ART 150— Art History Part I: Prehistoric to Medieval

art Art History Part I: Prehistoric to Medieval, Summer 2016

“Every painting is a
voyage into a sacred
harbor.”
—Giotto Di Bondone

Art 150— ART HISTORY Part I: Prehistoric to Medieval / Sum-

mer 2016
Online Instruction / June 6 - July 20, 2016
Christine Foerster
cafoerster@utep.edu

Introduction
Art 150 is a global survey of the History of Art from
Antiquity through the Middle Ages (AD 1500). Un-
til recently, Art History was written from a limited
point of view by predominantly white, male art histo-
rians who focused on the art of white males, portray-
ing Art History as continuum that began in Prehis-
toric France and continued through Egypt and Iraq,
Greece, Rome, Europe, and the USA, virtually ignor-
ing the rest of the world. Today, we recognize this
limited construction of “Art History” as “Western
Art.” In this course, we will try to balance the art
of the “West” with the art “the Rest” by including
the art of indigenous Africa, the Americas, Asia, Aus-
tralia, and the Oceanic peoples, up to the Age of Ex-
ploration. This is a fast moving course that requires
you to work independently and complete your as-
signments on time.

Student Learning Outcome

Assess and analyze visual, historical, and analytical historical issues and enjoys the creations of ancient
data and information as he or she investigates art- and medieval artists.

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Course Goals
• To develop the ability to identify artistic styles,
techniques, conceptual issues, and traditions re-
lated to visual art across temporal and cultural
contexts.
• To demonstrate an understanding of the major
monuments/artworks that characterize each pe-
riod.
• To identify and explain some of the motivations
that produce art in various cultures.
Required Texts
• Fred S. Kleiner , Gardner’s Art Through the
Ages: A Global Survey, you may choose the 15th,
14th, 13th, 12th or 11th edition. ((This text exists
in both one and two volume formats. Art 150 cov-
ers only the first volume, however if you plan to
take Art 151, it will make financial sense to buy the
whole text in one big volume.) On a side note, I
will be teaching from the 15th edition and it is pos-
sible that you will miss a small amount of mate-
rial if you choose an earlier edition. However, if
you are tight on funds, the earlier editions men-
tioned will work as long as you understand that
there may be some discrepancies between the two
and you will be responsible for finding the corre-
sponding pages yourself each week. (But, do not
art Art History Part I: Prehistoric to Medieval, Summer 2016
• To develop an understanding of the major
events, chronology, interactions, and evolution-
ary trends of Art History.
• To develop the ability to think and write criti-
cally about visual art by making intelligent and in-
formed analyses and interpretations of works of
art using appropriate terminology.
get the Western Perspective text or you will miss
a lot of important information.) There are also e-
books versions of these books which are less ex-
pensive up front but you cannot resell them af-
terwards. ISBNs:
• Kleiner Vol. I = ISBN 1285837843 (get this one if
you only plan to take Art 150)
• Kleiner (full) = ISBN 1285754999 (get this one if
you plan to take both Art 150 and 151) These are
the ISBNs for the 15th edition only.
• **Supplementary readings, class notes and images
will be provided online.
• Optional: Barnet, Sylvan. A Short Guide to Writ-
ing About Art. 8th ed. New York: Longman,
2004.
“Our love of what is
beautiful does not
lead to extravagance;
our love of the things
of the mind does not
make us soft.”
—Pericles c.495-429
BC
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art Art History Part I: Prehistoric to Medieval, Summer 2016
Guidelines
As an online class, students will be required to ac-
tively participate in multiple levels. Each week, the
course material will be presented as online lectures
supplemented with readings, links and short videos.
Students will be required to participate on the Dis-
cussion Board to demonstrate their comprehension
Final Grade Evaluation
1. Discussion Board . . . . . . . . . 20%
• The discussion board is usually our main meeting
place for communication and discussion. How-
ever, due to the short format for summer, you will
be posting responses each week only. No replies
are required.
• You are expected to participate by responding
to the questions I post every Monday for that
week’s material by Sunday midnight. Postings
must be written in your own words, thoughtful,
related to the topic, and demonstrate an under-
standing of the material by incorporating infor-
mation from your textbook and/or other read-
ings.
2. Weekly Quizzes . . . . . . . . . . 20% but not after. If you prefer, you may choose two
• Instead of a final exam, we will have a short quiz
every week that covers the material for that week.
These short quizzes will be straight forward ques-
tions taken from the reading assignments, lec-
ture notes and/or supplementary materials for
3
of the material and earn class participation credit.
Your learning and ultimate performance will de-
pend on careful listening and reading of the lectures
and texts, responding critically to them, and engag-
ing with other students’ ideas in the virtual class-
room.
that week. This is my way of making sure that
everyone is keeping up with the reading and lec-
ture assignments. The questions will be Multiple
Choice and True/False. The quizzes will be avail-
able to take anytime from Monday-Sunday for
each week. The first quiz will cover the material
from weeks 1. The second quiz will cover the ma-
terial from week 2 and so on.
3. Art Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10%
• Visit one of the museums or galleries included
in the list in Course Documents. Select a work
from a temporary exhibition or the permanent
collection to review. The artwork must have been
made anytime from Antiquity through 1500 AD
works to discuss and compare. Download the pdf
in Assignments called “Art Review” for more in-
formation about the requirements for this paper.
Post essays to the Discussion Board under the ap-
propriate forum by Sunday, June 26th.
Final Grade Evaluation (cont.)

art Art History Part I: Prehistoric to Medieval, Summer 2016

4. Preliminary Final Project Essay Then discuss what this object means to you by
doing a formal analysis of the object. (I will pro-
15%
vide a formal analysis guide to help with this sec-
• Write a two page essay in which you present
tion). In the last section, you will compare and
the artwork you plan to work with for your fi-
contrast the artwork with another work. Use at
nal project. In this essay, you should provide a
least three other printed sources in addition to
brief historical and cultural context for which
our textbook and as many internet resources as
the artwork was produced. Briefly discuss why
you wish. Download the pdf in Assignments for
the artwork is so appealing to you. You should
more information. Final Projects are due by Mon-
also cite two outside, printed sources you plan to
day, July 18th.
use (Art historians who have written about this
work and propose an interpretation of its mean- 6. Extra Credit
ing/significance). Attach an image of the artwork
• You may post a response to any arti-
to your essay. Preliminary Final Project Essays are
cle in the New York Times Art section
due to the Safe Assignment Forum in the Assign-
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/arts/design
ments folder by Sunday, July 3th. (Download the
archive that is about an artwork produced dur-
pdf in Assignments for more information.)
ing the period we are studying, or relevant to
5. Final Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35% our subject matter. You may post up to (five
times maximum) during the term for extra credit.
• Do a 6 page minimum critical analysis of one
Posts must be 150 word minimum and do three
artwork that we have looked at in this course or
things: give a quick 3 sentence summary of the
that was produced during the time of our inquiry.
article, then, give your opinion about the arti-
You should pick one artwork that is of particu-
cle, finally you should relate it to one or more of
lar interest to you and spend a lot of time with it.
the themes that we are looking at in this class. If
You should introduce the object within its histor-
you do all five posts well, the maximum points
ical and cultural context. Talk about why this art-
received will be 5% points towards the final grade.
work was produced in a particular time and place.
Posts should be at least 150 words in length.

University Policy Statements

PLAGIARISM & ACADEMIC DISHONESTY STATEMENT: Students have both rights and re-
sponsibilities as members of an academic community. One such responsibility is academic honesty, in other
words, all written assignments and contributions must be your own ideas and written by you. If you use
direct quotes or paraphrase someone else’s ideas, then credit must be given through proper citations. This
includes any information obtained on the internet. An automatic ”F” semester grade will result from pla-
giarizing or cheating on any work you submit for this course, and this includes exams/quizzes, assignments
and discussion board postings. Additional sanctions for plagiarism may include probation, suspension or
expulsion. .

“Art washes away from the soul the
dust of everyday life.”
—Pablo Picasso
DISABILITIES STATEMENT: I will make any reasonable accommodations for students with limita-
tions due to disabilities. Please, e-mail me during the first week of class to discuss any special needs you
might have. You will need to provide documentation through the Disability Support Services Office.
phone: (619) 482-6512 voice
TTY: (619) 482-6470
email: DSS@swccd.edu 4