Clearly, I haven't gotten around to this in the way that I intended. Well my first step is going to be to use my resources and post some things that I wrote in my Art History classes at Williams. I will post it in a following post, and first I will outline the classes that I took for my major so you can see how it fit together. One question people often ask me is what my concentration was. We didn't really have to pick a concentration for the art history degree at Williams, which is why there isn't really a clear thread through my courses.
For this list, I consulted the spreadsheet (but of course, I'm an addict) that I made to help me keep track of my courses and which requirements they fulfilled.
Here are the requirements for the Williams Art History major, though I noticed that the requirements for the class of 2013 have changed just a bit from what they were when I was there. Here are the requirements for the major when I was a student:
Art History 102: Aspects of Western Painting
A year-long introduction to a history of some European and North American art, this course concentrates on three-dimensional media in the fall (architecture and sculpture) and two-dimensional media in the spring (painting, drawing, prints and photography). Even though the course focuses on Western art, it also explores interchanges among other cultures and the west, particularly in more recent times.
Both semesters cover the same chronological span, from Ancient Greeks to computer geeks. We organize the course in this unusual way not only to give students the grasp of history but also to heighten their ability to understand visual objects by coming to grips with only one artistic medium at a time. To train students to look carefully at art, we use the wealth of art resources in Williamstown: the Clark Art Institute, the Williams College Museum of Art and the Chapin Rare Book Library. Students spend time with, and sometimes even hold, original works of art. For the study of architecture we have a unique set of "Virtual Buildings," made expressly for this course, that approximate the experience of being in structures thousands of miles away.
Art History 104: Buddhist Visual Worlds
The richly decorated stupa gateways at Sanchi, the luscious wall paintings at Alchi, the serene Shakyamuni seated in the Sokkuram, and the glittering Phoenix Hall at the Byodoin are but a few of the diverse and dazzling sites we will study in Buddhist Visual Worlds. This introductory survey will begin by covering the origins of Buddhism in India and then trace the diffusion of the religion into Central Asia, China, Korea, Japan and Southeast Asia. Given the vast geographical and chronological ground to be covered, the material will be organized around the themes of transmission and transformation. This course will consider how Buddhist art and architecture were adopted and adapted by a variety of cultures. We will pay close attention to how rulers have used the religion and its art in their attempts to establish legitimate and prosperous governments. The importance of narrative art in the promulgation of Buddhism will be a reoccurring topic of discussion in this course. We will also examine the construction of the Buddha's body, including not only the iconography of Buddhahood, but also the variety of formal techniques artists used to represent the Buddha's divinity and wisdom. The spectacular pantheon of bodhisattvas and Buddhist deities will also be introduced. Another theme of the course will be the use of Buddhist art in the performance of rituals. We will thus consider eye-opening ceremonies, during which the image is animated with the divine presence, and other ritual activities that involve the use of imagery. Finally, consideration of the reception, interpretation, and creation of Buddhist images in the West will be woven throughout the semester.
Fall 2007 [Abroad in Siena, Italy]
Siena and Florence: Medieval to Renaissance
Spring 2008
Art History 224: Romanesque and Gothic Art and Architecture
The goal of this course is to survey the major works of ecclesiastical architecture, sculpture and stained glass produced in France between approximately 1050 and 1400. These works were not created in isolation from their surroundings; thus we will attempt to understand them not only stylistically, but also in their original functional, social, and sometimes even political settings. The course will emphasize the abbey church and the cathedral, the two major ecclesiastical buildings of this period, as heterogeneous entities that used architecture, sculpture, stained glass and other media, in conjunction with church ritual, to render their sacred spaces distinct from, and elevated above, the world outside. We will furthermore try to appreciate the special centrality of the abbey church and the cathedral in high medieval society. Sites for contact with God and for the development of advanced learning, they could also serve as critical determinants of local economic and political life, and as focuses of pilgrimage, trade, and international cultural exchange.
Art History 301: Methods of Art History
This course on art-historical method is designed to offer art history majors a historiographic overview of the discipline of art history, with a focus on developments of the present century. The course will survey the most influential concepts of the discipline, the evolving tasks it has set itself, and the methods it has adopted for executing them. Works of art will inevitably enter into our discussions, but the main objects of study will be texts about art, particularly texts about methods for a historical study of art. Topics include: concepts of the discipline; style and periodication; iconography, semiotics, and deconstructionl; the social functions of images and the social history of art; gender and sexuality; and art history as representation.
Fall 2008
Art History 463: The Holocaust Visualized [This was my senior seminar]
This seminar will examine how memories of the Holocaust have been conveyed through visual means and consider what historical, cultural and political circumstances have caused various nations to remember the Holocaust differently. We will discuss the issues prompted by public memorials, exhibitions and, as one writer puts it, the "museumification" of concentration camps. How should we define the Holocaust? Whose memory should take precedence? What is lost or gained by the inclusion of texts with images? How might memory be misrepresented by the exhibition of visual materials such as video testimony, photographs and artifacts? In addition, we will study art about the Holocaust, including Art Spiegelman's graphic novel, Maus, and non-fiction films, such as Night and Fog, Shoah and Schindler's List, to ask whether constructed or simulated images can convey the experience of the Holocaust as well as documentary ones. Additionally, we need to consider ways in which the images of the Holocaust, by now too well-known, have been instrumentalized by groups wishing to minimize the Shoah (e.g. the recent Holocaust cartoon competition in Tehran, 2006.)
Art History 265: Pop Art
The use of commercial and mass media imagery in art became recognized as an international phenomenon in the early 1960s. Items such as comic strips, advertising, movie stills, television programs, soup cans, "superstars" and a variety of other accessible and commonplace objects inspired the subject matter, form and technique. This course will critically examine the history and legacy of Pop Art by focusing on its social and aesthetic contexts. An important component of the course involves developing skills in analyzing visual images, comparing them with other forms, and relating them to their historical context.
Spring 2009
Art History 254: Manet to Matisse
A social history of French painting from 1860 to 1900, beginning with the origins of modernism in the work of Courbet and Manet. Among the topics to be discussed are the rebuilding of Paris under Napoleon III; changing attitudes toward city and country in Impressionist and Symbolist art; the impact of imperialism and international trade; the gendering of public spaces, and the prominent place of women in representations of modern life. The course addresses vanguard movements such as Impressionism and Post-Impressionism and the styles of individual artists associated with them, as well as the work of academic painters.
For this list, I consulted the spreadsheet (but of course, I'm an addict) that I made to help me keep track of my courses and which requirements they fulfilled.
Here are the requirements for the Williams Art History major, though I noticed that the requirements for the class of 2013 have changed just a bit from what they were when I was there. Here are the requirements for the major when I was a student:
Sequence courses
Parallel courses
- ArtH 101-102 Aspects of Western Art
- One of the following courses in Studio Art to be taken by the end of the junior year: ArtS 100, 101, 102, 109
- ArtH 301 Methods of Art History
- One 400-level Seminar or Graduate Course
- Any five additional semester courses of art history including three concerned with the following:
- a period of art prior to 1800
- a period of art prior to 1400
- non-Western art
And so, my major was comprised of the following courses. I copied the course descriptions from the online course catalog from the years that I took each class.
Spring 2006
Drawing 100: Intro Drawing [I took this before I knew I wanted to major in Art History]
The process of drawing develops a heightened awareness of the visual world. Your subjective experiences and your objective experiences combine to form a larger perceptual understanding of the environment in which you live. Drawing allows you an alternative use of these processes and provides a format for stating what you know about the world. Drawing is an excellent means for improving your skills in observing, seeing distinctions, and creating new meanings from your perceptions. This is an introductory course which will investigate the properties of making an image on the two-dimensional page. While drawing is an essential basis for much of the artmaking process, its use is not limited to artists. Design, illustration, engineering, and science are among the many fields which incorporate drawing. There are three to five sections of ArtS 100 offered each semester. Although individual faculty members teaching beginning drawing do not follow a common syllabus, they share common goals. Syllabi for each section are available from the secretary's office in the W. L. S.
Fall 2006
Art History 101: Aspects of Western Sculpture and Architecture
A year-long introduction to a history of some European and North American art, this course concentrates on three-dimensional media in the fall (architecture and sculpture) and two-dimensional media in the spring (painting, drawing, prints and photography). Even though the course focuses on Western art, it also explores interchanges among other cultures and the west, particularly in more recent times.
Both semesters cover the same chronological span, from Ancient Greeks to computer geeks. We organize the course in this unusual way not only to give students the grasp of history but also to heighten their ability to understand visual objects by coming to grips with only one artistic medium at a time. To train students to look carefully at art, we use the wealth of art resources in Williamstown: the Clark Art Institute, the Williams College Museum of Art and the Chapin Rare Book Library. Students spend time with, and sometimes even hold, original works of art. For the study of architecture we have a unique set of "Virtual Buildings," made expressly for this course, that approximate the experience of being in structures thousands of miles away.
Spring 2007
Art History 102: Aspects of Western Painting
A year-long introduction to a history of some European and North American art, this course concentrates on three-dimensional media in the fall (architecture and sculpture) and two-dimensional media in the spring (painting, drawing, prints and photography). Even though the course focuses on Western art, it also explores interchanges among other cultures and the west, particularly in more recent times.
Both semesters cover the same chronological span, from Ancient Greeks to computer geeks. We organize the course in this unusual way not only to give students the grasp of history but also to heighten their ability to understand visual objects by coming to grips with only one artistic medium at a time. To train students to look carefully at art, we use the wealth of art resources in Williamstown: the Clark Art Institute, the Williams College Museum of Art and the Chapin Rare Book Library. Students spend time with, and sometimes even hold, original works of art. For the study of architecture we have a unique set of "Virtual Buildings," made expressly for this course, that approximate the experience of being in structures thousands of miles away.
Art History 104: Buddhist Visual Worlds
The richly decorated stupa gateways at Sanchi, the luscious wall paintings at Alchi, the serene Shakyamuni seated in the Sokkuram, and the glittering Phoenix Hall at the Byodoin are but a few of the diverse and dazzling sites we will study in Buddhist Visual Worlds. This introductory survey will begin by covering the origins of Buddhism in India and then trace the diffusion of the religion into Central Asia, China, Korea, Japan and Southeast Asia. Given the vast geographical and chronological ground to be covered, the material will be organized around the themes of transmission and transformation. This course will consider how Buddhist art and architecture were adopted and adapted by a variety of cultures. We will pay close attention to how rulers have used the religion and its art in their attempts to establish legitimate and prosperous governments. The importance of narrative art in the promulgation of Buddhism will be a reoccurring topic of discussion in this course. We will also examine the construction of the Buddha's body, including not only the iconography of Buddhahood, but also the variety of formal techniques artists used to represent the Buddha's divinity and wisdom. The spectacular pantheon of bodhisattvas and Buddhist deities will also be introduced. Another theme of the course will be the use of Buddhist art in the performance of rituals. We will thus consider eye-opening ceremonies, during which the image is animated with the divine presence, and other ritual activities that involve the use of imagery. Finally, consideration of the reception, interpretation, and creation of Buddhist images in the West will be woven throughout the semester.
Fall 2007 [Abroad in Siena, Italy]
Siena and Florence: Medieval to Renaissance
Spring 2008
Art History 224: Romanesque and Gothic Art and Architecture
The goal of this course is to survey the major works of ecclesiastical architecture, sculpture and stained glass produced in France between approximately 1050 and 1400. These works were not created in isolation from their surroundings; thus we will attempt to understand them not only stylistically, but also in their original functional, social, and sometimes even political settings. The course will emphasize the abbey church and the cathedral, the two major ecclesiastical buildings of this period, as heterogeneous entities that used architecture, sculpture, stained glass and other media, in conjunction with church ritual, to render their sacred spaces distinct from, and elevated above, the world outside. We will furthermore try to appreciate the special centrality of the abbey church and the cathedral in high medieval society. Sites for contact with God and for the development of advanced learning, they could also serve as critical determinants of local economic and political life, and as focuses of pilgrimage, trade, and international cultural exchange.
Art History 301: Methods of Art History
This course on art-historical method is designed to offer art history majors a historiographic overview of the discipline of art history, with a focus on developments of the present century. The course will survey the most influential concepts of the discipline, the evolving tasks it has set itself, and the methods it has adopted for executing them. Works of art will inevitably enter into our discussions, but the main objects of study will be texts about art, particularly texts about methods for a historical study of art. Topics include: concepts of the discipline; style and periodication; iconography, semiotics, and deconstructionl; the social functions of images and the social history of art; gender and sexuality; and art history as representation.
Fall 2008
Art History 463: The Holocaust Visualized [This was my senior seminar]
This seminar will examine how memories of the Holocaust have been conveyed through visual means and consider what historical, cultural and political circumstances have caused various nations to remember the Holocaust differently. We will discuss the issues prompted by public memorials, exhibitions and, as one writer puts it, the "museumification" of concentration camps. How should we define the Holocaust? Whose memory should take precedence? What is lost or gained by the inclusion of texts with images? How might memory be misrepresented by the exhibition of visual materials such as video testimony, photographs and artifacts? In addition, we will study art about the Holocaust, including Art Spiegelman's graphic novel, Maus, and non-fiction films, such as Night and Fog, Shoah and Schindler's List, to ask whether constructed or simulated images can convey the experience of the Holocaust as well as documentary ones. Additionally, we need to consider ways in which the images of the Holocaust, by now too well-known, have been instrumentalized by groups wishing to minimize the Shoah (e.g. the recent Holocaust cartoon competition in Tehran, 2006.)
Art History 265: Pop Art
The use of commercial and mass media imagery in art became recognized as an international phenomenon in the early 1960s. Items such as comic strips, advertising, movie stills, television programs, soup cans, "superstars" and a variety of other accessible and commonplace objects inspired the subject matter, form and technique. This course will critically examine the history and legacy of Pop Art by focusing on its social and aesthetic contexts. An important component of the course involves developing skills in analyzing visual images, comparing them with other forms, and relating them to their historical context.
Spring 2009
Art History 254: Manet to Matisse
A social history of French painting from 1860 to 1900, beginning with the origins of modernism in the work of Courbet and Manet. Among the topics to be discussed are the rebuilding of Paris under Napoleon III; changing attitudes toward city and country in Impressionist and Symbolist art; the impact of imperialism and international trade; the gendering of public spaces, and the prominent place of women in representations of modern life. The course addresses vanguard movements such as Impressionism and Post-Impressionism and the styles of individual artists associated with them, as well as the work of academic painters.
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