Prof.

Kay Wells Spring 2016

TR, 9:30-10:45am MIT 361

Art History 368: History of Modern Design

This course examines the history of design and the scholarly field of design history.
The first part of the course provides a chronological survey of design and decorative
art from the eighteenth century to the present, including interiors, furniture,
ceramics, textiles, metalwork and glass, graphic and industrial design, and
advertising. Class lectures and discussions will examine a wide range of producers,
from state and corporate manufacturers to independent craftspeople and avant-
garde designers. The second part of the course examines how the scholarly field of
design history has developed and how it intersects with questions of media,
consumption, empire, gender, and craft. Students will present on course readings
and lead class discussions on their chosen topics. Through museum visits, slide
lectures, readings, presentations, and class discussions, students will learn to
visually analyze works of design and place them in their historical context. Writing
assignments and exams will foster skills in close looking, writing, and critical
thinking.

Office Hours and Email

My office hours are 1:30-2:30pm on Tuesdays and by appointment, in Mitchell
147B. Each student is required to come to office hours at least once to discuss
the rough draft of your paper, and I recommend that you make additional visits to
discuss upcoming exams and presentations. I can be reached via email at
wellsk@uwm.edu. I cannot answer all email immediately, but I will generally
respond within 24 hours during regular business hours (M-F, 9am-5pm).
 2

Grading
The grade breakdown is as follows:
Class Participation: 20%
First Exam: 15%
Second Exam: 15%
Presentation: 25%
Paper (part 1 and 2): 25%

This course uses the following grading scale:

94-100 = A 74-76 = C
90-93 = A- 70-73 = C-
87-89 = B+ 67-69 = D+
84-86 = B 64-66 = D
80-83 = B- 60-63 = D-
77-79 = C+ Below 60 = F

Time Requirement
All UWM course syllabi are required to include a clear indication of the number of
hours a student is expected to spend to complete the class. The expected minimum
number of hours spent by students in this class is as follows:
Classroom Lecture and Discussion: 30 hours
Reading: 48 hours
Paper Research and Writing: 36 hours
Exam Studying and Taking: 30 hours
Total: 144 hours

Readings and Websites

Students should access the course D2L site for course Powerpoints, guided lectures
notes, schedules, assignments, and announcements.
Before each class meeting, students must complete the assigned readings
and post a relevant work of design, image, object, video, website, or article to the
D2L discussion forum. Students do not need to explain their posts online but should
be prepared to discuss their posts and the assigned readings in class.
All required readings are available in the course reader: Grace Lees-Maffei
and Rebecca Houze, eds., The Design History Reader (Berg, 2010).
Students with no prior knowledge in modern design may also wish to
complete the recommended readings in History of Modern Design by David
Raizman (2nd ed, 2010). Lectures during the first part of this course will draw on
material from this textbook, and the recommended pages for each lecture are given
in parentheses after the lecture title.
The mandatory reader and optional textbooks are both available at the UWM
Bookstore and through online retailers.
 3

Exams
This course has two exams during the semester, both of which will consist of essay
questions. Students will receive questions in advance and may work on their
answers at home, but the exam will take place in class and is closed book.
Both exams will require students to support their answers with examples
covered in the course readings or lectures. Although each lecture’s Powerpoint will
be posted to the D2L course site, students must take comprehensive notes during
each lecture in order to do well on the exams. A guide to taking notes will be posted
in advance of each lecture. If you do not understand the significance of a work
presented in lecture, COME TO OFFICE HOURS or ASK IN CLASS.
Students who must miss an exam must notify the instructor in writing
BEFORE the exam and include documentation of the reason for the absence (e.g. a
doctor’s note if sick). Only unforeseen emergencies will be considered when
rescheduling an exam, and each student can only reschedule one exam for the whole
course. Vacations and other travel planned in advance are not considered excusable
circumstances for missing an exam. Students taking makeup exams will be emailed a
timed, take-home exam, which must be typed and which will be graded to a higher
standard than a regularly scheduled in-class exam.

Presentation
Students must sign up to present on a group of readings during the second part of
the course. Student presenters will lead class discussion on the day’s topics. More
details about this assignment will be forthcoming, but each student’s presentation
will be graded according to the following rubric.

Presentation Rubric
Understood and explained significance of the readings 10 pts
Communicated effectively 5 pts
Engaged fellow students 5 pts
Participated during other students’ presentations 5 pts
Total: 25 pts

Paper
Students will complete the paper in two parts.
In PART 1, students will select an object on display in the design galleries at
the Milwaukee Art Museum and write a rough draft of 3-4 double-spaced pages
analyzing the work and its historical significance. Students must also provide a list
of scholarly sources they have consulted or plan to consult in researching their
chosen object. Students will sign up for a due date to turn in their rough drafts and
make individual appointments to discuss their papers with the instructor.
In PART 2, students will expand their rough drafts into a 7-page (double-
spaced) research paper that makes a clear and well-supported argument about their
chosen object’s historical significance. Graduate students, who are taking the course
for graduate credit, will expand their rough drafts into a 15-page (double-spaced)
research paper that situates their chosen object within a larger historical context.
 4

Late papers will not be accepted. But students may ask for short extensions
IN ADVANCE in exceptional circumstances. I will grant individual extensions on a
case-by-case basis. Papers will be graded according to the following rubric:

Paper Rubric
Turned in rough draft and met with instructor to discuss it 5 pts
Successfully incorporated feedback from rough draft 5 pts
Clear argument 5 pts
Supported the argument with research and evidence 5 pts
Writing style (length, organization, tone, proofreading) 5 pts
Total: 25 pts

Attendance
Roll will be taken at every class meeting. Each student can miss up to three class
meetings without penalty, and students do not need to explain their absences. This
course does not grant excused absences, as every absence has adverse
consequences due to missed instruction. MORE THAN THREE ABSENCES from class
will result in an automatic F grade. If long-term absences are due to any excusable
circumstances, such as military deployment or illness (including mental illness),
please inform the instructor to discuss your options for continuing the course.

University Policies
For information regarding students with disabilities, religious observances, students
called to active military duty, incompletes, discriminatory conduct, academic
misconduct, complaint procedures, grade appeal procedures, and final exam
requirements, please visit http://www4.uwm.edu/secu/SyllabusLinks.pdf

Schedule of Class Meetings

Jan 26. Introduction: Disegno, Drawing, and Design

Jan 28. Vernacular Design vs. The State (Raizman, p. 17-33)

 Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, “An Indian Basket, Providence, Rhode Island, 1676”
 Darron Dean, “A Slipware Dish by Samuel Malkin: An Analysis of Vernacular
Design”

Feb 2. Entrepreneurial and Industrial Design (Raizman, p. 33-59)

 Adam Smith, “Of the Division of Labor”
 Mary Guyatt, “The Wedgwood Slave Medallion: Values in Eighteenth-Century
Design”
 John Styles, “Manufacturing, Consumption and Design in Eighteenth-Century
England”

Feb 4. No Class: Research Day

 5

Feb 9. Design Reform (Raizman, p. 59-88)

 Gottfried Semper, “Science, Industry, and Art”
 John Ruskin, “The Nature of Gothic”
 William Morris, “The Ideal Book”

Feb 11. Arts & Crafts and Aestheticism (Raizman, p.88-114)

 John Heskett, “The ‘American System’ and Mass-Production from Industrial
Design”
 Debora Silverman, “The 1900 Paris Exposition,” from Art Nouveau in Fin-de-
Siècle France
 Frank Lloyd Wright, “The Art and Craft of the Machine”

Feb 16 . From Art Nouveau to the Werkbund (Raizman, p. 116-118, 120-136,

148-150)
 Paul Greenhalgh, “Introduction to Modernism in Design”
 Adolf Loos, “Ornament and Crime”
 Hermann Muthesius and Henry van de Velde, “Werkbund Theses and
Antitheses”
 Nikolaus Pevsner, “The Modern Movement before Nineteen-fourteen,” from
Pioneers of Modern Design

Feb 18 . Embracing Industry in America and France (Raizman, p. 147-180)

 Nancy Troy, “The Coloristes and Charles-Edouard Jeanneret,” from
Modernism and the Decorative Arts in France
 Gillian Naylor, “From Workshop to Laboratory,” from Bauhaus Reassessed
 Nicolas Maffei, “The Search for an American Design Aesthetic: from Art Deco
to Streamlining”

Feb 23. First Exam

Feb 25 . Utopian Design (Raizman, p. 181-216)

 Matthew Denney, “Utility Furniture and the Myth of Utility, 1943-1948”
 Becky Conekin, “’Here is the Modern World Itself’ the Festival of Britain’s
Representations of The Future”

Mar 1. American, British, and Scandinavian Modernisms (Raizman, p. 214-253)

 Thomas Hine, “Populuxe”
 Susan E. Reid, “The Khrushchev Kitchen: Domesticating the Scientific-
Technological Revolution
 Reyner Banham, “All That Glitters is Not Stainless”

Mar 3. Postwar Design (Raizman, p.260-305)

 Robert Venturi, Denise Scott-Brown, and Steven Izenour, “A Significance for
A&P Parking Lots, or Learning from Las Vegas”
 Jean Baudrillard, “The Ecstasy of Communication”
 6

 Gert Selle, “There is No Kitsch, There is Only Design!”

Mar 8. Mass-Market Design (Raizman, p. 306-362)

 Ellen Lupton and J. Abbott Miller, “Deconstruction and Graphic Design:
History Meets Theory”
 P. Lloyd and D. Snelders, “What was Philippe Starck thinking of?”
 Bibi Bakara-Yusuf, “Fabricating Identities: Survival and the Imagination in
Jamaican Dancehall Culture”

Mar 10. Museum Visit

Mar 15-17. No Class: Spring Break

Mar 22. Postmodernism (Raizman, p. 367-400)

 R. Buckminster Fuller, “Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth”
 Vance Packard, “How to Outmode a $4,000 Vehicle in Two Years,” from The
Waste Makers
 Victor Papanek, “Do-It-Yourself Murder: the Social and Moral Responsibility
of the Designer,” from Design for the Real World

Mar 24. Sustainability (Raizman, p. 362-366, 389-391)

 Joel Makower, John Elkington, and Julia Hailes, “Introduction, The Green
Consumer Supermarket Guide”
 Nicky Gregson and Louise Crewe, “Redefining Rubbish: Commodity Disposal
and Sourcing”
 William McDonough, “The Hannover Principles: Design for Sustainability”

Mar 29. Second Exam

Mar 31. Student Presentations: The State of the Field of Design History
 Fran Hannah and Tim Putnam, “Taking Stock in Design History”
 Clive Dilnot, “The State of Design History, Part 1: Mapping the Field”

April 5 . Student Presentations: Defining Design History

 John A. Walker, “Design History and the History of Design”
 Victor Margolin, “Design History or Design Studies: Subject Matter and
Methods”
 Jonathan M. Woodham, “Resisting Colonization: Design History Has Its Own
Identity”

April 7 . Student Presentations: Material Culture

 Dick Hebdige, “Object as Image: The Italian Scooter Cycle”
 Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Eugene Rochtberg-Halton, “The Most Cherished
Objects in the Home”
 Ruth Schwartz Cowan, “How the Refrigerator Got Its Hum”
 7

April 12. Student Presentation: Craft

 Paul Greenhalgh, “The History of Craft”
 Jean M. Burks, “Faith, Form and Finish: Shaker Furniture in Context”

April 14. Student Presentations: Gender Part I

 Judy Attfield, “FORM/female FOLLOWS FUNCTION/male: Feminist Critiques
of Design”
 Penny Sparke, “The Architect’s Wife,” Introduction to As Long As Its Pink
 Pat Kirkham, “Humanizing Modernism: The Crafts, ‘Functioning Decoration,’
and the Eamses”

April 19. Student Presentations: Gender Part II

 Christopher Breward, “’In London’s maze’: the pleasures of fashionable
consumption,” from The Hidden Consumer
 Andrew Bengry-Howell and Christine Griffin, “Self-Made Motormen: The
Material Construction of Working-class Masculine Identities through Car
Modification,”

April 21. Student Presentations: Theories of Consumption

 Karl Marx, “The Fetishism of the Commodity and its Secret,” from Capital
 Thorstein Veblen, “Conspicuous Consumption,” from The Theory of the
Leisure Class
 Roland Barthes, “Myth Today, The New Citroen, and Plastic,” from Mythologies
 Pierre Bourdieu, “Introduction” and “The Sense of Distinction,” from Distinction:
A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste

April 26. Student Presentations: Consumption and Minority Histories

 Alison Clarke, “’Parties Are the Answer’: The Ascent of the Tupperware
Party,”
 Robert E. Weems, Jr. “The Revolution Will be Marketed: American
Corporations and Black Consumers during the 1960s”

April 28. Student Presentations: Media Part I

 Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”
 Steven Heller, “Advertising, Mother of Graphic Design”

May 3. Student Presentations: Media Part II

 Emma Ferry, “’Decorators May Be Compared to Doctors’: An Analysis of
Rhoda and Agnes Garrett’s Suggestions for House Decoration in Paintings,
Woodwork, and Furniture (1876)”
 Liz Linthicum, “Integrative Practice: Oral History, Dress and Disability
Studies”
 Jeremy Aynsley and Kate Forde, “Introduction” to Design and the Modern
Magazine
 8

May 5. Student Presentations: Imperialism Part I

 David Crowley, “Finding Poland in the Margins: The Case of Zakopane Style”
 Tracey Avery, “Furniture Design and Capitalism: Negotiating Relationships
between Britain and Australia, 1880-1901
 Gennifer Weisenfeld, “’From Baby’s First Bath’: Kao Soap and Modern
Japanese Commercial Design”

May 10. Student Presentations: Imperialism Part II

 Jeanne Van Eeden, “Land Rober and Colonial-Style Adventure”
 Paul B. Bick and Sorina Chiper, “Swoosh Identity: Recontextualizations in
Haiti and Romania”

May 12. Final Papers Due