Transfer Student Courses in History of Art (Division 392)

Winter Term, 2000 (January 5 - April 26, 2000)

To see what Transfer Student courses have been added or changed in History of Art this week go to What's New This Week.

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.

Section 001.

Instructor(s): Bryan Burns (bryburns@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: Hist. of Art 221 and 222. (3). (Excl).

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: http://www.umich.edu/~classics/ca/380/index.html

See Classical Archaeology 380.001.

Section 001 – Meets with Asian Studies 380.001.

Instructor(s): Maribeth Graybill

Prerequisites & Distribution: (3). (Excl).

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

This course deals primarily with Japanese painting and prints of the mid-16th through the mid-19th centuries, with close attention to their cultural milieu. During these three centuries, the political order changed dramatically, from a fragmented feudal society – where real power came from the sword or gun but the imperial court and Buddhist church continued to wield great cultural prestige – to a unified state under strict military rule, where paradoxically a new urban bourgeoisie found the time and means to create an utterly secular and modern culture. In this highly contested arena, paintings and prints were used by all monied classes to construct public and private identities. Among the genres we will examine are: wall paintings for Zen monasteries and warlords' castles; "classicizing" paintings for the imperial court and its partisans; "occidentalizing" images of Europeans and European-style painting; idyllic landscapes by Sinophile poets and eccentrics; and popular prints of actors, courtesans, erotica, and cityscapes for the mass market. There will be two short papers, a midterm, and a final exam. (III.3/4)

Section 001 – The Dialogue with Asia in Modern Art.

Instructor(s): Martin Powers (mpow@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: Concentration in history of art. (3). (Excl).

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: http://www.umich.edu/~hartspc/histart/W2000/393-001.html

This seminar aims to explore ways in which the art of "Asia" has been adopted, adapted, or represented in the art and criticism of Europe and the U.S. since the 18th century. This course is unusual in that students will have the opportunity to encounter, not only Western accounts of Asia in modern art, but Asian perspectives as well. This should help students to appreciate more fully which ideas and techniques were adapted from Asian practices, which were fabricated, and whether the Asian connection was broadcast or suppressed and why.

The bulk of the reading will focus upon China, with a substantial section on Japan. The reading material will be divided into three areas in which references to Asia have been historically significant, namely:

1. the "natural" garden and Rousseauian rhetoric;
2. Japonisme and formalism;
3. "Zen" painting, the "gestural" brush, and other arenas in which "Eastern" philosophy has been recruited into the language of modern art.

In addition to participating in class discussion, students will write one short paper on accounts of Asia in narratives of modern art, and one longer research paper in one of the three areas of interest listed above. (III.3)

Section 001.

Instructor(s): Nassos Papalexandrou (papalexa@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: A course in archaeology. (3). (HU).

Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

See Classical Archaeology 440.001.

Section 001.

Instructor(s): Shuen-fu Lin (lsf@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: (4). (HU).

Credits: (4).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

See Chinese 475.001.