SURVEY OF DECORATIVE ARTS I (Arth 571, #1) Smithsonian-Mason MA Program in the History of Decorative Arts Fall 2011 Angela George Mondays 1:00 4:00 p.m. Ripley Center room 3031 Email: ageorge7@gmu.edu Office hours: please email me for an appointment Teaching Assistant: Elsie Klumpner (email: jimelsie@comcast.net) Course Description This course provides an overview of European decorative arts from the fifteenth through the eighteenth centuries, with a focus on objects produced and used in Italy, France, and England. During the first half of the semester we examine the role of the decorative arts in the formation of familial and cultural identity among the elite in Renaissance Italy. Attention will also be given to decorative arts of Renaissance France and England. The second half of the course concentrates on European decorative arts produced and used during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with an emphasis on the stylistic centers of Paris and London. Textbooks Riley, Noël, ed. The Elements of Design. New York: Free Press, 2003. Thornton, Peter. Form and Decoration: Innovation in the Decorative Arts, 1470-1870. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1998. Requirements Students complete two papers, a midterm exam, and a final exam. Paper 1 = 25% of course grade Paper 2 = 25% of course grade Midterm = 25% of course grade Final = 25% of course grade Important Dates September 5 no class due to Labor Day October 10 no class due to Columbus Day (class meets instead on Tuesday 10/11) October 17 paper 1 due (fifteenth- or sixteenth-century object) October 24 midterm examination November 28 paper 2 due (seventeenth or eighteenth-century object) December 5 no class due to field trip on Friday 12/9 Friday, December 9 field trip to Hillwood Museum December 12 no class due to Reading Day December 19 final examination Academic Honesty George Mason University has an Honor Code, which requires all members of the university community to maintain the highest standards of academic honesty and integrity. Cheating, 1
plagiarism, lying, and stealing are all prohibited. All violations of the Honor Code will be reported to the Honor Committee. See honorcode.gmu.edu for more detailed information. Accommodations for Disabilities If you are a student with a disability and you need academic accommodations, please see the instructor and contact the Office for Disability Services at 993-2474 or ods.gmu.edu. All academic accommodations must be arranged through that office. Class Schedule Please note: the weekly readings are the minimum that should be read for the course and students are encouraged to consult the books on reserve. Also, the instructor reserves the right to assign additional readings throughout the semester. August 29: Introduction to the Course Tour of the decorative arts collection at the National Gallery of Art September 12: Furniture and Woodwork of Renaissance Italy Pope-Hennessy, John and Keith Christiansen. Secular Painting in Fifteenth-Century Tuscany: Birth Trays, Cassone Panels, and Portraits. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (Summer 1980). [Available through JSTOR] Riley, Noel, ed. The Elements of Design. New York: Free Press, 2003. (Pages 10-15.) Thornton, Peter. Form and Decoration: Innovation in the Decorative Arts, 1470-1870. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1998. (Chapter 1.) collection of Renaissance furniture on view at the National Gallery of Art (West Building ground floor gallery 19). September 19: Ceramics and Glass of Renaissance Italy Riley, 20-23; 26-27. Thornton, chapters 2-3. Kingery, David W. Painterly Maiolica of the Italian Renaissance. Technology and Culture, vol. 34, no. 1 (January 1993): 28-48. [Available through JSTOR] Handout: Making Glassware [copy on reserve shelf] 2
collection of Renaissance ceramics on view at the National Gallery of Art (West Building ground floor gallery 10). September 26: Hardstones and Textiles in Renaissance Italy; Tapestry Production in Europe to 1600 Riley, pages 38-39 Luchinat, Christina Acidini, ed. Treasures of Florence: The Medici Collection, 1400-1700. Munich and NY, 1997. ( The Medici Collection of Gems during the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries, pages 73-92.) [copy on reserve shelf] Campbell, Thomas P. Tapestry in the Renaissance: Art and Magnificence. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art and New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002. ( The Art and Magnificence of Renaissance Tapestries: Introduction, pages 3-11; and The Acts of the Apostles Tapestries and Raphael s Cartoons, pages 187-203.) [copy on reserve shelf] October 3: Metalwork of Renaissance Italy; Development of Mannerism Riley, pages 30-37. Thornton, chapter 6. Pollard, J. Graham. The Italian Renaissance Medal: Collecting and Connoisseurship. In Italian Medals: Studies in the History of Art 21 (1987): 161-169. [copy on reserve shelf] collection of Renaissance medals, plaquettes, and bronzes on view at the National Gallery of Art (West Building ground floor galleries 19, 14, 15, 16). October 11 (TUES.): The Renaissance in Northern Europe: The Low Countries & England Riley, pages 18-19; 28-29. Thornton, chapter 5. Snodin, Michael and John Styles. Design and the Decorative Arts: Britain 1500-1900. London: Victorian and Albert Museum, 2001. (Pages 3-21; 35-47.) [copy on reserve shelf] Handout: Turning [copy on reserve shelf] October 17: Renaissance France and Fontainebleau 3
Thornton, chapter 4. Riley, pages 16; 24-24; 32-34. collection of Limoges enamels (West Building ground floor gallery 18) and Saint-Porchaire ceramics (West Building main floor gallery 25) on view at the National Gallery of Art. October 24: Midterm Examination October 31: Development of the Baroque in Italy; The Baroque in France Riley, pages 40-47; 66-67. Thornton, chapters 7, 10, and 11. November 7: Seventeenth-Century Netherlands and England Riley, pages 48-51; 56-57; 62-63; 68-75. Thornton, chapters 9 and 12. Handouts: English Delftware, Making Glassware, and Japanning [copies on reserve shelf] November 14: Eighteenth-Century France: Régence and Rococo; The Development of Porcelain in Europe Riley, pages 64-65; 80-87; 100-103; 114-117. Thornton, chapter 13. collection of eighteenth-century French decorative arts on view at the National Gallery of Art (West Building ground floor galleries 11 and 12). November 21: Eighteenth-Century England Selection from: Chippendale, Thomas. The Gentleman and Cabinetmaker s Director Revised edition. London: 1762. [copy on reserve shelf] Riley, pages 94-97; 104-107; 119-121. Thornton, chapter 15. 4
November 28: Late Eighteenth-Century Neoclassicism in France and England Riley, pages 126-143; 160-161; 176-181; 188-193. Thornton, chapter 14. Snodin, Michael and John Styles. Design and the Decorative Arts: Britain 1500-1900. London: Victorian and Albert Museum, 2001. (Pages 198-201; 231-239; 242.) [copy on reserve shelf] December 5: No class (due to Friday 12/9 field trip) December 9 (FRI.): Field trip to Hillwood Museum December 12: No class (Reading Day) December 19: Final Exam Note: if you would like to take the final exam on Tuesday, December 13 (4:15 7:15 p.m. in Ripley Center room 3113) with the other section of Survey I, please inform the instructor before Friday, December 9. Books On Reserve Shelf Campbell, Thomas P. Tapestry in the Renaissance: Art and Magnificence. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2002. Distelberger, Rudolf, et al. Western Decorative Arts, Part I. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1993. Hayward, Helena, ed. World Furniture: An Illustrated History. Secaucus, NJ: Chartwell, 1990. Luchinat, Christina Acidini, ed. Treasures of Florence: The Medici Collection, 1400-1700. Munich and NY, 1997. Musacchio, Jacqueline Marie. The Art and Ritual of Childbirth in Renaissance Italy. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999.. Marvels of Maiolica: Italian Renaissance Ceramics from the Corcoran Gallery of Art Collection. Charlestown, MA: Bunker Hill Publishing in association with the Corcoran Gallery of Art, 2004. 5
Odom, Anne and Liana Parades Arend. Taste For Splendor: Russian Imperial & European Treasures from the Hillwood Museum. Washington, DC: Hillwood Museum & Gardens, 1999. Schroder, Timothy. The Art of the European Goldsmith. New York: American Federation for the Arts, 1983. Snodin, Michael and John Styles. Design and the Decorative Arts: Britain, 1500-1900. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 2001. Thornton, Peter. The Seventeenth-Century Interior in England, France, and Holland. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1978.. The Italian Renaissance Interior 1400-1600. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1991. Trench, Lucy, ed. Materials and Techniques in the Decorative Arts: An Illustrated Dictionary. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000. 6