Writing colleague: Evan Gove

Lectures:  WF 1:25-2:50pm, 212 Houghton House
Office hours: M 1:00-2:00pm, W 3:30-4:30pm, or by appointment, 208 Houghton House

Course description:
This class, which will be co-taught with Professor Michael Tinkler, will focus on the ideas that artists attempt to express visually in both Asia and Europe. My section will focus on Asian art, and Professor Tinkler’s section will focus on European art. Each section will meet separately periodically for discussion (Chinese, Japanese, and Indian art in my section, ancient and medieval European art in Professor Tinkler’s), but both sections will meet together at least once a week to learn about a common issue in both artistic traditions and how it is approached differently (or similarly) in Asia and Europe. Broad topics will include how artists represent the real world or an idealized world, how social class impacts artistic practice, how men and women participate in artistic production, and how the “other” is represented in both artistic traditions. We will consider the connections between art, religion, philosophy, politics, literature, and society.

Course objectives:
We will explore through study of formal techniques and the varied philosophical concepts that inform artistic production how visual means can be used to express difference, and we will make comparisons to literature.  Students will gain experience in analyzing art in the context of diverse world cultures and will write short papers, journal entries and create a thematic exhibition.

Institutional goals:
In this course we will address four of the eight curricular goals for the institution: 1. Develop skills for effective communication: listening, reading, writing, speaking; 2. Develop skills for critical thinking and argumentation; 6. Develop an intellectually grounded foundation for understanding differences and inequalities of gender, race and class; and 7. Acquire critical knowledge of the multiplicity of world cultures.

About the Learning Community:
Learning Communities provide a structured, intentional and coherent living-learning experience that supports students through increased faculty-student engagement, increased peer support and a stronger emphasis on bridging experiences. Learning Community students tend to achieve at high rates, make friends quickly and transition into college life smoothly.

Learning Communities at HWS create an intentional learning environment that focuses on shared and active learning, bridging academic and co-curricular experiences and developing strong bonds with faculty and fellow students. Two different types of Learning Communities are being offered to the Classes of 2015: Linked Courses and Linked Pods.

You are enrolled in a Linked Pods Community that pairs with the other section of FSEM 047. Both courses are closely tied together through complementary lectures, readings and assignments in order to provide students with a more integrated approach to learning in the first year. Students live together in the same residence hall so that interesting conversations don’t stop when students leave the classroom, and co-curricular programming can be tied to academic themes students are addressing in classes. A student who serves as a Writing Colleague will work with you on your writing.

Required texts:

• SGWA: Sylvan Barnet, ed., A Short Guide to Writing about Art, 10th ed. (New York: Longman, 2011).
• CBCP: Burton Watson, ed. and trans., The Columbia Book of Chinese Poetry: From Early Times to the Thirteenth Century (New York: Columbia University Press, 1984).

Weekly schedule:

Fri., Aug. 26.           The HWS curriculum and other stuff we think you should know.

Introductions, syllabus, etc.

 

First conference with Writing Colleague occurs this week, and you make an appointment to meet with him weekly throughout the semester. Send your written assignments in advance via e-mail.

Wed., Aug. 31.        Comparing and contrasting Asian & European art (meet together).

Choose artist for biography assignment.

Readings:

• SGWA chaps. 3-4.

Fri., Sept. 2.           Discussing Asian & European art (meet together).

Draft of artist’s biography due to Writing Colleague.

 

Wed., Sept. 7.        Comparing and contrasting perception in Asian & European art (meet together).

Readings:

• Jonathan Hay, “The Mediating Work of Art,” The Art Bulletin 89, no. 3 (September 2007): 435-59.
• Samuel Y. Edgerton, Jr., “Alberti’s Perspective: A New Discovery and a New Evaluation,” The Art Bulletin 48, no. 3/4 (September-December 1966): 367-378.

Fri., Sept. 9.           Discussing perception in Asian art (meet separately).

Artist’s biography assignment due in class.
Draft of first journal entry due to Writing Colleague.

Readings:

• David Summers, “Response: How Is the Past in the Present?” The Art Bulletin 89, no. 3 (September 2007): 493-95.

Wed., Sept. 14.        Comparing and contrasting conceptual approaches to Asian & European art (meet together).

Readings:

• Eugene Wang, “Response: ‘Picture-Idea’ and Its Cultural Dynamics in Northern Song China,” The Art Bulletin 89, no. 3 (September 2007): 463-81.
• John Onians, “Idea and Product: Potter and Philosopher in Classical Athens,” Journal of Design History 4, no. 2 (1991): 65-73.

Fri., Sept. 16.           Discussing conceptual approaches to Asian art (meet separately).

First journal entry due in class.
Draft of next journal entry due to Writing Colleague.

Readings:

• Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis, “Visions of a Transcendent Realm: Pure Land Images in The Cleveland Museum of Art,” Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 7 (1991): 274-300.
• CBCP 1-14, 307-309.

 

Wed., Sept. 21.        Comparing and contrasting iconicity in Asian & European art (meet together).

Proposals for exhibition themes due in class.

Readings:

• Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, “The Origin of the Buddha Image,” The Art Bulletin 9, no. 4 (June 1927): 287-329.
• Manolis Chatzidakis and Gerry Walters, “An Encaustic Icon of Christ at Sinai,” The Art Bulletin 49, no. 3 (September 1967): 197-208.

Fri., Sept. 23.           Discussing iconicity in Asian art (meet separately).

Journal entry due in class.
Draft of next journal entry due to Writing Colleague.

Readings:

• Francesca Dal Lago, “Personal Mao: Reshaping an Icon in Contemporary Chinese Art,” Art Journal 58, no. 2 (Summer 1999): 46-59.
• Chen Jo-hsi, “Chairman Mao Is a Rotten Egg,” in “The Execution of Mayor Yin” and Other Stories from the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 1978), 37-66.

Wed., Sept. 28.        Comparing and contrasting narrative in Asian & European art (meet together).

Readings:

• Vidya Dehejia, "On Modes of Visual Narration in Early Buddhist Art," The Art Bulletin 72, no. 3 (September 1990): 373-392.
• Thomas F. Mathews, “The Magician,” chapter 3 of The Clash of Gods (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1995), 54-91.

Fri., Sept. 30.           Discussing narrative in Asian art and literature (meet separately).

Journal entry due in class.
Draft of next journal entry due to Writing Colleague.

Readings:

• Susan Nelson, "On through to the Beyond: The Peach Blossom Spring as Paradise," Archives of Asian Art 39 (1986): 23-47.
• CBCP 142-43.

 

Wed., Oct. 5.        How to write a catalogue entry (meet together).

Readings:

• SGWA chaps. 5, 6, 10.

Fri., Oct 7.           Library research session. Meet at the Reference Desk of the Library at 1:25pm.

[Oct. 8-11, FALL RECESS]

Wed., Oct. 12.        Comparing and contrasting work in Asian & European art (meet together).

Readings:

• James Cahill, “The Painter’s Livelihood,” chapter 2 of The Painter’s Practice: How Artists Lived and Worked in Traditional China (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994), 32-70.
• Véronique P. Day, “Portrait of a Provincial Artist: Jehan Gillemer, Poitevin Illuminator,” Gesta 41, no. 1 (2002): 39-49.

Fri., Oct. 14.           Discussing work in Asian art (meet separately).

Journal entry due in class.
Draft of next journal entry due to Writing Colleague.

Readings:

• Keiko Nakamachi, “The Patrons of Tawaraya Sōtatsu and Ogata Kōrin,” in Critical Perspectives on Classicism in Japanese Painting, 1600-1700, ed. Elizabeth Lillehoj (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2004), 79-97.
• CBCP 249-52.

Wed., Oct. 19.        Comparing and contrasting play in Asian & European art (meet together).

Readings:

• Britta Erickson, “Language as Intellectual Game,” chapter 3 of Words without Meaning, Meaning without Words: The Art of Xu Bing (Washington, D.C.: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 2001), 46-57.
• Malcolm Jones, “Magical Metal, Silly Saints and Risible Relics: The Art and Artefacts of Popular Religion,” chapter 2 of The Secret Middle Ages (Westport, Ct.: Praeger Publishers, 2002), 13-33.

Fri., Oct. 21.           Discussing play in Asian art and literature (meet separately).

Journal entry due in class.
Draft of next journal entry due to Writing Colleague.

Readings:

• Conrad Hyers, “Humor in Daoist and Zen Art,” Asian Art & Culture (Fall 1994): 30-45.
• Zhuangzi 莊子, Chuang Tzu: Basic Writings, trans. Burton Watson (New York: Columbia University Press, 1964), 109-110, 133-34, 140.
• CBCP 139-40, 311, 317-18.

 

Wed., Oct. 26.        Comparing and contrasting “high art” in Asia & Europe (meet together).

Object list for exhibition due.

Readings:

• Andrew Solomon, “Don’t Mess with Our Cultural Patrimony!” The New York Times Magazine (17 March 1996): 30-37, 44, 52, 58, 64.
• TBA: Elgin Marbles packet.

Fri., Oct. 28.           Discussing “high art” in Asia (meet separately).

Journal entry due in class.
Draft of next journal entry due to Writing Colleague.

Readings:

• Mimi Yiengpruksawan, "The House of Gold: Fujiwara Kiyohira's Konjikidō," Monumenta Nipponica 48, no. 1 (Spring 1993): 33-52.
• CBCP 54-66, 116-21, 222, 245-46.

[Sat., Oct. 29, DAY OF SERVICE]

[Oct. 31-Nov. 4, ADVISING WEEK]

Wed., Nov. 2.        Preparation for field experience (meet together).

Fri., Nov. 4.           Travel to Washington, D.C.; 11:30am departure.

[Sat., Nov. 5.         Museum visits in Washington, D.C.]

Wed., Nov. 9.        Comparing and contrasting “low art” in Asia & Europe (meet together).

Readings:

• Theodore R. Bowie, “Hokusai and the Comic Tradition in Japanese Painting,” College Art Journal 19, no. 3 (Spring 1960): 210-225.
• Paul Hardwick, “Masculinity and Power,” chapter 4 of English Medieval Misericords, the Margins of Meaning (Woodbridge, UK: Boydell & Brewer, 2011), 85-109.

Fri., Nov. 11.           Discussing “low art” in Asia (meet separately).

Journal entry due in class.
Draft of field experience assignment due to Writing Colleague.

Readings:

• James Cahill, “Recognizing Vernacular Painting,” chapter 1 of Pictures for Use and Pleasure: Vernacular Painting in High Qing China (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2010), 1-29.
• CBCP 338-39.

 

Wed., Nov. 16.        Comparing and contrasting “old” approaches in Asian & European art (meet together).

Draft of catalogue entries due to Writing Colleague.

Readings:

• Richard Barnhart, “Li Kung-lin’s Use of Past Styles,” in Artists and Traditions: Uses of the Past in Chinese Culture, ed. Christian F. Murck (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1976), 51-71.
• Michael Camille, “The Très Riches Heures: An Illuminated Manuscript in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” Critical Inquiry 17, no. 1 (Autumn 1990): 72-107.

Fri., Nov. 18.           Discussing the importance of the “old” in Asian art (meet separately).

Field experience assignment due in class.
Draft of final journal entry due to Writing Colleague.

Readings:

• Laura W. Allen, “Japanese Exemplars for a New Age: Genji Paintings from the Seventeenth-Century Tosa School,” in Critical Perspectives on Classicism in Japanese Painting, 1600-1700, ed. Elizabeth Lillehoj (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2004), 99-132.

[Nov. 23-27, THANKSGIVING RECESS]

Wed., Nov. 30.        Comparing and contrasting “new” approaches in Asian & European art (meet together).

Readings:

• Nicolai Ouroussoff, “In Changing Face of Beijing, A Look at the New China,” The New York Times (13 July 2008).
• “Architectural Monuments in a Reshaped Beijing,” The New York Times (16 April 2011).
• TBA: Zaha Hadid.

Fri., Dec. 2.           Discussing the importance of the “new” in Asian art (meet separately).

Final journal entry due in class.

Readings:

• Jonathan M. Reynolds, “Ise Shrine and a Modernist Construction of Japanese Tradition,” The Art Bulletin 83, no. 2 (June 2001): 316-41.

 

Wed., Dec. 7.        Group workshops.

Fri., Dec. 9.           Group workshops.

Exhibitions posted online by this date.

Tues., Dec. 13.      Group presentations.

Course requirements:

1.         Class participation (15%).  This includes regular and punctual attendance (see attendance policy) and participating in discussions in class or on the Blackboard discussion board. I grade participation on a daily basis, as follows: A for speaking up in class or on the discussion board (even to ask a question or to answer one of my questions incorrectly), B for showing up to class but not speaking, C for not paying attention or coming in late, zero (0) for not coming to class at all.

2.         Artist’s biography (5%), due Friday, Sept. 9.  A short writing assignment on any famous artist (not necessarily an Asian artist).

3.         Weekly journal (20%).  Most weeks, beginning in Week 3, you will be writing journal entries about art. More details to follow.

4.         Proposal for exhibition theme (5%), due Wednesday, Sept. 21.  If you could mount an exhibition on a particular theme in Asian or Asian & European art, what would you choose? Everyone turns in an individual proposal; the most do-able ones will be chosen as the basis for group projects. More details to follow.

5.         Field experience assignment (5%). More details to follow.

6.         Exhibition (40%), due Friday, Dec. 9.  This will be an online group project pursuing one of the proposals for exhibition themes. Grading will be based on four distinct components, worth 10% each: 1.) attention to theme; 2.) choice of images; 3.) explanatory text; 4.) teamwork (including contributing equally to project and posting on time). More details to follow.

7.         Presentations of exhibitions (10%), Tuesday, Dec. 13, 7:00pm.  Short presentations in which you introduce your group project to the rest of your classmates and Professor Tinkler’s section. More details to follow.

Office hours:
I am happy to meet with you outside of class during my office hours (see top of syllabus), or at another time that is convenient for you, in 208 Houghton House. The best way to reach me to set up an appointment is by e-mail, but please note that I regularly respond to e-mail only between 9:00am and 4:30pm. 

Attendance policy:
I consider attendance at lectures to be mandatory. Asian art history is a challenging subject; don’t make it impossible by skipping class! That said, if you have a reasonable excuse for missing a class, I expect you to notify me as soon as possible—preferably in advance—and to turn in a one-page essay on the topics covered on the day of your absence, within a week. Not doing so will directly impact your participation grade. If you are absent three times or more, you should be prepared for me to notify the Deans about your performance. I will be taking attendance regularly.

Attendance and religious holidays:
“The Colleges accept the responsibility of making available to each student who is absent from class because of religious obligations and practices an equivalent opportunity to make up any examination, study or work requirement missed.”
Please inform me in advance of any religious holidays when you will be out of class. I do my best to avoid religious holidays with regard to due dates, but there are times when that is impossible.  Please talk to me if you have any difficulties!

Format for written work:
One of the things you will learn in an art history class is the importance of presentation. This applies to your written work as well:

1. Type all work in a 12-point font.
2. Double-space.
3. Leave one-inch margins on all sides.
4. Number your pages.
5. Staple your work.
6. Put your name on every page and the date on the first page.
7. Check that your spelling, grammar and punctuation are correct—these are crucial to effective communication of your ideas. I will lower your grade if you have excessive errors. A Short Guide to Writing about Art has a helpful chapter titled “Manuscript Form.” Read it.
8. If you cite another source, use either parenthetical references or footnotes. (See A note about cheating and plagiarism below.) Make sure that you follow one of the documentation styles explained in A Short Guide to Writing about Art (Chicago Manual of Style or Art Bulletin Style).
9. Include pictures with captions if appropriate (and please attach them to a clean sheet of paper—do not give me loose postcards, illustrations torn from magazines, or copies of the books you found the pictures in. Black-and-white photocopies are okay).

A note about cheating and plagiarism:
I will not tolerate any form of academic dishonesty. Not only does it destroy the trust that I have in you to do your best, it is unfair to the other students, and obviously you will not learn anything if you resort to cheating. If I find that you have cheated on a test or on a written assignment, you will receive a zero for the assignment and I will contact the Deans and/or the Committee on Standards about your case.

Now, just in case you are not clear about what plagiarism is: plagiarism is the use of someone else’s words or ideas without giving that person credit.  In application, this means that in your writing assignments, you need to cite your sources. When quoting directly from a text—say, five words or more in succession—you need to put those words in quotation marks and include a parenthetical reference or footnote citing the source. When rewriting a passage from a text in your own words, you don’t need the quotation marks but you do still need the parenthetical reference or footnote. If you don’t understand exactly what constitutes plagiarism, or how to use parenthetical references or footnotes, please ask me. I would prefer to explain what it is and how to avoid it before it happens rather than after.

Grading:
All regularly scheduled assignments will receive a letter grade. Make-up written assignments, which count as part of your participation grade, will not receive a letter grade but a check or check-minus. If you are unsatisfied with a grade, please prepare a written statement explaining what grade you think you should have received and why, and submit it to me along with the assignment for review.

Assignments are due during the class period on the due date. Please turn in a hard copy along with copies of any earlier drafts. PLEASE NOTE:  I mark down one-third of a letter grade (for example, from A to A-) for each calendar day that an assignment is late. If you think you will need an extension, you should talk to me as early as possible. In addition, you must meet your Writing Colleague for conferences on all your written assignments, or I will mark down your final version by one letter grade.

My grading scale is as follows:

A note about the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL):
At Hobart and William Smith Colleges, we encourage students to seek the academic collaboration and resources that will enable them to do their best work. The CTL offers a variety of resources that can help students achieve academic success, including Teaching Fellows (for course content help in the departments of Biology, Chemistry, Economics, Geoscience, Philosophy, Physics, Psychology, Sociology, and Spanish & Hispanic Studies), Writing Colleagues (for help on papers), Study Mentors (for help with study skills and time management), Group Study Tables (for content help in specific courses), and more.

Disability accommodations:
If you are a student with a disability for which you may need accommodations, you should self-identify and register for services with the Coordinator of Disability Services at the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL), and provide documentation of your disability.  Disability-related accommodations and services generally will not be provided until the registration and documentation process is complete.  The guidelines for documenting disabilities can be found at the following website: http://www.hws.edu/disabilities.

Please direct questions about this process or Disability Services at HWS to David Silver, Coordinator of Disability Services, via e-mail or at x3351.

Websites:
There are two websites for this course: one at my homepage; and one at Blackboard. This syllabus, paper and project assignments and links to online resources for Asian art can be found at both. The Blackboard site also has a course calendar, daily handouts, a discussion board, and an online gradebook.