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UC Center Program
Courses - Fall 2008
PCC 125. – A History of French Art, 1715-1914: From Watteau to Picasso
| Professor Chris Boïcos
Office Hours: By appointment
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Lecture
Tuesday 11am - 12:30pm
Site Visits
Wednesday 2-3:30pm |
This course traces the evolution of French painting from the decline of the Ancien Régime,
through the upheavals of the Revolutionary age, to the birth of modern industrial and
capitalist France in the 19th century. It ends with the last heroic re-definition of “modernity” in
art at the opening of the 20th century.
Paris and its museum collections will provide the concrete background for the discussion of
the artistic, social and political context in which the painters produce , exhibit and sell their
work. The student will receive a basic grounding in the standard stylistic evolutions (Rococo,
Neoclassicism, Romanticism Realism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, early
Modernism) of these 2 centuries and will study the major masters of French painting from
Watteau to Picasso.
He will become familiar with the range of the Paris collections from the Louvre to the Centre
Pompidou, their history and their ways of presenting pictures to the public. The classic
categories of painting - history, portraiture , the nude, genre, landscape and still life - will be
used as the unifying themes in the course for the discussion of meaning, style and technique
and their evolution from one period to the next. Rebellion against the past but also the
constant need to return to and to re-evaluate tradition will be another important theme in
our analysis of one of the richest artistic periods of Western art. [Art History,European Studies, Communications] 5.0 credits.
COURSE MATERIALS
Texts:
- Rosenblum and Janson – 19th Century Art - Abrams.
- Heard Hamilton, George - Painting and Sculpture in Europe 1880-1940 – Yale
- Course Reader ( CR hereafter)
Students are expected to attend all classes, whether on-campus (UC Study Center)
or on-site (museum).
In addition to class participation, a midterm and a final exam, students are
responsible for two written assignments:
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
First Written Assignment
Length: 6 pages. Due: Week 6 - date
Using the outline handed out at in class analyze a painting of your choice from a
Paris museum in the period of the course (1715-1914.) No research is required for
this paper.
Second Written Assignment
Length: 12-15 pages
Outline due: Week 9
Paper due: Week 11
Using the 2nd outline handed out at in class write a comparative analysis of two
paintings of your choice from a Paris museum in the period of the course (1715-
1914.) Research will be required for this paper.
Grading
Participation: 10%
First written assignment (due Week 6): 10%
Midterm examination (Week 7): 20%
Research paper (due Week 11): 30%
Final examination (Week 13): 30%
COURSE SCHEDULE
WEEK 1.
The Rococo age – Painting for the King, the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie.
(Watteau, Boucher, Chardin)
Session 1: Tuesday, 9 September 11am -12:30 pm: Lecture at UC Center.
Session 2: Wednesday, 10 September 2-3:30 pm:
Visit – Musée du Louvre – meet by information desk under Pyramid. Métro: Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre.
Weekly reading: CR - Levey, Michael: chapters on Watteau, Boucher, Chardin
WEEK 2.
Virtue, History and Revolution – The Neoclassical Age.
(Greuze, Robert, Vigée Le Brun, David)
Session 1: Tuesday, 16 September 11am -12:30 pm: Lecture at UC Center.
Session 2: Wednesday, 17 September 2-3:30 pm:
Visit – Musée du Louvre – meet by information desk under Pyramid. Métro: Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre.
Weekly reading: CR - Levey, Michael: chapters on Greuze, Labille-Guiard and Vigée Le Brun, David.
WEEK 3.
The Romantic Rebellion – French Art in the Age of Revolution.
(Ingres, Gros, Géricault, Delacroix)
Session 1: Tuesday, 23 September 11am -12:30 pm: Lecture at UC Center.
Session 2: Wednesday, 24 September 2-3:30 pm:
Visit – Musée du Louvre – meet by information desk under Pyramid. Métro: Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre.
Weekly reading: Rosenblum and Janson: David (p. 24-50), Painting in France after David (p. 64-74, Retrospective and Introspection (p. 114-115), Géricault, Delacroix, Ingres (p. 118-150)
WEEK 4.
Eclecticism and Realism – French Art at the beginning of the Industrial Age.
(Delaroche, Couture, Daumier, Courbet, Millet)
Session 1: Tuesday, 30 September 11am -12:30 pm: Lecture at UC Center.
Session 2: Wednesday, 1 October 2-3:30 pm: visit - Petit Palais – avenue Winston-Churchill
Meet in front of main steps. Métro: Champs-Elysées-Clémenceau.
Weekly reading: Rosenblum and Janson: Social Observers (p. 186-189), the 1848 Revolution, Millet, Courbet, Materialism vs Idealism (p. 218-251), Retrospective and Introspection (p. 114-115), Géricault, Delacroix, Ingres (p. 118-150).
WEEK 5.
“The Painter of Modern Life” – French Art 1860-1880. (Manet, Degas, and the Impressionists)
Session 1: Tuesday, 7 October 11am -12:30 pm: Lecture at UC Center
Session 2: Wednesday, 8 October 2-3:30 pm: Musée d’Orsay – rue de Bellechasse 75007 - meet in front of entrance B (Seine side.) RER Musée d’Orsay or Métro Solférino.
Weekly reading: Rosenblum and Janson: Manet, Fantin-Latour, Degas (p. 278-295)
CR: Baudelaire, excerpts from the “Painter of Modern Life”
WEEK 6. 14 October - First Paper due
Painting Women- Class, Marriage and Sexuality in French Art 1870-1890
(Manet, Degas, Renoir, Morisot, Cassatt).
Session 1: Tuesday, 14 October 11am -12:30 pm: Lecture at UC Center.
Session 2: Wednesday, 15 October 2-3:30 pm: Musée d’Orsay – rue de Bellechasse 75007 - meet in front of entrance B (Seine side.) RER Musée d’Orsay or Métro Solférino.
Weekly reading: Rosenblum and Janson: The First Impressionist Exhibition (p. 331-354), From Realism to Aestheticism (p. 357-363), Interiors (p. 372-376).
WEEK 7.
Nature and the City – Landscape and cityscape in French Art 1870-1890.
(Monet, Pissarro, Sisley, Caillebotte, Cézanne).
Session 1: Tuesday, 21 October 11am -12:30 pm: Lecture at UC Center.
Session 2: Wednesday, 22 October 2-3:30 pm at UC Center: MIDTERM EXAMINATION.
Weekly reading: Rosenblum and Janson: Towards Impressionism (p. 296-302), Cézanne (p. 384-393). Heard Hamilton: Later Impressionism (p. 21-49)
FALL BREAK
WEEK 8.
The anti-realists: Neo-Impressionism and Symbolism - French art 1880-1890
(Seurat, Signac, Gauguin, van Gogh).
Session 1: Tuesday, 4 November 11am -12:30 pm: Lecture at UC Center.
Session 2: Wednesday, 5 November 2-3:30 pm: Musée Marmottan - 2, rue Louis-Boilly 75016 Paris - meet in front of museum entrance. Métro La Muette.
Weekly reading: Heard Hamilton: Seurat (p. 49-57) Symbolist Art (p. 75-102).
WEEK 9. 12 November - RESEARCH PAPER OUTLINE DUE
Fin de Siècle! Art Nouveau, the Nabis and conflicting trends in French art 1890-1900 ( Gauguin, Vuillard, Bonnard, Denis, Toulouse-Lautrec, Redon, Cézanne and late Impressionism).
Session 1: Tuesday, 11 November – no class (holiday)
Session 2: Session 2: Wednesday, 12 November 2-3:30 pm: Lecture at UC Center.
Weekly reading: Heard Hamilton: School of Pont Aven and Nabis, Toulouse-Lautrec (p. 105-118) Symbolist Art (p. 75-102) early Picasso (p. 140-146).
WEEK 10.
Matisse and Fauvism – an art for the new century 1900-1912.
(Matisse, Derain and the Fauves)
Session 1: Tuesday, 18 November 11am -12:30 pm: Lecture at UC Center.
Session 2: Wednesday, 19 November 2-3:30 pm: Musée d’Orsay – rue de Bellechasse 75007 - meet in front of entrance B (Seine side.) RER Musée d’Orsay or Métro Solférino.
Weekly reading: Heard Hamilton: The Fauves (p. 158-176)
WEEK 11. 25 November RESEARCH PAPER DUE(12-15 pages)
Picasso and Cubism – the turn inward: fragmenting reality, 1907-1914.
(Picasso, Braque, Léger, Delaunay, Duchamp, the Futurists)
Session 1: Tuesday, 25 November 11am -12:30 pm: Lecture at UC Center.
Session 2: Wednesday, 26 November 2-3:30 pm: National Museum of Modern Art, Centre Georges Pompidou – meet by information desk by main entrance. Métros: Rambuteau, Hôtel de Ville.
Weekly reading: Heard Hamilton: Cubism (p. 235-267) Futurism (p. 279-291).
WEEK 12.
Catching-up and review
Session 1: Tuesday, 2 December 11am -12:30 pm: Lecture at UC Center.
Session 2: Wednesday, 3 December 2-3:30 pm: Musée Picasso – meet in courtyard
5, rue de Thorigny 75003 Paris. Métros: Saint-Paul or Saint-Sébastien Froissart or Chemin Vert.
No assigned reading
WEEK 13.
Tuesday, 9 December 11am -12:30 pm at UC Center: FINAL EXAMINATION.
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