20815211Art History--Women In Art
Course Information
Description
Explores gender studies as they apply to the historical, cultural, and socio-economic context of women artists and feminist art in Western art history. Examines the production of women artists from the Middle Ages through current issues and the ideologies that influence our understanding of and access to the artistic production of women. Theories and experiences of gender, race, class, and sexual orientation will be considered.
Total Credits
3
Course Competencies
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Examine the gender bias of art history and its consequences for the representation of women artists and the interpretation of their workAssessment StrategiesDiscussion, quiz and exam, blogCriteriaDefine foundational terms for the discussion of gender in art historyDetermine influence of gender on conditions of production of artDetermine influence of gender on conditions of production of art through art historyExamine art history as a constructed narrative privy to ideologyIdentify alternative construction and readings of art historyBecome familiar with ideological categories of male and female in art history
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Determine the influence of Christian theology on notions of gender in the Middle AgesAssessment StrategiesDiscussion, quiz and exam, blogCriteriaDiscuss the context of artistic production in the Middle AgesExamine a case study: Hildegard of BingenSummarize Hildegard of Bingen’s life, vocation, and creative outputExamine gendered power structures in place during Hildegard of Bingen’s lifetimeAnalyze Hildegard of Bingen’s strategies of subversion to overcome gender asymmetryDiscuss power imbalances and subversive strategies as they relate to Hildegard of BingenDiscuss new insights in contemporary context
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Determine gendered notions of artistic creation in Italian RenaissanceAssessment StrategiesDiscussion, quiz and exam, blogCriteriaExamine the general conditions of artistic production in Italian RenaissanceDiscuss notions of gender regarding artistic creation during Italian RenaissanceIdentify female artists from the Italian Renaissance, with a focus on Artemisia Gentileschi’s work and lifeRecognize popular motifs for paintings, including Susanna and the Elders and Judith and HolofernesExamine the dependence of art historical interpretations of such works depending on the gender of the artistExamine the art historical reception and analysis of Artemisia Gentileschi’s workExamine the projection of modern concepts on psychology and gender in the interpretation of these worksDiscuss the influence of biography regarding the gendered interpretation of these worksDiscuss new insights in a contemporary context
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Explore new definitions of sex and gender introduced in 18th and 19th century France and EnglandAssessment StrategiesDiscussion, quiz and exam, blogCriteriaIntroduce Enlightenment notions of male vs. female and culture vs. nature according to Rousseau and othersExplore the continued idealization of women as mothers and domestic beings as part of the progressive bourgeois ideology of the timeAnalyze Victorian notions on female sexuality and its consequences for “adequate” gendered behaviorExamine the impact on gendered ideas of “adequate” artistic production for womenDiscuss the emergence of the institutionalized differentiation between professional and amateur artists in context with the newly established AcademiesIdentify female artists of the time, including Elisabeth-Louise Vigée-Lebrun, Angelika Kauffmann, and Rosa BonheurRecognize Rosa Bonheur as an early pioneer in gender fluidity in life and art
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Examine the organization of gender, space, and labor in Impressionist paintingAssessment StrategiesDiscussion, quiz and exam, blogCriteriaExplain the historical context of Paris as a re-organized, modern urban spaceIdentify Beaudelaire and the flâneurDiscuss urban spaces represented in Impressionist painting and their different accessibility for the sexesExamine the directionality of the gaze in these paintingsExamine the correlation between sex, class, and labor in these spaces: female working class labor produces bourgeois male leisureDiscuss the work of Mary Cassatt and Berthe Morisot in this context
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Analyze the gender politics of the nude in Western art historyAssessment StrategiesDiscussion, quiz and exam, blogCriteriaExamine the nude as a gendered entity throughout history: from idealized male in ancient Greece to sexualized female in early modern paintingDiscuss the history of the tradition of drawing from the nudeSpecify who was excluded from life-drawing classes and rationalize their exclusion in its historical contextCorrelate exclusions from life-drawing classes to a point in historyDifferentiate between the terms “naked” and “nude”Examine Gauguin and the relationship between the nude, the naked, the gaze, primitivism and the “noble savage”, colonialism, and race
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Examine Georgia O’Keeffe’s work and its reception as relating to notions of essentialismAssessment StrategiesDiscussion, blog, written productCriteriaDiscuss O’Keeffe’s work and its context in the circle around Alfred Stieglitz in early 20th New YorkExamine the relationship between O’Keeffe and Stieglitz as her promoter and supporterStudy her enlarged flower paintingsAnalyze the essentializing and sexualizing critical reception of this workDiscuss O’Keeffe’s counterstrategy of oscillating between figuration and abstraction, as well as her claim of “objective” paintingExamine O’Keeffe’s reception by 1970s feminists and its problematic silencing of the artist herself
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Determine ascribed gender roles in SurrealismAssessment StrategiesDiscussion, blog, written productCriteriaSummarize the basic principles of Freudian psychoanalysis: ego-super-ego-id, conscious-subconscious-unconscious, and dream analysisCompare basic principles of Surrealism to Freudian psychoanalysisCritique the Second Surrealist Manifesto by André BretonDiscuss women as symbol vs. women as psychological experience in Surrealist art by male and female artistsDiscuss female Surrealist artists, such as Leonora Carrington, Dorothea Tanning, Meret Oppenheim, Claude Cahun, or Frida KahloIf choosing Claude Cahun, discuss aspects of gender in her workIf choosing Frida Kahlo, discuss her relationship with Surrealism, as well as the native and political Symbology in her work
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Explore the history of modern abstract art and its relationship to genderAssessment StrategiesDiscussion, blog, written productCriteriaOutline a rough history of abstract art starting with early 20th century abstractionExamine abstract arts relationship to traditions of craftDiscuss gendered notions of rationality and sensuality in relation to the history of abstract artAnalyze Abstract Expressionism and its masculinist rhetoricIntroduce women artists associated with Abstract Expressionists, including Lee Krasner, Helen Frankenthaler, and Agnes MartinExamine the critical discourse on Helen Frankenthaler’s work as compared to Jackson Pollock’s workDraw conclusions on different critical reception of male and female artists in High Modernism
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Analyze the main principles and proponents of 1970s feminist artAssessment StrategiesDiscussion, blog, written product, presentationCriteriaExamine feminist art in the United States and Europe between late 1960s and late 1970sDifferentiate between women artists and feminist artDiscuss artists such as Judy Chicago, Carolee Schneeman, Hannah Wilke, Lynda Benglis, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Yoko Ono, Ana Mendieta, Adrian Piper, Valie Export, Gina Pane, Alice Neel, Faith Ringgold, Betye Saar, Mary Kelly, Martha Wilson, Martha Rosler, Joan Jonas, Susan Lacy, WWA, and Las Mujeres MuralistasExamine common traits and relevant differences between the work of these artistsSynthesize insights on 1970s feminism through discussion and writingDiscuss the problem of essentialism in some of 1970s feminism; make the connection to Georgia O’Keeffe’s reception by 1970s feminist artists
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Examine the postmodern notion of performativity in queer theory and its implications for the visual artsAssessment StrategiesDiscussion, blog, written productCriteriaExplain the basic tenets of postmodern theory regarding the questioning of authenticity and fixed identityCharacterize the notions of appropriation and pasticheIdentify the basic tenets of queer theory regarding notions of performativity as discussed by Judith ButlerExamine Appropriation Art as practiced by Cindy Sherman and Yasumasa MorimuraExplore the importance of performativity and queer theory for contemporary art todayCompare and contrast postmodern notions of performativity with 1970s feminist art aspects of essentialism, authorship, originality, and identity, especially regarding gender and race
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Examine the postcolonial and transnational discussion of race and and its application to the visual artsAssessment StrategiesDiscussion, blog, written productCriteriaDiscuss the U.S.-American context of racial subjugation and its consequence in visual culture using Bell Hooks’ writing on the oppositional gazeAnalyze stereotypical imagery of black womanhood in the United States and its critical usage by black women artists such as Betye Saar, Carrie Mae Weems, Kara Walker, and Wangechi MutuEvaluate gaze, power, race, and colonialism in a contemporary context using Coco Fusco and Guillermo Gomez-Peña’s cage performanceExplore individual artists working on issues of postcolonial and transnational feminismSynthesize common goals of feminism, postcolonialism, and transnationalism as they relate to visual art
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Examine the role of institutions, curational practices, and institutional critique on the visibility of feminist artAssessment StrategiesDiscussion, blog, written productCriteriaAnalyze the role of the museum as a canonizing institutionExamine the work of the Guerilla GirlsDiscuss current statistics on the representation of women artists in art institutionsExamine the role of feminist curating using the examples of WACK! and Global FeminismsExamine the role of feminist curating or the lack thereof in major international art events using examples such as the Venice Biennale and the Whitney Bienniale