 81-120. Packet

Mirror Back with Falconing Party

Thursday, November 28: THANKSGIVING: Enjoy!

Week 14: Pragmatism and Piety

Tuesday, December 3: Late Gothic Architecture: Reims Cathedral

Gardner's 502-511.

Sadler, Donna.  “Lessons Fit for a King: the Sculptural Program of the Verso of the West Façade of Reims Cathedral,”  Arte Medievale 9 (1995): 49-68. e-Reserve

Click-able Reims images
Great images of Gothic Architecture and Gothic Sculpture

Thursday, December 5: Gothic Manuscripts and Sculpture

VIRTUAL MUSEUM DUE ON I:DRIVE BY 9:00 A.M.

Gardner's 511-531.

Chapter 7: “Iconography,” in Critical Perspectives on Art History: 79-91.

Click-able images of the Book of Hours of Mary of Burgundy

EXAM: Wednesday, December 11: 8:30 a.m. ­ 11:30 a.m.
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Names of the Eras of Images We Will Explore (to peruse and review) back to top

Stone Age

Sumerian

Assyrian

Egyptian (Old, Middle, and New Kingdom)

Greek

            Minoan-Mycenean

            Archaic

            Classical

            Late Classical

            Hellenistic

Roman

            Republic

            Empire (Early, High, and Late Empire)

            Late Antique - Early Christian

Early Christian

Byzantine

Islamic

Hiberno-Saxon

Visigothic

Carolingian

Ottonian

Romanesque

Gothic

 

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