The French Art World in the 19 th and 20 th centuries : SAMPLE. Summer Session

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1 The French Art World in the 19 th and 20 th centuries : Summer Session Professor: Laure-Caroline Semmer Period: Monday-Wednesday-Thursday 14h-16h30 (unless otherwise indicated) / Course Abstract This course traces the artistic contribution to modernity in 19 th - century and the first decades of 20 th century French art, its utopian dimension, its different achievements and its decline. Since the French Revolution, major works of art, art critics and theorists, and artists themselves contributed to change drastically the artist s role and the role of the arts. Against the backdrop of the newly established bourgeois, industrialized and modernized society in France, the co-existence of opposite art practices and ideologies as well as the quickly following changes and innovations in successive art-movements, such as realism, impressionism, postimpressionism, cubism, fauvism will be analysed with regard to their respective claim for modernity. Through an examination of form and content distinguishable in works of various artistic disciplines (painting, sculpture, architecture, design), students will critically evaluate artistic language and expression that is representative of modern ideologies. This course will examine the visual arts and will utilize theoretical texts for supportive analysis. Course Objectives: Upon completion of the course the student will be able to: - Distinguish major art movements from Neo-Classicism to Modern Art. - Analyze and contextualize key works of 19 th and 20 th century French Art. - Demonstrate awareness and understanding of their historical, social and esthetical background. - Have a basic reading of essential art critics and art theories dealing with modernity. - Acquire basic knowledge about the foundations of Modern Art. 1

2 Course Outline: Topics covered Modernity in 19 th century French art. 1. Introduction, Organisation, Timetable, The academic quarrel: Neo-classicism and romanticism, contributions to modernity? Monday 28/05, 14h00.; Classroom 2. The decadence of historical painting and utopia of nature, art and society: School of Fontainebleau and Gustave Courbet Text Studies : Gustave Courbet, Realist manifesto, 1855 and other excerpts. In Texts to study, pp S. Eisenmann, «Rhetoric of realist art and politics», Eisenmann S. (dir;), 19th century ; a Critical History, Thames and Hudson, 2011, pp L. Nochlin, The politics of vision,»the invention of the Avant-Garde France », Westview Press, 1989, pp TJ Clark, «On the social history of art», Image of the people, Gustave Courbet and the 1848 Revolution,University of California Press, 1999, pp Wednesday 30/05 14h, Orsay Museum, meeting point the group entrance at the corner rue de lille, Metro Assemblée Nationale/Solférino, Oral presentation: Jean-François Millet, The Angélus, Musée Orsay 3. The Revolution of the symbolic in Manet s painting Text Studies: C. Baudelaire, tr. J. Mayne, «Painter of modern life», Phaidon Press, pp Clark, TJ «The Olympia Choice», The Painting of modern life. Paris in the Art of Manet and his followers, Princeton University Press, 1999, pp

3 Thursday 31 st /05, 13h00 Classroom Oral presentation : Edouard Manet, La musique aux tuileries, 1862, National Gallery, London 4. Modernization of Paris under Hausmann : Text Studies: C. Baudelaire, tr. J. Mayne, «the Crowd», Phaidon Press, pp Walter Benjamin, The Arcades Project, Paris, Capital of the XIXth century, «Fourier or the Arcades» p. 3-5, «Baudelaire, or the Streets of Paris», p , «Haussmann or the Barricades», p Monday 04/06, 14h00 : Walking tour, meeting point, in front of Notre Dame on the piazza Oral Presentation : Charles Garnier, The Opera House 5. Impressionism : Inventing modern images and imaging modern life-style. Nature and Leisure in the Age of Industry Text Studies: T. Duret, The impressionists painter, 1878, reprinted in Art Humanities Primary Source Reading, «Impressionism» E. Duranty, The New Painting, concerning the group of artists exhibited at Durand Ruel Galleries, 1876, reprinted and translated in Charles S. Moffat, The new Painting Impressionism , Fine Art Museum of San Francisco, 1986, pp L Leroy, «Exhibition of the impressionists, in Art Humanities Primary Source Reading, «Impressionism», reprinted from The History of Impressionism by John Rewald. Jules Laforgue, "Impressionism: The Eye and the Poet" by Jules La Forgue, William Jay Smith, trans., is reprinted from Art News, May 1956, in Art Humanities Primary Source Reading, «Impressionism» P. A. Renoir, The society of the irregularists, etc., in Art Humanities Primary Source Reading, «Impressionism» S. Eisenmann, «The intransigeant artist or how the impressionists got their name», in Charles S. Moffat, The new Painting Impressionism , Fine Art Museum of San Francisco, 1986, pp M. Ward, «Impressionist Installation and Private Exhitions», The art Bulletin, vol. 73, n 4, décembre 1991, pp

4 Wednesday 06/06, 14h, Orsay Museum, meeting point the group entrance at the corner rue de lille, Metro Assemblée Nationale/Solférino, Oral presentation : Gustave Caillebotte, les raboteurs de parquet (the floorscrappers), Musée d Orsay Renoir, Le bal du moulin de la galette, Musée d Orsay 6. Post-Impressionism : Cezanne, Van Gogh, Signac, Seurat Van Gogh, Correspondence, letter to his brother 25/05/1889, Cézanne, Correspondence, letter to Emile Bernard 12/05/1904; 26/05/1904; 25/07/1904, 23/10/1904. In Texts to study, pp. 7-9 Paul Signac, excerpts from From Eugéne Delacroix to Neo-Impressionism (1899) Laure-Caroline Semmer, Birth of the figure of the father of modern art; Cézanne in International Exhibition , Thursdaty, 07/06, 14h Orsay Museum, meeting point the group entrance at the corner rue de lille, Metro Assemblée Nationale/Solférino, Oral presentation Seurat, The Circus, Musée d Orsay 7. Mid-term exam Monday 11/06, classroom 8. Monet and Renoir : two opposites contributions to the XXth century Text Studies : Marx R., «On water lilies», in in Art Humanities Primary Source Reading, «Impressionism» Wednesday 13/06, 14h : Musée de l Orangerie and exhibition American Abstract art Oral Presentation : 4

5 Monet, the great waterlilies, Musée de l Orangerie 9. Modernity and Alterity : Japonism and Primitivism. Gauguin. Henri Rousseau, Picasso, Matisse Paul Gauguin, letter to Van Gogh, 09/1888, and 13/11/1889, Paul Gauguin, letter to Georges- Daniel de Montfreid : Introduction p. 9-20, letter of 11 mars 1892, p , letter 1898, p Facos M., Symbolist art in context, University of California Press, 2009, p Thursday 14 /06, 14h00,classroom Oral Presentation : Gauguin, La belle angèle, Orsay 10. Picasso and the primitiv Text Studies The autonomy of the language of art Carl Einstein, excerpts from Negro Sculpture, November Edition in Art Humanities Primary Source Reading, Pierre Daix, excerpts from Picasso: Life and Art, Westview Press,1993 in Art Humanities Primary Source Reading, «Picasso» Kirk Varnedoe, «Primitivism», Fine Disregard, what makes modern art modern, Paperback, 1994, pp Monday 18/06, 14 Musée du Quai Branly, meeting point at the Pont de l Alma, RER station, 5

6 11. The influence of science and machine Cubism and Italian Futurism Guillaume Apollinaire : The Cubists, L intransigeant, 10 october 1911, in Texts to study, p. 9 Gleizes A. Mezinger J., excerpt From Cubism, 1912 in Art Humanities Primary Source Reading, «Picasso» Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, from The Way of Cubism in Art Humanities Primary Source Reading, «Picasso» Wednesday 20/06, 14h, Centre pompidou, meeting point in the group outdoor line Oral presentation : Pablo Picasso, The guitarist, Centre Pompidou 12. Avant-garde : Color as a power :. Fauvism in France / Orphism ( Delaunay- Kupka) Matisse, excerpts from Notes on a painter, 1908, reprinted from Harrison Ch. & Wood P. (edited by).art in Theory, , An Anthology of Changing Ideas, Blackwell Publishing, 2002, pp in Texts to study, pp Alfred H. Barr, «From Cubism to Abstract Art» reprinted from, Harrison Ch. & Wood P. (edited by).art in Theory, , An Anthology of Changing Ideas, Blackwell Publishing, 2002, intexts to study, pp Thursday 21/06, Musée d art moderne de la ville de Paris Oral presentation : Delaunay, Rythm, musée national d art moderne de la ville de Paris 13. From Modernity to abstract art W. Kandinsky, from Concerning the spiritual in Art, 1911, reprinted from Harrison Ch. & Wood P. (edited by).art in Theory, , An Anthology of Changing Ideas, Blackwell Publishing, 2002, p in Texts to study, pp W. Kandinsky, «The cologne lecture», 1914, reprinted from Harrison Ch. & Wood P. (edited by).art in Theory, , An Anthology of Changing Ideas, Blackwell Publishing, 2002,p in Texts to study, pp Monday 25/06, Centre Pompidou 6

7 14. Call to order : art faces to war : (Dada, Surrealism,) Tristan Tzara, Dada Manifesto, from Harrison Ch. & Wood P. (edited bt).art in Theory, , An Anthology of Changing Ideas, Blackwell Publishing, 2002 André Breton, Manifesto of Surrealism from Harrison Ch. & Wood P. (edited bt).art in Theory, , An Anthology of Changing Ideas, Blackwell Publishing, 2002 B. Doherty, «The work of art and the problem of politics in Berlin Dada»,, October, vol. 105, summer 2003, pp Wednesday 27/06, 14h, Centre pompidou, meeting point in the group outdoor line Oral Presentation : Francis Picabia, Tabac-Rat, Musée national d art moderne 15. Duchamp and inheritants : Duchamp, Pop art, Nouveau realism Text Studies : T. De Duve, R. Krauss, «Marcel Duchamp or the «Phynancier» or Modern Life», October, vol. 52, spring 1999, pp Marcel Duchamp, «The richard Mutt case», The Blind Man, New York, 1917, in Texts to study, p. 29 Thursday 28/06 13h00, Classroom Oral Presentation : Daniel Spoerri, Tableau-Piege 16. How New York stole the idea of modern art? American expressionism vs French abstract art Cl. Greenberg, «Avant-garde and Kitsch», Partisan Review, 1939, pp Monday 02/07, 13h00, classroom Oral presentation : Pierre Soulages, Outrenoir, 7

8 17. Final Exam. Wednesday 04/07, 13h00, Classroom 18. Contemporary art Thursday, 05/07, 13h15, Fondation Louis Vuitton, «In tune with the word at Les Sablons station, line 1 Assignements and Gradings Oral Presentation 25% These will be a 15mn oral presentation upon list given by the professor and noted in the syllabus. It will take place in museums or in class, in this case you must come with a power point file with images. You must organize your ideas and put the work of art in context Daily Performance Grade 10% The daily performance will be awarded on regular attendance, participation in discussions, meeting deadlines, and effort spent on class projects. Midterm 25%and Final 25%: These will be a short essay to answer to a general question. You ll have to show that you understand how to use artworks and put it back in context. You must organize your ideas, make an introduction and a conclusion and in your development, use examples of work of art seen in class. Material in class lectures, work viewed in museums, slides, video shorts, and assigned readings in text will be the basis for the mid-term and final exam. It is imperative that students attend and participate in class discussions and museum sessions in order to pass the exams. Research Paper Presentation 25%: Double space the text and use 12- point type. Use a title page and list your sources/references in the back. Your reference elements must cite text (title), author, volume, publisher, and any other appropriate material. The length of the report should be a minimum of 5 pages of the text only not the title page and the resource page. Grading Criteria of Research Paper: You must show your documentation of the presented information. You must not copy or lift information from Internet sites without citing those references. You must use prescribed rules of grammar and correct spelling. Finally, you must weave the research information with your own ideas and thoughts about the subject to produce an interesting report. Exciting visuals will not redeem a poorly written paper. 8

9 Primary Source Reading Apollinaire G. : The Cubists, L intransigeant, 10 october 1911,p. 8 Baudelaire C., tr. J. Mayne, «Painter of modern life», Phaidon Press, pp Breton A., Manifesto of Surrealism, 1924, Harrison Ch. & Wood P. (edited bt).art in Theory, , An Anthology of Changing Ideas, Balckwell Publishing, 2002, pp Clark TJ, «On the social history of art», Image of the people, Gustave Courbet and the 1848 Revolution,University of California Press, 1999, pp Clark, TJ «The Olympia Choice», The Painting of modern life. Paris in the Art of Manet and his followers, Princeton University Press, 1999, pp Courbet G., «The realist Manifesto», 1855 reprinted and translated in Nochlin L., Gustave Courbet, A Study of Style and Society, Garland Publication, 1976, p Daix P., Picasso: Life and Art, Westview Press,1993 Duranty E., The New Painting, concerning the group of artists exhibited at Durand Ruel Galleries, 1876, reprinted and translated in Charles S. Moffat, The new Painting Impressionism , Fine Art Museum of San Francisco, 1986, pp Duret T., The impressionists painters, 1878 reprinted and translated in Rewald. J., History of Impressionism,Museum of Modern Art De Duve T., Krauss R., «Marcel Duchamp or the «Phynancier» or Modern Life», October, vol. 52, spring 1999, pp Doherty B., «The work of art and the problem of politics in Berlin Dada», October, vol. 105, summer 2003, pp Eisenmann S., «The intransgeant artist or how the impressionists got their name», in Charles S. Moffat, The new Painting Impressionism , Fine Art Museum of San Francisco, 1986, pp Eisenmann S., «Rhetoric of realist art and politics», in 19th century ; a Critical History, Thames and Hudson, 2011, pp Facos M., Symbolist art in context, University of California Press, 2009 Cl. Greenberg, «Avant-garde and Kitsch», Partisan Review, 1939 Laforgue J., "Impressionism: The Eye and the Poet" by Jules La Forgue, William Jay Smith, trans., is reprinted from Art News, May 1956 Leroy L., «Exhibition of the impressionists, reprinted from John Rewald, The History of 9

10 Impressionism L. Nochlin, The politics of vision, Westview Press, 1989 Nochlin L., Gustave Courbet, A Study of Style and Society, Garland Publication, Signac P, From Eugéne Delacroix to Neo-Impressionism, 1899 Steinberg L., «The philosophical Brothel», October, vo. 44, Spring 1988, pp Varnedoe K., «Primitivism», Fine Disregard, what makes modern art modern, Paperback, 1994 Ward M., «Impressionist Installation and Private Exhitions», The art Bulletin, vol. 73, n 4, décembre 1991, pp Additional Reading Batchelor D., Fer B., Wood P., Realism, Rationalism, Surrealism: Art between the Wars, Yale University Press, Celestin R. and DalMolin E., France from 1851 to the Present, Universalism in Crisis. Macmillan, T.J. Clark, The Absolute Bourgoies, Artists and Politics in France, Thames and Hudson, London 1973 (.Chapters: Millet, p , Daumier, p , Delacroix et Baudelaire, p ) Clark T. J., Image of the people : Gustave Courbet and the 1848 Revolution, Princeton University Press, Clark T.J, Farewell to an Idea, Episodes from a History of Modernism, Yale Univerity Press, 1999 Clark T.J., The Painting of modern life. Paris in the Art of Manet and his followers, Princeton University Press, Cheetham M. A., The Rhetoric of Purity. Essentialist Theory and the Advent of Abstract Painting, Cambridge University Press, Eisenmann S. (dir;), 19th century ; a Critical History, London, Thames and Hudson, Lewis H., The Politics of surrealism, New York, Paragon House, Löwy M., Morning star : surrealism, marxism, anarchism, situationism, utopia, University of Texas Press, 2009 Nochlin L., Gustave Courbet, A Study of Style and Society, Garland Publication,

11 Nochlin L., The Politics Of Vision: Essays On Nineteenth-century Art And Society, Westview Press, Kachur L., Displaying the marvelous, Marcel Duchamp, Salvador Dali and Surrealist Exhibition Installation, MIT Press, Krauss R., (dir.), Art Since Modernism, Anti-Modernsim, Post-modernism, Thames and Hudson, Harrison Ch. & Wood P. (edited bt).art in Theory, , An Anthology of Changing Ideas, Blackwell Publishing, 2002 Judovitz D., Unpacking Duchamp: Art in Transit, Berkeley University of California, Tompkins Lewis M. (ed. by), Critical readings in Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, an Anthology University of California Press, 2007 Rewald. J., History of Impressionism,Museum of Modern Art Rubin J. H., Courbet. Phaidon White M., Generation Dada. The first World War and the First World War, Yale University Press, 2013 Zola E., Ecrits sur l Art, Gallimard,

The French Art World in the 19 th and 20 th centuries : Summer Session SAMPLE

The French Art World in the 19 th and 20 th centuries : Summer Session Professor: Laure-Caroline Semmer Period: Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday 13h-15h30 (unless otherwise indicated) Email: / 06 11 16 87 58