Art 582: Junior Seminar in Art History:
Art Writing

This junior seminar is intended to prepare you for research and other professional activity in art history, in the senior project and other career situations. We will address a wide variety of issues, ranging from technical questions about how to footnote an essay or uncover historical information to ideological questions about separating your own aesthetic reactions from the intention of the artist, or defining what makes a work important or great. Answering these questions and identifying your own concerns requires us to look at methodology, theory and practice.

First we will examine the development of art history and art-historical writing. Why is it that essays written today inevitably address different issues than essays written a century ago? Minor's history of our field will provide a framework for our discussions. Barnet's handbook on writing about art provides both practical information and a valuable discussion of the functions of critical writing. As part of our analysis, we will closely examine a few examples of good writing provided by the professor and individual students..

Second, we will examine contemporary approaches to works of art, both theory and practice. Our discussions will be based in Minor and Barnet along with supplemental materials as appropriate. Discussions for these approaches will be led by a designated student.

Third, each student will be required to address a single work of art in a sustained manner, using it throughout the semester as the point of departure for a series of exercises involving techniques and approaches in art history. Through reading and research, students will establish facts, interpret meaning, and account for change in regard to the chosen piece. Students will share their work with the seminar in several ways, including writing, oral presentations and discussion. Details of the specific assignments will be distributed later, but students will be asked to assemble a bibliography, prepare a description, and write short analyses applying various approaches to their works of art. A final paper will consolidate important material into a single statement.

Other class sessions will be devoted to consideration of practical matters like library research and source citation. Someone from Career Services will discuss future possibilities with art history that art history expertise makes possible. We will also examine the departmental guidelines for research and writing of the senior project in art history.

EVALUATION

ASSIGNED TEXTS

Sylvan Barnet, Writing About Art

Vernon Minor, Art History's History