Syllabus

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Winter 2015
Frederick Gross
Arnold Hall, Suite 125
(912) 525-6010
Monday 10:30 - 12:00
Wednesday 10:30 - 12:00
fgross@scad.edu
ARNOLD 109
Tuesday / Thursday
11:00 AM - 1:30 PM

School of Liberal Arts, Department of Art History, Savannah

ARTH 207 - 20th-century Art

Section: 08 CRN: 21159

SCAD Mission:
The Savannah College of Art and Design exists to prepare talented students for professional careers, emphasizing learning
through individual attention in a positively oriented university environment.
Course Description:
Driven by the concept of the avant-garde, art in the 20th century breaks radically from tradition into the myriad possibilities of
art in a pluralistic era. This course follows these developments through studying the theories and styles that redefine the role
of the artist and the very nature of art from the Modern to Post-Modern periods and beyond. Prerequisite(s): ARTH 110, ENGL
123.
Course Goals: The following course goals articulate the general objectives and purpose of this course:
1. Students will gain an understanding of the art of the 20th century.
2. Students will develop their ability to write critically and analyze works of art on both formal and conceptual levels.
3. Students will learn how to gather and synthesize art historical research.
Student Learning Outcomes: The following course outcomes indicate competencies and measurable skills that students
develop as a result of completing this course:
1. Students will employ a vocabulary of visual characteristics to distinguish the artistic movements of the twentieth
century and examine the cultural contexts of the artists and works.
2. Students will conduct research relying on both traditional library research and electronic research.
3. Students will effectively communicate through written means using visual analysis, correct terminology and an
understanding of the cultural context while demonstrating the application of the Chicago/Turabian style to written
work.
4. Students will effectively communicate through informal presentations, group discussions and formal
presentations.

Schedule of Classes:
Key events including assignments, projects due dates/exam dates:

Class 1:

The Development of Modernism and the Avant-Garde

Arnason, Chapters 1-3.

Class 2:

The Origins of Modern Sculpture; Gauguin and Primitivism; Paris and Montmartre
Arnason, Ch. 5.

Class 3:

Fauvism; German Expressionism: Die Brcke

Arnason, Ch. 6.
AiT, 93-102.
Expressionist Film: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Class 4:

German Expressionism: Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), Cubism

Arnason, Ch. 7.
Wassily Kandinsky, from Concerning the Spiritual in Art,1911, 82.
AiT, various selections, 184-200.

Class 5:

European responses to Cubism: Futurism, Orphism

Arnason, Ch. 9, to 197.
AiT, F.T. Marinetti, 146; U. Boccioni, 150; K. Malevich, 292-93; N. Punin, 336.
Film: Martin Scorsese, "Picasso and Braque go to the Movies"

Class 6:

The Russian avant-garde: Suprematism, Constructivism and the Machine Aesthetic

Arnason, Chapter 9, 198-211.
Film: Dziga Vertov, The Man with the Movie Camera

Class 7:

De Stijl, and The Bauhaus.

Arnason, Chs. 12 and 13.
AiT, Walter Gropius, The Theory and Organization of the Bauhaus, 309; Various
selections concerning Dada, 250-260.
Film: "The Face of the Twentieth Century: Bauhaus"

Class 8:

Exam I

Class 9:

Dada and Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity)

Arnason, Chapter 10.
Film: Metropolis Otto Dix, The Object is Primary, AiT 408.

Class 10:

Surrealism
Arnason, Ch. 14.
AiT 442-467, various selections concerning Surrealism: Trotsky, Breton.
Film: "The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo"

Class 11:

Regionalists and Social Realists; Abstract Expressionism.

Arnason, Chs. 15, 16.
AiT, 557-573; 589; Grant Wood, 435.
Clement Greenberg, "Avant-Garde and Kitsch"

Class 12:

Neo-Dada and Assemblage. First (short) Paper Due.

Arnason, Ch. 19, 456-465, 483-486.
Film, "The Cool School"
AiT, John Cage, On Robert Rauschenberg, Artist and his work, 734.

Class 13:

Pop Art and Nouveau Realisme

Arnason, Ch. 18, 19 466-481.
AiT, 724, 729-757
Film: Andy Warhol Documentary

Class 14:

Abstraction and Minimalism in the 1960s

Arnason, Ch. 20.
AiT, Michael Fried, from Three American Painters, 787.
AiT, 820-828.

Class 15:

Art of the Seventies: Conceptual Art, Performance, Feminism

Arnason, Ch. 22.
AiT, 877; Lea Vergine, from The Body as Language, AiT 906; Bruce Nauman,
Interview AiT 910.

Class 16:

Process Art, Earthworks

Arnason, Ch. 23.
AiT, Smithson, A Sedimentation of the Mind, 877.
Documentary Film: Christo and Jeanne-Claude, "Running Fence"

Class 17:

Figurative Art, Photorealism, Art and Racial Politics

Arnason, Ch. 22, 581-586. Ch. 23, 610-627.
Documentary Film: Louise Bourgeois.

Class 18:

Postmodernism I: Photography, Gender and Appropriation. Second Paper Due.

Arnason, ch. 24 658-663.
AiT, Hal Foster, 1037; Kruger, 1041; Krauss, from The Originality of the Avant-Garde
in AiT, 1032.

Class 19:

Postmodernism II: Neo-Expressionism, Graffiti and Cartoon Artists, Installation,

Neo-Geo; Into the 1990s
Arnason, Ch. 25-27.
Peter Halley, Nature and Culture, in AiT, 1042.
Haim Steinbach, Jeff Koons, at. al., From Criticism to Complicity, AiT 1051.
Film: "Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child"

Class 20:

Final Exam.

Grading Opportunities:
Your overall course grade will be computed according to the following breakdown:
Assignment

Weight

Participation

5.000percent

short thesis/visual analysis paper

15.000percent

First Exam

25.000percent

Second (research) paper, 6-8 pages

25.000percent

Final Exam

30.000percent

Grading Standards

Range

Letter grade: A = excellent

90 100 %

Letter grade: B = good

80 89 %

Letter grade: C = *

70 79 %

Letter grade: D = *

60 69%

Letter grade: F = failing

0 59%

*Refer to the student handbooks and departmental standards for minimal acceptance for passing grade.

Course Information:
Field Trip(s):
SCAD Museum exhibitions

Extra Help Session(s):

By appointment, on request.

Extended Learning Opportunities:

Extended Learning Opportunities
DeFine Art
Feb. 1719
DeFine Art Performance
Finger Circus: Animals
Feb. 17, 7:00 p.m., SCAD Museum of Art Theater
DeFine Art Keynote Lecture
Xu Bing
Feb. 18, 6:00 p.m., Trustees Theater
DeFine Art Performance
Mwangi Hutter
Feb. 19, 7:30 p.m., SCAD Museum of Art Theater
PULSE Art + Technology Festival, Telfair Museums

Jan. 1625
PULSE Opening Lecture
Katja Loher
Jan. 21, 6 p.m., Jepson Center
PULSE Free Family DayJan. 24, Jepson Center
Visual Blues Opening Lecture
Feb. 5, 6.p.m., Jepson Center
Margaret Rose Vendryes
Georgia History Festival's Free Super Museum Sunday
Feb. 8, Various locations
http://georgiahistory.com/media-events/georgia-history-festival/super-museum-sunday/
TADtad
"Sketching: Ideation, Pentimenti & Processes"
Feb. 27, 1:30 3:30 p.m., SCAD Museum of Art Theater
In Living Color Opening Lecture
Jordan D. Schnitzer
Mar. 5, 6.p.m., Jepson Center

Other Course Information:

Laptop computers must be closed during class. Headphones may not be worn during class, and please turn off your cell
phones before class begins. Operating cell phones/Texting during class is not permitted.
You are responsible for any class material missed due to absence. Please obtain any missed material or information
from a classmate.
Sleeping in class will not be tolerated, and will seriously affect your participation grade.

Course Materials:
Required Text(s):
1. Arnason, H. H. History of Modern Art, 7th edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2009. Isbn #
978-0205259489.
Students can buy access to the Arnason eText directly through
www.mysearchlab.com.
This will also give you all of the resources of the site: powerpoints, flash cards, essay writing help, etc.
2. Harrison, Charles & Paul Wood eds., Art in Theory 1900-2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas. Oxford UK &
Cambridge USA: Blackwell, c.1998. Isbn # 978-0631227083.

Recommended Text(s):
Please note the following are recommended readings only. All students are expected to independently research their own
material in books, journals, online and through video archives. Basic readings intended primarily as an overview will be
assigned for each class but it is expected that the student actively utilize the resources at the Jen Library and through Inter
Library Loans (ILL). The ability to carry out your own independent research will not only compliment and reinforce material
covered in the lectures it will also enable you to provide positive and informative contributions during class discussions.

Reference texts
Barnet, Sylvan. A Short Guide to Writing about Art. 10th ed. New York: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2010. ISBN-13:
978-0205708253 8
Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and
Researchers. 7th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007. ISBN-13: 978-0226823379.

Required Material(s):
Two blue or green books must be purchased at Ex Libris bookstore for the exams.

University Policies:
Academic Integrity:
Under all circumstances, students are expected to be honest in their dealings with faculty, administrative staff and other
students.
In class assignments, students must submit work that fairly and accurately reflects their level of accomplishment. Any work
that is not a product of the student's own efforts is considered dishonest. Students must not engage in academic
dishonesty; doing so can have serious consequences.
Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, the following:
1. Cheating, which includes, but is not limited to, (a) the giving or receiving of any unauthorized assistance in producing
assignments or taking quizzes, tests or examinations; (b) dependence on the aid of sources including technology beyond
those authorized by the instructor in writing papers, preparing reports, solving problems or carrying out other assignments;
(c) the acquisition, without permission, of tests or other academic material belonging to a member of the university faculty
or staff; or (d) the use of unauthorized assistance in the preparation of works of art.
2. Plagiarism, which includes, but is not limited to, the use, by paraphrase or direct quotation, of the published or
unpublished work of another person without full and clear acknowledgment. Plagiarism also includes the unacknowledged
use of materials prepared by another person or agency engaged in the selling of term papers or other academic materials.
3. Submission of the same work in two or more classes without prior written approval of the professors of the classes
involved.
4. Submission of any work not actually produced by the student submitting the work without full and clear written
acknowledgement of the actual author or creator of the work.
Attendance and Personal Conduct:
Only students who are properly registered for a course may attend and participate in that class. Students are expected to
attend and participate in all scheduled classes and examination periods. Absences in excess of four class periods per
quarter, or 20 percent of the course, result in the student receiving a failing grade for the course. Tardiness, early
departure or other time away from class in excess of 15 minutes per class session is considered absence for the class session.
The student's appearance and conduct should be appropriate and should contribute to the academic and professional
atmosphere of SCAD. The university reserves the right at its sole discretion to withdraw the privilege of enrollment from
any student whose conduct is detrimental to the academic environment or to the well-being of other students, faculty or
staff members, or to the university facilities.
Enrollment policies:
Students are responsible for assuring proper enrollment. See the SCAD catalog for information on add/drop, withdrawals,
incompletes, and academic standing.
Midterm Conference(s):
Each student enrolled in the course will have a midterm conference scheduled outside of class time with the professor.
Students are expected to keep this appointment.
Academic Support and Tutoring:
Academic support for students at all SCAD locations can be found in MySCAD, under the Student Workspace tab,
Department Directory, Academic Resources.
Course Evaluations:
SCAD offers students the opportunity to evaluate all scheduled courses during each quarter term. Student feedback is
essential to continuously improve academic services at SCAD. Evaluations will be available the end of each quarter at the
beginning of Week 8 and must be completed online by the Monday following Week 10. A sample course evaluation for
on-ground courses is available here.
In order to access course evaluations, the student should take the following steps:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Log on to MySCAD
Click on the Student Workspace Tab
Locate the Course Evaluations link under My Courses channel
This will bring up a page that says current surveys and lists all the courses that are currently available for evaluation.

For more information or questions, contact us at evaluations@scad.edu.

Student Surveys:
The SCAD Student Survey and the Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory will both be administered in Week 6 of
spring quarter . SCAD's office of institutional effectiveness is responsible for gathering and delivering survey results to
decision-makers on campus. For more information or questions, contact us at surveys@scad.edu.
Please refer to the college catalog or the student handbook for all college policies and procedures.