Course Syllabus
Course: ARTH 2710
Division: Fine Arts, Comm, and New Media
Department: Visual Art
Title: Art History Survey I
Semester Approved: Fall 2019
Five-Year Review Semester: Summer 2024
End Semester: Summer 2025
Catalog Description: This course surveys Western art and architecture from the Prehistoric through the Gothic periods. Focusing on important concepts and historical events within each culture, the chronological course examines art through artistic, political, religious, and social lenses. Required of all art majors.
Semesters Offered: Fall
Credit/Time Requirement: Credit: 3; Lecture: 3; Lab: 0
Justification: This course is part one of a standard two-part art history series required during the second year of art study. It is required for all art majors who are on track toward the Associate of Fine Arts degree and it articulates to all higher education institutions in the state of Utah.
General Education Outcomes:
5: A student who completes the GE curriculum can address complex problems by integrating the knowledge and methodologies of multiple disciplines. This course focuses on Eurocentric cultures and their religious beliefs, political ideologies and practices, philosophical outlooks, and social customs by examining their artistic output. Students will develop critical skills of artistic interpretation, both objectively and subjectively. This course primarily focuses on enabling students to respond objectively to art by recognizing connections between an artwork’s creation and its historical context. It also includes more individual approaches like the Feldman method of art analysis and interpretation ultimately enhancing the student’s ability in any arena of art criticism. This will be demonstrated in exams and assignments.
Student Learning Outcomes:
Historical Context: This course, students study creative works by considering the visual structures, mediums, and processes of creation, as well as the political, religious, ideological and social concerns of the historical milieu. Specific emphasis is placed on the impact of key historical events, philosophies and ideologies, political systems, and religious beliefs on the artistic output of the past. As students learn to extract and analyze historic context as it relates to individual artworks and broader movements, it facilitates their ability to understand how their own environment and experience shapes their creative approach. This will be demonstrated in exams and assignments.
Critical Analysis: This course stresses understanding artworks of past Western cultures by recognizing how historical context affects their use, form, style, message, and reception. As students study those connections, they are better prepared to evaluate their own work as well as that of their colleagues through such lenses. Students also study the interpretive Feldman Method as a tool for evaluating the impact of method and composition on viewer reception. Students’ critical analytics are fully articulated and applied through written exams and researching specific topics within the content of the course. Students will also critically process historic artworks utilizing the vocabulary of art history and art criticism, a knowledge of material and process, and an observation of visual structure and aesthetic qualities. Through these approaches, students learn to access their own creative work critically. This will be demonstrated on assignments.
Content:
Methods of study for this course include lecture, multi-media presentation, and discussion to examine the major monuments, works of art, and artists’ contributions to Western Civilization. Completing the reading assignment prior to each lecture in order to become familiar with the art works and pertinent historical context is crucial for student success. It also includes research and writing assignments designed to promote the ability to critically examine and present topics within the field of art history. This course will chronologically cover the following art historical periods:
Prehistoric
Ancient Near East
Ancient Egypt - Old Kingdom - Middle Kingdom – Early New Kingdom – Amarna Period –
Late New Kingdom
Aegean Art – Cycladic – Minoan – Mycenean
Greek Art – Geometric – Archaic – Early Classical – Classical – Late Classical –
Hellenistic Period
Etruscan Art
Roman Art – Republican Period – Early Imperial – Late Imperial
Early Christian Art
Byzantine Art – Early and Late Period
Islamic Art and Early Medieval Art
Migration Period Art
Carolingian and Ottonian Art
Romanesque Art
Gothic Art – Early Gothic – High Gothic – Late Gothic – English Gothic – German
Gothic – Italian Gothic
Key Performance Indicators:
Each student will be evaluated on
Written Exams 50 to 55%
Research and Written Assignments 30 to 35%
Attendance and Participation 10 to 15%
Representative Text and/or Supplies:
Gardner's Art Through the Ages, Vol. 1, Fred S. Kleiner, Cengage Learning
Supplemental readings as determined by the instructor
Pedagogy Statement:
This course will include lectures, class discussion, oral and written critiques, demonstrations.
Instructional Mediums:
Lecture/Lab
Maximum Class Size: 40
Optimum Class Size: 25
