History of Art 101, 102, 103 and 108, while covering different areas, are all considered equivalent introductions to the discipline of art history. These four introductory survey courses consider not only art objects as aesthetic experiences but also the interactions among art, the artist, and society. The lecture and discussion sections explore the connections between the style and content of works of art and the historical, social, religious, and intellectual phenomena of the time. Attention is also given to the creative act and to the problems of vision and perception which both the artist and his/her public must face.
Although it would be logical to move from History of Art 101 to History of Art 102, this is not required. One course in European/American art (101 or 102) and one course in Asian or African art (103 or 108) serve as a satisfactory introduction to the history of art for non-concentrators (concentrators should see the department's handbook for more information on requirements). The introductory courses are directed toward students interested in the general history of culture and are especially valuable cognates for students in the fields of history, philosophy, literature, and musicology as well as the creative arts.
Course requirements and texts vary with individual instructors, but an effort is always made to introduce students to works of art in the collections of the university as well as in the museums of Detroit and Toledo. Photographic material is available for study in the Image Study Gallery, G026 Tisch Hall. Examinations usually include short essays and slides which are to be identified, compared, and discussed.
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Open to All Undergraduates; Not Open to Graduate Students.
194. First Year Seminar. Only
first-year students, including those with sophomore standing, may pre-register
for First-Year Seminars. All others need permission of instructor. (3).
(HU).
Section 001 - From Monk to Courtesan: The Portrayal of Extraordinary Men
and Beautiful Women in Japanese Painting and Prints. What is involved
in the creation of a striking likeness of a monk in Japan? Of an alluring
image of a courtesan? How have artists responded to the challenge of portraying
a revered Zen master, a celebrated beauty, an exiled emperor, a ruthless
warrior? Follow the trajectory of ten centuries of Japanese portrait-making,
from the earliest attempts to preserve the physical remains of deceased
monks to the latest in the fashionable portrayal of women. Explore the issues
involved in achieving or eschewing physiognomic accuracy and along the way
learn to distinguish stylistic conventions for aristocrats and warriors,
urban intellectuals and entertainers, courtesans and female impersonators,
monks and nuns. Course requirements include weekly readings and short written
assignments, brief quizzes and class participation, and a final paper. Cost:3
WL:4
(Sharf)
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221/Class. Arch. 221. Introduction
to Greek Archaeology. (4). (HU).
See Classical Archaeology 221. (Pedley)
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271. Origins of Modernism: Art
and Culture in Nineteenth-Century France. (4). (HU).
This course examines a series of remarkable episodes in modern French painting,
from the establishment of an official, State-sponsored form of Classicism
to the succession of movements - Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, and
Neo-Impressionism - that emerged in opposition to official art. The Nineteenth
Century is the period during which modern art developed its characteristic
strategies and behavioral patterns: an insistence on innovation, originality,
and individuality; a contentious involvement with tradition; a critical
relationship with both institutional and commercial culture; and a somewhat
strained allegiance with radical politics and alternative subcultures. It
is also the period that witnessed a thorough-going reassessment of visual
representation, and a parallel concern with the possibilities and limitations
of the medium of painting. The course is designed to encourage close readings
of images (by David, Gericault, Manet, Degas, Seurat, Cezanne, et al.)
within the parameters of their historical contexts and of recent critical
debate. Cost:2
(Lay)
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292. Introduction to Japanese Art
and Culture. No credit granted to those who have completed
or are enrolled in Hist. of Art 495. (3). (HU).
This course will take an interdisciplinary approach to selected topics in
the history of Japanese culture. The class will examine the introduction
of Buddhism to Japan through the architecture, painting, and sculpture of
the 7th-century monastery Horyuji. We will discuss life in the imperial
court at its height, as represented by the Illustrated Tale of Genji.
One segment will concentrate on the arts of the Tea ceremony, and another
on the urban life of 18th-century Edo (Tokyo) as reflected in its literature
and woodblock prints. The course will conclude with the treatment of tradition
in the graphic arts and architecture of recent decades. Two exams and two
short essays will be required. No prerequisites; first- and second-year
students are especially welcome. (Reynolds)
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393. Junior Proseminar. Concentration
in history of art. (3). (Excl).
Section 001 - Russian Avant-Garde. The Junior Proseminar is being offered
jointly with History of Art 394.006, a seminar on the Russian Avant-Garde
(please see course description, below). Students will be required to attend
all History of Art 394.006 seminars and to complete the required weekly
readings. In addition, by means of supplementary readings, students will
be guided in a research project of their own devising relating to the Russian
Avant-Garde. Through timely completion of a research proposal, a bibliography,
a rough draft and a final paper, students will master the skills and methods
that are required in order to write a 15-20 page research paper. The proseminar
will introduce students to the kinds of materials essential to the production
of original art-historical research: primary sources, secondary (art-historical)
literature, and theoretical and methodological texts. WL:1
(Gough)
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394. Special Topics. (3).
(Excl). May be elected for credit more than once.
Section 001 - MIMI-VUE. Students in this course will participate in
MIMI-VUE (Michigan Millennium Values of/for a University Education), a three-year
collaborative project that is teaming undergraduate researchers in partnership
with many elements of the university community to create a portrait of this
institution and the values it will carry into the 21st century. Course work
will involve required reading on the history of the university, participation
in group discussion and planning sessions, and working in one or more of
the research activities of the project (team-interviews with current and
former members of the University community concerning their experiences
at Michigan, researching MIMI-VUE themes at the Bentley Historical Library,
and helping plan the "Millennial Web Days," which will electronically
unite the U of M community around the world on December 31, 1999 and January
1, 2000). Initial class sessions will discuss the readings and prepare students
for each activity. Thereafter, students will work individually or in teams.
Grades will be based on quality of group participation and project work.
Cost:1
WL:4
(Kirkpatrick)
Section 003 - Art and Geometry: Circumscribing Patterns in Islamic Art. Within the Islamic world from Arabia to Spain and Indonesia, beginning in the year 1 hijri (622 C.E.) to the present, pattern-making has served a primary function in the organization of two- and three-dimensional space. The role of geometry in pattern-making is critical to an understanding of patterns as a form of spiritual and aesthetic expression. This course will explore aspects of geometry (in particular, properties of the circle) and the role of symmetry, asymmetry, and symmetry-breaking in Islamic arts and architecture. Students will be introduced to the foundations of Islam (Qur'an; Muhammad as Prophet), as well as to a basic understanding of symmetry as a tool for analysis and design. Attention will be paid to social aspects of pilgrimage and mosque architecture, as well as to aesthetic concerns of calligraphy and arabesque. Major monuments, illustrated through slides, include the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, the Alhambra, and the Taj Mahal. Class readings and discussion will focus on patterns in ceramics, stucco, metal, wood, and textiles, exploring architectural ornamentation and objects. Critical distinctions will be made between perception, analysis, and construction of patterns in an attempt to understand meanings of pattern-making for the maker. Students will engage in pattern-making activities, as well as visit local museum collections. A midterm exam and a final project are required. (Bier)
Section 004 - Archaeological Museum Practices. In this course
students will explore the manifold missions of archaeological museums through
assigned readings, discussions with museum professionals, hands-on experience,
and written assignments. The Kelsey Museum of Archaeology will provide a
home base for the course, and Kelsey Museum activities will provide many
of our case studies of exhibitions, research on the collections within the
museum and in the field, conservation and storage, public outreach and ethics.
Cost:1
(Thomas)
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Open to Juniors, Seniors, and Graduate Students. Sophomores by special permission.
405. Artists and Patrons. Hist.
of Art 101. (3). (HU). May be elected for credit more than once with permission
of chair.
Section 001 - China in Comparative Perspective. This course is designed
to help students see a work of art in the context of human issues such as
debates over the distribution of wealth, social privileges, or personal
autonomy. In order to do this, the course trains students to investigate
why a particular artifact looks the way it does: who made it? who acquired
it? where was it displayed and for what purpose? who decided what was acceptable
and who, if anyone, challenged established styles of production? Specific
topics include: royal patronage; monastic patronage; the evolution of an
open art market; the impact of art collecting and criticism on artistic
style; competition between the court and alternative markets; the evolution
of an art "world"; the use of painting as a site for social and
political debate. In short, the course provides training in the use of art
for the study of social history. While the focus of class discussion will
be the varied history of art production in China, numerous readings in European
art history will provide a comparative perspective. No previous knowledge
of Chinese history is necessary. There will be a midterm quiz and a final
paper. In addition, students will periodically type short responses to study
questions supplied for assigned readings. There is no textbook. Readings
will be placed on reserve and/or provided in course packs. (Powers)
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431/Class. Arch. 431. Principal
Greek Archaeological Sites. A course in archaeology. (3). (Excl).
See Classical Archaeology 431.
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448. Medieval Manuscript Illumination.
Hist. of Art 101. (3). (HU).
This course offers an introduction to an art form highly developed in the
Middle Ages: the richly illuminated hand-written book. Beginning with the
invention of the codex in late antiquity and ending with the advent of the
printed book in the early modern era, the course will treat significant
moments in the history of the manuscript. Masterworks ranging from the Lindisfarne
Gospels to the Tres Riches Heures will be studied as products
of particular historical circumstances. Topics include the process of making
a manuscript, the changing status of scribes and illuminators, the evolving
roles of patrons, types of books and their functions, and forms of decoration.
Visits to the Rare Book Room will be arranged to look at original manuscripts
and facsimiles. There will be a midterm and final, a shorter and a longer
paper or project. (Sears)
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453. Venetian Painting. Hist.
of Art 102. (3). (Excl).
Following introductory remarks on the history of Venice and on the character
of that extraordinary city, renowned as La Serenissima and the Queen of
the Adriatic, the course will survey North Italian and especially Venetian
painting from the early 14th C. to the late 16th C. - that is, as it evolves
from the first stirrings of a personal idiom, through the florid International
Style to Early Renaissance realism and High Renaissance idealism, and finally
to a Counter-Renaissance statement of great emotional fervor. The period
1450-1600, including such masters as Mantegna, Carpaccio, Giovanni Bellini,
Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto, and Veronese, will be featured. At once attempting
to define the special qualities of the Venetian tradition, with its painterly
and poetic sensitivities, and the creative uniqueness of some of its leading
exponents, the lectures will approach the works of art both with respect
to the sociocultural contexts in which they were born and to their relevance
to us today. Students will be evaluated by way of midterm and final examinations
of essay type. Cost:1
WL:4
(Bissell)
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493. Art of India. Hist.
of Art 103. (3). (Excl). Laboratory fee ($15) required.
This course is designed for students with little knowledge of Indian art.
It deals with architecture, sculpture, and painting, most of the monuments
being closely connected with the Hindu and Buddhist religions and (to a
lesser degree) the Islamic faith. A good portion of the required reading
is intended to provide a background in the mythology and history of these
religions; books such as H. Zimmer's Myths and Symbols in Indian
Art, Wendy O. Flaherty's Hindu Myths, William Archer's The
Loves of Krishna, and W. Spink's Krishna Mandala will
be used. The major course requirements are a short paper, a midterm, and
a final paper in lieu of a final exam. By and large the course is a lecture
course, and the coverage chronological, although more attention will be
given to certain topics than to others, so that certain parts of India's
long tradition can be understood in some depth. History of Art 103, 151,
454 or Asian Studies 111 all would provide a useful background for this
course, although they are not essential to it. (Spink)
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562. Baroque Sculpture in Italy
and Spain. Hist. of Art 102. (3). (Excl).
Beginning with introductory lectures on 16th-century sculptural traditions
and on the stirrings of a new way of seeing and working, the course will
pass to an intensive investigation of the art of Gianlorenzo Bernini. Bernini's
sculpture will be studied both for what it reveals of the master's artistic
genius and of the changing socio-political/religious climate in Papal Rome.
The influence of Bernini's vision and the alternative to the Berninian manner
- that of Baroque Classicism - will then be discussed. This will be followed
by a unit on the extraordinary sculpture of 17th-century Spain. The course
will end with suggestions as to the constants - that is, the peculiarly
Baroque features - within so much astonishing diversity. Students will be
evaluated by way of midterm and final examinations of essay type. Cost:1
WL:4
(Bissell)
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591. Japanese Architecture. Hist.
of Art 103 or 495. (3). (Excl).
This course will examine Japanese architecture and gardens in the context
of political and social change from prehistoric pit-dwellings to the mid-19th
century. Topics will include the design of early court capitals as a concrete
manifestation of the emergence of the Imperial institution, the impact of
the tea aesthetic and classical court revival on elite residential architecture
and gardens of the 17th century, and ways in which farmhouse designs were
adapted to accommodate various climates and different economic and social
functions. (Reynolds)
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