AH323 Art of the Italian Nation
SP12
T/Th 4:20-5:45pm
Myers Auditorium
Adrian R. Duran, PhD
aduran@mca.edu
901.272.5129 [x 272]
Notice: Some of the content of this course may disturb the sensibilities of some students. If you need to discuss this situation, please contact me.
Notice: Students who are entitled to considerations under ADA guidelines are asked to contact me immediately. Every situation is unique and warrants specific consideration. Thus, notifications made in close proximity to exams and/or other due dates may cause complications. The greater the amount of available time, the more appropriately and successfully these matters can be addressed.
Student Learning Outcomes:
This course will study the cultural production of the Italian nation, beginning with its birth in 1861 and focusing on the Modern and Postmodern periods. In doing so, this class will study the intellectual structures of both Modernism and Postmodernism, as well as the particularities of their Italian manifestations. Painting and sculpture will be the dominant media studied. However, music, architecture, film, graphic and industrial design, photography, and fashion will also be engaged.
Upon the successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
* Students will be able to identify key works of art produced in Italy between the Napoleonic invasion and the contemporary period, roughly 1795-present. This will be demonstrated through the identification and dating of works.
* Students will become familiar with the political, social, and religious systems of those peoples and periods studied.
* Students will learn Art Historical terminology. This will be demonstrated through the definition of these terms and the identification of works to which they apply.
* Students will become familiar with essential Art Historical methodologies. These methodologies may include: visual and formal analysis, connoisseurship, patronage studies, material and visual culture studies, and gender/race/class perspectives. This will be demonstrated through exam essays and papers.
* Students will become familiar general and specific intellectual themes, as applicable to the works under study.
Attendance: Attendance is mandatory and will be monitored. Expecting to pass this course without constant, attentive attendance is not realistic. Missed classes will have a negative effect on your final grade. Upon your fourth absence, you will receive an F grade in the course. Punctuality is likewise expected. For every two late arrivals, you will be assessed one absence.
Communication: I can be contacted by both phone and e-mail. E-mail is preferred and, most likely, will result in a quicker response. As part of a larger, college-wide initiative, I insist that you use your MCA e-mail account [last_first@mcastudent.org]. If you are having any problems with your e-mail account, please contact Ian Sterling. Information may be disseminated via MCA e-mail. It is your responsibility to monitor these accounts.
Readings: Please complete ALL readings prior to class. They will provide important background and will be directly addressed in class. Class readings will be found in the listed on reserve in the MCA Library and/or in the class server folder. It is your responsibility to obtain these readings.
Powerpoints and Class Materials: Class Powerpoints and class materials will be available on the MCA server (Dali). Students should consult these as the class progresses and use them as study aids. These Powerpoints may differ slightly from their in-class format. Students are responsible for those images seen in class. Those images that are not shown in class may be used as supporting information, but will not be mandatory for exams.
Internet Resources: Students should be wary of internet resources. Art historical research, as is the case in many academic disciplines, is still largely a print-based endeavor. There are a number of online journals, but students must be diligent in recognizing the difference between a legitimate, academic journal and other, less rigorously prepared sites. Many websites are excellent (Web Gallery of Art, Met Museum of Art), while many are questionable (Wikipedia, blogs). If there is any doubt, please consult me. Students will find a number of useful links on the class blog.
Exams: Exams will consist of a combination of fact-based (dates/terminology/identification) questions, slide identifications, slide discussions, and/or compare/contrasts and essays. The distribution of these segments is at my discretion and may be changed at any point during the semester. Students will be notified of exam formats in advance of the exam. Exams WILL NOT be cumulative. There will be no make-up exams. You will be responsible for purchasing and bringing blue books to the exams. These can be bought in the MCA Supply Store.
Paper: Students will select a topic of their interest and undertake a directed readings project. Pre-approval from Duran is necessary. In consultation with Duran, students will develop a Bibliography and create a proposal, research summary, and annotated bibliography.
An initial statement of intent is to be e-mailed to Duran by February 21. This will be due to Duran via e-mail in MSWord or Apple Pages format on April 26. There will be a full grade penalty for every day that the paper is late.
Plagiarism: MCA policy on plagiarism can be found in the student handbook. Students under suspicion of plagiarism will be given one opportunity to prove their conduct as other than plagiarism. The burden of proof is on the student. If the state of plagiarism cannot be disproved, the student will be given a grade of F for the course and administrative action will be taken.
Grading: My grading system works as follows. Please consider these numbers indisputable.
A 93 and above
A- 90-92
B+ 88-89
B 83-87
B- 80-82
C+ 78-79
C 73-77
C- 70-72
D 65-69
F Below 65
Grade Distribution:
Exams: 25% each
Paper: 25%
Safety: This class will follow the standards detailed in the "EPA Material Handling Protocols - September 2007," as issued by MCA.
Classroom Conduct: Students are expected to conduct themselves in an appropriate manner. Anything otherwise is disrespectful to yourselves, your peers, your faculty, and the educational endeavor.
1. Sleeping and/or conversing are unacceptable. It is both distracting to those seated nearby and disruptive to the professor. You will be warned. You will then be asked to leave. If you are asked to leave, you will be marked as absent and penalized accordingly.
2. Cell phone/PDA/PSP/DS/etc. use is prohibited. Claiming the cell phone as your only personal timepiece is not substantial. Texting is forbidden. If your phone rings, the professor reserves the right to answer the call, take the phone, or any other measures deemed appropriate by the professor. Those who do not abide will be warned, then asked to leave, with the aforementioned attendance penalty.
3. Those who take notes on computers are expected to be taking notes, not surfing the internet or any other activities than those immediately associated with the course. Those who are caught doing otherwise will be warned, then asked to leave, with the aforementioned attendance penalty.
4. Eating in class is forbidden. Drinking is acceptable, though only if students consider such as a privilege. Policing your own area and disposing of your own trash is expected. If litter and/or filth become a problem, drinking will be forbidden.
5. Students may make audio recordings of class lectures for study use only, but only with prior approval by the professor. Any recordings made are to be used for the purposes of class members only. Other uses are forbidden, and will be met with disciplinary action.
6. Drawing in class is offensive. Your purpose is to listen and take notes, not sketch or plan projects for other classes. Making sketches of the works discussed in class for study purposes is understandable, though course ppts are available on the server.
7. Please do not get up and leave class except when absolutely necessary. Absolutely necessary constitutes emergencies and use of the facilities. Garbage and/or other incidental needs should be held until the end of class. There is no need to ask permission to leave.
Class Schedule:
Week 1
Tuesday January 17: Introduction
Thursday January 19: Italian Art before the Italian Nation
* Minardi, Tommaso. “On the Essential Quality of Italian Painting from Its Renaissance to the Period of Its Perfection (1834).” in Joshua C. Taylor, ed. Nineteenth-Century Theories of Art. Berkeley: University of CA Press, 1987, 173-194.
* Duran, Adrian R. “Ottocento da Canova al Quarto Stato” exhibition review Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide Volume 7, Issue 2 (Autumn 2008). http://www.19thc-artworldwide.org/index.php/autumn08/83-ottocento-da-canova-al-quarto-stato
Week 2
Monday January 23: Last Day to Add a Class
Tuesday January 24: Early Nineteenth Century Italian Art
* Keates, Jonathan. “Nineteenth-Century Italian Culture.” in George Holmes, ed. The Oxford Illustrated History of Italy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997, 210-14, 216-19, 227-34.
* Olson, Roberta J.M. “Introduction: In the Dawn of Italy.” in Roberta J.M. Olson, ed. Ottocento: Romanticism and Revolution in 19th-Century French Painting. New York: The American Federation of Arts, 1992, 13-42.
* Poppi, Claudio. “From Avant-Garde to the Academy: A Line of Development for Italian Neoclassicism.” in Olson, 43-50.
Thursday January 26: Mid- and Late-Nineteenth Century Italian Art: The Macchiaoli, Medardo Rosso, and Divisionism
* Chapter 1 “The Local and International Contexts” in Norma Broude. The Macchiaioli: Italian Painters of the Nineteenth Century. 1987, 1-12.
* Chapter FOUR “The Macchia and the Risorgimento” in Albert Boime. The Art of the Macchia and the Risorgimento: Representing Culture and Nationalism in Nineteenth-Century Italy. 1993, 115-65.
* Light: Italy’s Divisionist Painters 1891-1910. London: National Gallery, 2008, 47-59.
Week 3
Monday January 30: Last Day to Drop a Class without a ‘W’
Tuesday January 31: The Legacy of Divisionism and the Emergence of Futurism
* Lyttelton, Adrian. "Society and Culture in the Italy of Giolitti." in Emily Braun, ed. Italian Art in the 20th Century: Painting and Sculpture 1900-1988. Munich: Prestel-Verlag, 1989, 23-31.
* Ginex, Giovanna. “Divisionism to Futurism: Art and Social Engagement.” in Radical Light. 37-46.
* Marinetti, Filippo Tommaso. "The Foundation and Manifesto of Futurism." in Charles Harrison and Paul Wood, eds. Art in Theory 1900-1990: An Anthology of Changing Ideas. Oxford and Cambridge: Blackwell, 1992, 145-49.
* Boccioni, Umberto, et. al. "Futurist Painting: Technical Manifesto." in Charles Harrison and Paul Wood, eds., Art in Theory 1900-1990: An Anthology of Changing Ideas. Oxford and Cambridge: Blackwell, 1992, 149-52.
* Gramsci, Antonio. “The Futurists” and “Marinetti the Revolutionary,” in Selections from Cultural Writings, ed. David Forgacs and Geoffrey Nowell-Smith, trans. William Boel Hower. Cambridge, 1985, 46-49, 49-51.
Thursday February 2: Futurism cot’d
* Antliff, Mark. “The Fourth Dimension and Futurism: A Politicized Space.” The Art Bulletin. Vol 82, No. 4 (Dec. 2000), 720-733.
* Braun, Emily. “Futurist Fashion: Three Manifestoes.” Art Journal, Vol. 54 No. 1, Clothing as Subject (Spring, 1995), 34-41.
* Chapter 6 “Destroying the Cult of the Museum: The Futurist Collage Aesthetic.” in In Defiance of Painting: Cubism, Futurism, and the Invention of Collage. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992, 165-93.
Week 4
Tuesday February 7: Metafisica, Modigliani, Morandi
* Baldacci, Paolo. “De Chirico and Savinio: The Theory and Iconography of Metaphysical Paintings.” in Braun, 1989: 61-70.
* Schmied, Wieland. “DeChirico, Metaphysical Painting and the International Avant-garde: Twelve Theses.” in Braun, 1989: 71-80.
* Coen, Ester. “The Signs of the Metaphysical Alphabet.” in Metaphysica. Milan: Electa, 2003, 229-44.
Thursday February 9: Metafisica, Modigliani, Morandi cot’d
* Bertelli, Carlo. “Modigliani, The Cosmopolitan Italian.” in Braun, 1989: 57-60.
* Werner, Alfred. “Modigliani as Sculptor.” in Art Journal, Vol. 20, No. 2 (Winter, 1960-61), 70-78.
* Lukach, Joan M. “Giorgio Morandi and Modernism in Italy between the Wars.” in Braun, 1989: 155-64.
* Braun, Emily. “Speaking Volumes: Giorgio Morandi’s Still Lifes and the Cultural Politics of Strapaese.” in Modernism/Modernity 2.3 (1995), 89-116.
Week 5
Tuesday February 14: Overflow/Review
Thursday February 16: Exam #1
Week 6
Tuesday February 21: Fascism PAPER STATEMENT DUE
* Gentile, Emilio. “The Conquest of Modernity: From Modernist Nationalism to Fascism.” Modernism/modernity 1.3 (1994), 55-87.
* Sironi, Mario. "Manifesto of Mural Painting." in Charles Harrison and Paul Wood, eds. Art in Theory 1900-1990: An Anthology of Changing Ideas. Oxford and Cambridge: Blackwell, 1992, 407-09.
* Stone, Marla. “The State as Patron: Making Official Culture in Fascist Italy.” in Matthew Affron and Mark Antliff, eds. Fascist Visions: Art and Ideology in France and Italy.” Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997, 205-38.
Thursday February 23: Fascism cot’d
* Braun, Emily. “Expressionism as Fascist Aesthetic.” Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 31 No. 2, Special Issue: The Aesthetics of Fascism (April 1996): 273-292.
* Antliff, Mark. “Fascism, Modernism, and Modernity.” The Art Bulletin, Vol. 84, No. 1 (Mar. 2002): 148-69.
Week 7
Tuesday February 28: The Novecento Group and the 1930s
* Vivarelli, Pia. “Personalities and Styles in Figurative Art of the Thirties.” in Braun, 1989: 181-86.
* Caramel, Luciano. “Abstract Art in the Thirties.” in Braun, 1989: 187-192.
* Coradeschi, Sergio. “The Novecento Style in Italy: Commercial and Graphic Design.” Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts 3 (Winter 1987): 66-83.
* Bossaglia, Rossana and Howard Rodger MacLean. “The Iconography of the Italian Novecento in the European Context.” in Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts 3 (Winter 1987): 52-65.
Thursday March 1: Neorealist Cinema
* Woolf, Stuart. "History and Culture in the Post-war Era, 1944-1968." in Braun, 1989, 273-270.
* Brunette, Peter. “Rossellini and Cinematic Realism.” Cinema Journal, Vol. 25, No. 1 (Autumn, 1985): 34-49.
* Wagstaff, Christopher. “The Place of Neorealism in Italian Cinema from 1945 to 1954.” in Nicholas Hewitt, ed. The Culture of Reconstruction: European Literature, Thought and Film, 1945-50. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989, 67-87.
Week 8
Tuesday March 6: Neorealist Cinema cot’d
Thursday March 8: Postwar Italy: 1940s & 1950s
* De Micheli, Mario. "Realism and the Post-war Debate." in Braun, 1989, 281-87.
* Calvesi, Maurizio. "Informel and Abstraction in Italian Art of the Fifties." in Braun, 1989, 289-94.
* Celant, Germano. "In Total Freedom: Italian Art, 1943-1968." in The Italian Metamorphosis, 1943-1968, ex. cat. Germano Celant, ed. New York: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 1994, 4-19.
* Vetrocq, Marcia E. "Painting and Beyond: Recovery and Regeneration, 1943-1952." The Italian Metamorphosis, 1943-1968, ex. cat. Germano Celant, ed. New York: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 1994, 20-31.
Week 9
Tuesday March 13: NO CLASS—SPRING BREAK
Thursday March 15: NO CLASS—SPRING BREAK
Week 10
Tuesday March 20: Postwar Italy: 1940s & 1950s cot’d
* Vetrocq, Marcia E. "National Style and the Agenda for Abstract Painting in Post-War Italy." in Art History Vol. 12 No. 4 (December 1989), 448-71.
* Duran, Adrian R. “Abstract Expressionism’s Italian Reception: Questions of Influence” in Joan Marter, ed. Abstract Expressionism: The International Context. Rutgers University Press, 2007, 138-151.
Thursday March 22: NO CLASS—SPE
Friday March 23: Advising Day
Week 11
Tuesday March 27: Overflow/Review
Thursday March 29: Exam #2
Friday March 30: Last Day to Withdraw from a Class
Week 12
Tuesday April 3: Fontana, Manzoni, Vedova, Nono, the 1960s
* Celant,Germano. “From the Open Wound to the Resurrected Body: Lucio Fontana and Piero Manzoni.” in Braun, 1989: 295-301.
* White, Anthony. “Lucio Fontana: Between Utopia and Kitsch.” Grey Room, No. 5 (Autumn, 2001), 54-77.
Thursday April 5: Fontana, Manzoni, Vedova, Nono, the 1960s cot’d
* Mansoor, Jaleh. “Piero Manzoni: ‘We Want to Organicize Disintegration.” October, Vol. 95 (Winter, 2001): 28-53.
* Duran, Adrian R. “Italian Art circa 1968: Continuities and Generational Shifts” in Carte Italiane Volume 4 (2008): 91-103.
Week 13
Tuesday April 10: Michelangelo Antonioni
* Carringer, Robert L. “Blow-Up.” Journal of Aesthetic Education. Vol. 9, No. 2. (Apr. 1975): 109-122.
* Wendorf, Richard. “Antonioni’s “Blow-up”: Implicated Artists and Unintentional Art.” Journal of Aesthetic Education. Vol. 16, No. 1 (Spring 1982): 57-67.
Thursday April 12: Michelangelo Antonioni cot’d
Week 14
Tuesday April 17: Arte Povera and the 1970s
* Rosa, Alberto Asor. “Contemporary Italy.” in Braun, 1989: 359-62.
* Celant, Germano. “Arte Povera: Notes for a Guerrilla War, 1967” in Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev. Arte Povera. London: Phaidon, 1999, 194-96.
* “Survey” in Christov-Bakargiev, 14-47.
* Tisdall, Caroline. “‘Materia’: The Context of Arte Povera.” in Braun, 1989: 363-68.
Thursday April 19: Arte Povera and the 1970s cot’d
Week 15
Tuesday April 24: The Italian Transavanguardia and the 1980s
* Oliva, Achille Bonito. The Italian Trans-avantgarde. Milan: Giancarlo Politi Editore, 1980.
* Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev. “The Italian Transavantgarde: a Rereading.” in Gianelli, Ida, ed. Transavanguardia. ex. cat. (Castello di Rivoli. Skira, 2003), 75-92.
* Rosenthal, Norman. “C.C.C.P.: Back to the Future.” in Braun, 1989: 369-75.
Thursday April 26: Contemporary Italy PAPER DUE
* Selections from Francesco Bonami, Nancy Spector and Barbara Vanderlinden. Maurizio Cattelan. Phaidon, 2000.
Week 16
Tuesday May 1: Overflow/Review
Thursday May 3: EXAM #3
Week 17
Thursday May 10/Friday May 11: Review Committees
