Course Title: ART 199H- FYS Views of the City: American Art and Urbanization, 1883-1939
Term: Fall
Course Description
GEP, major, minor. Elective credit.This course examines how artists engaged with city landscapes across the United States at the turn of the twentieth century. It will survey the diverse ways in which artists documented developments in technology, architecture, and transportation within the city. What is more, it will study how the city inspired artists more broadly, since features of the urban experience—skyscrapers, subways, bridges, and even tenements—are said to have introduced new kinds of vision that altered the very ways in which artists understood representation. But is urbanization synonymous with modernism? Are there other ways to classify this art? And what of modernism happening outside the city? These are a few of the questions we will set out to answer. New York will be a primary focus, but this class will also consider important artistic centers such as Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
Course Objectives
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To become familiar with major artists artistic movements affiliated with Modernism
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To situate artistic production within broader cultural, intellectual, and social concerns of the city during this period
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To practice oral communication and collaborative group work
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To develop skills in critical analysis and art historical research with primary and secondary sources
Course Outcomes
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Students will become familiar with major artists artistic movements affiliated with Modernism
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Students will situate artistic production within broader cultural, intellectual, and social concerns of the city during this period
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Students will practice oral communication and collaborative group work
Students will develop skills in critical analysis and art historical research with primary and secondary sources
Project 1: Discussion Days
This course will include discussions based on the primary and secondary source readings introduced throughout the semester. To ensure that everyone is keeping up on the readings, and to spur discussion, you will be responsible for posting reading responses on the listed days (labelled “Discussion Day” on the syllabus).
Responses may be short (under 300 words), but they should demonstrate that you have completed the required assignments and thought deeply about the issues and topics addressed by the texts. The format should include: a short summary of the text (3-5 sentences max), comments on passages that you found intriguing and/or confusing, and at least ONE question for the group (some questions will be compiled to be answered in class).
Project 2: Group Presentations
Student-led presentations will take place on a weekly basis. On each of the designated days, a small group of students will be responsible for leading a 45-minute conversation based on an assigned scholarly article. Beginning with a brief presentation (e.g. PowerPoint), the members of the group should be ready to:
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Discuss the context of the reading and its author
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Briefly summarize the essay’s major arguments, and, most importantly,
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Prepare discussion questions for their classmates (please pre-distribute the questions the night before class)
The aim is to move beyond an elemental grasp of the text and use the reading to stimulate a lively and generative conversation related to the larger themes of the course. To that end: it is important to do the reading in advance for your presentation day, and to consult with your group ahead of time to plan for a successful discussion format.
Project 3: Visual Analysis Paper
The course project will be based on a work of art of your choosing that engages with the themes of urbanization. For the first project, the Visual Analysis Paper, no research is required! You may select a work of any media, created in the United States between 1880 and 1945. To find a work that interests you, I suggest perusing the textbook American Encounters and the Modern Collections at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The National Gallery of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts Boston, The Art Institute of Chicago, and the Philadelphia Art Museum.
A visual analysis (sometimes called a formal analysis) describes and evaluates the forms appearing in the work you have chosen. These forms give the work its expression, message, or meaning. This type of analysis assumes a work of art is a constructed object that has been created with meaning and that this meaning can be understood by studying the elements of the work and their relationships. Yet the analysis is not a random flow of ideas about the work (i.e. stream of consciousness writing). Rather, it should have a sense of order, moving purposefully through your description with regard to specific elements (such as composition, color, subject matter) that build towards some argument you want to make about the artwork: your thesis.
Project 4: Final Research Project
In this research-based video project, you will return to the work that you have selected for your visual analysis paper. You will conduct research on this object and formulate a historical argument that is inspired by the contextual information you discover and your initial, formal insights. The video format is based on the short, informative videos produced on Smarthistory, an open-source resource for art historical scholarship. See, for example, the video on Joseph Stella’s The Voice of New York Interpreted: https://smarthistory.org/joseph-stella-new-york-interpreted/.
Remember: this project is a variation on a traditional art historical research paper and is designed to introduce you to the methods of research in the visual arts. The aim is to weave together visual evidence with the historical context of work’s production or its reception, considering its relation to specific social, cultural, economic, or political phenomena. To that end, you will also be submitting a written transcript that must include at least five scholarly sources related to your artwork or artist. Examples of scholarly sources include peer-review academic journals (such as the Art Bulletin), chapters of an academic book, and articles in exhibition catalogues. For citations, include consecutive numbers that refer to footnotes (at the foot of each page) or endnotes (at the end of the entire document). Your notes must be consistently formatted according to Chicago Manual of Style handbook: www.chicagomanualofstyle.org
Transcript
6 pages (double spaced, 12 pt. font)
The transcript will be the verbatim script that you use to narrate your video. Smarthistory videos typically begin with a “hook,” using a formal description of the artwork, before zooming out to consider the context. Your video must be guided by a thesis statement: an argument that you make about the significance of this work in relation to its historical milieu.
Video Presentation:
Your video can be created using iMovie or a narrated Powerpoint presentation. You will likely want to include details of this image and similar works by this artist. You may also choose to bring in other kinds of visual material to support your argument, including (but not limited to): works by other artists, historical maps, or photographs of how your artwork is currently installed. You may read directly from your transcript to accompany the video.
Resources for Conducting Research in Art History:
For preliminary guides to research in Art History, you may consult the Art & Design guide on the Mickel Library website https://www.converse.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/library-research-guide-art-fall-2021.pdf and my own guide (with detailed information on Art History journals): https://docs.google.com/document/d/16g5_jpjxl5jlP127UJ6_6rf49E75F8FU/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=115383261991716592577&rtpof=true&sd=true
Public web-based platforms such as Wikipedia or Google books do not meet the criteria for scholarly sources. I recommend utilizing the following resources:
Museum websites
Where is your work of art located? What information is provided by the Museum? Is there a recent exhibition in which this work appeared (and can you access the exhibition website and/or a pdf of the catalogue?)
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City Archives/Library Archives
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City library websites have very rich digital collections
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New York: https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/
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Chicago: https://cdm16818.contentdm.oclc.org/customizations/global/pages/
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Philadelphia: https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/
Journal articles
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This will likely be your most accessible option. You can start a primary search in databases such as Oxford Art Online, JSTOR, or Project Muse
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Look for articles published within the past 20 years in respected art historical journals such as Art Bulletin, Art Journal, Oxford Art Journal
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Ebooks
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A select number of eBooks (NOT Google books) are available through the library webpage
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Reviews of books:
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Please consult with me if you plan on using a book review. A thorough book review, published in a peer-review journal, is an acceptable substitute if you cannot access a physical copy of a book.
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You will easily turn up book reviews by searching for the book title in the Library browser. I also highly recommend reviews published by CAA (the College Art Association): http://www.caareviews.org/
As you prepare your transcript, you may consult Smarthistory’s guidelines for essay writers: https://smarthistory.org/essay-checklist/
*n.b. For citations, include consecutive numbers that refer to footnotes (at the foot of each page) or endnotes (at the end of the entire document). Your notes must be consistently formatted according to Chicago Manual of Style handbook: www.chicagomanualofstyle.org
Details for making a narrated Powerpoint can be found here:
Office video tutorial:
