Art presents inherent contradictions, being a creation by an individual but for a community, useful (building) but beautiful (form and decoration), and based on the everyday, but apart from it.

In general, assignments will involve a series of short papers, something like one a week, which you will either exchange with each other, work on in groups, read in class, etc. You will keep all your papers, and their possible second drafts, in a binder. This binder should also be used for notes, especially reactions to common events in the program, and certainly reactions to events in this course, as a journal. The several drafts of your contribution to the FYP Guide to Newport will also be part of this journal. Thus, you will be able to understand your own growth in the ability to make sense of visual information, and to communicate this to others. The final exam will be either a "final assignment" or a take home exam asking you to respond to a series of questions. All this material will be reviewed at the end of the course and be assessed as contributing to your grade. Naturally, class participation (this is a class of 15!) will be part of your "achievements."

As much as possible, we will try to study the real thing, the actual object, whether painting, architecture, or stained glass window. Therefore I will try to schedule a number of museum trips, or will give you an assignment you need to do in the Worcester Art Museum, etc. The schedule is "to come" after we meet and find out your individual schedules. The syllabus is very subject to change. This is "the nature of the beast" of art history. The engagement of the work of art is the primary factor, necessitating much issues of getting to the site, where weather, schedule conflicts, etc. are always intruding.

Sept. 2 Introduction: Art and Choices: All art is artificial, image, written text, even the building. Constructed objects are always conceived for an audience, and involve players (performers) designed to affect that audience, and to persuade them. Walk through Fenwick.

BBQ evening

Sept. 4. Explanation of Visual Analysis: the translation of visual into verbal equivalents.

Sept. 9 Art as a Memory Box: discussion in preparation for the following general discussion of the FYP Memory Box Common Project. (late spring) Student input most essential.

First written assignment, Visual Analysis Paper due

September 10 Wednesday 7 PM Haberlin 103 Websites: Memory Boxes , etc.

Sept. 11 Discussion of First Assignment: Preparation for Lowell visit. Discussion of Fenwick as a Lowell Mill equivalent: Original buildings as dormitory, chapel, and classrooms. Jesuit tutors rooming in building.

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 14: TRIP TO LOWELL NATIONAL PARK  Click for Website

Sept. 16 Reaction to Lowell (written), papers exchanged and discussed in class. Work, gender, class and its impact on architectural space.

Wednesday Sept. 17 :Betty Friedan evening lecture, recommended Canceled due to illness.

Sept. 18 Walking around campus to look at Urban Structure. Living and eating quarters, community spaces, connection between grounds and buildings, contrast of English "country Gothic" of St. Matthew’s (Southbridge Street) church to the Jesuit Baroque of Holy Cross’s St. Joseph’s Chapel.

Sept. 23. Portraiture: 17th century Elizabeth Freake and Baby Mary 1674 Worcester Art Museum, 19-92 Ingres, The Comtesse d'Haussonville, Frick Museum, New York (Mme. de Moitessier 26-44); Degas The Bellelli Family, Degas' Father Listening to Pagans Singing MFA, Boston; Van Gogh La Berceuse (Mme. Roulin) MFA, Boston; Andy Warhol, Marilyn Diptych 29-29; Audry Flack, Marilyn 29-53; Cindy Sherman Untiltled Film Still 29-78. Students see film Orlando , director Sally Potter (1993 after the story by Virginia Woolf, 1928);

Wednesday Sept. 24 evening trip to Copley Square and the Museum of Fine Arts: Leave Holy Cross 3:45 PM Hogan Lot, leave from Museum of Fine Arts at 9 PM Portraits, furniture, and decorative arts in a museum setting before going to Newport and seeing all "art" within living spaces. Wednesday the Museum is free, 4:00-9:30. Cost of bus, a mere $5.00. Boxed suppers will come from Kimball.

Sept. 25. Lecture on Historic Styles in Architecture and Furnishings

Sept. 30 Leonardo’s enigmatic Mona Lisa and Jish Gen’s choice of name in Mona in the Promised Land: Discussion of the portrait as image of the self in preparation for Jish Gen reading.

Sept. 30, 8:00 Hogan Ballroom: Jish Gen: reading from Mona in the Promised Land

Oct. 2 A contrast in Verbal and Visual construction. Journal entries on Jish Gen reading exchanged. Guidebook assignments made.

All courses in October associated with preparation of guidebooks for Newport trip This will involve not only work in class but meeting the professor outside of class times. The segments of the guide will be worked on in teams,.

Oct. 7 Architectural Choices, Newport

Oct. 9 Architectural Choices, Newport

COLUMBUS DAY BREAK OCTOBER 11-14

Oct. 16 Architectural Choices, Newport Read: Democracy in America 9-20, 50-57, 68-70, 235-241, 250-253, 286-294. Guidebook assignments reviewed.

Oct. 21 Democracy in America and the issue of art. Esp. 294-231, 429-436, 450-452, 465-470, 493-496, 503-508, 509-517, 584-603. Art as status, art as intellectual pleasure. Families and wealth. Guidebook assignments reviewed.

October 22 WEDNESDAY

4 PM FINAL VERSIONS OF GUIDEBOOK PAGES DUE

8:00 PM Hogan Ballroom: Issues of Equity in de Toqueville: panel discussion

Oct. 23 Discussion of architecture and equity in light of de Toqueville panel Student bring half-page written statements to class to focus discussion.

SUNDAY OCTOBER 26 NEWPORT TRIP   Click for Newport Websites

Oct. 28 Reactions of Newport and also critique of guidebooks.

Precise assignments for the final four weeks of the class will be determined by discussion of the course by students and possible developments in other courses. I will be guided by your interests.

October 30 Theme: Art and Politics (?), to accompany viewing of Department of Theater’s production of Danton’s Death Fenwick Theater Nov. 7-9, 13-15 Analysis of David’s painting Death of Marat (SASKIA Nff-1060)

Nov. 4 More "seditious art"

Nov. 6

Nov. 11

Nov. 13

Nov. 18 Theme: Landscape in Art (?) ; Exhibition Worcester Art Museum American Impressionism October 4-January. Holy Cross students are admitted free of charge.

Nov. 20 FYP Text 3: Snow Falling on Cedars In this novel landscape is as much a character as any of the human protagonists. In fact, it may even be seen as controlling, or expressing mental states for them.

Theme: Landscape: Europe and Asian traditions( ?)

Website (?) Photographs of Japanese internment in California, by Dorothea Lang

Nov. 25

THANKSGIVING BREAK 26-30

Dec. 2.

DEC 4 VISUAL ARTS DEPARTMENTAL PIZZA AND PAPERS PRESENTATION 5-6:30.

STUDY DAYS and EXAMS Due date of Exam/final paper to be determined.

This spring semester I want you all to set the goals for yourselves to improve both your oral and written presentation skills and your research and documentation skills.  Therefore, there will be many instances when I will require rewriting and reworking of documentation such as footnotes and bibliographic citations.  This are habits of thought that will become a part of your work for the next three and a half years (and very probably much longer than that).  I can work with you individually much more now that I know your own personal direction.  We  may also have required sessions at the library  and meetings with students in the Writing Workshop.

Jan. 13  Discussion of Christmas break and expectations for the spring.
Jan. 15 Degenerate Art (Entartete Kunst) Art and Politics. We will be looking at what in art history is labeled "Expressionist Art," and the Nazi’s 1936 exhibition of Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art).  Hitler, typical of many other dictators (such as Stalin), labeled all non-naturalistic art as degenerate, connecting art that deviates from realism to sexual perversion and racial miscegenation.  It is revealing, although painful, to see how art can be manipulated to serve political ends never intended by the artist.  This issue has been studied recently though an impressive exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art: S. Barron, et al., "Degenerate Art": The Fate of the Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany (New York, 1991), reviewed by W. Sauerländer, "Un-German Activities," New York Review of Books (April 7, 1994), 9-13.  P. Adam, The Art of the Third Reich (New York, 1992) discusses the art that the Nazis supported.  The class will go to Cambridge to see Harvard’s Busch-Reisinger Museum, which has some of the most important works of Expressionism in the country so that the discussion will be based on the experience of having seen the real work of art.  [The first-hand experience was a vital element of our final project in the fall.]  I am inviting a graduate from Holy Cross, Susanne Cloeren, now a Ph. D candidate at Brown University, to come to talk about the Entartete Kunst exhibit.

Jan. 20 Degenerate Art (During week individual conferences with students)

Jan. 20  25th year convocation at 3:45 (not required)

Wednesday January 21 8:00 PM Hogan Ballroom Talk by Betty Friedan: The Age Mystique, postponed from fall semester because of illness.  Not required but recommended

Jan. 22 Susanne Cloeren, Cand. Ph. D., Brown University, Lecture on Entartete Kunst exhibit

JANUARY 25, SUNDAY VISIT TO CAMBRIDGE AND HARVARD’S BUSCH REISINGER MUSEUM  Student Activities Van

Jan. 27 Continued discussions about art and politics

Jan. 29 Degenerate Art  Class presentations  Papers due

Friday January 30 afternoon Lion Dance company to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Followed by Chinese dinner.

Feb. 3 Cultural Property

Feb. 5. Cultural Property

Feb. 10. Cultural Property

Feb. 12  Discussion, An American Requiem by James Carroll

Feb. 12: Thursday 7:00 PM Hogan  lecture by James Carroll

Feb. 17. Cultural Property Presentation  12:00-2 PM  Hanselman Lounge, lunch served.  World Court of Cultural Artifacts.  Five topics will be presented.  Each will have a 12 minute exposition consisting of  1) Art Expert describing the Cultural Property in question followed by 2)  case made by layers for  Disputed Owner’s Law Firm, and 3) the Present Owner’s Law Firm.  This means that for each case there will be one lawyer representing the plaintiff, one lawyer representing the defendant, and one "neutral" art expert.

DISTINGUISHED GUESTS
Prof. Ambroise Kom, Eleanor Howard O’Leary Chair in Francophone Studies (Modern
 Languages)   46A  akom   2758
Prof. Joanne Pierce, Religious Studies    82A jpierce  3452
Prof. Nicholas Sanchez, Economics 103A   nsanchez   2687
Prof. Susan Rodgers, Anthropology 86A  srodgers   3067/2288
Prof. Kristina Sazaki, Modern Languages (German) 189A  ksazaki   3330
Prof. Shahzad Bashir, Religious Studies  94A  sbashir  2762
Prof. Karen Turner, History    106A    kturner  2789
Prof. D. Neel Smith, Classics  102A nsmith  2621
Prof. Ross Beales History, 134A  rbeales 3448
Prof. Alison Fleming, Art History 60A afleming  3696
Prof. David Schap, Economics 88A dschap  2688
Ms Rosann  Fitzgerald, Director of Prospect Management, Development DEV rfitzger  2378
Prof. John Day [St. Olaff College] American  Council on Education Fellow  jday 2613
Ms Susanne Cloeren ‘91, Candidate Ph.D., Brown University
Ms Christina Chen   Director of Academic Services and Learning Resources  cchen 2671

CASES
Beijing versus the National Museum of Taipei, Taiwan: 18th-century Emperor’s Boxes
.  Three 18th-century Chinese Emperor’s Boxes (on our FYP Website) are now in the National Museum of Taipei, Taiwan. The government of Beijing claims ownership.  The government of Taiwan maintains its claims, stating that the art has been rescued from certain destruction by Beijing, either through actually burning in revolutionary bonfires made to destroy all traces of the rule of the feudal emperors, or neglect because of lack of funding for protection and preservation
Art Expert Mairead Duffy      Plaintiff James Greene     Defendant Jennifer Santos

Monte Cassino, Italy  versus St. Benoit-sur-Loire, France: Medieval Relics of St. Benedict,
In the 7th century a monk from the abbey of St. Benoit-sur-Loire, France, removed the body (relics) of St. Benedict (480-547), from the monastery of Monte Cassino, Italy.  Pious thefts of this kind were frequent in the Middle Ages.  Italy wants the founder of Western monasticism back.  (Real event, hypothetical argument)
Art Expert Bonnie Weir     Plaintiff Julia Tonelli      Defendant Patrick Dury

Estate of Nazi War Victims versus the Austrian Goverment: Egon Schiele’s  Portrait of Wally and Dead City
Confiscated works of art by the Nazis from private individuals, were later acquired by individuals who may or may not have known their origin.  Two paintings by the Austrian Expressionist Egon Schiele, Portrait of Wally and Dead City, were acquired after World War II by Dr. Rudolf Leopold.  There were exhibited in 1997 in the Museum of Modern Art, New York, as part of a traveling show of work by Schiele.  Two American families claimed that the works were confiscated art when Austria was invaded by Germany in 1938.  Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morganthau ordered the works held in New York until the claims can be settled
Art Expert Alex Plazos     Plaintiff Elizabeth Koslowski       Defendant Brian Crimmins

Italian Government versus the Harvard University Art Museums 5th-Century B.C. Classical Greek vase fragments
Important 5th-century BC Greek vase fragments were acquired in 1996 by the Harvard University Art Museums.  Italy claims that they were illegally looted from Italian sites (Etruscan graves)
Art Expert Michelle Morris      Plaintiff Jennie Stone     Defendant Alison Santangelo

Government of Guatemala versus Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: Mayan antiquities
Mayan archeological artifacts are claimed to have been taken illegally from Guatemalan sites.  Businessman Landon D. Clay, long term trustee of the Museum, collected most of the art, donating it to the museum between 1953 and 1988.
Art Expert  Peter Juda     Plaintiff Daisy Ford      Defendant Jonathan Carfagno

Feb. 19  Art and Individual Expression, the flow of creativity: Professor’s lecture

Feb. 24  The Art of Improvisation and Jazz : guest lecture by  Mike Monaghan: director of Holy Cross’s Jazz programs.

February 24 Tuesday evening 8 PM Jazz tribute to Reggie Walley Mike Monaghan plays in set with Emil Haddad and others.

Feb. 26  Continuation of Music and Visual Art  Two short cuts from Aria 1988.
Verdi's aria "Our Lady of the Angels" directed by Charles Sturrage.  Comparison of Sturrage's shots to technique of illumination used by Georges de la Tour (French 17th-century) light from shielded candle or lantern: e.g. The Repentant Magdalene or Joseph and Christ Child.  Ambiguity deliberate.  Three school children in North London in church, watching TV, wandering streets, and stealing car.  But is this what really happened or what may happen?  Does Our Lady of the Angels "wrap them in her protective cloak?"
Charpentier selection from Aria directed by Derick Jarmann.  Old woman on stage before an empty house, beautiful, smiling, thinking back to youth and love.  Comparison of filmic techniques to brilliant color, hazy focus, and off-center subjects in the paintings by Edgar Degas (French 19th century) of women washing, the racetrack, and the ballet.

March 3  Discussion of Medieval structure of science and the elements as relevant to an understanding of Lear, Japanese Feudalism, and Hildegard of Bingen.  Before the 17th century, and the development of the modern concept of the elements and atomic weight, the elements were conceived of as perfectly balanced opposites.  The four elements, fire and water, earth and air, matched the four humors, four cardinal directions, binaries of male and female, hot and cold, wet and dry,.  All ultimately depended on a concept that the science of geometry, a reflection of the perfect harmony of God, is the tool for understanding the structure of the universe.  See manuscript of the Très Riches Heures of the Duke of Berry (1405), image of the Astrological Man; Albrecht Dürer’s Creation of Adam and Eve (1510); and Moralized Bible (1240), image of God as Architect of the World, designing world with calipers.  All opposites or "contractions" are harmonized.  Hildegard of Bingen (see concert March 20) writes about the Four Elements most eloquently.  Chinese and Japanese feudal systems, like Lear, and Hildegard’s world sees link between macrocosm and microcosm.  Nature responds to the morality of humans.  Looking at the Astrological Man, whose body is marked to indicate the influenced by the calendar (signs of the zodiac) reminds me of acupuncture diagrams.

Viewing of Dreams, director Akiro Kurosawa, 1990 Japanese, selections "Peach Orchard" and "Blizzard" and Viewing of Ran (Lear as Japanese Feudal Lord) Akiro Kurosawa, Required viewing outside of Class time

March 5. Discussion of King Lear

March 7-15  SPRING BREAK

March 17  Medieval Art and Monastic life, lecture by professor

March 18 Evening King Lear and Memory Box presentation in Hanselman

March 19  Lecture on Sacred Music : Daniel DiCenso. an English/Music double major and a Medieval/Renaissance Studies Minor will come to the class to explain Hildegard of Bingen, a 12th-century abbess now very studied for her writings on art, politics, philosophy, and medieval science. The concert, Friday at 8 PM, is free and open to all and I really hope that you encourage family members within driving distance to come.

March 20 HILDEGARD OF BINGEN CONCERT 8 PM ST JOSEPH’S CHAPEL

March 21 TRIP TO ELLIS ISLAND

March 24 Discussion of Ellis Island and Memory

March 26 Consultations about Final Project

March 31 Medieval Art / Modern Art

April 2. Discussion of Contemporary Music

April 7 Lawrence String Quartet workshop: time to be announced

April 7, Tuesday St. Lawrence String Quartet  8:00  new works by Profs. Korde and Golijov

EASTER RECESS April 9-13

FINAL ASSIGNMENT
I thought that the individualized nature of your fall final assignment allowed you to concentrate your energies on what was important to you, and as a result you are gave fascinating presentations.  I want to do this again, but think that we can broaden the topic to any aspect of art (such as music, film, the artist’s expression, the public’s reaction, etc.) that interests you.  You will have decided on your topic before spring break and the presentation will take place the week after Easter.  I will be consulting with you frequently. The papers need not be longer than 6 pages.

April 14 Consultations

April 15 Class presentations (dinner served) 6:00 - 9:30 PM

Reading Plato’s Crito

April 16  No scheduled class  Faculty member at Society of Architectural Historian’s meeting in Los Angeles

April 21  Preparation for Zinn lecture

April 21 Tuesday evening 8 PM Lecture by Howard Zinn

Tuesday April 21 PIZZA AND PAPERS: PRESENTATION OF DESIGNATED STUDENT PAPERS FROM ART HISTORY COURSES.  KIMBALL CARDS CAN BE CANCELED AND PIZZA DINNER SERVED.  ALL ARE WELCOME

April 23 Memory Boxes , etc.

April 28 Final banquet and viewing of Memory Boxes  Click here for Websites on this project.
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