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UC Center Program
Courses - Fall 2009
PCC 125. French Art: From Watteau to Toulouse-Lautrec – A History of French Art, 1700-1900.
| Prof. Chris Boïcos
Office Hours
by appointment
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Lecture
TBA |
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 ending at the dawn of the 20th century just before the advent of “Modernism”.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, Symbolism) of these 2 centuries and will study the major masters of French painting from Watteau to Gauguin. He will become familiar with the range of the Paris collections from the Louvre to the Musée d’Orsay, 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. 5.0 credits
COURSE MATERIALS
- Rosenblum and Janson – 19th Century Art - Abrams.
- Course Reader (CR hereafter) – additional reading from other sources is being prepared and will be included in course reader or handed out periodically during the course
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
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.
First Written Assignment
Length: 6 pages. Due: Week 6 – 13 October
Using the outline handed out at in class analyze a painting of your choice from a Paris museum in the period of the course (1700-1900.) No research is required for this paper.
Second Written Assignment
Length: 12-15 pages
Outline due: Week 10 - 17 November
Paper due: Week 12 – 1 December
Using the 2nd outline handed out in class write a comparative analysis of two paintings of your choice from a Paris museum in the period of the course (1700-1900.) Research will be required for this paper.
Grading
- Participation: 10%
- Quiz (Week 4): 5%
- First written assignment (due Week 6): 10%
- Midterm examination (Week 7): 15%
- Research paper (due Week 12): 30%
- Final examination (Week 13): 30%
COURSE SCHEDULE
Week 1.
The “Grand Style” and the Royal Academy – Painting for the King, and the aristocracy.
(Le Brun, Rigaud, Largillière)
Session 1: Tuesday, 8 September 11am -12:30 pm: Lecture at UC Center.
Session 2: Wednesday, 9 September 2-3:30 pm:
Visit – Musée du Louvre – meet by information desk under Pyramid. Métro: Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre.
Weekly reading:
- CR – Blunt, Anthony – The Decline of Louis XIV (p. 359-362), Largillière, Rigaud (p. 393-404).
Week 2.
Rococo! – Painting for the nobility, the bourgeoisie and the Salon.
(Watteau, Boucher, Chardin, the portraitists)
Session 1: Tuesday, 15 September 11am -12:30 pm: Lecture at UC Center.
Session 2: Wednesday, 16 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 3.
Virtue, History and Revolution – The Neoclassical Age.
(Greuze, Robert, Vigée Le Brun, David)
Session 1: Tuesday, 22 September 11am -12:30 pm: Lecture at UC Center.
Session 2: Wednesday, 23 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 4.
The Romantic Rebellion – French Art in the Age of Revolution.
29 September – Quiz on material covered
(Ingres, Gros, Géricault, Delacroix)
Session 1: Tuesday, 29 September 11am -12:30 pm: Lecture at UC Center. QUIZ on material covered, nature of quiz will be discussed in class.
Session 2: Wednesday, 30 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 5.
Eclecticism and Realism – French Art at the beginning of the Industrial Age.
(Delaroche, Couture, Daumier, Courbet, Millet)
Session 1: Tuesday, 6 October 11am -12:30 pm: Lecture at UC Center.
Session 2: Wednesday, 7 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 6.
“The Painter of Modern Life” – French Art 1860-1880. (Manet, Degas, and the Impressionists)
13 October - First Paper due
Session 1: Tuesday, 13 October 11am -12:30 pm: Lecture at UC Center
Session 2: Wednesday, 14 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 7.
Painting Women- Class, Marriage and Sexuality in French Art 1870-1890
(Manet, Degas, Renoir, Morisot, Cassatt).
Session 1: Tuesday, 20 October 11am -12:30 pm: MIDTERM EXAMINATION.
Session 2: Wednesday, 21 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).
FALL BREAK
Week 8.
Nature and the City – Landscape and cityscape in French Art 1870-1880.
(Monet, Pissarro, Sisley, Caillebotte, Cézanne).
Session 1: Tuesday, 3 November 11am -12:30 pm: Lecture at UC Center.
Session 2: Wednesday, 4 November 2-3:30 pm: Lecture at UC Center.
Weekly reading:
- Rosenblum and Janson: Towards Impressionism (p. 296-302), the First Impressionist Exhibition (p.331-354), the 1870’s (p .357-361), (Cézanne (p. 384-393). CR 19c Art, a Critical History: Impressionism and the Commodity (p. 288-298).
Week 9.
Later Impressionism and Neo-Impressionism - French art in the 1880’s. (Monet, Seurat, Signac).
Session 1: Tuesday, 10 November 11am -12:30 pm: Lecture at UC Center.
Session 2: Wednesday, 11 November: No Class
Weekly reading:
- Rosenblum and Janson: Georges Seurat (p. 394-406) CR 19c Art, a Critical History: The Grande Jatte, Le Chahut (p.320-330).
Week 10.
Symbolism and Post-Impressionism – Gauguin, Van Gogh, later Cézanne.
17 November - RESEARCH PAPER OUTLINE DUE
Session 1: Tuesday, 17 November visit: Musée Marmottan - 2, rue Louis-Boilly 75016 Paris - Meet in front of museum entrance. Métro La Muette.
Session 2: Session 2: Wednesday, 18 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:
- Rosenblum and Janson: Van Gogh (p. 406-416) Gauguin (p. 421-428).
- CR 19c Art, a Critical History: van Gogh in Arles (p. 350-355) Symbolism, Gauguin in Britanny (p. 358-364).
Week 11.
Fin de Siècle! Art Nouveau, the Nabis and conflicting trends in French art 1890-1900
(Gauguin, Vuillard, Ranson, Denis, Bonnard, Toulouse-Lautrec, Cézanne and late Impressionism).
Session 1: Tuesday, 24 November 11am -12:30 pm: Lecture at UC Center
Session 2: Wednesday, 25 November 2-3:30 pm: Musée Gustave Moreau, 14 rue de la Rochefoucauld 75009 – Métro Trinité. Meet on front steps.
Weekly reading:
- CR 19c Art, a Critical History: Gauguin in Tahiti (p. 379-383) Cézanne (p. 394-402) Toulouse-Lautrec (p. 333-338)
Week 12.
Catching-up and review
1 December RESEARCH PAPER DUE (12-15 pages)
Session 1: Tuesday, 1 December 11am -12:30 pm: Lecture at UC Center.
Session 2: Wednesday, 2 December 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.
No assigned reading
Week 13.
Tuesday, 8 December 11am -12:30 pm at UC Center: FINAL EXAMINATION.
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