ART HIST 3D03: Test Study Images

The following images should be considered in preparation for the upcoming test. Be aware that the test will feature two images from this list. All of the images are reproduced in the course text. You will be required to identify the artist / architect, title and date(s) for each work presented during the test:

Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Cornaro Chapel [1.1]
Annibale Carracci, The Butcher's Shop [1.9]
Annibale Carracci, caricature heads [1.21]
Annibale Carracci, Galleria Farnese [1.31 & 1.32]
Annibale Carracci, Assumption of the Virgin [1.35]
Caravaggio, Bacchus [1.40]
Caravaggio, The Calling of St. Matthew [1.42]
Caravaggio, The Conversion of St. Paul [1.46]
Caravaggio, Victorious Cupid (Amor Vincit Omnia) [1.47]
Domenichino, Last Communion of St. Jerome [1.61]
Pietro da Cortona, Santa Maria dell Pace [1.79]
Francesco Borromini, San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane [1.82]
Francesco Borromini, San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, plan [1.83]
Francesco Borromini, Sant' Ivo alla Sapienza [1.86]
Francesco Borromini, Sant' Ivo alla Sapienza, plan [1.87]
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, David [1.93]
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Apollo and Daphne [1.94]
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Cardinal Scipione Borghese [1.96]
Stefano Maderno, Sta. Cecilia [1.106]
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Baldacchino [1.107]
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Tomb of Alexander VII [1.113]
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Cathedra Petri [1.114]
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Ecstasy of St. Teresa [1.116]
Pietro da Cortona, Allegory of Divine Providence [1.125]
Giovanni Battista Gaulli (Il Baciccio), The Glorification of the Holy Name of Jesus [1.136]

Career Talk for Art History Students! OCT. 9, 6:00 pm.

Mark your calendars for the following public talk:

Tuesday October 9, 6-8 pm., TSH 114

School of the Arts

presents

Joanne Latimer (Freelance Arts Writer):

For Love or Money: How to Make a Living with Your Art History Degree



All are welcome!

REMINDER: AMELIA JONES LECTURE TONIGHT!

Just a reminder... Tonight's Lecture:

Amelia Jones, Professor and Grierson Chair in Visual Culture, Department of Art History and Communication Studies at McGill University will present a lecture entitled "Queering Performance and Performing Queer: The Histrionic Performances of Nao Bustamante" on Wednesday September 26th at 7:30 pm in Burke Science B-135.

Do try to make it if you can!!

ART HIST 4E03: Readings and Questions (Mon. Oct. 1)

Hello everyone. The reading for Oct. 1 (available at the SOTA office) is:

Barry Wind, "'Great wonders of nature': Ribera and deformity," A Foul and Pestilent Congregation; Images of 'Freaks' in Baroque Art, (Aldershot, 1998), pp. 49-65.

As you read the text please consider the following questions:

1. The meaning or intention of the heads etched by Ribera is unclear. What does Barry Wind suggest?

2. What does he say with resect to the meaning of Ribera's portrait of Magdalena Ventura and his Clubfooted Boy?

3. What are the strengths and weaknesses of Wind's argument?

We will be addressing some questions with respect to previous reading (Daston and Park) so be prepared to consider both readings for the next class.

Friends of Art History Lecture: Amelia Jones

Amelia Jones, Professor and Grierson Chair in Visual Culture, Department of Art History and Communication Studies at McGill University will present a lecture entitled "Queering Performance and Performing Queer: The Histrionic Performances of Nao Bustamante" on Wednesday September 26th at 7:30 pm in Burke Science B-135.

Prof. Jones will also be available for a graduate student and faculty seminar gathering on September 26th at 2:30 in CNH 607b. The seminar will discuss Jones' essay "The Return of Feminism(s) and the Visual Arts, 1970/2009," published in Feminisms is still our name: seven essays on historiography and curatorial practices (Cambridge Scholars, 2010). You can obtain a pdf or printed copy of this essay from Debbie Lobban in CNH 619.

Prof. Jones' publications include the following books: Postmodernism and the En-Gendering of Marcel Duchamp (1994), Body Art/Performing the Subject (1998), Irrational Modernism: A Neurasthenic History of New York Dada (1994), and Self-Image: Technology, Representation, and the Contemporary Subject (2006). She is also editor of Contemporary Art, 1945-2003 (2005) and Feminism and Visual Culture Reader (2010).

Her visit to campus is sponsored by the Friends of Art History and the Graduate Studies and Feminist Research Program. Faculty and graduate students from History, GSFR and English and Cultural Studies have also been invited to the 2:30 seminar, which should last around an hour.

ART HIST 4E03: Readings and Questions for Monday

The assigned reading for next week's class (Monday Sept. 24) is:

Lorraine Daston and Katharine Park, "Wonders of Art, Wonders of Nature," Wonders and the Order of Nature 1150-1750, (Zone Books, 2001), pp. 255-301.

Please note that two photocopies of the text (Chapter 7 from the book) have been placed in the SOTA office for you to borrow and duplicate (recommended). Again I would ask that you borrow the readings for no more than 1- 2 hours so that others may have a chance to go over the material in a timely manner.

As you read the text please consider the follwing questions in preparation for next week's discussion:

1. What is the argument presented in this reading?

2. What do the authors say with respect to the issues of invention and imitation in the 16th and 17th centuries?

Please keep in mind that we will be returning to our discussion on Findlen's text when we next meet. You should consider the questions related to both texts.

ART HIST 3D03: Test and Essay Information

The following is a recap of the comments raised in class about the format for the test and essay.

Test:

The test (October 5, in class) will be 30 minutes in length with 2 questions at 15 minutes each. Each question will be accompanied by a projected image of a work from the lectures and readings. Only images featured in both will be presented. A study list including only those images for which you are responsible will be posted here on this blog one week in advance of the scheduled test date. You WILL be required to identify each of the two presented works by artist's name, title and dat(es) as given in the readings. I will be providing sample questions in class prior to the test so that you will better understand what to expect. The total value of the test will be 50 points (25 points per question).

Essay:

The essay (due in class November 2) will consist of a short monographic research paper (6-8 pages in length). For this paper you will need to discuss one particular work. You may chose to discuss a work (painting, sculpture, building, print, drawing) from an accessible collection (such as the McMaster Museum of Art) or one from a published source. Either way your selected work MUST be of the Italian or northern European Renaissance. Your essay discussion should offer the reader some insight into the significance of the work through a particular interpretation of the visual evidence provided by the work and the facts relating to the historic context in which it was produced and appreciated. To make the essay more manageable and interesting it is advised that you adopt a particular methodology for interpretation. For instance, if you were working on Gianlorenzo Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Teresa (this work is now off limits because it is being used as an example here) you might adopt, as your methodology, a political approach to interpreting the work as a form of religious propaganda. In an effort to make a strong case for your interpretation you would want to utilize the visual evidence of the bel composto to balance with the facts relating to the religious intersts of the Counter-Reformation in Rome

The body of the text (your written discussion) must be 6-8 pages in length (double-spaced, 12-point type). In ADDITION to this you must include a cover page with title, course name and number, instructor's name and due date. To this you must  ALSO ADD footnotes or endnotes and a bibliography. Reference images (figures) may be included at the end of the paper. If you choose to use footnotes please bear in mind that the actual discussion  MUST STILL EQUAL 5-6 full written pages.

Citation methods must follow the Chicago Style guidelines. A hardcopy of the essay assignment instructions will be distributed in class this week.

ART HIST 2I03: Test and Essay Information

The following is a recap of the comments raised in class about the format for the test and essay.

Test:

The test (October 10, in class) will be 30 minutes in length with 2 questions at 15 minutes each. Each question will be accompanied by a projected image of a work from the lectures and readings. Only images featured in both will be presented. A study list including only those images for which you are responsible will be posted here on this blog one week in advance of the scheduled test date. You WILL be required to identify each of the two presented works by artist's name, title and dat(es) as given in the readings. I will be providing sample questions in class prior to the test so that you will better understand what to expect. The total value of the test will be 50 points (25 points per question).

Essay:

The essay (due in class October 31) will consist of a short monographic research paper (5-6 pages in length). For this paper you will need to discuss one particular work. You may chose to discuss a work (painting, sculpture, building, print, drawing) from an accessible collection (such as the Art Gallery of Ontario) or one from a published source. Either way your selected work MUST be of the Italian or northern European Renaissance. Your essay discussion should offer the reader some insight into the significance of the work through a particular interpretation of the visual evidence provided by the work and the facts relating to the historic context in which it was produced and appreciated. To make the essay more manageable and interesting it is advised that you adopt a particular methodology for interpretation. For instance, if you were working on Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa (this work is now off limits because it is being used as an example here) you might adopt, as your methodology, a psychoanalytic approach to interpreting the painting as a form of self-portrait. In an effort to make a strong case for your interpretation you would want to utilize the visual evidence of the painting to balance with the facts relating to Leonardo and whatever useful ideas you might want to adopt from psychoanalytic theory to give weight to your interpretation. In another approach to the same painting you might look more specifically at Leonardo's technique. How does Leonardo's unique handling of paint lend to the striking qualities of the portrait proper? Here you might want to compare and contrast with other portraits of the time to demonstrate Leonardo's unique achievement. 

The body of the text (your written discussion) must be 5-6 pages in length (double-spaced, 12-point type). In ADDITION to this you must include a cover page with title, course name and number, instructor's name and due date. To this you must  ALSO ADD footnotes or endnotes and a bibliography. Reference images (figures) may be included at the end of the paper. If you choose to use footnotes please bear in mind that the actual discussion  MUST STILL EQUAL 5-6 full written pages.

Citation methods must follow the Chicago Style guidelines. A hardcopy of the essay assignment instructions will be distributed in class this week.

ART HIST 3D03 & 4E03: Borromini's Perspective at the Palazzo Spada, Rome

The 17th century was an age of curiosity. Artists and architects often went to considerable lengths to dazzle viewers and outshine the wonders of nature with their ingenuity. Francesco Borromini's forced perspective gallery at the Palazzo Spada is a brilliant example of such virtuosity. What do you think?

ART HIST 4E03: Readings & Questions for Monday Sept. 17

The guideline handout for the essay proposal, oral presentation and essay is currently available at the SOTA office (TSH 414). Please ask at the desk. With respect to the reading for next week (Monday Sept. 17) please note that I have changed the selection from the outline. The reading is now:

Paula Findlen, "Jokes of Nature and Jokes of Knowledge: The Playfulness of Scientific Discourse in early Modern Europe," Renaissance Quarterly. vol. XLIII, no. 2, (Summer 1990), pp. 292ff.

Please note that two photocopies of the text have been placed in the SOTA office for you to borrow and duplicate (recommended). As noted during this morning's seminar I would ask that you borrow the readings for no more than 1- 2 hours so that others may have a chance to go over the material in a timely manner. I suggest that you photocopy the text for yourself so that you can read it thoroughly. Please note that this journal publication is also available online through JSTOR. 

In preparation for next week's class I am asking you to consider the following questions in relation to the reading:

1. What is Findlen’s argument in this essay?

2. What, according to Findlen, were the uses of lusus (jokes) in 16th- and 17th-century scientific enquiry and discourse?

3. Findlen discusses Pliny’s thoughts on lusus naturae (jokes of nature). What were Pliny’s thoughts on this matter and why does Findlen draw the reader’s attention to his views?

4. The Jesuit polymath Athanasius Kircher is also mentioned. What were his particular views on lusus naturae and why are they mentioned in the course of Findlen’s discussion?

5. Findlen refers to a variety of optical illusions (mirrors and anamorphic images, for eg.) that were popular in the 17th century. Of what significance were these devices and illusory games according to Findlen?

6. Findlen’s essay deals with the interests of joking in the context of Renaissance and Baroque scientific culture. How might the period concepts of lusus naturae have played into (or have had an impact upon) art and art theory?

Please consider these questions and come to class prepared to respond.

On Education and Creativity

Sir Ken Robinson addresses the subjects of education and creativity. Every student should take a few minutes to watch this.