ARTH 1441:

Historical Survey
of the Arts:
Renaissance to
Modern
Professor: Darius A. Spieth
Art History Program
LSU School of Art

Outline Lecture 1

Welcome
Where to find answers
Syllabus/Requirements/Technical
Support
What is Art History?
A short history of the idea of
Modernism

Where to find answers

Print out and Read the Syllabus! (It will answer

almost any question you might have)
Class materials will be posted on Moodle (This
includes Syllabus & my PowerPoint Presentation)
Grades will be posted on Moodle
For computer/technical problems call the IT Help
Desk (578-0100). We cannot help with
computer or software problems!
Office hours/Open Door policy
Come to class! Take notes!
Textbook issue

Where to find answers:

Moodle

Requirements

3 Exams, each worth 20% of grade; 60% of final

grade for all three exams
2 Written Assignment, each worth 10%; 20% of
final grade for two papers
20 unannounced quizzes (clicker questions) over
the course of the semester; the 5 lowest scores will
be dropped; 20 % of final grade (.75% per question)
Make-up exams are no entitlement! (require
official, written documentation; recognition of
documentation is entirely at the discretion of
professor! Avoid!)
NO I grades!

3 Exams

Non-cumulative
Multiple-choice:
20 Identifications (taken
from Essential Works
posted weekly on Moodle) +
5 Associations (art historical
terminology/vocabulary;
underlined terms in
PowerPoints)
Need to purchase large
(letter-size) Scantrons
Keep Scantrons in envelope
at all times for protection

What to study? How to

study?

Your primary study materials for this class are

my PowerPoint lectures posted on Moodle
Underlined Terms in PowerPoint lectures and
lists Essential Works (ca. 20/lecture), posted
on Moodle, allow you to narrow down
materials to study for exams
Keep up with materials throughout the
semester, attend class, cramming the day
before the exam wont do you any good!
Consider flashcards

Paper #1

Paper #1:
Due date: Sept. 9
2 pages long (no less, no more!), double-spaced, 12 pt. font size, standard margin
Topic: Peasants and the Rural Life in Art. Select one artwork shown in class
(or one that you have discovered on your own), that is suitable for the subject.
Paper should focus on visual content (what you see, the story that is embedded
in the visual information): historical, social, aesthetic context (when and where
was the work created and why at this time and place)
Examples:
Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Peaceful Country, from Effects of Good Government in
the City and in the Country, Sala della Pace, Palazzo, Pubblicco, Siena, 13381339, fresco
Jacob van Ruisdael, View of Haarlem from the Dunes at Overveen, ca. 1670,
oil on canvas
David Teniers (although not covered in class, feel free to discover one of this
Golden Age painters compositions by yourself)
Louis Le Nain, Family of Country People, ca. 1640, oil on canvas
Jean-Franois Millet, The Gleaners, 1857, oil on canvas
Dont forget: Your name, title of paper, staple paper before handing it in

Paper #1:
Examples of Suitable
Subjects

Paper #2

Paper #2:
Due date: Nov. 9
2 pages long (no less, no more!), double-spaced, 12 pt. font size, standard margin
Topic: Analysis of one artwork by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (17801867). Select, research, and analyze an artwork by Ingres of your own choice.
Paper should focus on visual content (what you see, the story that is embedded in
the visual information): historical, social, aesthetic context (when and where was the
work created and why at this time and place)
Address the following points:
Introduction paragraph: Who was Ingres? Why is the work you selected typical for
Ingres and his times?
What subject matter is depicted? If the painting (or drawing, or print) has a
narrative, summarize it shortly. What compositional choices did Ingres make to
depict the subject?
What was the purpose and the historical context for the creation of the work? (For
example, was it commissioned for a specific building, or for a specific occasion?)
On Nov. 11, Henri Zerner, Prof. Emeritus from Harvard University, will deliver a lecture
at LSU on Ingres. Students in ARTH 1441 are strongly encouraged to attend and will
receive bonus points for doing so.
Dont forget: Your name, title of paper, staple paper before handing it in

Paper #2:
Examples of Works by
Ingres

WARNING!

Papers MUST be written on the subjects assigned. If you fail to

address the subjects, the paper will automatically be assigned
an F grade!
Beware that copying and pasting text passages from the
internet and passing them on as your own work constitutes
PLAGIARISM, which will be treated accordingly (grade of 0 for
assignment, see Sanctions for Academic Misconduct as outlined
in: https://sites01.lsu.edu/wp/lsuonline/files/2013/08/AcademicIntegrity-Orientation-Moodle-Module.pdf).
Papers are NOT group work! Do not share your paper (your
intellectual property) with other students in class (especially,
do not send paper electronically, if you are asked for a sample
by a friend or classmate) to avoid the risk of your work being
inadvertently plagiarized (see sanctions, above).
Avoid just writing on one of the examples provided. Think for
yourself, find an artwork by yourself.

15 Clicker Questions
Besides being a painter, Peter Paul Rubens was also a
A.Janitor
B.Diplomat
Clicker

questions can appear at any time during a

lecture, starting next week
They cover materials from either the ongoing or the
previous lecture
Do NOT contact me with clicker-related questions;
contact the TA (on syllabus)
Set your clicker to Channel 41 for this classroom

15 Clicker Questions

Need to obtain a clicker, an electronic device registered

to your name through Moodle:
Clickers can be bought for about $40.00 at the bookstore
Limited supply of clickers available for checkout for the
duration of the semester at Middleton library (no charge)
If you know somebody who purchased a clicker before,
you can use that clicker, provided it is properly registered
under your name (System does not know Os, only 0s
or zeroes)
For more details, see Student Response System Clicker:
How To Purchase/Obtain a SRS Clicker:
http://grok.lsu.edu/Article.aspx?articleId=10620

Clicker Registering

Your clicker needs to be registered under your name for your answers
to be recorded
How to register your clicker:
Student Response System Clicker: Register
http://grok.lsu.edu/Article.aspx?articleId=10619
Demonstration on how to register your clicker at the beginning of the
next class period. Bring your clicker and your laptop computer to class
on that day (if you dont own a laptop computer, write down the steps
and register your clicker from a university-owned computer after class
If are experiencing technical problems with your clicker, have
questions regarding use, or if you missed the in-class demonstration
and dont know how to register the device, go to the Help Desk at
Middleton library. DO NOT CONTACT THE PROFESSOR OR THE TA
WITH TECHNICAL QUESTIONS REGARDING CLICKERS. CONTACT
THE STAFF AT THE HELP DESK!
Finally: DO NOT FORGET TO BRING YOUR CLICKER TO CLASS!!!

What is Art History?

What is art?

What is art
history?

What is Art History?

What is art?
Entire books written filled
with definitions of art by
more or less famous
people
Notion of art difficult to
define (more true than
ever in the 20th century)
What is art history?
Form of communication
Lending a voice to the
work of art, make it speak

Art History

By definition, Art History is inter-disciplinary:

Art
History
Literature
Geography
Political Events
Social Shifts
Intellectual History/History of Ideas (e. g.
Evolution of Science)
Technological Innovations, etc.

Art Historical Analysis:

An Example
Jacques-Louis David,
Death of Marat, 1793,
Oil on canvas
Formal analysis:
Spatial division
Colors
Horizontal/Vertical
emphasis
No interest content, but:
aids the orientation of
the viewer/helps clarity
of description
Figurative work of art

Art Historical Analysis:

An Example
Jacques-Louis David,
Death of Marat, 1793,
Oil on canvas
Iconography (Study of
the
content of images):
Who was Marat?
(Who was David?)
What event is
depicted?

Art Historical Analysis:

An Example
Jacques-Louis David,
Death of Marat,
1793,
Oil on canvas
Marat:
Journalist
Radical French
Revolutionary
Terrorist

Changing Definitions

Dictionary Definition
Terrorist (1820)
Partisan of the Terror
regime organized by
Robespierre, Marat and
other Deputies of the Party
of the Mountain
Those who voted for the
death of King Louis XVI in
1792
Anti-Monarchy, AntiAristocracy,
Republicanism, Democracy
David himself a politician
who voted for the death of
Louis XVI

Modernism

Characteristics of
Modernism
Poussin:
Ancient (i.e. not new)
Classical (going back to classical
history, i.e. Greece, Rome, their
history & mythology; illusionism
(window in the wall),
Renaissance perspective, high
degree of finish)
Pleasing and inoffensive (subject
matter and execution)
Artistic dogmatism and
orthodoxy (classical canon) (?)
Tradition
Routine (?)
Decadence (?)

Picasso:
New
Cubist (neologism having to do
with formal innovations: no
perspective, no pictorial illusion
intended, not finished)
Offensive both in terms of
subject matter (contemporary
prostitutes) and execution (lack
of finish)
Freedom of expression

Originality
Novelty
Progress (?)

Modernism

Everybody has a good idea what is

modern, what is ancient
But: notion can be difficult to pin down;
Problem is that these notions shift over
time
Left: Nicolas Poussin, Ed in Arcadia Ego
(c.1655)>Classicism (Ancient Greece,
Rome, tradition)
Right: Pablo Picasso, Demoiselles
dAvignon
(1907)>Cubism (Art as an Offense,
Avant-Garde)

Medieval View of
Modernism
When did it start?

The term itself mentioned since the 12th century

Latin modo: recently, just now; Controvers
John of Salisbury reports saying by Bernard de Chartres:
Moderns the dwarfs on the shoulders of giants (the ancients)
Controversy between the Ancients and the Moderns, 17th/early
18th-cent. France

Medieval View of
Modernism

We frequently know more, wrote John of Salisbury in the

Metalogicon, not because we have moved ahead by our own natural
ability, but because we are supported by the mental strength of others
and possess riches that we have inherited from our fathers. Bernard of
Chartres used to compare us to puny dwarves perched on the
shoulders of giants. We see more and farther than our predecessors,
not because we have keener vision or greater height, but because we
are lifted up and borne aloft on their gigantic stature.

Modernism

Renaissance: re-birth of classical antiquity ,

Renewal of art and learning, scientific
discoveries, humanism (world view centers
on human, not divine, perspective )>early
modern?
French Revolution of 1789: abolition of
aristocratic privileges, all men (and
women) are born with equal rights,
Republicanism (res publica=common
good), right to pursue happiness>political
advent of modernism

Modernism

1860s and 1870s: Mass-transportation, railway

system, consumer goods more accessible, leisure
time, large metropolitan centers expand,
Haussmannization in Paris, photography replaces
painting: a new role for art, radical break with
traditions, conventions of representation >
modernism in art: Impressionism, PostImpressionism, ultimately Cubism after 1907
Birth of the Avant-Garde (Advance Guard): art as
an agent for change in society, Utopias,
Socialism/
Communism, art needs to be radical, needs to be
ahead of its time

Modernism
Kasimir Malevich,
Suprematist Compositon:
White on White, c.1918,
Oil on canvas
Abstract art (early 20th
Century; term stands in
opposition to figurative art)
Abolition of recognizable
reality as a means to
promote
social change/ bring about
a universal world
revolution/
express spiritual renewal

Modernism

Modernism is one of the central themes in

this class
History of how artists viewed their role
with respect to their environment
(mentalities)
We will conclude with the criticism of the
modern condition formulated by artists
since
approximately the 1960s>Post-modernism