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ART H 201 A: Survey of Western Art-Ancient

Meeting Time: 
MWF 1:00pm - 2:20pm
Location: 
* *
SLN: 
10539
Instructor: 
Sarah Levin-Richardson

Syllabus Description:

Art History 201: Survey of Western Art-Ancient

Fall 2020

originally scheduled MWF 1:00-2:20pm

Fall 2020 is 100% asynchronous: all class lectures will be posted on Canvas via Panopto

 

Prof. Levin-Richardson (you can call me Professor Levin-Richardson, Professor L-R, or just Professor)

pronouns: she/her/hers

sarahlr@uw.edu

Office Hours: Zoom by appointment; just send me an email if you’d like to schedule a meeting!

 

Description:

This course surveys select developments in architecture, sculpture, painting, and other arts in Southern Europe, Southwest Asia and Northeast Africa from prehistoric times to the 4th century. There are no prerequisites.

 

Learning Objectives:

  • Discuss key works of ancient art and architecture
  • Correctly apply art-historical vocabulary and concepts to ancient art and architecture
  • Situate ancient art and architecture within its historical, cultural, and social contexts
  • Engage the ways in which ancient art and architecture influences, and is influenced by, modern cultures

 

Learning Support:

If you know of something that might affect your learning (technology problems; health or family crisis; religious observance) please contact me as soon as possible, ideally at the beginning of the quarter, so that I can make appropriate accommodations. Below you can find further resources:

  • UW has a Student Technology Loan Program to increase student access to technology needed for class! It’s a free program for enrolled students, and they can ship equipment to you if you are not in the Seattle area
  • Check out the link to "UW Resources" in the left-hand menu
  • Disability Resources for Students: http://depts.washington.edu/uwdrs/
    • If you have already established accommodations with Disability Resources for Students (DRS), please communicate your approved accommodations to me at your earliest convenience so we can discuss your needs in this course.
    • If you have not yet established services through DRS, but have a temporary health condition or permanent disability that requires accommodations (conditions include but not limited to; mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical or health impacts), you are welcome to contact DRS at 206-543-8924 or uwdrs@uw.edu or uw.edu. DRS offers resources and coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities and/or temporary health conditions.  Reasonable accommodations are established through an interactive process between you, your instructor(s) and DRS.  It is the policy and practice of the University of Washington to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law.
  • Religious Accommodations:
    • Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy . Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form .
  • UW Academic Support: http://depts.washington.edu/aspuw/more/campus-resources/
  • UW Counseling Center: http://www.washington.edu/counseling/

 

Required Readings:

The required text for this class is listed below; it can be rented from amazon.com and other sites for under $20, or you can purchase a used print copy from the University Bookstore (https://www.ubookstore.com/) or other bookstores. Please be sure to get the right edition of this textbook (the easiest way to do that is to use the ISBN number below to search for the book). Other required readings can be found on the course canvas site. Each meeting in the schedule below has one or more readings to be read before that class session.

 

These readings are a starting point for class lectures, which often will expand upon the assigned readings and/or present new material. Thus, I strongly recommend careful reading of the assigned material (using the posted study guides to direct your focus) as well as watching the posted class lectures.

 

Kleiner, Fred S. Gardner’s Art through the Ages: The Western Perspective, Volume I. 14th Edition. Wadsworth, 2013. ISBN: 9781133950004

 

Assignments and Grading:

  • Exam 1: October 23 (upload to Canvas by 2:20pm; covers readings, lectures, and other assigned material from September 30 through October 19): 30%
  • Exam 2: November 16 (upload to Canvas by 2:20pm; covers readings, lectures, and other assigned material from October 26 through November 13): 30%
  • Exam 3: December 7 (upload to Canvas by 2:20pm; covers readings, lectures, and other assigned material from November 18 through December 4): 30%
  • Final Assignment: December 14 (upload to Canvas by 4:20; cover readings, lectures, and other assigned material from the whole course): 10%

 

Exams will cover material from the assigned readings, from the Panopto lectures, and from any other materials (such as webinars) assigned. Exams will be open-book, take-home, short-answer. The final assignment asks you to respond (in any way you like, from drawings to audio recordings to short written answers) to four things that you learned in class (one of these must be from the final two class sessions in week 11)--see assignment for more details.

 

Your final course grade is calculated from these assignments in the proportions given, using the grading scale at the bottom of the page. Please prepare carefully for these assignments and please contact me in advance if you have any questions about how to best prepare. There is no extra credit.

 

Further Expectations:

  • Online

    • No posting of course materials of any kind is permitted without my written authorization.
    • The University of Washington prohibits the selling of notes online or through any other channels.
  • Getting in touch with each other
    • Please check your UW email daily; this is how I will communicate with you about pertinent information. You are responsible for all information disseminated over email and through the course website.
    • I’m available via virtual office hours for you! If you are anxious about assignments, please set up a time well in advance of the assignment or exam so we can discuss strategies over Zoom. I’m also happy to chat about any other class-related concerns you have, or (on a happier note), study abroad opportunities, how to follow your interest in archaeology or ancient history, etc. I am happy to answer questions over email, but please check the syllabus first to see whether the answer is there.
    • I will respond to emails by the end of the next working day (which means that if you email me on Friday afternoon, I may not respond until Monday afternoon).
  • Grading
    • Students are expected to adhere to ethical behavior in their work, including following guidelines posted for each assignment concerning group work and plagiarism/cheating.
    • I’d be happy to discuss any of your graded work with you, but I ask that you wait twenty-four hours after receiving your assignment back in order to begin to process my feedback. After the twenty-four-hour period, please feel free to email me to set up a time for a meeting. Unfortunately, I cannot discuss grades over email.

 

Schedule of Topics and Required Readings:

 

Week 1: Introduction

Sept 30: Introduction to the course

Oct 2: Introduction to Antiquity

 

Week 2: Southwest Asia

Oct 5: Mesopotamia: Sumer, Akkad, and Third Dynasty of Ur

  • Kleiner chapter 2 through section 2-1c / pp. 30-43

Oct 7: Mesopotamia: Babylon, Elam, and Assyria

  • Kleiner sections 2-1d through 2-1f / pp. 43-48

Oct 9: Mesopotamia: Neo-Babylonia; Persia: Achaemenid and Sasanian Empires

  • Kleiner section 2-1g through the end of the chapter / pp. 48-53

 

Week 3: Northeast Africa

Oct 12: Pre-dynastic and Old Kingdom Egypt

  • Kleiner chapter 3 through section 3-3a / pp. 54-63

Oct 14: Old and Middle Kingdom Egypt

  • Kleiner sections 3-3b through 3-4b / pp. 64-68

Oct 16: New Kingdom Egypt

  • Kleiner sections 3-5 through 3-5d / pp. 69-80

 

Week 4: Africa

Oct 19: Nubia: for homework, read the Kleiner sections listed below; for our class session, watch the following lecture, starting at 3:20 and going through the end of the Q&A (there is no separate Panopto lecture for this class):  Solange Ashby. “The

Goddess Isis and the Kingdom of Meroe.” Everyday Orientalism webinar, September 25 2020:

https://everydayorientalism.wordpress.com/2020/09/04/eotalks-9-the-goddess-isis-and-the-kingdom-of-meroe-by-solange-ashby/

  • Kleiner section 3-6 through the end of the chapter / pp. 80-83

Oct 21: drop-in office hours for exam 1 [1pm-2:20 via Zoom: https://washington.zoom.us/j/94483018429]

Oct 23: Submit Exam 1 on Canvas by 2:20pm [covers readings, lectures, and other assigned

material from September 30 through October 19]

 

Week 5: Southeast Europe

Oct 26: Greek Geometric and “Orientalizing” Periods; Greek Archaic Period (Statuary)

  • Kleiner chapter 5 through section 5-3a / pp. 104-115

Oct 28: Greek Archaic Period (Statuary) continued; Color and Race in Greco-Roman Art

Oct 30: Greek Archaic Period (Architecture and Sanctuaries; Painting)

  • Kleiner sections 5-3b and 5-3c / pp. 115-123

 

Week 6: Southeast Europe

Nov 2: Transition to Greek Classical Period (Architecture)

  • Kleiner sections 5-3d through 5-4a / pp. 123-128

Nov 4: Greek Classical Period (The Acropolis)

  • Kleiner section 5-4c [note skip in section!] / pp. 133-141 [note skip in page numbers!]

Nov 6: Greek Classical Period (Sculpture and Painting) and Greek Late Classical Period

  • Kleiner sections 5-4b, 5-4d, 5-5a, 5-5c [note we’re skipping section 5-5b] / pp. 128-133, 142-153 [skip “Alexander the Great and Macedonian Court Art” on pp. 148-top of 151]

 

Week 7: Southeast Europe

Nov 9: Greek Hellenistic Period

Nov 11: NO CLASS [Veterans’ Day]

Nov 13: The legacy of female nudity

  • Nanette Salomon. 1997. “Making a World of Difference: Gender, Asymmetry, and the Greek Nude” in Naked Truths: Women, Sexuality and Gender in Classical Art and Archaeology. 197-219.

 

Week 8: Southern Europe

Nov 16: Submit Exam 2 on Canvas by 2:20pm [covers readings, lectures, and other assigned

material from October 26 through November 13]

Nov 18: Etruscans and Roman Monarchy

  • Kleiner chapter 6 / pp. 164-177

[Nov 19: optional talk at 5:30pm by Dimitri Nakassis: Culture-history and Archaeology in the Aegean Bronze Age; zoom link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/93901806149]

Nov 20: Roman Republic

  • Kleiner chapter 7 through 7-2b / pp. 178-187
  • [optional talk at 7:30pm by Dimitri Nakassis: A landscape archaeology of the western Argolid, Greece; zoom link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/93901806149]

 

Week 9: Southern Europe

Nov 23: Roman Republic and Early Roman Empire (Pompeii and the Cities around Vesuvius)

  • Kleiner sections 7-3 through 7-3b / pp. 188-197

Nov 25: Early Roman Empire (Augustus)

  • Kleiner sections 7-4 through 7-4b only through section on the Forum of Augustus / pp. 197-200 (stop after the section on the Forum of Augustus)

Nov 27: NO CLASS [Thanksgiving]

 

Week 10: Southern Europe

Nov 30: Early Roman Empire (Julio-Claudians and Flavians) and High Roman Empire (Trajan)

  • Kleiner sections 7-4b starting with Nero’s Golden House through 7-5a / 201 (start with the section on Nero’s Golden house)-209

Dec 2: High Roman Empire (Hadrian and the Antonines)

  • Kleiner sections 7-5 b through 7-5d (skip sections on “From Cremation to Burial, Orestes Sarcophagus, and Melfi Sarcophagus in 7-5d) / pp. 210-218 (skip “from cremation to burial” on p.216 through “Melfi sarcophagus” on p. 218; pick up again with “Iaia of Cyzicus” and “Mummy Portraits” on p. 218)

Dec 4: Late Roman Empire (Severans through Constantine)

  • Kleiner section 7.6 through the end of the chapter / pp. 219-231

 

Week 11: Legacies, Afterlives, Connections

Dec 7: Submit Exam 3 on Canvas by 2:20pm [covers readings, lectures, and other assigned

material from November 18 through December 4]

Dec 9: The West

Dec 11: Monuments and memory: watch Panopto 11.3 for homework; for our class session, please watch the following webinar [start at 4:08 and watch until 1:22:48]: LaVaughn Belle, Nicholas Galanin, Dell Upton, Tsione Wolde-Michael, Tiffany Cain. “As the Statues Fall: A Conversation about Monuments and the Power of Memory: Society of Black Archaeologists webinar, July 23 2020: https://vimeo.com/439042290

 

Final assignment due Monday December 14, 4:20pm by uploading to Canvas

 

The grading scale used in this class is as follows:

 

 

Percentage Earned 

Grade-Point Equivalent

100-97

4.0

96-95

3.9

94

3.8

93

3.7

92-91

3.6

90

3.5

89-88

3.4

87

3.3

86

3.2

85

3.1

84

3.0

83

2.9

82

2.8

81

2.7

80

2.6

79

2.5

78

2.4

77

2.3

76

2.2

75

2.1

74

2.0

73

1.9

72

1.8

71

1.7

70

1.6

69

1.5

68

1.4

67

1.3

66

1.2

65

1.1

64

1.0

63

0.9

62-61

0.8

60

0.7 [lowest passing grade]

59 and x < 59

0.0

 

Catalog Description: 
Major achievements in painting, sculpture, architecture, and the decorative arts in Europe, the Near East, and North Africa, from prehistoric times to the beginnings of Christianity.
GE Requirements: 
Arts and Humanities (A&H)
Credits: 
5.0
Status: 
Active
Last updated: 
June 28, 2020 - 9:11pm

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