ART HIST 4V03: Seminar Presentations

Seminar presentations begin next week. The following indicates the order of presentations by date:

March 4: Nikkie, Alicia
March 11: Brandon, Chris, Adam
March 18: Kimberly, Natalia, Payge
March 25: Lene, Alexandra, Mera
April 1: Caitlin, Daniela

If your name does not appear on this list please contact me asap.

NOTE. ALL students are expected to be present for all seminar presentations. Your participation will be noted.

GD

ART HIST 3D03: Assignment

As noted in lecture, the 3D03 assignment will require you to evaluate an 'undergraduate paper'. The following will provide details on you should proceed along with a link to access the paper online.

HOW TO PROCEED:

Begin by accessing the five-page essay on Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Teresa here:

http://gdavies3.wix.com/sotaarthistory#!art-hist-4e03-readings/c16wt

Read the paper carefully. Consider the author's treatment of the subject and evaluate the quality of the paper in terms of content, style, organization and technical presentation (spelling, grammar). Note that the student (Alan Smithee) was instructed to write a five-page, double-spaced paper on a work by Bernini. The student was also instructed to include a cover page, title, footnotes and bibliography. Once you have read the paper you should proceed to write a three-page response to the author indicating the grade you have assigned for the essay and an explanation of the paper's strengths and weaknesses.

TIPS:

When writing your three-page evaluation you may find it useful to adopt the following format:

1. Begin with a short paragraph addressing the author of the essay (Alan Smithee) and indicating the grade you have assigned. You might wish to state that the reasons for the assigned grade will follow.

2. Walk your reader through a paragraph-by-paragraph summation of the paper's weaknesses and strengths. In light of the fact that your evaluation is short YOU MAY USE POINT FORM TO SUMMARIZE YOUR COMMENTS ON EACH PARAGRAPH. Be brief yet comprehensive. Remember that you are attempting to demonstrate your ability to detect as many of the essay's issues as possible. For clarity you might wish to group your comments under headings (Paragraph 1, Paragraph 2, etc.). Point form summaries may be presented using single spaced text.

3. Provide a very brief conclusion summing up your general feelings out the paper. A few lines should suffice.

Your finished assignment is due in class on March 6, 2014. Please ensure that your name and student number are clearly indicated on each page (top right-hand corner). Should you experience any problems accessing the essay at the above link please notify me at my email addresss: gdavies@mcmaster.ca

  

Albright-Knox Day Trip

The Albright-Knox day trip is coming up next week (Tuesday Feb., 18). I am just finalizing the driver and passenger list (below). There are three available seats at this time. Please check the list below. If you are not on the list and wish to go please let me know ASAP (gdavies@mcmaster.ca):

CAR 1

Hannah 
Sam
Elayne
Evan

CAR 2

Paul
Sylvia
Vanja
Monica

CAR 3 (Can take 1 more passenger)

Jean
Randy
Lene

CAR 4 (Can take 2 more passengers)

Maureen
Ralph

This post is also on Slippers's Picks:  https://www.facebook.com/SlippersPicks

ART HIST 3D03: Assignment

The ART HIST 3D03 assignment (due March 6, in class) will require you to evaluate a short essay on Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Teresa. I am preparing the essay at this time and will post it later this week. We will be discussing the requirements for the assignment in depth in class and details will also be outlined here on the blog when the essay is made accessible.

GD

ART HIST 3I03: Assignment

School of the Arts

McMaster University

ITALIAN PAINTING & SCULPTURE, 1400-1580

ART HIST 3I03, Term II, 2014

MANNERISM

Location: TSH B106

Course Instructor: Greg Davies

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT

DATE DUE: March 10, 2014 (in class). Please note that late papers will not be accepted unless accompanied by a physician’s note and will otherwise automatically receive a grade of zero.

            Walter Friedlaender’s Mannerism and Anti-Mannerism in Italian Painting is regarded as a pioneering work of modern scholarship on 16^th-century art. The apparent logic and clarity of the author’s argument continue to appeal to those who seek to define Mannerism more than eighty years after his first published work on the topic.

            The core of Friedlaender’s argument rests on the polemical distinction drawn between Mannerist painting and the Baroque art that followed (emerging around 1590) as well as the High Renaissance art that preceded Mannerism. To illustrate the difference Friedlaender famously defines Mannerist painting as ‘anticlassical’ in style, thereby distinguishing it from the styles of High Renaissance and Baroque art (the ‘anti-mannerist’ style) at the same time. As Donald Posner has suggested (in his Forward to the current edition of the text) Friedlaender’s choice of the expression ‘anticlassical’ has a “special connotation” for the author who associates the term “with other artistic phenomena that were not wholly or at all in sympathy with High Renaissance classicism” (p. xvi).  This line of thinking offers a formulation of Mannerism quite distinct from the definitions offered by others such as John Shearman, who sees Mannerist art in terms of continuity rather than revolt.

            In light of these observations you are asked to assess Friedlaender’s definition. Is his formulation of Mannerism as ‘anticlassical’ style correct? Determine an answer to this question and defend your point of view in a short critique of 3 - 4 written pages (750 - 1000 words, double spaced + cover page).

Note: References to texts used should follow the Chicago Style of citation. Footnotes OR endnotes may be used. Please append a bibliography if citations are made.

ART HIST 3I03: Test Study Images

In preparation for the 3I03 test (Feb., 10, in class), I am providing you with a list of works from which two will be selected. This list is limited exclusively to Mannerist works from the 16th century. Remember that the test will consist of two questions at 15 minutes each. For each question one work from the list below will be presented. These will be identified for you during the test.

Parmigianino, Madonna of the Long Neck
Jacopo Pontormo, Deposition
Rosso Fiorentino, Descent From the Cross
Agnolo Bronzino, Eleanor of Toledo and Her Son
Agnolo Bronzino, An Allegory
Agnolo Bronzino, Cosimo I de' Medici as Orpheus
Parmigianino, Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror
Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Rudolph II as Vertumnus
Giulio Romano, Palazzo del Te (Mantua), exterior
Giulio Romano, Room of the Giants, Palazzo del Te (Mantua)
Giambologna, Rape of the Sabines

ART HIST 4E03: At the MMA today

Hello everyone,

Just a reminder that the 4E03 class will be meeting at the McMaster Museum of Art this morning (not TSH 321). I will meet you in the MMA lobby at 11:30 am. We'll be looking at the following works (time permitting):

Gerhard Richter, Isa (oil on canvas, 1990)
Pablo Picasso, Blind Minotaur led by a Little Girl in the Night (aquatint and etching, 1934)
William Kurelek, Dinnertime on the Praries (oil on masonite, 1963)

See you there!