Section 001 MWF 11:00AM-11:50AM LEC FA208A
Prof. Anna BrzyskiOffice Hours: W 12:00 – 1:00 pm and by appointment
Phone: 859 388-9899 (no calls after 10:00 pm)
E-mail: anna.brzyski@uky.edu
website: http://www.uky.edu/~abrzy2
Course Description:
Much of the art produced in the second half of the nineteenth century focused either on depictions of women or used gendered imagery to address a wide range of subjects, from modernity to such abstract concepts as virtue, spiritualism, patriotism, danger, desire, materialism, and beauty. The course will examine how new ideas in philosophy and psychology, the advent of mass political movements, including women’s suffrage movement, as well as rapidly changing social and economic conditions impacted production of gendered imagery in fine arts as well as advertisements, illustrations, and other forms of visual culture of the period. Among others, the course will explore the changing definitions of ideal masculinity and femininity, the relationship between gender, class, and race, the depictions of nudity in art and popular culture, the image of la femme fatale, and the impact of gender on the training and careers of professional artists.
Course Materials:
Emile Zola, Nana (1880)
Tamara Garb, Bodies of Modernity: Figure and Flesh in Fin-De-Siecle France. New York: Thames & Hudson, 1998.
Readings available through UK Library E-Reserve
CD with readings is available on reserve at the Fine Arts Library Media Reserve under my last name and course number: Brzyski A-H 340
Students’ Responsibilities:
Attendance:
Attendance is mandatory. Every absence will be noted and will reflect on the final grade. 3 unexcusd absences will result in failure of the course.
Exams:
Midterm: March 2 cumulative, essay exam 20% of grade
Final: May 8 at 1:00 pm, cumulative, essay exam 30% of grade
Paper:
Minimum necessary to receive a passing grade: 2000 words (8 typed pages)
Format: double-spaced, 1 inch margins, font Times New Roman 12
Notes and bibliography format: Chicago Manual of Style
Paper due: April 17 in class, 40% of grade
Academic Integrity:
Part II of Student Rights and Responsibilities (available online at http://www.uky.edu/StudentAffairs/Code/ part2.html) states that all academic work, written or otherwise, submitted by students to their instructors or other academic supervisors, is expected to be the result of their own thought, research, or self-expression. In cases where students feel unsure about a question of plagiarism involving their work, they are obliged to consult their instructors on the matter before submission.
Final Grade:
Attendance: 10%, Midterm: 20%, Final: 30%, Paper: 40%
A is for excellent work. This means mastery of the course material, excellence in execution and expression of various assignments (all completed conscientiously, skillfully, and on time), perfect attendance (no unexcused absences), and consistency in class participation and preparedness.
B is for good work. This means demonstrating good knowledge of the course material, completing all assignments proficiently, on time, and well above average, and consistent attendance, active class participation and good preparedness.
C is for average work. This means demonstrating basic knowledge of the course material; assignments are decently done; most work is finished, classes have been attended.
D is for poor work. This means poor attendance, being routinely unprepared, below par work on the assignments, non-participation in class.
E is for failing work. This means poor attendance (3 or more unexcused absences), very poor work, being routinely unprepared, non-participation in class, missing the field-trips, or blatant plagiarism.
(Guidelines adopted from a syllabus developed by Suketu Bhavsar for the UK Honors Proseminar)
This syllabus is subject to change at the discretion of the instructor to accommodate instructional and/or student needs. All changes will be posted on the course website. The course website offers the most accurate and most current information.
Schedule of Reading Assignments:
January 14 – 23 Naked vs. Nude
Monday 01.19 NO CLASS
Readings:
Solomon-Godeau, Abigail. "The Body Politics of Homosociality." In Male Trouble. A Crisis in Representation History, 43-97. London: Thames & Hudson, 1997. [E-Reserve]
Shaw, Jennifer L. "The Figure of Venus: Rhetoric of the Ideal and the Salon of 1863." Art History 14, no. 4 (1991): 540-70. [E-Reserve]
January 26-30 Gender and Modernity
Baudelaire, Charles. "Painter of Modern Life." In Selected Writings on Art and Literature, 390-435. New York: Penguin USA, 1993.
February 2-6 Fashion
Steele, Valerie. The Corset: A Cultural History. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001.
Bodies of Modernity, Chapter 4
February 9-13 Male Bodies
Bodies of Modernity, Chapters 1 & 2
February 16-23 Good and Bad Women
Nochlin, Linda. "Lost and Found: Once More the Fallen Woman." In Feminism and Art History: Questioning the Litany, edited by Norma Broude and Mary D. Gerrard, 221-45. New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1982.
February 25 & 27 NO CLASS
March 2 MIDTERM
March 4-6 Sex and Sexuality
Bodies of Modernity, Chapter 3
March 9-13 Gendered Spaces
Pollock, Griselda. "Modernity and the Spaces of Femininity." In Vision and Difference: Femininity, Feminism and Histories of Art, 50-90. New York: Routledge, 1988.
March 16-20 SPRING BREAK
March 23-30 Male Fears and Fantasies
Bodies of Modernity, Chapter 5 & 6
April 1-8 Women & Nature
Eisenman, Stephen. "Sex in Tahiti." In Gauguin's Skirt, 91-147. New York: Thames & Hudson, 1997.
Bodies of Modernity, Chapter 7
April 10, 13, 15 NO CLASS
Nana report due April 17
April 20-24 Male and Female Artists - France
Denton, Margaret Fields. "A Woman's Place: The Gendering of Genres in Post-Revolutionary French Painting." Art History 21, no. 2 (1998): 219-46.
Waller, Susan. "Academie and Fraternite: Constructing Masculinities in the Education of French Artists." In Artistic Brotherhoods in the Nineteenth Century, edited by Laura Morowitz and William Vaughan, 137-53. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2000
April 27- May 1 Male and Female Artists - England
Gillett, Paula. Worlds of Art: Painters in Victorian Society. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1990.
May 8 1:00 pm Final
Final Essay Question:
Using information from lectures and specific readings, write an essay on how their gender affected women’s ability to become successful artists. Make sure to back up general statements with specific information. You are allowed to bring to the exam one large size index card of notes.