Most sections will require advance reading of a short article or excerpt, or looking at objects in the Chazen Museum. You should come to section prepared to discuss the topic; the questions here are intended to help you organize your thoughts so that you can contribute effectively to the discussion. You may want to write an outline or a series of points. You will be graded on participation in class.
There will be two written assignments during the semester. These will follow upon topics discussed in section, and will be due one or two weeks after the section in which this topic was discussed.
Reading: Gardner, Introduction.
This will be an introductory section and short visit to the Chazen Museum. Questions to think about: What is Art History? How much is art, how much history? What do you want to learn about in this course? How do we understand the arts of cultures very foreign to our own?
We will very briefly consider questions of artistic personality, style, attribution, the functions of a work, patronage, etc.
Reading: John Malcolm Russell, “Sennacherib’s Lachish Narratives,” in Reader. Better images on the web at http://www.wisc.edu/arth/ndc/ah201/section02.html
The works illustrated and discussed by Russell, like many other works of art, compress three dimensions into two, and compress a narrative which takes place over a period of time into a static image. How does the artist convey a sense of three-dimensionality in this almost flat relief? How does the viewer know what is in front, what is behind? Similarly, how does the artist convey the passing of time in the reliefs? How does the viewer know which scenes take place before or after others? Think of a modern example in which space and time are reduced to flat depictions, and compare the ancient and modern techniques.
Russell raises a number of other issues which we will revisit through the course of the semester. Consider the relationship between these images and written texts which relate the same historical events. Which is primary? Are the reliefs literal, complete illustrations of the texts, do they illustrate parts but not all of the story, or are they completely unrelated? Consider the intended audience of the reliefs. Who probably could view these works of art, and what specific kinds of messages are the reliefs (presumably) intended to convey to this particular audience? How do the reliefs communicate where other modes of communication might fail?
Nofretari was one of the five queens of pharaoh Ramses II, who ruled between ca. 1279 - 1213 BC. It was a great period of Egyptian history and art, whose most famous monument is the temple at Abu Simbel.
Nofretari was buried in the Valley of the Queens, near Thebes. Her tomb was discovered in 1904, and restored by the Getty Museum and the Egyptian Dept. of Antiquities after 1968. It had been looted in antiquity, and few artifacts were found.
In this section you will look at a few of the paintings from the Tomb of Nofretari and read selections from the text which accompanies them on the walls. Consider some of the issues we considered in the previous section about the reliefs of Sennacherib. What is the purpose of the text, and what is the purpose of the images? Is there a narrative, a story? How does time progress through the text and image? How do text and image relate? Are the images simply illustrations of the text, or are they independent in some respects? What aspects of the life and character of Nofretari are emphasized in the text? Do the paintings stress the same aspects, or different ones?
Images and text from the tomb are on the web site, http://www.wisc.edu/arth/ndc/ah201/section03.html
Quiz 1.
Go to Gallery 1 in the Chazen Museum of Art (closed Mondays, so don’t put it off!). Look at the Greek vases there, and compare them to the vases we have seen in class. Look closely at the vases to learn about the techniques of making these objects. Consider some of the following questions about particular vases (the numbers in parentheses are Chazen Museum accession numbers)
Assignment 1: see here. Due in section in 2 weeks.
Visit the State Historical Society on Library Mall. Describe and consider its basic structure: if you had to build it with cardboard or children’s blocks or something, how would you do so? How does it stand up? If the building was built of entirely plain materials such as undecorated stone or cement, what would it look like? Draw the ground plan of the building at the level of its main floor, roughly to scale (try pacing it out). If you don’t know how to draw a ground plan, study the examples in Gardner as models. How does the ground plan relate to the elevation and volumes of the building. For instance if, as is so often the case in ancient architecture, we only had the ground plan (the rest of the building being destroyed), how could we reconstruct what it looked like?
Describe its outward and inward ornament. What orders are used? What ornamental moldings and other features can you identify and name? You should know the names of the basic elements of the building: parts of columns, names of major ornamental moldings and details. How do they add or alter the impression the of the basic structure? You may find it useful to visit your building with a friend.
We will visit the building and discuss it.
Quiz 2.
Reading: Christopher Hallett, “The Origins of the Classical Style,” in Reader
Looking:
Consider the nature of “explanation” in art history. What kinds of explanations have art historians (for instance Ridgway, Carpenter, Pollitt) proposed for the change from Archaic to Classical? Which do you find convincing or satisfying, which not, and why? What constitutes an explanatory understanding of a phenomenon such as the change from Archaic to Classical style in Greek art? Can art be explained the way a scientific phenomenon can? Why or why not?
Consider next Hallett’s argument for understanding the origin of the Classical style. What qualities does Hallett say viewers found in the Kouros which they felt to be lacking in the Riace bronze? How did this represent a problem for Greek artists of the fifth century? How does Hallett suggest they solved the problem? Think about the qualities he cites as belonging to the High Classical style (pp. 80-82). How do these differ from earlier arts, and arts of other cultures?
Assignment 1 (Greek Vase Painting) due in section this week.
Reading: Ancient sources on the Aphrodite of Knidos, in Reader
Sir Kenneth Clark, The Nude: A Study in Ideal Form in Reader
Nannette Salomon, “The Venus Pudica: Uncovering art history’s ‘hidden agendas’ and pernicious pedigrees” in Reader
Praxiteles was one of the most famous of Greek sculptors, and his statue of Aphrodite on the island of Knidos was his most famous works, one of the most influential sculptures in Greek history. Moreover, we have a number of ancient accounts of this statue: we know where it stood, and how different people reacted to it (although note that all these sources are Roman in date, rather than 4th c. BC — later than the statue itself). Read these accounts in the Reader.
Next read the accounts of two modern art historians, Sir Kenneth Clarke and Nannette Salomon. How do their treatments of the female nude differ? Consider not only what they say, but also what kinds of questions they pose, what they want to know about this genre, their view of the role of the artist in society.
Reading: C.W. Clairmont, excerpts from Gravestone and Epigram, on web site, http://www.wisc.edu/arth/ah201/ndc/section08.html
Each grave monument pictured in the pages from Clairmont has an associated poetic text, or epigram. Look at the images of the sculptures and read the epigrams. Can you tell if the sculptured image was produced specifically for the grave of the person eulogized? Are there differences between the image and the poem? Most of these monuments are for women: what do the art and texts tell you about the social role of these women? Which qualities are valued, which are ignored? How does the poem make its address to the viewer, and how does it compare in that respect to the sculpture?
Looking: Odyssey Landscapes from the Esquiline Hill, Rome, mid-1st century B.C. You can find images on World Wide Web site for this class: http://www.wisc.edu/arth/ah201/ndc/section09.html.
Reading: Homer’s Odyssey, passages from books 10-11. Get a copy from the library, or read the sections from links on the web page for this section (these are links to Perseus, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, which has most of ancient Greek literature on line).
Discussion: These frescoes were once part of a larger cycle, painted along the walls of a long underground corridor. This corridor served as the cryptoporticus or summer dining-room of the villa of a rich Republican notable.
Consider the relation of the images to their setting and frames, their composition, and their use of landscape or props to structure the narrative. What is the relationship between painted architecture of the frescoes and the real architecture of the room? How and how much does the artist seek to involve the spectator in the action? How close to, or how removed from, the viewer’s space are the images, and how is that achieved? The Roman concept of decorum, or appropriateness to context, demanded that style and presentation be tailored to fit both subject matter and intended setting and audience as closely as possible; how do you see decorum at work here? How would a Greek vase painter, for example, have rendered the scenes differently?
Suppose Chancellor Wiley hires you to paint his dining room with scenes from the Odyssey. Come prepared to embarrass yourself by making a sketch on the blackboard of how you would carry this out. The sketch need not be artistically competent – I can’t draw either – but it should reflect serious consideration of the problems of fitting a temporal narrative to a static space, to conveying spatial depth in two dimensions, of fitting an exterior environment to an interior surface – the same issues we have discussed with Assyrian reliefs, Minoan and Roman wall painting and elsewhere in this course. Your drawing will be evaluated on its intellectual merit rather than artistic quality.
Reading: Sheldon Nodelman, “How to Read a Roman Portrait,” in Reader.
Looking: Look at the following Roman portraits on display in the Chazen Museum, Brittingham Gallery:
Consider the portraits within the scheme formulated by Nodelman. Make sure you understand his sometimes complex arguments; this is not the easiest article to read, but is worth the effort.
Discussion: We will go back to the museum to talk about the Roman portrait heads on display.
Readings: Matthew 21:1-12 (The Entry into Jerusalem), in Reader
Thomas Mathews, “The Chariot and the Donkey,” The Clash of the Gods, in Reader
See the images at http://www.wisc.edu/arth/ah201/ndc/section11.html
Iconography (which translates literally from the Greek as “image-writing”) is the system of pictorial signs--including attributes, costumes, gestures, facial types, groupings of figures--which convey the meaning of individual figures or stories in art. You are asked to read the biblical story of Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem, and then analyze how the text is translated into pictures in two different examples shown on the web site: the sarcophagus with Entry into Jerusalem and Miracle Scenes (Rome, Museo Nazionale delle Terme) 325 A.D.; and the Rossano Gospels (Rossano Cathedral), 6th century A.D.
How does each example indicate the essence of the narrative action? How is setting indicated? How is the principal figure of Christ emphasized visually? What significant changes are made by the later artist?
It has long been recognized that Early Christian iconography draws much of its pictorial vocabulary from pagan Roman art. Indeed, artists of all periods frequently make use of earlier pictorial models without necessarily reinterpreting the textual model. What are the probable pictorial sources for the Entry into Jerusalem and why might they have been borrowed by the Early Christian artists? Why does Mathews question conventional wisdom about Early Christian art’s debt to the imperial Roman past?
Reading: excerpt from Thomas Mathews, Byzantine Art in Reader.
The icon is the quintessential Byzantine art form. What are the essential formal features of early Byzantine icons and how do they establish a tangible presence for the viewer? To what extent do icons represent the adaptation of previous pagan cult images both in form and practice? What is iconoclasm and what were its causes? How did Byzantine writers justify the making of images of God and the saints in the face of iconoclasm? How did the icon change after iconoclasm?
Readings: Bernard of Angers, Book of Miracles of Sainte-Foy in Reader
Ellert Dahl, “Heavenly Images: the Statue of Sainte Foy of Conques and the Signification of the Medieval ‘Cult-Image’ in the West” in Reader Looking: before section, visit the exhibition of Medieval works from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, on display in Elvehjem Galleries I and II, looking particularly at the gilded bronze Virgin and Child from Limoges (inv. no. 17.190.348)Discussion: The reliquary of Sainte-Foy in Conques is amongst the earliest extant examples of figural sculpture in the round since late antiquity. Why does the medieval writer, Bernard of Angers find the reliquary of Sainte Foy and similar statues disturbing? Why does he eventually change his mind? What is the relationship between the saint and its image? To what extent do this sculpture and similar statues of Saint Baudime and Saint Césaire represent a revival of “pagan” cult statues from antiquity in form and function? What is the relationship between relic and reliquary? To what extent are these images portraits? What is the significance of the material?
Reading: Abbot Suger of Saint-Denis, “On the administration and rededication of Saint-Denis” in Reader.
Gervase of Canterbury, “The Burning and Reparation of the Church of Canterbury,” in Reader.These two contemporary accounts give different insights into the significance of the new Gothic style of architecture. The first is by the abbot in charge of Saint-Denis, who created the new style. Consider the religious/political aims of his building program. How does he defend the lavish expense of rebuilding the abbey and furnishing its sanctuary with precious objects? What aesthetic properties are shared by all the objects he describes? What spiritual values does he attach to these objects, and by extension, the new Gothic structure of his choir? Why is light so significant?
The excerpt by Gervase comes from an account written in 1188 of the burning and rebuilding of the Cathedral at Canterbury, England. Gervase was an English monk who thought these events merited a description. What aspects of the reconstruction particularly caught his attention? He distinguishes between the “old” and “new” styles of architecture, which correspond roughly to art historians’ terms Romanesque and Gothic.
Assignment 2 due this week.