Humanities Seminar - Visual Arts

III. Exposition:

A. Objectives: The student will:

1. demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of the correlation between art and culture.

2. participate in aesthetic encounters with culturally diverse art objects displayed in museums and as part of the area architecture.

3. participate and analyze artworks, their influences and their historic relevance.

4. articulate the cultural influences that direct works of art and how works of art influence culture.

5. develop and lead a discussion with the class on a work of art from a selected group of topics.

6. examine and respond critically to original masterpieces of art.

B. Activities and Requirements

1. Based on current aesthetic standards the class will develop criteria for evaluating diverse works of art and architecture.

2. Students will use a preliminary meeting to review general trends in art periods, including historic and cultural influences, from the Gothic through the Modern period.

3. The class will visit the historic, cultural and artistic sites of London, Paris, and Versailles, and examine relevant works.

4. Students will evaluate and respond to works of art displayed at The Orsey, The Louvre, The Place of Versailles, The Tate Gallery, and The British National Museum of Art.

C. Major Units and Time Allocations:

1. Introduction, course description, definitions of Art, Aesthetics,

Culture, and Historic influence……………………………………… 3 hours

2. Overview of Historic and Cultural influences within the Gothic

to Modern Art periods...…………………………………………….. 4 hours

3. View selected works at The Louvre and discussion………………… 6 hours

4. View selected works at The Orsey and discussion…………………… 6 hours

5. The Art and Architecture of the Palace of Versailles and discussion… 6 hours

6. Bus tour, Architecture of Paris and discussion………………………. 3 hours

7. Bus tour, Architecture of London and discussion…………………….. 3 hours

8. View selected works at The Tate Gallery and discussion……………. 6 hours

9. View selected works at The British National Museum of

Art and discussion………………………………………………….. 6 hours

10. Conclusion and assessment of works covered……………………… 3 hours

D. Material and Bibliography:

Aldrich, V. Philosophy of Art. Englewood: Prentice-Hall, 1963.

Arnheim, R. Art and Visual Perception. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1974.

Blunt, Anthony. Art & Architecture in France. 1500-1700. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998.

Chadwick, Whitney. Women. Art and Society. New York: Thames and Hudson., 1990.

Cole, Bruce. The Relation of Renaissance Art to Life and Society. Philadelphia: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1987.

Curtiss, D. Visual Literacy. Englewood: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1987.

Edgerton, Samuel Y., Jr. The Heritage of Giotto’s Geometry: Art and Science on the Eve of the Scientific Revolution. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1991.

Garber, E. “Feminism Aesthetics and Art Education.” Studies in Art Education, 33, #4, (1992)

Gibson, W S “Mirror of the Earth”: The World Landscape in Sixteenth Century Flemish Painting. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989.

Goffen, Rona. Giovanni Bellii. New Haven: Yale University Press, c. 1989.

Gombrich, E. H. (Ernst Hans). Gombrich on the Renaissance. Volume 1. Norm and Form. 4th ed. London: Phaidon, 1993.

Gombrich, E. H. (Ernst Hans). Gombrich on the Renaissance. Volume 2. Symbolic Images. London: Phaidon, 1993.

Hale, John Rigby. The Civilization of Europe in the Renaissance. New York: Antheum, 1994.

Hall, Marcia B. Color and Meaning: Practice and Theory in Renaissance Painting. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

Hartt, Frederick N., History of Italian Renaissance Art: Painting. Sculpting. Architecture. 4th ed. rev, by David G. Wilkins. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1994.

Janson, H. W. History of Art, vol. II. 5th ed. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. and Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1995.

Kostelanetz, R., eds. Esthetics Contemporary. Buffalo: Prometheus Books, 1978.

Lankford, L. E. Aesthetics: Issues and Inquiry. Virginia: N.A.E.A., Press 1992.

Margolis, J. Philosophy Looks at the Arts. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1962.

Musper, Heinrich Theodor. Netherlandish Painting from Van Evck to Bosch. New York: Abrams, 1981.

Myers, J. F. The Language of Visual Art. Chicago: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1989. Olsen, Roberta J. M. Italian High Renaissance and Baroque Sculpture. 3rd ed. 3 vols. Oxford: Phaidon, 1986.

Olson, Roberta, J. M. Italian Renaissance Sculpture. London: Thames & Hudson, 1992.

Pope-Hennessy, John Wyndom, Sir. An Introduction to Italian Sculpture. London: Phaidon Press, 1996.

Rader, M. A Modern Book of Aesthetics. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1989.

Ross, S. D. An Anthology of Aesthetic Theory. New York: State University of New York Press, 1987.

Smith R., eds. The Journal of Aesthetic Education. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Wainwright, Geoffrey. The Henge Monument: Ceremony and Society in Prehistoric Britain. London: Thames & Hudson, 1990.

Wilson, Christopher. The Gothic Cathedral. London: Thames & Hudson, 1990.

Wittkower, Rudolf. Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism. 4th ed. London: Academy, 1988.

Wofthal, Diane. The Beginnings of Netherlandish Canvas Painting. 1400-1530. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

Wolf, Walther. The Origins of Western Art: Egypt. Mesopotamia. The Aegean. New York: Universe Books, 1989.

Wren, Linnea H. Perspectives on Western Art (Vol. II). New York: Harper Collins Publishers, Inc. (Icon Editions), 1986.

Wren, Linnea H. ed. Perspectives on Western Art (Vol. 1): Source Documents and Readings from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. New York: Harper Collins Pub. 1994.