Syllabus for graduate class on art historical writing worldwide

xARTHI 5813-001 Special Syllabus for the second half of the spring 2020 semester See the original Syllabus for the older stuff Requirements Final paper, due May Draft of the final paper, due April 22 Comments on the required readings and the slideshows, due May Individual meetings, at least one Things that aren’t required anymore! We won’t be doing presentations, so we don’t have Teams Workshops won’t be required However, anytime you would like feedback on your work in progress, you can get it by signing up on this syllabus (More on this below.) We’ll be doing video meetings so we can talk, but they are not required They are all on the schedule, below You can just attend any ones you’d like The requirements, in more detail l The final paper Let’s make the paper shorter: between 10-12 pages and 10,000 pages — and keep the rest the same Here’s part of the description from the original Syllabus: I hope the class will be an opportunity for you to think about your relation to global practices of art history Often that means you'll be tying in your thesis work It is possible, for example, to use the paper for this class as a chapter in your thesis If you’re an MFA student, here are two possible topics: A Write a paper that should have been a chapter in Art Since 1900 This can be on any subject, even those that are already covered by Art Since 1900 B Write a paper on any theorist, critic, historian, or curator who is not discussed in class, provided their work engages the themes of the class Usually that means they’ve written “big theory” pieces, or curated exhibitions that propose new narratives of art history, or directly engaged the people we’ll be reading in class Example of someone who can work in this respect: Okwui Enwezor Someone who doesn’t work: Dave Hickey The papers can be in any form: academic or experimental The draft of the final paper Drafts are due by Wednesday, April 22 But you can upload a draft anytime, and workshop it anytime before or after April 22 Upload drafts into the Papers folder (Please don’t send it around by email.) If you’d also like to workshop your draft, please include the following (This is from the original Syllabus.) A page-long statement of what you’re researching, including your goals, how they relate to the concerns of the class, a list of your primary sources, and your research strategy Sample pages of the draft of your paper This can be sketchy and informal Work in progress is fine You might want to include a biography of the scholar, critic, or curator you’re studying, or a general introduction to art history or criticism in the region or country you’re studying It’s often a good idea to include images of the artworks you’re studying Pages from the sources you’re studying This can be excerpts from essays or books, or from exhibition catalogues They can also be videos Provide enough material so that people in the class can give you suggestions I’ll return drafts ASAP after April 22 (and before, if you hand in earlier) You should revise in light of comments you receive If you upload a more or less finished paper, when you hand in the new version at the end of the semester, please underline all the new passages so I can find them 3 Comments on the required readings Comments are required on all the readings and on my slideshows (I have a couple coming up) You need to leave at least two substantial comments on each reading, so I know you have read it and thought about it If you leave fewer comments, or miss readings, you can still get a CR, but your letter grade may be low, and I won’t write a letter of recommendation (if you need one in future) Individual meetings Let’s make this requirement minimal: one individual meeting between now and the end of the semester but I am always glad to talk, and I don’t mind emails anytime I won’t use the old sign-up sheet anymore: just email me, jelkins@saic.edu, to set up a time Where are the readings? All required readings are now on Google docs in the new Readings folder, so we can share Comments like we’ve been doing Recommended readings are on Canvas, under Files Getting feedback on your drafts We won’t special workshop sessions, but each time we a video meeting, we can also discuss a draft paper If you’d like feedback on your project, here’s what to do: Put down your name in the schedule, below Everyone in the class has editing privileges for this syllabus, so just add your name wherever you’d like Upload your draft to the Papers folder (It is best if it is in Google doc format.) Email everyone to tell them it’s there Everyone will read your draft and make comments on it, and we’ll discuss it at the next video meeting Our schedule So far SAIC is on track to have everyone graduate on time That means there’s a deadline at the end of the semester: final papers are due Wednesday, May at PM Chicago time 4 The rest of our schedule is flexible I’ve arranged it so each reading takes or days, and at the end of that period, we’ll have a video meeting to discuss it I will look at the texts and read everyone’s comments right before the video meeting, so I know who’s read the texts, and what topics we might discuss The conferences aren’t required, and if you can’t get to the readings that week, it’s OK If you haven’t done the reading for a particular conference, feel free to join anyway This schedule has the same texts, in the same order, as before, but now each reading leads to a video meeting There will be two each week: one at the usual class time, and another one on Sunday You should try to attend as many as you can (Note: I won’t read comments made after the different deadlines, but I’ll check at the end of the semester to make sure everyone has commented.) Topic Video meeting Sign up here if you’d like to have your draft workshopped We’ll two of these before the class officially begins again on April I think we could three per video meeting Wed March 25, 7:30 PM = 8:30 AM March 26 China time Extra workshop Name for workshop Chenghan Extra workshop Sign up here if you’d like to have your draft workshopped We’ll two of these before the class officially begins again on April I think we could three per video meeting Name for workshop : Sofía Sánchez Wed April 1, 7:30 PM = Thursday April 8:30 AM China time Name for workshop Quinn Veasman Name for workshop: Aishan The master narrative in museums, part one (Moved the MoMA video to next week Didn’t have time to prepare it this week!) Wed April 8, PM (This is also our first “official” meeting, so we’ll catch up and review the new Syllabus.) Zoom Meeting An essay on how German Expressionism entered the master narrative (File “Langfeld MoMA Expressionism”) This is in the Readings folder Password: arthistory Recommended (not required): “Duncan Universal Museums” is an excellent survey of the history of the idea of the universal museum “Lewis Universal Museum” is written from a legal point of view, in reaction to a recent declaration that is intended to ensure major museums don’t have to repatriate their artworks, so they can remain “universal.” Recommended texts are still on Canvas, under Files 5 Master narratives in museums, continued Slide lecture (movie): MoMA’s hangs This is in the Readings folder It’s a 400 MB movie It may take a while to download Reading: Essay on master narratives in museums, with references to Mary Jane Jacob and Joseph Grigely (File “Elkins Museum research”), pp 10-13 only Saturday April 11th at 11 AM Zoom Meeting Password: ARTHI Reading: Essay on the Musée d’Orsay in Paris (file “Sherman Orsay”) Watch for the battle of different agendas in the organization of the museum If you don’t know this museum, you might check out a virtual tour, or this introduction by Google To comment on this file (and all pdfs), don’t open it in an app If you simply click on it, you’ll get a dark screen, like this: If you have apps connected to your Google Drive that automatically open pdfs, just right-click or option-click on the pdf and choose Preview When you see this screen, don’t click on “Open with…” because then you’ll end up in a badly OCR’d version, and when you save, you’ll create duplicates and triplicates in our Readings folder Just go over to the right where you see the Comment bubble with the cross in it Recommended reading (not required): essay on museums in the Ottoman Empire (File “Shaw Ottoman Displays”), pp 253-55, and the end, pp 273-76 Watch for the theme of the absence of narratives in Ottoman museums Workshop paper (add your name here if you’d like, then upload your paper to the Papers folder a couple days before the video meeting) Master narratives in museums, concluded From Saturday: Slide lecture (movie): MoMA’s hangs This is in the Readings folder It’s a 400 MB movie It may take a while to download Reading: Essay on master narratives in museums, with references to Mary Jane Jacob and Joseph Grigely (File “Elkins Museum research”), pp 10-13 only Wed April 15, PM Zoom Meeting Password: ARTHI Reading: Essay on the Musée d’Orsay in Paris (file “Sherman Orsay”) Slide lecture (movie): the narrative of the Louvre Abu Dhabi (c 50 mins.) There isn’t a simple way to leave comments on movies; we’ll talk about it on Wednesday Finding comparative criteria Saturday April 18th at 11 AM John Clark, Asian Modernities: Chinese and Thai Art Compared, Introduction Note: this Zoom Meeting text is in two files, “Clark Asian Modernities” and The second one is a pdf of a scan Password: ARTHI (possibly the world’s worst scan, so bad I could not even OCR it) If anyone can improve either one of these two files, or put them together into one file, please do! Workshop paper: Muxi Emphasizing the local Monika Juneja, interview on “transregional” art history, here (For people who read German, another text is “Juneja Kunstgeschichte,” on Canvas.) Piotr Piotrowski, “On the Spatial Turn, or Horizontal Art History." Piotrowski’s essay is one of the clearest articulations of the problem of writing about art in the “margins.” Wed April 22, PM Zoom Meeting Password: ARTHI Workshop paper: Barbie Deadline for drafts of papers The possibility of using non-European art terms Impending Single History of Art, chapter 5, “The State of the Field,” section only Saturday April 25th at 11 AM Section mentions Piotrowski and Juneja, so read them first Zoom Meeting Impending Single History of Art, chapter 7, “Finding Terms and Methods for Art History.” This is a short chapter, but it’s important Password: ARTHI Recommended reading: Sjoukje, “Middle East,” on the place of the Middle East in global art history What is art history outside the North Atlantic model? First we’ll finish the last meeting: Impending Single History of Art, chapter 7, “Finding Terms and Methods for Art History.,” section “2 Translating terms using the glossary concept”—from there to the end of the chapter Wed April 29, PM Zoom Meeting Password: ARTHI Rangihiroa Panoho, Maori Art, chapter This file is on a new platform, Perusall Visit the site and enroll in the course using this password: ELKINS-D23BR You can skim this if you’d like: just watch for things that seem different from North Atlantic expectations This is an extreme example of the use of indigenous, “local” concepts, in this case from the Maori (= te reo) language FYI, there is a good review online The author also has a blog, which has some reviews, including ones by Anthony Byrt and Aaron Smale (recommended by Anna Parlane) There are also magazine reviews here and here None of the reviews are required reading Workshop paper: Nancy :) Best practice Zoom Meeting Password: ARTHI Ming Tiampo, Gutai, Introduction, pdf pp 15-22 (We won’t be using using the page numbers in the original.) This is a widely praised text; look for her principal strategies (critique of originality, the ideas of translation, recontextualization, and quantization, attitude to center and periphery) The entire book is included in this pdf, so you can search “originality” etc in different chapters to see how they are developed Workshop paper: Aishan Multiple modernities Patel, “Are Theories of Multiple Modernities Eurocentric?” Impending Single History of Art, chapter 8, “Writing about Modernist Painting Outside Western Europe and North America” Wed May 6, PM Zoom Meeting Password: ARTHI (Highly) recommended readings: Therborn, “Entangled Modernities”; Keith Moxey, “Is Modernism Multiple?” Final papers due today at PM Empathy The chapter omitted from the book, “Two Modes of Judgment.” This is about how empathetic it’s possible to be regarding practices that are very far outside the art world Saturday May 9, 11 AM Zoom Meeting Password: ARTHI My own answer to all this Impending Single History of Art, chapter 9, “The Most Difficult Problem” Recommended: a brief essay on nonstandard English in fiction Summary of the class Draft of the summary document, here (p 139, or search for “Main Points”) Wednesday May 13, PM “Party” (bring drinks, etc to make people jealous) Zoom Meeting Password: ARTHI The last meeting overlaps the end of the semester; depending on people’s interests we may put these readings into earlier weeks We may have some meetings after May 6, depending on what happens with the SAIC schedule! ... Turn, or Horizontal Art History." Piotrowski’s essay is one of the clearest articulations of the problem of writing about art in the “margins.” Wed April 22, PM Zoom Meeting Password: ARTHI Workshop... Emphasizing the local Monika Juneja, interview on “transregional” art history, here (For people who read German, another text is “Juneja Kunstgeschichte,” on Canvas.) Piotr Piotrowski, ? ?On the Spatial... Deadline for drafts of papers The possibility of using non-European art terms Impending Single History of Art, chapter 5, “The State of the Field,” section only Saturday April 25th at 11 AM Section