ART H 204 A: Art History and Visual Culture

Impressionism and Post-Impressionism

Asynchronous
Instructor: Marek Wieczorek, marek@uw.edu
Office hours: by appointment on Zoom
TA: Laura Stowell, lstowell@uw.edu
Office hours: Thursdays, 10-11am PST on Zoom, sign up for appointment slots via the Canvas calendar.

Course Description:

Today Impressionism is one of the most celebrated of all art movements, and the Post-Impressionists who followed—Seurat, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin—are perhaps even more famous. But when the term “Impressionism” was first coined in 1874 as a negative label for the paintings of these now-celebrated artists, including Monet, Degas, and Pissarro, many in the audience could not make out what they were looking at—or whether the works they saw hung upside down or right side up. We will examine how their focus on capturing light through bright colors in rapid, visible brushwork upset academic standards, but also how they captured the life of Paris and environs at the vibrant café concerts, newly-built boulevards, and parks.
    The class is asynchronous with the option of connecting with your professor and classmates during the allotted time slots (T/TH 9:10-10:10am). These meetings offer opportunities for deepening your skills and analysis and also allow for extra credit. These guided discussions will be recorded and are there for everyone to stream at a time of your own choosing. You will be graded on participation in Discussion Forums (20%), on two short papers (20% and 30%), and a short final essay exam (30%).

One very exciting opportunity for those who are in Seattle are visits to the exhibition MONET AT ÉTRETAT at the Seattle Art Museum. Wherever you are, however, you are encouraged to visit a museum to experience in person the revolutionary ways in which the painters we will study expressed themselves.
 

Course Objectives:
1.    You will gain familiarity with the development of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art, and with themes and texts related to these movements. Readings will be provided as downloadable Pdfs.
2.    You will learn and refine your knowledge of the elements of visual analysis in modern painting, and develop your skills at communicating visual analysis.
3.    You will learn how to develop visual description into art historical interpretation.
4.    You will gain exposure to some of the ways in which art historical scholarship relates visual objects to their historical contexts.
5.    You will get hands-on experience in engaging with artworks in real and virtual museum settings.