ART IS NOT A MIRROR TO REFLECT REALITY, BUT A HAMMER WITH
WHICH TO SHAPE IT.
--Bertol Brecht
The Goal: This
course seeks to understand the complex relationship between image
and event in three separate scenarios of convulsive social and political
change. Augustan Rome (27 B.C.-14 A.D.), Revolutionary
France (1789-1804), and the Birth of the Soviet Union (1917-1934)
were defined and refined, tried
and tested, and established and betrayed in the multiple contests
between images and rhetorics which were waged in both public streets
and publications. We
will study images as both provocations and products of the competing
discourses (political, sociological, literary, musical, philosophical)
of each period and ask the following questions: how does an image
become a political symbol? What are the mechanisms through which images
are politically deployed? How is the role of the artist reconstructed in times of social
crisis? How does the public use images in political debate? What are
the intersections of text and image in a society (sometimes violently)
attempting to reinvent itself? What can we discern from this comparative
approach to art and revolution, and what are some of the ways in which
new revolutions evoke efforts of the past?
We will study original sources (emerging from the competing
discourses listed above) from each period as well as secondary critical
scholarship, and analyze the dynamic between art and revolution in
our continuing effort to understand the creation of new social and
political realities through images.
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The Classroom: This
seminar will have the luxury and dynamic of being guided by our curiosity.
I formulated this topic out of an insistent desire to understand
the machinations of visual culture in changing socio-political contexts. Every topic has its debate, whether it
is about the effectiveness or validity of ideas, the pertinence or
continuity of principles, or the applicability and appropriation of
programs. Let yourself be surprised, outraged, or
awed by the proposals of those who have come before us, and take a
stand. The expectation of class discussion here
is that of a seminar – i.e. this is a challenging grade to earn.
Your presence in class will be especially cherished - after the second
absence, your final grade will be compromised by 1/3 of a letter grade. Come to class with multiple notes and
opinions concerning the readings, which are available in BLACKBOARD. (Some readings available in the folder
titled "Readings" are marked as such.)back
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The Revolution Dossier: As you scroll through the syllabus you will notice that some days
are graced by an essay question in red.
There are 15 of these throughout the syllabus/semester and
you are being asked to respond to 10 of them, 5 by the midterm. Of
these 10 essays, 3 are required of everyone: the Aeneid, David's Horatii
and Aelita Queen of Mars. The
essays should be 3-5 pages, delivered to my Digital Drop Box (under
Tools in BLACKBOARD), and titled YourName_Topic.doc, e.g. Easterday_AraPacis.doc
- please use Word format. The big goal here is specificity - try
to make historical (not just comparative arguments). In the classroom
I'm interested in your opinion - on paper, I'm not interested in your
opinion (!), I'm interested in how well you wield evidence in making
an argument. Write for
the most skeptical of readers and provide as much specificity as possible.
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The Visual Campaign: This
endeavor will be communal – you will self-select into group
and create, simply put, a revolutionary visual campaign.
The idea is to use the theories, concepts and visual languages
of the three Revolutions for the expression of a radical ideology.
You need not go so far as to argue for
the upheaval of an entire society, but nor would I want to see a too-small
issue, like the (tired) legalization of marijuana. You want to present an ideology not an issue. You can think of this as visual activism,
but it needs to be theoretical as well as practical, i.e. you need
to demonstrate that you know your sources, your history, and your
images. One last note: be aware of your culture
and your materials (21st century America, technology) and
use them for your ideology.
You are encouraged to use any and all written sources and many
images as well. If you wish, you may consult the good
people at START to facilitate the project for you. There will be a
glorious final presentation of your visual campaigns at the end of
the semester. I will also set up Groups folder in Blackboard
for you all to communicate about your campaigns.
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The Midterm and Final: There are
two exams in this class, each of different nature. The midterm will be a synthetic exercise,
bringing together issues of the Augustan and the French Revolutions.
It will occur in class in response to essay questions and images,
without notes. The final will also be in the classroom,
but this time arrives in the form of one consequential existential
question, to be answered with the assistance of your class notes (i.e.,
an "open-notebook" final), because there is an expectation
of comparative writing between the Soviet, French, and Augustan Revolutions. back
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Punch-Card Events:
Taking a class in the Art and Art History department avails you to
some of the many happenings in said department.
Throughout the course of the semester, you will be asked to
attend 4 of these events. Attendance affects your class participation
grade, the punch-card events being an opportunity to participate in
art culture at large.
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Grade Breakdown:
Class
participation: 20%
Revolution dossier: 30%
Visual Campaign: 20%
Midterm
and final: 30%
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Class
Schedule: Let's
enter the fray!
THE AUGUSTAN REVOLUTION
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Tuesday, February 1- Intro
The Big
Questions - The Syllabus - Getting at the Knowledge
Thursday, Feburary 3- Augustus
D'Ambra,
Eve. "From Republic
to Empire," from Roman Art.
Cambridge University Press, 1998: 25-31.
E-Reserves
Zanker,
Paul. "Rival Images: Octavian, Antony, and the Struggle for Sole
Power." from The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus. trans, Alan Shapiro.
Ann Arbor, MI:University of Michigan
Press, 1990: 33-65.E-Reserves
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/users/morford
Tuesday, February 8- Urban Renewal
Augustus, working with Agrippa,
restored the temples of Rome before he restored her sewers, an order
of things many students of history find surprising.
How would you explain the political logic of civic religious
restoration over necessary urban upkeep? Feel free to bring in contemporary examples of urban construction
to support your argument.
Favro, Diane. "Reading the Augustan City,"
in Narrative and Event in Ancient Art.
ed. Peter Holliday. Cambridge
University Press, 1993: 230-257. E-Reserves
Galinksy,
Karl. "The Forum
of Augustus," from
Augustan Culture; An Interpretive Introduction.
Princeton University Press, 1996:
197-224.E-Resreves
Thursday, February 10- Ara Pacis
Many herald the Ara Pacis's
brilliance in its ability to contain so much history and promise such
a powerful future. How is the religious past used to communicate
a better political future in the Ara Pacis? N.B.:
Do not use any assumptions you may have about the operations of religion
and politics in Christian culture; you will need to unearth the ideologies
and mechanisms of Ancient Roman religion and politics. Be sure to use specific visual as well
as literary examples.
Holliday,
Peter James. "Time,
History and Ritual on the Ara Pacis Augustae,"
Art Bulletin 72 (December 1990): 542-57.E-Resreves
Rehak,
Paul. "Aenas or
Numa? Rethinking the Meaning of the Ara Pacis
Augustae,"Art Bulletin 83:2 (June 2001): 190-208.E-Reserves
Tuesday,
February 15 - Aeneid
A
vigorous and continuing debate surrounding the Aeneid concerns its sympathies or critiques
of war, and consequently of Augustus's war politics and policies.
From your reading of the Aeneid, would you argue that Virgil is pro- or anti-war, supportive or
critical of Augustus? Be sure to provide very
specific examples in your response.
Virgil.
Aeneid. Trans. David West. Penguin Books, 1990.
Book
Thursday, February 17 - Prima Porta
Galinksy,
Karl. "The Cuirass
of the Augustus Statue from Prima Porta," from Augustan Culture;
An Interpretive
Introduction. Princeton University Press, 1996: 155-164.
E-Reserves
Pollini,
John. "The Augustus
from Prima Porta and the Transformation of the Polykleitan
Heroic Ideal: the Rhetoric
of Art," in Polykleitos,
the Doryphoros, and Tradition.
ed. Warren
G. Moon. Madison, WI:
University of Wisconsin Press, 1995: 262-282. E-Reserves
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
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Tuesday, February 22 - The Horatii
Corneille's
Horatii
restructured the conversation between the self and state by intersecting
morality, gender and heroicism.
In your carefully measured opinion, who is the true hero/heroine
in the Horatii and why? Please use specific quotes and
actions by specific characters in writing this essay. Follow your own logic as far as it will go and explain the
political repercussions of your choice (i.e., if X is the true
hero/heroine, what does this mean for the relationship between the
self and state?)
Corneille. Horace. trans. Alan Brownjohn. London: Angel Books, 1996. Photocopy
Thursday, February 27 - The Oath of the Horatii
If
you study the process of David's Oath of the Horatii, you will see that he rejected
several earlier versions of the painting that were more closely tied
to the play by Corneille. Why
did David paint a moment that is completely unexplored in the play
in his painting of the Horatii? Feel free to engage in
a discussion weighing the merits of theater vs. visual art in communicating
philosophical and political messages.
Crow,
Thomas. "The Oath
of the Horatii
in 1785; Painting and pre-Revolutionary Radicalism in France,"
Art History
1:4 (December 1978): 424-471.
JSTOR, translations
in Readings Folders
Carroll, Stephanie. "Reciprocal representations: David
and the theater,"Art in America
78:5 (May, 1990):
198-207, 259-261. E-Reserves
Tuesday,
March 1 - The Problem of Representing a Revolution
Warren,
Roberts. "Jean-Louis Prieur and the Tableaux Historiques; Images of the Paris Insurrection," from Jacques-Louis David and Jean-Louis Prieur,
Revolutionary Artists: the Public, the Populace, and Images of the French Revolution. State University of New York,
2000: 59-110.E-Reserves
Harden,
J. David. "Liberty
Caps and Liberty Trees," Past and Present 146 (Feb, 1995): 66-102. JSTOR
Thursday, March 3- The Politics of the Nude Male leading the revolution
Before the nude female body
was the purview of the artistic experience, the nude male body held
this position. In the years leading up to and including
the French Revolution, the beauty and classicism of the nude male
body became a political experience.
What are the characteristics of the nude male body that
avail it to political use? You will
need to go far beyond the visually obvious here - use Crow to assist
you in your answer.
Crow,
Thomas. "Revolutionary
Activism and the Cult of Male Beauty in the Studio of David,"
in Fictions
of the French Revolution.
Ed. Bernadette Fort. Evanston,
IL: Northwestern University
Press, 1991:55-83.
E-Reserves
Crow,
Thomas. "Family Affairs," and "The Wounded Warrior,"
in Emulation; Making Artists for
Revolutionary France.
Yale University Press, 1995: 5-30, 47-81.E-Reserves
Tuesday,
March 8- Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau
Dowd,
David Lloyd. "The Blood of the Martyr," from Pageant-master
of the Republic: Jacques-Louis
David and the French Revolution.
Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1969: 98-
124.E-Reserves
Hunter,
Donna M. "Swordplay:
Jacques-Louis David"s Painting of Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau
On His Deathbed,"
in Representing the French Revolution; Literature, Historiography,
and
Art. ed. James A.W. Heffernan. Hanover: University
Press, of New England, 1992: 169-191.E-Reserves
Thursday, March 10- The Death of Marat
Aside
from the fact that The Death of Marat exists in painted form, whereas Le Peletier de
Saint-Fargeau
exists only in a drawing, The Death of Marat is nevertheless
a far more famous work of art than Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau. To what do you ascribe The Death of Marat's greater
fame? You're trying to figure out how this painting might resonate
not just with its own time, but with ours as well.
Gretton,
Tom. "Marat,
l'Ami du Peuple, David: Love and Discipline
in the Summer of '93," in David's The Death of Marat.
ed. William Vaughan. Cambridge University Press, 2000: 34-55. E-Reserves
Vaughan,
William. "Terror
and the Tabula Rasa:
David's Marat and Its Pictorial Context," in David's
The Death of Marat. ed.
William Vaughan. Cambridge University Press, 2000:
77-101.E-Reserves
Tuesday,
March 15 - Caricatures and Festivals
Cuno, James. "Obscene Humor in French Revolutionary
Caricature: Jacques-Louis David"s The Army of Jugs
and The English Government," in Representing the French
Revolution; Literature, Historiography, and Art.
ed. James A.W. Heffernan. Hanover: University Press, of New
England, 1992: 192-210. E-Reserves
Reichardt, Rolf. "The Heroic Deeds of the New Hercules:
the Politicization of Popular Prints In the French
Revolution," in Symbols, Myths, and Images of the French Revolution.
Essays in Honour of James
A. Leith. ed. Ian Germani
and Robin Swales. Canadian
Plains Research Center: University of Regina,
1998: 17-46. E-Reserves
Warren,
Roberts. "Robespierre,
David, and Revolutionary Festivals," from Jacques-Louis
David and Jean-Louis Prieur, Revolutionary Artists: the Public,
the Populace, and Images of the French
Revolution. State University of New York, 2000: 269-311.E-Reserves
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/caira.html
(& other lyrics/sound
files of Revolution songs)
Thursday,
March 17 - MIDTERM on the Augustan
and French Revolutions
SPRING
BREAK - ENJOY!!!
THE SOVIET REVOLUTION
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Tuesday,
March 29- Kandinsky's On the Spiritual in Art
The
first essay in this section is in some ways the toughest, but jump
right into the fray, I say.
In Concerning the Spiritual in Art, Kandinsky establishes not just a program for art, but also one for
life. How is/can abstract
art be the source of revolution and political change? The challenge for us here is that we have become accustomed
to figurative art communicating a specific message and now we have
to think of how abstract art communicates and what it communicates.
Kandinsky,
Wassily. Concerning
the Spiritual in Art.
trans. M.T.H. Sadler. New
York: DoverPress,
1977. Book
Thursday, March 31 -Malevich
and Victory Over the Sun
Kruchenykh. Victory Over the Sun. [1913] translated by Ewa Bartos and Victoria Nes
Kirby. The Drama Review
15:4 (Fall, 1971): 93-124. Readings Folder
Milner,
John. "Victory Over
the Sun," from Kazimir Malevich and the Art of Geometry. New Haven:
Yale University Press, 1996: 87-119.E-Reserves
Tuesday, April 5 - Malevich as Teacher
Malevich was a prolific writer
as well as a dedicated teacher.
Having read his words (and quite possibly reread them - they're
not easy), what is Malevich's plan for art and society? As ever, be sure to work with specific
quotes and works of art.
Cooke, Catherine. "Malevich: Suprematism as the Space
of Energy," in Russian Avant-Garde. London: Academy
Editions, 1995: 154-161. E-Reserves
Malevich,
K.S. "from Cubism and Futurism to Suprematism," from Essays
on Art, 1915-1933.
ed. T. Andersen, 1969: 19-41.E-Reserves
Thursday, April 7- Constructivism
Constructivism
sought to position the concept of art in entirely new venues, both
in terms of media and spaces.
What impact would Constructivist modes of art have on American
society today? Try to think of examples of Constructivist art forms and the
detail their effects.
Richard Stites,
ÒMan and the MachineÓ from Revolutionary Dreams; Utopian Vision
and Experimental life in the
Russian Revolution.
Oxford University Press, 1989: 145-164.
E-Reserves
Pampolini,
Enrico. "The Aesthetic of the Machine and
Mechanical Introspection in Art," Broom 3 (1922): 235-237.
E-Reserves
Railing,
Patricia. "'The
Machine is no more than a brush'; morphology of art and the machine
in Russian avant-garde theory and practice," The Structurist 35-36 (1995-96): 49-56.E-Reserves
Tuesday,
April 12 - Meyerhold and Biomechanics
Meyerhold's
most innovative idea is now known as Biomechanics, a process of controlling
the expressive forms of the body.
How do you see the connection between Biomechanics and the
Soviet Revolution? You are here seeking to make the link between this dance form
and revolutionary politics.
Gordon,
Mel. "Meyerhold's
Biomechanics,"The Drama Review
18:3 (September 1974): 73-88.
Clark,
Toby. "The 'new man's' body: a motif in
early Soviet Culture,"Art of the Soviets. Ed. Brown and Taylor. Manchester University Press,1993: 33-50.
E-Reserves
Thursday,
April 14 - Constructivist Theater
Goldberg,
RoseLee. "Russian
Futurism and Constructivism,"
in Performance Art: from Futurism to the Present. London:
Thames and Hudson, 2001: 31-49.
Rudnitsky,
Konstantin."Theatrical Expansion," from Russian and Soviet
Theatre; Tradition and The
Avant-Garde. Thames and Hudson, 1988: 89-96.
Tuesday, April 19 - Aelita Queen of Mars (1924)
The
Soviet blockbuster, Aelita Queen of Mars opened to much acclaim and criticism in 1924.
For all its sweeping tale of love and Communist insurrection,
its fantastic sets seemed at odds with its melodrama plot.
How do you reconcile the grand political themes of the film
on Mars, including the Communist insurrection, with the melodramatic
love story that unfolds on Earth? Be sure to comment on the visuals of the film, not just its content
Ð part of the goal here is to understand how form (the sets) and content
(the story) were meant to work together.
Christie,
Ian. "Down to Earth:
Aelita Revisited," in Inside the Film Factory; new approaches
to Russian
and Soviet Cinema. Ed. Richard Taylor and Ian Christie.
Routledge, 1991: 80-102.E-Reserves
Thursday, April 21 - Tatlin and Constructivist Architecture
Milner,
John. "The Monument to the Third International," in Vladimir
Tatlin and the Russian Avant-Garde. Yale University Press, 1983:
151-180.
Roman,
Gail Harrison. "Tatlin's
Tower: Revolutionary Art and Life in Russia," in Artistic
Strategy and the Rhetoric
of Power; Political Uses of Art from Antiquity to the Present. ed. David Castriota. Southern Illinois
University Press, 1986: 121-134. E-Reserves
Tuesday,
April 26 – Soviet Festivals
Though
we have the right to gather freely, Americans seldom gather in large
protest groups anymore. To
what do you ascribe the relative scarcity of federal festivals in
the United States? The interest here is in contrasting the
American Òfederal cultureÓ (how the government represents itself to
its people) and the Soviet federal culture.
What, in your educated opinion, would it take to establish
American federal festivals, or embellish the ones we already have,
and with what repercussions?
Stites,
Richard. "Festivals
of the People," in Revolutionary Dreams. Oxford University
Press, 1989: 79-100. E-Reserves
Cooke,
Catherine. "Avant-Garde
or Tradition? The Revolutionary Street Festivals," in Russian
Avant-Garde. London: Academy Editions, 1995: 17-24. E-Reserves
Satorti,
Rosalinde. "Stalinism
and Carnival: Organisation and Aesthetics of Political Holidays,"
in The Culture of the Stalin Period. ed. Hans Günther. St. Martin's Press, 1990: 41-77. E-Reserves
Thursday, April 28 - Lenin's Monumental
Propaganda
Lenin's support of the avant-garde
continues to surprise historians and students of the Soviet Union. He seems to have had both a fascination
and an aptitude with revolutionary images, trying his hand at his
own visual program in the form of Monumental Propaganda. What does Lenin take from the avant-garde and on what principles
does he depart from it? Be sure to include plenty of concrete
comparative examples.
Bowlt, John E.
"Russian Sculpture and Lenin's Plan of Monumental Propaganda," Art and Architecture
in the Service of Politics. Ed.
Henry A. Millon and Linda Nochlin.
MIT Press,1978: 182-193.E-Reserves
Lodder,
Christina. "Lenin's
Plan for Monumental Propaganda,"
in Art of the Soviets; Paintings,
Sculpture and Architecture in a One-Party State, 1917-1992. ed. Matthew Cullerne
Brown and Brandon Taylor. Manchester:
Manchester University Press, 1993: 16-32.E-Reserves
Tuesday, May 3 - Socialist Realism
Zhdanov,
A. "Soviet Literature
– The Richest in Ideas, the Most Advanced Literature,"
from Problems of Soviet Literature; Reports and Speeches at the First Soviet
WritersÕ Congress. New York: International Publishers, 1934: 15-24. E-Reserves
Dobrenko,
Evgeny. "The Disaster
of Middlebrow Taste, or, Who 'Invented' Socialist Realism?"from
Socialist Realism without Shores. ed. Thomas Lawsen
and Evgeny Dobrenko. Duke
University Press, 1997: 773-804. E-Reserves
Holz,
Wolfgang. "Allegory
and Iconography in Socialist Realist Painting," in Art of
the Soviets; Paintings,
Sculpture and Architecture in a One-Party State, 1917-1992. ed. Matthew Cullerne
Brown and Brandon Taylor. Manchester:
Manchester University Press, 1993: 73-85.E-Reserves
Thursday,
May 5 – Day of Work
Work
on final presentations while Anne presents a paper at Kalamazoo.
Tuesday, May 10 - Socialist Realism Redux
Groys, Boris. "The Birth of Socialist Realism from
the Spirit of the Russian Avant-Garde,"in Laboratory
of Dreams; the Russian Avant-Garde and Cultural Experiment. ed.
John E. Bowlt
and Olga Matich. Stanford:
Stanford University Press, 1996: 193-218. E-Reserves
Groys, Boris. "Stalinism as Aesthetic Phenomenon,"
in Tekstura; Russia Essays on Visual Culture. Alla Elfimova
and Lev Manovich, University
of Chicago Press, 1993: 115-126. E-Reserves
Thursday,
May 12- Visual Campaigns
