AH422 F11 Image Theory Syllabus

W 1-4:05 pm Conference Room

Adrian R. Duran

aduran@mca.edu

901.272.5129 [x 272]

Office Hours: M 2-4pm (MCA Library) & T 12:35-1:35 (Nesin Grad Center)

Class syllabus @ http://theduranarthistoryblog.blogspot.com

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.

Goal: Students will become familiar with a body of theoretical writings concerning the makers, production, interpretation, and consumption of images and objects. Students will apply these theories do diverse works of art. Students will write an image-accompanied presentation and deliver it to a body of their peers.

As this is a seminar, discussion and debate will be the primary pedagogical modes of this class. All students are expected to participate fully. Neither neutrality nor silence will suffice.

Communication: I can be contacted by both phone and e-mail. E-mail is preferred and, most likely, will result in a quicker response. I will contact you via your MCA e-mail account. If you are having any problems with your e-mail account, please contact Ian Sterling. It is your responsibility to monitor these accounts actively and consistently. Students’ individual choices regarding the maintenance and awareness of MCA e-mail will not be acceptable as excuses for missing e-mails. Similarly, students should regularly check the class blog for updates and information. (http://theduranarthistoryblog.blogspot.com)

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 third 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.

Powerpoints: Class materials may be available on the MCA server (Dali). Students will be responsible for these materials, which will inform course discussions.

Readings: Please complete ALL readings prior to class. They will provide important background and will be directly addressed in class. All readings, unless otherwise noted, will be available on reserve at the MCA library. It is your responsibility to obtain these readings.

Reading Questions/Discussion Leading: Each week, select students will be tasked with submitting questions and/or points of discussion to the seminar. These will be due to Duran, submitted via e-mail, at least 24 full hours before the class meeting.

Research Assignment/Presentation: As part of this course, students will undertake a research assignment which will culminate in an in-class presentation, the text of which will be submitted for grading. The first stage of this assignment will be the submission of a 1-page proposal [12pt font, double-spaced, 1” margins]. This presentation will last 20 minutes [approximately 10 double-spaced pages] for undergraduates and 30 minutes for graduate students [approximately 15 double-spaced pages]. Students will be responsible for compiling an accompanying PPT presentation, which, with the text of the presentation, will be submitted for grading.

The paper will be properly formatted according to the Chicago Manual of Style. The Chicago Manual of Style can be found on reserve in the MCA library.

Students should begin by visiting the MCA Library and consulting the college’s online resources, which are collected at www.delicious.com/mcalibrary. Do not overlook the Grove Dictionary of Art, in the library’s reference section. MCA students have library privileges at the University of Memphis and Rhodes College and should not neglect these collections.

Internet Resources: Students should be wary of internet resources. Art History, as is the case with many academic disciplines, is still primarily a paper-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.

Plagiarism: The Memphis College of Art’s policy on plagiarism can be found on page 32 of the MCA Student Handbook: http://mca.edu/attachments/-01_FINALmca_handbook_10_11.pdf

Students are expected to be familiar with this policy and adhere to it.

Grade Breakdown:

10% Reading/Discussion Assignment

40% In-Class Participation

50% Presentation + Annotated Bibliography

                  25% In class presentation (to include slide presentation)

                  25% Text + Annotated Bibliography

Safety: This class will follow the standards detailed in the "EPA Material Handling Protocols - September 2007," as issued by MCA.

Class Schedule and Readings:

Week 1 August 24

Introduction

Some Images, Some Theories

Week 2 August 31

Art School

· Elkins, James. Why Art Cannot be Taught: A Handbook for Art Students. Chapters 1 Histories, 4 Critiques, 5 Suggestions, & Conclusion.

Week 3 September 7

Being an Artist

· Vasari, Giorgio. “Life of Michelangelo.”

· Wittkower, Rudolf and Margot. Born Under Saturn: The character and conduct of artists. Chapter One, parts 1-3 + Chapter Five, parts 1-2 + Chapter Eight, part 5

Week 4 September 14

Authors & Authorship

• Barthes, Roland. “The Death of the Author.” in Image-Music-Text, 142-48.
• Foucault, Michel. “What is an Author?” in Language Counter-Memory Practice, 113-38.
• Eco, Umberto. The Open Work. Ch 1 The Poetics of the Open Work.

Week 5 September 21

Interpretation

• Sontag, Susan. “Against Interpretation.” in Against Interpretation and Other Essays, 3-14.
• McAdoo, Nick. “Can Art Ever Be Just About Itself?” in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism Vol L No 2 (Spring 1992): 131-137.
• Eco, Umberto. The Limits of Interpretation. Ch 3 Intentio Lectoris: The State of the Art

Week 6 September 28

The Art Market and Collectors

· Rosler, Martha. "Lookers, Buyers, Dealers, and Makers: Thoughts on Audience." in Brian Wallis, ed. Art After Modernism: Rethinking Representation, pp. 311-39.

· Bell, Quentin. “Art and the Elite.” Critical Inquiry, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Sep., 1974), pp. 33-46. (available on JSTOR)

· Buren, Daniel. “The Function of the Studio.”

· Burn, Ian. “The Art Market: Affluence and Degradation.” in Art in Theory 1900-2000.

Week 7 October 5

Gender

· Nochlin, Linda. “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” in ArtNews (Jan 1971).

· Readings from Feminist Art Theory.

o Chicago, Judy. “Woman as Artist.”

o Mainardi, Pat. “A Feminine Sensibility?”

o Bovenschen, Silvia. “Is There a Feminine Aesthetic?”

· Cyber_Reader

o A Cyborg Manifesto, 1985

o Constructions and Reconstructions of the Self in Virtual Reality, 1994

o When I Enter Virtual Reality, What Body Will I Leave Behind?, 1995

Week 8 October 12

Race

• Fanon, Frantz. “The Fact of Blackness” in visual culture: the reader, ed. Jessica Evans & Stuart Hall, p. 417-20.
• Dyer, Richard. “White” in visual culture: the reader, ed. Jessica Evans & Stuart Hall, p. 457-61.
• hooks, bell. “Representing Whiteness in the Black Imagination.”
• Gates, Henry Louis Jr. “Whose Canon is it, anyway?”

Week 9 October 19

Paint

· Baudelaire, Charles. “The Painter of Modern Life.” in Francis Frascina and Charles Harrison, eds. Modern Art and Modernism: A Critical Anthology, pp. 23-27.

· Greenberg, Clement. “Modernist Painting.” in Francis Frascina and Charles Harrison, eds. Modern Art and Modernism: A Critical Anthology, pp. 5-10.

· Steinberg, Leo. from Other Criteria 1968-72 in Art in Theory 1900-2000 971-76

· Fried, Michael. “Art and Objecthood.” in Art in Theory 1900-2000 OR Artforum 5 (June 1967): 12-23.

· Lawson, Thomas. “Last Exit: Painting.” in Brian Wallis, ed. Art After Modernism: Rethinking Representation, pp. 153-165 OR Artforum 20, No. 2 (October 1981): 40-47.

· Yablonsky, Linda. “What Makes a Painting a Painting?” ARTNews 104, No. 4 (April 2005): 96-101.

Week 10 October 26

Lenses

· Baudelaire, Charles. “The Salon of 1859: The Modern Public and Photography.” in Francis Frascina and Charles Harrison, eds. Modern Art and Modernism: A Critical Anthology, pp. 19-21.

· Barthes, Roland. “The Photographic Message.” in Image-Music-Text. 15-31.

· Benjamin, Walter. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” in Jessica Evans & Stuart Hall, eds. visual culture: the reader, pp. 72-79.

· Mulvey, Laura. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” in visual culture: the reader, 381-89.

· Krauss, Rosalind. “Photography’s Discursive Spaces: Landscape/View.” in Jessica Evans & Stuart Hall, eds. visual culture: the reader, pp. 193-209 OR Art Journal, Vol. 42, No. 4, The Crisis in the Discipline (Winter, 1982), pp. 311-319. (available on JSTOR)

· Baker, George. “Photography’s Expanded Field.” October 144 (Fall 2005): 120-40.

Week 11 November 2

Objects and Spaces

· Oldenburg, Claes. “I am for an art…” http://userpages.itis.com/burleigh/art/iam4.html

· Morris, Robert. “Notes on Sculpture Part III: Notes and Nonsequiturs.” in Kristine Stiles & Peter Selz ed., Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artists’ Writings, pp. 588-93.

· Perec, Georges. “Approaches to What?” in The Everyday Life Reader, 176-78.

· Krauss, Rosalind. “Sculpture in the Expanded Field.” October 8 (Spring 1979): 30-44 (available on JSTOR) OR Hal Foster, ed. The Anti-Aesthetic: Essays on Postmodern Culture, pp. 35-47.

· Bourriaud, Nicolas. Excerpts from Relational Aesthetics. 1998.

Week 12 November 9—NO CLASS

Week 13 November 16

· Presentations

Week 14 November 23

· Presentations

Week 15 November 30

· Presentations

Week 16 December 7

· Presentations