Art History- Fall 1998

The visual culture of the European Middle Ages with emphasis on why certain formal languages were used and how they functioned in their societies (Tier 2).

The course will proceed in a generally chronological manner, but will treat material as topics rather than as a survey:

• imperial Roman changes in classical visual language
• the late antique vernaculars and multiculturalism
• the new imperial visual language and its popular correlations
• northern contributions to medieval visual culture
• Romanesque hegemonic dialogues and their deconstruction
• Gothic ideals and realities, systems and responses
• beginnings of western European modernism

As an introduction to the study of visual culture in the Middle Ages, the course has the following goals:

• to think about and to discuss both primary and secondary texts critically
• to write effectively at the upper-division university level
• to understand visual languages and how they function
• to understand basic political, social, and religious tenets and institutions and how they function
• to learn specialized historiography, iconography, and terminology
• to understand and use manuscript and architectural terminology and drawings

ATTENDANCE: Regular attendance at all lectures and sections is required as the instructor and teaching assistant will be presenting material not readily available in print or in English. Students who miss more than three classes may be dropped from the course. Do NOT cut class in order to finish a paper or because you are not prepared; that only makes things worse. If you need to miss a class for a valid reason, an absence may be marked excused if prior notification is given (x2055; e-mail to goth@cats.ucsc.edu, or note in instructor's mail slot in Cowell 220, x2609).

To hold your place in the course, you must attend the first four classes, or notify me prior to class if you must be absent.

WRITING SECTION: Students must attend the weekly section and turn in on a set schedule a series of papers, drafts, and revisions. Details are listed on a separate sheet.

RESERVES: Various books for illustrations and specific interest are located at the Reserve Desk in McHenry Library. A catalogue is located nearby. Papers handed out in class will be placed in the file, "Course Papers". Videos are located at the Media Center adjacent. Some slides for exam study will be available at the Slide Library on level 1 of McHenry; special viewing schedules will be set up at exam time; individual viewing may also be possible (x2791). Images shown on examinations will have been seen in class or discussed in the reading and will be available in the required reading or at the Slide Library.

EVALUATIONS or LETTER GRADES will be based on notes on assigned reading and viewing, participation in class discussions, three short written exercises, midterm, and final examination. The final examination, seen as the culmination of your quarter's efforts, must be passed in order to pass the course. Improvement will be weighed significantly.

NOTE: It is Board policy not to grant extensions on papers or incompletes except in serious emergencies. Call the instructor as soon as possible. A written note from a proper authority (Health Center, police, etc.) documenting the emergency is required.

SCHEDULE OF MAJOR EVENTS subject to change with notice

• Analysis paper, typed, due at beginning of class
• Midterm examination in class
• Facsimile assignment Group A due in class (earlier if possible)
• No class--exchange day: attend Monday classes
• Bayeux Tapestry paper typed due at beginning of class
• Facsimile assignment Group B due in class
• Final exam in the classroom

NOTE: Students who cannot take the exam at this time should not enroll in the class. The exam cannot be given early.

Required texts (except for Reader, available at Baytree Bookstore and on reserve):

• Marilyn Stokstad, Medieval Art
• Course Reader containing primary sources, selected excerpts from scholarly literature and materials to aid understanding of course matter
• Hermann Kinder & Werner Hilgemann, Anchor Atlas of World History (not on reserve but consult instead the historical atlases in Reference)
• James Smith Pierce, From Abacus to Zeus
• Gary Vikan, Byzantine Pilgrimage Art
• Blanche Ellsworth, English Simplified

Recommended:

• David Macaulay, Cathedral
• Henry Sayre, Writing About Art

Survey books on reserve may be useful (listed in priority order)

• James Snyder, Medieval Art
• Spiro Kostof, A History of Architecture
• George Zarnecki, Art of the Medieval World
• Robert G. Calkins, Monuments of Medieval Art

Revised 7/15/04.