West Los Angeles College, Fall 2006


Dr. Alice Taylor 
taylora@wlac.edu
Office: FA 308
(310) 287-4201

Note: all my classes are online, so it is best to reach me through the class website at http://etudes-ng.fhda.edu/portal. I am in my office Tuesday, 11:30-12:30 to check phone messages.  

Required Textbook 

Laurie Schneider Adams, Art Across Time, Volume II.  You may use the third edition (ISBN 0072969741) or the second (ISBN 0072449969).

Course Content 

Art 102 considers Western art from the Renaissance to the present, focusing on Europe and including North America in the twentieth century. We will study painting, drawing, prints, sculpture, and architecture. Our main theme is "What is art?" If the photo on the right below shows an art object, but the one on the left does not, how do we explain things?


It's a long story.

The role of the artist in society is closely related to the way we have defined art; artists' changing prestige, professionalism and influence have helped shape the West's notions of art itself.  The other major historical issue we will be tracking is the place of the patron (the person who pays for the art).


Student Learning Outcomes

The faculty of West Los Angeles College has identified a set of college-wide student learning outcomes--what we agree every student should learn at West. You can read all nine student learning outcomes in the schedule of classes (p. 3).  Of course, different classes will each stress different outcomes, in somewhat different ways. Here is how I expect you to progress towards Art 102's three main student learning outcomes:

Critical Thinking: Analyze art, differentiating fact from opinions, and using visual evidence.

Throughout the course, each of us will pause to identify our individual responses to works of art, and explain them to each other through visual analyses of the art. Usually we will do this in writing, but those of us who are able to meet in museums will be able to point out what we see in some of the great works on display in Los Angeles.

Aesthetics: Use multiple modes of inquiry and approaches to experience and engage with the arts.

Our major modes of inquiry are stylistic analysis and the comparison of various historical situations in their impact on art. Our approaches to the experience of art will include reading about it and comparing what we read to pictures of the art, writing to each other about what we see in our book and on the web, and talking together in museums.

Cultural Diversity: Engage with other cultures in an effort to understand them. 

Engaging with the material Art 102 will always begin with looking carefully and thoughtfully. In our reading, writing and talking, we will deal with cultures in open conflict with each other (like the United States and the Soviet Union, or the British and Mughal empires), but we will be particularly concerned with how Europe defined itself culturally, and how that definition has impacted the rest of the world. Students will reflect on whether the art we study even belongs to our culture.


Students will need to show some mastery of the other six student learning outcomes, even though they are not the core of Art 102:


Ethics: Properly document any research used in any writing. Study the definitions of plagiarism linked in class resources, such as the one maintained by Georgetown University , and apply them appropriately.

Communications: There will be lots of opportunity to practice your writing and rewriting.


Technical Competence: You have to use the resources provided by ETUDES to set up your computer to use ETUDES NG properly.

Civic Responsibility: In addition to studying issues of propaganda, censorship, and apathy in art, you will need to participate in the class with courtesy, openness and honesty.

Self-Awareness/Interpersonal Skills: In the context of an online class, you will have to identify your own preferences for structure, sociability, and time management.

Quantitative Reasoning: Though ETUDES NG registers your grades and adds them up for you in Gradebook, the program cannot be configured to match my grading system. You will need to ignore the letter grades it estimates for you. You will have to recognize that my grading system is based on adding up points, not on averaging, and understand the impact of your choices on your grade.

Activities

These are not quite assignments, since none of them are absolutely required--
you will choose what you want to do.

Quizzes: There will be 14 open-book quizzes, one each week except for the first and last weeks of the semester. (Note that there is a quiz during the week of Thanksgiving.) These will be multiple-choice, drawing on factual information in the textbook. This is the major reason you need our textbook (Laurie Schneider Adams, Art Across Time, vol. II), and will have trouble if you try to substitute another art history textbook. You can treat the quizzes like guided reading, if you like—read with the test open in front of you, and answer the questions as you encounter the facts in our textbook. One reason there are so many quizzes is that I don’t expect you to memorize all these facts—just to be aware of them and where they are in your textbook. (You can look them up any time you need them.) Each quiz will be worth 30 points.

Discussions: There will be two or three topics to respond to each week, except for the last week of the semester. Responding in a thoughtful manner is worth 10 points for each topic.

Essay development: There will be 10 exercises intended to help you develop essays.  Each will be worth 10 points.

Essays: There will be two essays, with a choice of topics for each one. All will require visual analysis--your argument will be based on what you can see in a work of art. The facts you've considered for the quizzes might help you in your thinking about these essays, but they don't play a very big role in the finished essays--the facts you use here are those you can confirm by looking at the work of art or architecture. In other words, you will have to back up your opinions with your own observations. There will be an essay due in mid October and one in mid November. Each essay is worth 100 points.

An essay which is submitted by the due date may be rewritten to improve your grade. 
Late papers will only be accepted for one week past the due date, and they cannot be rewritten.

Museum visits: On three days during the semester, the class will meet in small groups at the Getty Museum or the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Fully participating in structured activities at the museum is worth up to 100 points for each visit.


Grading

You choose which activities you want to do to get the grade you want. None of grades are averaged, so skipping something does automatically not lower your grade, the way it does in most classes.

Here is the grading scale:

•    A more than 900 points

•    B more than 780 points

•    C more than 600 points

•    D more than 480 points

•    F 480 or fewer points


This is the good news. If you've been keeping track in the activities section, you know that there are about 1340 points available, so you can pick and choose your activities in this course.

A few fine points:

Don't cheat. Since there's no penalty for skipping an activity, the penalty for cheating (usually plagiarism) is not just a zero--it's the subtraction of the maximum points available for the activity.  It is your responsibilty to know how to properly acknowledge your sources.  Consult the website at Georgetown University.


There are real deadlines for each activity. Computer problems will not result in an extension. Figure out now where you are going to access a computer if yours fails. Check out the local Kinko's (expensive), libraries (limited hours), your friends, family, and work.

  • Each quiz is available for a week (10 days for the week including Thanksgiving). Once the week has passed, you cannot take the quiz. If you let me know before you have to miss an entire week, I can make special arrangements.
  • To get credit, you must participate in the discussions in the week they are announced.
  • I will accept essays as much as a week late (but no longer than a week!). However, only essays that are submitted on time may be rewritten. Most students have not written the kind of papers I require--they are based on visual analysis, not on research or creative writing. I have high standards, and most students do find they need to rewrite essays until they understand what I'm after.

The museum visits will be scheduled for specific days, and they won't be available for other days. I realize most of you are busy and truly need the flexibility of an online class, but this is the only way I can set up the visits. On the brighter side, there will be several sessions for each day, and I will schedule each visit on a different day of the week. Plus, there will be no admissions fees!



Tentative Schedule


Module 1    Introduction opens on Sept. 5--time to get the book! 
Module  2    Precursors of the Renaissance: Artist's Reputations opens on Sept. 8.   
Reading in Schneider Adams: Chapter 12
Module  3    The Early Renaissance: Perspective opens on Sept. 15.   
Reading in Schneider Adams: Chapter 13
Module  4    The High Renaissance: Patronage and Reputation opens on Sept. 22.        
Reading in Schneider Adams: Chapters 14 and 16
Module  5    Baroque: Protestant and Catholic Patronage opens on Sept. 29.  
Reading in Schneider Adams: Chapters 16 and 17
Module  6    Prints and Collecting opens on Oct. 6.  
Reading in Schneider Adams: Chapter 17
Module  7    Rococo: Kings and Women, Palaces and Salons opens on Oct. 13 . 
Reading in Schneider Adams: Chapter 18
Module  8    Neoclassicism and Romanticism: Art in Opposition opens on Oct. 20.  
Reading in Schneider Adams: Chapters 19 and 20
Module  9    Realism: the Art of Photography opens on Oct. 27.  
Reading in Schneider Adams: Chapter 21
Module  10    Impressionism: Encountering Japanese Art opens on Nov. 3.  
Reading in Schneider Adams: Chapters 22 and 23
Module  11   Encountering the Savage opens on Nov. 10.  
Reading in Schneider Adams: Chapters 23 and 24
Module  12    Modern Architecture opens on Nov. 15.  
Reading in Schneider Adams: Chapters 25 and 29
Module  13   Attacking “Art”: Engineers of the Soul opens on Nov. 22.  
Reading in Schneider Adams: Chapters 25 and 26
Module  14    Triumph of New York opens on Dec. 1.  
Reading in Schneider Adams: Chapters 27 and 28
Module  15    Late 20th-century Art Battles opens on Dec. 8.  
Reading in Schneider Adams: Chapter 29
Module  16    Final thoughts opens Dec. 15.