Reading the Visual

Liberal Art Seminar

Scarboro

Office:             Hafey-Marian Hall 312

E-mail:            cristoferscarboro@kings.edu

Phone:             208-5900 ext. 5637 (o)

                         735-4762 (h)

Class Schedule:  M/W/F 12:00 (H-M 203)

Office Hours:      M/W 9:00-11:00 & 1:00-2:00

Sharepoint:         https://sharepoint.kings.edu/sites/scarboroLAS100/default.aspx

I. Description:

This course investigates art as a product of a specific time and place and reflecting an aesthetic sensibility that can tell us much about the world of its production and ourselves as viewers.  By investigating several important art movements in the European 20^th century art (including Cubism, Dadaism and Socialist Realism) we will ultimately be investigating the general trajectory of 20^th Century history.  Among the other issues that we will tackle are: the use of art as historical sources; art and artists’ place in society, the role of experts in analyzing and displaying art, and the meaning of representation. 

II. Purpose:

The ability to read with understanding and critical judgment cannot be underestimated.  Academic success, professional competence, cultural literacy, and intellectual development depend fundamentally on flexible reading skills that can be applied to a wide range of texts.  Reading with “understanding” involves several important processes: comprehending and contextualizing information; identifying meaningful patterns and conventions; identifying key ideas, claims, and assumptions; synthesizing an author’s ideas with the reader’s experiences and knowledge; and developing a comprehensive and well-informed interpretation.  Reading with “critical judgment” is a similarly complex task that includes reading with a sense of objectivity, asking questions about what a text literally says and what it implies, evaluating an author’s reasoning, and assessing the degree to which a writer has achieved his or her purpose.  This seminar provides students with opportunities to develop these skills.  

A. Objectives for the student:

Successful completion of this course will enable the student to

1. identify the tone, purpose, audience, and main idea of a text
2. determine the meaning of a text through close textual analysis
3. annotate, outline, summarize, and evaluate a text
4. situate a particular text within a larger cultural and critical context
5. understand different uses of language and writing conventions
6. determine the uses and validity of different kinds of evidence
7. find and evaluate sources from a variety of mediums (books, journals, magazines, newspapers, the Internet, and so on)
8. synthesize materials from several sources to express ideas, formulate positions, and construct arguments in spoken and written forms

B.  General Learning Outcomes for the Student:

This course aims to help students

1. understand the crucial role that critical reading plays in academic work
2. approach reading as a process in which critical understanding occurs gradually over time with rereading and as new information is acquired
3. recognize the ways in which reading can foster intellectual, moral, and spiritual enrichment and contribute to a satisfying and purposeful life
4. better understand the role of language in everyday life (business, politics, humanities, sciences, etc.) and how it is used to explain, inform, influence, persuade, express, and entertain 
5. take pleasure in the process of making and defending interpretations
6. appreciate the importance of looking at and discussing an issue from a variety of perspectives and disciplines
7. develop the skills and habits of good scholarship—critical reading, logical thinking, effective oral and written argumentation, and academic integrity
8. recognize the personal significance and social relevance of intellectual questioning and liberal arts learning

III. General Requirements

A. Course Readings:

John Berger, About Looking, Vintage 1992

Cubism and Culture, Mark Antliff and Patricia Leighten, eds., Thames and Hudson, 2001

B.  Course Films:

Akira Kurosawa, Rashômon, 1950

C.  Course Readings, Primary Sources:

Each week you will also be expected to examine a series of primary sources consisting of texts, visual art and/or short video clips.  These sources will either be websites (links are provided in the syllabus) or files found on the course sharepoint site: 

These sources are to supplement the readings in the textbook and place you in dialogue with another time and place.  You will need to examine these sources as a careful reader.  What can they tell us about the past and the worldview of past cultures?  How do they help us understand the theme of the topic we are covering and the class as a whole?  Further, these documents will be the source upon which you will base your microthemes and paper for the class.  

D.  Microthemes:

Four times during this semester you will be responsible for writing a 1-2 page microtheme on the assigned primary source material covered during that time.  These microthemes are intended to allow you the opportunity to analyze and write about these sources historically and should consist of two parts: first, you should summarize the argument of the sources—you should ask and elucidate what the author, director or artist was trying to say.  Second, you should place the piece and argument within the larger context of the time and place.  What themes and trends is the artist or author tapping into?  How does it relate to larger issues in the class?  How are we to make sense of the work historically? 

Due dates for microthemes:

First Microtheme:                    September 8^th                     

Second Microtheme:               September 22^nd

Third Microtheme:                  October 3^rd

Fourth Microtheme:                October 31^st  

E.  Written Assignment:

Your larger writing assignment is due in its final form on December 5th.  This paper will be much like a longer, more in depth, microtheme.  Your final paper will be between 6-8 pages.  Like the microtheme, you should seek to answer the meaning of the primary sources: what argument or worldviews were the authors/artists seeking to put forward?  How was this a product of the time and place in which they were living?  Importantly you are also to relate the sources to one another.  How do they lend themselves to multiple interpretations?  How are we to determine which interpretation we find most convincing?  What problems and opportunities do they articulate?  What larger issues are they wrestling with?  In your paper, you will need to use both primary sources (including your own readings of visual texts) and some readings in secondary literature (what do other scholars think of the images and movements). This paper is to take place in several stages: 

Due Dates for Paper Assignments:

Meeting for Paper Topic:                                  September 12^th

Paper Topic:                                                    September 17^th

Thesis Statement:                                             October 6^th

First Paragraph of the Paper or Outline:           October 27^th                 

Rough Draft (With Writing Center Stamp):       November 14^th           

Final Draft:                                                      December 5^th              

F. Exams:

This class will have two midterm examinations (held October 15^th and November 7^th) and a final examination during finals week.  These examinations held in class will primarily consist of your relating a close reading of an assigned text and image. 

G.  Class Discussion and Participation

As well as providing you with the methodological and analytical tools for engaging in critical reading and thinking, this class will ask you to actively take part in a larger conversation within the class.  I expect this class to allow us to delve deeply into the topics of each week’s readings.  To that end you need to make sure that you arrive to class on time ready to discuss the weekly readings, having carefully read and thought over the material.  You must take an active role in the class discussions.  Thus a portion of your grade will depend on your in-class performance and presence. 

In a class of this nature it goes without saying that a classroom environment in which everyone feels comfortable is essential.  You should treat your fellow classmates with respect, listen carefully to their comments and respond to them in a polite manner. 

H.  Grading:

Your final grade will be based on the following percentages

Your grade distribution for class assignments is as follows:

I. Academic Integrity:

The Department of History adheres to guidelines on academic integrity outlined in the Student Conduct Code in the Student Handbook: 

http://www.kings.edu/student_handbook/studentregulations_rights/conductcode.htm

Cheating and plagiarism will be penalized in accord with the penalties and procedures indicated in that source.  All students are responsible for familiarizing themselves with the definition of these infractions of academic honesty. 

J. Absences:

I will regularly take attendance in this class. Absences due to college activities, emergency or extended illness may be excused by the appropriate college official. You should consult with the professor about making up missed work in advance or as soon as possible after your return.  Other absences are unexcused and will lower the class participation portion of your grade. After any absence, you are responsible for requesting hand-outs and already returned assignments from me or borrowing notes from other students. If you miss an exam, contact me as possible. You may take a missed exam only at the discretion of the instructor.

K.  Dissabilities:

King’s College and I will make every effort to accommodate students with a bona-fide disability that impacts on their ability to learn the course material.  Please meet with me privately so that appropriate arrangements can be made to help in the learning process.

IV. Course Schedule

No Class

Monday, August 25^th

Wednesday, August 27^th

**Handout: Crain, “Twilight of the Books”

**Discussant:

Friday, August 29^th

**Handout: Wallace, “Tense Present”

**Discussant:

Wednesday, September 3^rd

**Handout: Thurman, "First Impressions: What the World's Oldest Art Says About Us?"

**Discussant:

Friday, September 5^th

**Film: Kurosawa, Rashômon, 1950

**Discussant:

Monday, September 8^th

**Berger: “Why Look at Animals?” 3-30

**Discussant:

***1^st Microtheme Due***

Wednesday, September 10^th

**Berger: “The Suit and the Photograph” and “Photographs of Agony,” 31-44

**Discussant:

Friday, September 12^th

***Individual Meetings to Discuss Paper Topic***

Monday, September 15^th

**Berger: “Paul Strand" and "Uses of Photography,” 52-70

**Discussant:

Wednesday, September 17^th

**Photography Assignment**

***Paper Topic Due***

Friday, September 19^th

**Berger: “The Primitive and the Professional” and “Millet and the Peasant,” 71-85

**Discussant:

Monday, September 22^nd

**Berger: Sker Ahmet and the Forest” and “Lowry and the Industrial North,”  86-102

**Discussant:

***2^nd Microtheme Due***

Wednesday, September 24^th

**Berger: “Ralph Fasanella and the Experience of the City,” and “La Tour and Humanism”  103-117

**Discussant:

Friday, September 26^th

**Berger: “Francis Bacon and Walt Disney,” 118-125

**Discussant:

Monday, September 29^th

**Berger: “An Article of Faith” and “Between two Colmars,” 126-140

**Discussant:

Wednesday, October 1^st

**Berger: “Courbet and the Jura” and “Turner and the Barbershop,” 141-155

**Discussant:

Friday, October 3^rd

**Berger: “Rouault and the Suburbs of Paris” and “Magritte and the Impossible,” 156-168

**Discussant:

***Third Microtheme Due***

Monday, October 6^th

**Berger: “Hals and Bankruptcy” and “Giacometti” 169-183

**Discussant:

***Thesis Statement Due***

Wednesday, October 8^th

**Berger: “Rodin and Sexual Domination” and “Romain Lorquet” 184-198

**Discussant:

Monday, October 13^th

**Berger: “Field” 199-205

**Discussant:

Midterm Examination

Wednesday, October 15^th

Friday, October 17^th

***Advertising Assignment***

Monday, October 20^th

***Advertising Assignment***

Wednesday, October 22^nd

**Antliff and Leighton, “Introduction,” 7-23

**Discussant:

Friday, October 24^th

**Antliff and Leighton, “European Primitives,” 24-63

**Discussant:

Monday, October 27^th

**Antliff and Leighton, “Philosophies of Time and Space,” 64-110

**Discussant:

***First Paragraph Due***

Wednesday, October 29^th

**Antliff and Leighton, “Political Uses of the Past,” 111-135

**Discussant:

Friday, October 31^st

**Antliff and Leighton, “Gender Codes,” 136-158

**Discussant:

***Fourth Microtheme Due***

Monday, November 3^rd

**Antliff and Leighton, “Pasted Papers and Revolution,” 159-196

**Discussant:

Wednesday, November 5^th

***Cubism Assignment***

Midterm Examination

Friday, November 7^th

Monday, November 10^th

**Preparation for Group Presentation

Wednesday, November 12^th

**Group Meetings for Presentations***

Friday, November 14^th

***Rough Draft Due (With Writing Center Stamp)***

Monday, November 17^th

***Individual Meetings for Paper***

Wednesday, November 19^th

***Individual Meetings for Paper***

No Class--Prepare for Presentations

Friday, November 21^st

Monday, November 24^th

***Group Presentation***

Monday, December 1^st

***Group Presentation***

Wednesday, December 3^rd

***Group Presentation***

Friday, December 5^th

***Final Draft Due***