French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism
T/Th 9:30 AM - to 11:20 AM, Art 229
Instructor: Marek Wieczorek, reacheable via Canvas email.
Office hours: Tuesday 11:30a-12:30p in Art 355 or by appointment on Zoom.
TA: Jade Ichimura
Note: this is not a W course.
Course Description:
With dazzling bursts of color and radical new ways of seeing, Impressionism reshaped the course of art history. Today painters like Monet, Renoir, and Degas feel iconic—almost inevitable—but when their first exhibition opened in 1874, critics mocked the artworks as unfinished “impressions,” unable to decide whether some canvases were even hung right-side up. Their bold brushwork, luminous color, and insistence on painting modern life challenged every academic rule of the time. The generation that followed—Seurat, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin—pushed these experiments even further, forging what we now call Post-Impressionism. Their work has become the stuff of legend, but their innovations were once seen as strange, unruly, even shocking.
This course introduces you to these artists and to the rapidly changing world they painted: a newly rebuilt Paris of shimmering cafés and bustling boulevards, but also of social tensions, modernization, and displacement. Together we will explore how images of leisure, fashion, labor, and everyday life reflect deeper questions about gender, class, technology, tourism, and colonial expansion. By learning how to look closely, you will gain tools to understand both the radiant beauty of these paintings and the darker histories they illuminate. Join us as we uncover how Impressionism and Post-Impressionism not only transformed art, but helped define the very texture of modern life.
Course Book
Readings will be provided as downloadable Pdfs. The course book is available online and can be downloaded as one long Pdf through the UW library website (we will not read the whole book, but selections). Nathalia Brodskaïa, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, New York 2018
Links to an external site.. Other readings will be posted in Pdf form under the Modules by week, also accessible in folders under Files section of this site), where you will also often receive directions on how to read these sources.
The weekly Modules with schedule of viewings and readings and the questions for the Discussion Forum will be posted well in advance.
One very exciting opportunity is the exhibition Farm to Table: Art, Food, and Identity in the Age of Impressionism, on view until January 18 at the Seattle Art Museum, which we will engage with early in the quarter.
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.
Testing and grading breakdown
• Discussion Forums: 20%
• Paper 1: 20%
• Paper 2: 30%
• Essay exam: 30%
Course Requirements: Keys to Succeeding in this Class
- Attendance at lectures; absences from class may negatively affect grades. The lectures will include some works of art and themes that are not covered in course readings. You are responsible for the content of all lectures and assigned reading materials. If you miss class due to illness or emergencies immediately notify the instructor or TA with a doctor's note. Please ensure that all missed assignments and exams are completed.
- Do the readings before class. There is a reading assignment attached to each lecture. If you don’t do the reading before lecture, you won’t know what is going on; you might, in fact, mistakenly think that, having attended lecture and understood what was said, you do understand, even though your understanding from the lecture without the readings is superficial and potentially misleading.
- Attendance and active participation in all designated assignments and various exercises. In-class discussions and exercises (both individual and through the Discussion board), as well as writing, amplify and deepen your understanding of what was discussed in class and promote active participation, which enhances your learning.
Note: Make-up discussion or other assignments will not be given without legitimate documentation of illness, family emergency, etc. Extensions for written work will be granted only under similar conditions. Late papers will not be accepted, but do communicate with me. All course requirements must be completed for credit to be awarded.
Land Acknowledgment: I would like to acknowledge that I live and work in Salish territory, specifically the lands of the Suquamish and Duwamish and the shared lands and waters of the Tulalip and Muckleshoot. There is a long history of education on this land dating to long before the establishment of this university.
Equal Opportunity
The School of Art reaffirms its policy of equal opportunity regardless of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, or status as a disabled veteran or Vietnam-era veteran in accordance with UW policy and applicable federal and state statutes and regulations.
Student Health + Wellness Resources:
- UW Counseling Center offers multiple options for students seeking help coping with stress and mental health concerns.
- The Counseling Center is open M - F, 9am - 4pm, 206-543-1240, https://www.washington.edu/counseling/
- SafeCampus is dedicated to supporting anyone at the UW dealing with potentially difficult or dangerous situations including, but not limited to: resolving conflict, addressing concerning & prohibited behaviors, suicide / self harm, relationship violence
- Contact SafeCampus with any issues of concern 24/7 at 206-685-SAFE, http://www.washington.edu/safecampus
- Urgent Help Options for medical & mental health are available to students through UW and several off-campus organizations: https://wellbeing.uw.edu/mental-health/urgent-help/
Access and Accommodations
Your experience in this class is important to me. 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 disability.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.
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
Links to an external site.SoA+AH+D Policies: The current Policies document is available from the School’s Teaching Resources Links to an external site. page