Spring 2022 - HUM 222 D100

Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Art (3)

Class Number: 7206

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Jan 10 – Apr 11, 2022: Fri, 2:30–5:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Exam Times + Location:

    Apr 26, 2022
    Tue, 7:00–10:00 p.m.
    Burnaby

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Art as viewed through the history of art forms, ideas, material culture, and/or literature. Breadth-Humanities.

COURSE DETAILS:


This course introduces students to the study of art from different regions in the world and to ways of approaching art critically, historically, and through different cultural perspectives. In our analyses, we will pay attention to the formal qualities of artworks, the development of artistic genres and traditions of art history, contexts of production and reception, and the cross-cultural encounters between artists of different times and spaces—from Botticelli and Vermeer to Frida Kahlo, Pan Yuliang, and Bill Reid. Our discussions will combine traditional methods of analysis of art history (i.e., connoisseurship, iconography and formalism) with multidisciplinary approaches from cultural and critical theory.

The course will consist of four modules, focusing on post-antiquity:

  1. From the figurative art of late medieval Europe, especially Gothic and Byzantine artifacts, to the illusionism of Renaissance Art (Early and High) and post-Renaissance Art (Mannerism and the Baroque) in Italy, the Iberian Peninsula, as well as in the Netherlandish, Flemish, and German masters.
  2. From the developments of Neo-classicism and Northern European Romanticism to French Realism, the role of photography, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, but also a few examples of the transformations of European art in North America in the 19th and early 20th
  3. From the different artistic worldviews of Africa, Latin America, and Oceania—traditions steeped in indigenous and non-Western understandings of space, time, dwelling, and in the relation of communities to the natural and spiritual world—to the aesthetic values and genres that developed throughout the long history of Imperial China (ritual art, Buddhist art, ink painting, landscape, and literati painting) alongside a few examples from Japan.
  4. The last chapter of our discussions will focus on a few examples from the modern and contemporary world, ranging from Cubism, Surrealism and Expressionism to Modern Realism and Abstract Art, in order to consider the challenges brought on by late modernity, the increasingly dominating role of commodification and the international market, the worldview of Indigenous art, and the influences of feminism and Black culture.

The course will appeal to students who are interested in how artworks from different periods have set the stage for the development of modern visual culture and how critical theory has approached questions about aesthetics, representation, the production of taste, and the gaze. But also, quite simply, students who want to be introduced to the enjoyment of art!

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

Through in-class discussions and a range of written assignments, students will be able to sharpen their critical skills, and, at the end of the course:

  1. Demonstrate an understanding of the historical development of artistic forms within and across different cultural traditions (Europe, the Americas, East Asia, Africa, Oceania, Indigeneity).
  2. Use the basic methodological approaches to the study of art history.
  3. Demonstrate familiarity of the terminology and concepts developed in the field of art studies.
  4. Interpret and discuss works of art through the different perspectives of art theory, cultural studies, and critical theory.

This course fits all four Humanities concentrations.

Grading

  • Attendance and Active Participation 10%
  • Canvas Posts (4X5%) 20%
  • Paper 20%
  • Midterm 20%
  • Final Exam 30%

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

We will work on slides presented in class.

Canvas: Articles on art history and art theory provided by the instructor.


RECOMMENDED READING:

Donaldo Preziosi, Art of Art History: A Critical Anthology                      Oxford UP, 2009
(available online through the SFU library:
https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/lib/sfu-ebooks/detail.action?docID=453635)

Fred Kleiner, Gardner’s Art through the Ages: A Concise Global History           
                                                                                                    Wadsworth Publishing, 2016


Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

SFU’s Academic Integrity web site http://www.sfu.ca/students/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating.  Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.

Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the University community.  Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the University. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the University. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html

TEACHING AT SFU IN SPRING 2022

Teaching at SFU in spring 2022 will involve primarily in-person instruction, with safety plans in place.  Some courses will still be offered through remote methods, and if so, this will be clearly identified in the schedule of classes.  You will also know at enrollment whether remote course components will be “live” (synchronous) or at your own pace (asynchronous).

Enrolling in a course acknowledges that you are able to attend in whatever format is required.  You should not enroll in a course that is in-person if you are not able to return to campus, and should be aware that remote study may entail different modes of learning, interaction with your instructor, and ways of getting feedback on your work than may be the case for in-person classes.

Students with hidden or visible disabilities who may need class or exam accommodations, including in the context of remote learning, are advised to register with the SFU Centre for Accessible Learning (caladmin@sfu.ca or 778-782-3112) as early as possible in order to prepare for the spring 2022 term.