Approved by Faculty Senate

University Studies Course Proposal: Arts And Sciences Core

HUMANITIES: ART 221 Art History I

Requirements and learning activities that promote students' abilities to

a. Identify and understand specific elements and assumptions of Art History as a Humanistic discipline:

ART 221 is designed as a broad survey of the History of Western Art. 221 extending from Prehistory through the Middle Ages. It is aimed at the BA student majoring in Art but open to the interested general student as well.

The class provides a knowledge base in the History of Art fostering an understanding of

1. art as a non-verbal means of communication (as a language of visual forms having its own vocabulary and structure);

2. the role of iconography in establishing the content of works of art;

3. the interaction among a work's iconography and its visual style;

4. the concept of style and attendant iconographies as a means of measuring art-historical changes across time and space among those cultures under investigation;

hence students must be able to

5. identify period styles and works of individual artists and their styles

Performance in examinations, which include essay material, determine the degree to which students have been able to identify and understand this fundamental basis art-historical studies.

b. Understand how historical context, cultural values, and gender influence perceptions and interpretations:

Students learn via lectures, videos, and their reading assignments, of the means by which these factors fundamentally affect the creation of art: how the visual arts serve as both individual and cultural expression informed by religious, political, social, and economic conditions, as well as artistic traditions; how the artist perceives and processes the world in a given time and place; the circumstances of patronage and audience response, of politics, art politics, and economics; the social purposes of a given work; the intentions of the artist; the impact of prevailing and changing art theories, etc.

More specifically, students in ART 221 are expected to demonstrate their understanding of

1. the role of magic and ritual as a basis for the art of prehistoric peoples;

2. the ancient conventions of artistic representation and their symbolic import;

3. the Humanistic significance of Graeco-Roman forms of artistic representation;

4. the Christian rejection of Humanism in favor of an art embodying the spiritual values of the new faith;

5. the interaction during the early Middle Ages between Barbarian art forms and those surviving from Classical antiquity;

6. the role of women in the ancient and medieval worlds;

7. the formal and structural character of Medieval cathedrals, the role of their sculpture, and the religious values embodied in the total ensemble; and

8. the pictorial innovations of Italian artists of the Middle Ages as a basis for the coming Renaissance.

Performance in examinations, which include essay material, determine the degree to which students have understood how contexts and values inform the creation and interpretation of works of art.

c. Understand the role of critical analysis in interpreting and evaluating works of art:

Iconographic and formal analyses of works of art in class and in the text, reading assignments, study guides, and examination reviews enable the student in ART 221 to

1. develop critical and analytical skills in evaluating works of art,

and to employ

2. such factual information as the broad purposes and functions of specific modes of art, the techniques employed, and general chronologies and dating of style periods and individual works

so as to

3. discern differences and recognize similarities between period styles and articulate them in well written essays

Examination essay questions using slides of works of art measure how well the student has grasped both the role and mechanisms of art-critical analysis.

The following objectives address the learning outcomes for Humanities' courses in the University Studies Program:

A. Identify and understand specific elements and assumptions of Art History as a Humanistic discipline:

Art 221 is designed as a broad survey of the History of Western Art from Prehistory through the Middle Ages. It is aimed at the BA student majoring in Art but open to the interested general student as well.

The class provides a knowledge base in the History of Art fostering an understanding of

1. art as a non-verbal means of communication (as a language of visual forms having its own vocabulary and structure);

2. the role of iconography in establishing the content of works of art;

3. the interaction among a work's iconography and its visual style;

4. the concept of style and attendant iconographies as a means of measuring art-historical changes across time and space among those cultures under investigation; hence the student must be able

5. to identify period styles and works of individual artists and their styles

Performance in examinations, which include essay material, determine the degree to which students have been able to identify and understand this fundamental basis of art-historical studies.

B. Understand how historical context, cultural values, and gender influence perceptions and interpretations of the world and human experience:

Students learn via lectures, videos, and their readings of the means by which these factors affect the creation of art: how the visual arts serve as both individual and cultural expression informed by religious, political, social, and economic conditions, as well as artistic traditions; how the artist perceives and processes the world in a given time and place; the circumstances of patronage and audience response, of politics, art politics, and economics; the social purposes of a given work; the intentions of the artist; the impact of prevailing and changing art theories, etc.

More specifically, students in ART 221 are expected to demonstrate their understanding of

1. the role of magic and ritual as a basis for the art of prehistoric peoples;

2. the ancient conventions of artistic representation and their symbolic import;

3. the Humanistic significance of Graeco-Roman forms of artistic representation;

4. the Christian rejection of Humanism in favor of an art embodying the spiritual values of the new faith;

5. the interaction during the early Middle Ages between Barbarian art forms and those surviving from Classical antiquity;

6. the role of women in the ancient and medieval worlds;

7. the formal and structural character of Medieval cathedrals, the role of their sculpture, and the religious values embodied in the total ensemble; and

8. the pictorial innovations of Italian artists of the Middle Ages as a basis for the coming Renaissance.

Performance in examinations, which include essay material, determine the degree to which students have understood how contexts and values inform the creation and interpretation of works of art.

C. Understand the role of critical analysis in interpreting and evaluating works of art:

Iconographic and formal analyses of works of art in class and in the text, readings, study guides, and examination reviews enable the student in ART 221 to

1. develop critical and analytical skills in evaluating works of art,
and to employ

2. such factual information as the broad purposes and functions of specific modes of art, the techniques employed, and general chronologies and dating of style periods and individual works, so as to

3. discern differences and recognize similarities between period styles and articulate them in well written essays.

Examination essay questions using slides of works of art measure how well the student has grasped both the role and mechanisms of art-critical analysis.

WEB SITE: www.mhhe.com/socscience/art/adams_3_WA/

COURSE FORMAT

REQUIREMENTS

EXAMS

No make-up exams given. If you have a legitimate reason for missing an exam, I may excuse you from the test,
but this means your other marks will be weighted more heavily (see "Grading"). Each case considered on an individual basis.

GRADING

ATTENDANCE

A 0-3 absences       D 6 absences
B 4 absences         E 7+ absences
C 5 absences

COURSE SCHEDULE

A. Identify and understand the specific elements and assumptions of Art History as a Humanistic discipline.

B. Understand how historical context, cultural values, and gender influence perceptions and interpretations.

C. Understand the role of critical analysis in interpreting and evaluating works of art.