Course Description:
An overview of the history of Latin American and Latino/a art beginning with a survey of the ancient classical civilizations of the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America, and the Andes. Our study then proceeds chronologically through the art of the colonial period to the independence movements of the 1820s, the Eurocentric academic art of the 19th century, popular art and visual cultures, and the birth of the avant-gardes across Latin America in the 1920s. A field trip to see two of the three Diego Rivera murals in San Francisco is planned. Modern and contemporary Latino art in the United States, especially Chicano/a, is a central topic. The geographical and historical breadth of the course allows us to address the fundamental question: What is Latin American and Latino art? Are there identifiable forms, attitudes, and concepts that characterize the multifarious visual culture we are studying this semester?
Note: This is a GE Writing
Intensive course
Course Objectives:
§ Increased knowledge and appreciation of forms, contents, and contexts of Latin American and Latino art and visual culture
§ Direct experience with the artistic production through exhibitions, artists, artworks, and other resources available in the region
§ Advancement of skills in research and the articulation of visual concepts
§ Development of analytic and critical thinking abilities
Required texts:
§
Dawn
Ades, Art in Latin America: The Modern Era 1820-1980 (New Haven: Yale
UP) 1989. (Ades)
§
Michael
Coe and Rex Koontz, Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs (Coe)
§
Photocopies
of articles on reserve in the CSUS Library (R)
Recommended:
·
Suzanne
Hudson and Nancy Noonan-Morrissey, The Art of Writing about Art, 2002,
Wadsworth Group/Thomson Learning.
Copies available in the bookstore
Course Requirements and
Grade Basis:
15% participation: Participation is evaluated
on how much you help others learn, your attitude
toward the material and the class, good attendance, being prepared for
discussions, and contributing comments and questions informed by the
readings. Excellent participation can
raise your grade by as much as a letter; bad participation can reduce it by a
letter grade.
Attendance
policy
·
Two unexcused absences reduce
your grade by half a letter grade; three reduces it by one letter grade; each
subsequent absence reduces your grade by a whole letter. Five unexcused absences result in automatic
failure. Chronic (more than 5 times)
lateness or leaving early can reduce your grade by one letter.
Illness and family/childcare emergencies are
excused. Absence due to illness needs a
doctor’s note. You can get one from the
CSUS student health clinic. Scheduled
appointments, transportation problems, and job demands are NOT excused. Inform me of
any situations that will keep you from class.
Please do not leave messages on my telephone when you are unable to
attend class. Come to see me during my
office hours or make an appointment, and feel free to email me.
30% reading journal: Due every class as listed
in schedule, the reading journal entry is meant to prepare you for small-group
and class discussion. For each entry,
write a 2-page (550 word, double-spaced, 12 font) response to the readings
indicated on syllabus schedule as “Journal.” The journal entry is turned in at the end of class for a grade of check
plus, check, or check minus. Follow
directions ON HOW TO WRITE A READING
JOURNAL ENTRY at the end of this syllabus. Because the readings are
the basis of class discussion, the entry must
be on time or it’s of little use. Late
journal entries are marked “late” and receive a check minus. If the
lateness was due to extreme circumstances and absolutely unavoidable, explain
why in a note attached to the journal entry and turn it in for possible full
credit.
·
Present for grade on May 17th:
·
Bind
all entries in a flat folder (no rings
and no plastic sleeves) that will not come apart.
·
Paginate
the whole journal and create a detailed Table of Contents with date,
author, and title of each reading.
·
Reread
each entry carefully and highlight interesting points. Write marginal notes.
·
Write
a 2-page (550 words) Introduction reflecting on what you have learned
from the readings. Use the same
dialogical format as you did for the other authors: quote yourself; comment,
question, and conclude with a summary of information and insights you gained
from the readings.
30% Research Paper:
·
Paper proposal: Due February 20
·
A
one-page (250-word) research question
and/or thesis statement. (See
Hudson and Noonan-Morrissey for definitions of these terms.)
·
Complete bibliography – This is a complete “survey of the
literature” on your topic, and the basis of your research. It
should be at least 3 pages. Go to
the library and make a list of everything available on the subject in
books, articles, video, and the Web.
Copy from bibliographies of books, catalogues, art encyclopedias, and
articles on your topic. Use online indexes
and the bound The Art Index
(Library 2nd floor reference area) for magazine articles, etc. Alicia Patrice will show you the best
electronic and paper references. From
your Complete Bibliography, you can
begin your research. The Complete Bibliography also tells you
what the discourse has been about historically and geographically, and whether
or not your thesis has already been published by another writer. IF YOU RUN INTO A PROBLEM FINDING SOURCES,
SEE ME.
·
First and Second (final)
draft have exactly the same requirements:
·
First
draft due April 3
·
Second
(final) draft due April 24
·
An
8-page (2500 word, 12 font, double spaced) research paper, including footnotes,
Works Cited bibliography, and a cover page with your name, title of
paper, course name, and date
·
Reproductions of all artworks referred to in your
paper.
·
Stapled
in upper left corner (No plastic sleeves – I need to be able to write on the
pages.)
·
Include
(marked) Proposal with First Draft
·
Include
the marked Proposal and First Draft with the Second (final) draft. Submit them together in flat, 2-pocket file.
Format:
§ Follow the procedures for research papers in The Art of Writing about Art, Hudson and Noonan-Morrissey.
§ Useful research websites with examples of format for footnote and bibliographical citation. MLA and Chicago style are both acceptable:
v CSUS online Style Guide: http://library.csus.edu/guides/rogenmoserd/general/style.html
v Duke University citation guide: http://library.duke.edu/research/guides/citing/
NOTE: This class adheres to
CSUS policy on plagiarism. Quotations
are necessary, but use quotation marks.
Use footnotes for all information that is not general knowledge. Web
sources must have full bibliographical information or they cannot be used in
your paper.
·
Attend one library research
workshop (required without exception
because of changes in electronic resources) with Arts librarian, Alicia
Patrice. Attendance will be taken.
·
Friday, February 3rd, 3-4:30 in room 2023
·
Saturday, February 4th, 12-1:30 in room 2024
·
Tuesday, February 7th, 6:30-8pm in room 2023
Evaluation
criteria for research paper:
Unacceptable performance (D or F level work) is full of mechanical mistakes
in structure, grammar, spelling and format.
It might not respond to the assignment or show no sign that enough time
was spent thinking about the subject.
It might merely parrot clichés, be repetitive, vague, tangential,
uninteresting, or much too broad in scope.
It might not be on time or accompanied by required materials. D or F work fails to demonstrate knowledge,
comprehension, analysis, or evaluation.
Competent Performance: (C level work)
often has flaws in grammar, spelling, and structure. It might not quite follow the assignment. It has an organizing idea but it might be
vague, broad or uninteresting, obvious, cliched. It might be excessively subjective, mostly opinion, and not have
enough supporting evidence. It might
demonstrate knowledge but doesn’t question, analyze, synthesize, evaluate.
Above Competent Performance: (B level
work) No writing mistakes. Presentation is neat and orderly with good structure
and argument. The thesis is
proportioned to the assignment, worthwhile, and well composed with no
digressions.
Outstanding Performance: (A level work) has all the good qualities of B
level work, but is also unique, lively, and interesting. The writing has style and all elements in
the piece are necessary for the thesis development. There is a feeling that the writer is engaged with the ideas and
is attentive to effective use of language.
·
25%: Class presentation
of your research findings: a 20-minute illustrated talk. Your presentation must be practiced with
O’Brien a week or more before you present it to the class. You are responsible for scheduling the
practice session.
Schedule (subject to change)
January 23: Introduction:
View
clip of Arturo Herrera from Art 21:
Season Three (DVD 000278)
Journal: Ella Shohat & Robert
Stam, “Unthinking Eurocentrism” (website “readings”)
Assignment: Send O’Brien an email message with “Art 111” in
the subject line.
January 25:
Journal: “Cultural Collisions: Spaniards on Hispaniola” from Urs Bitterli, Cultures in Conflict (course website)
January 30: Olmec // video: "Olmec Art of Ancient Mexico"
Journal: “The Pre-Classic Period: Early Civilizations”
& “The Classic Period” (Coe
Chapters 5 & 6)
February 1: Teotihuacán // video: “In Search of History: Mexico’s Great
Pyramids” (nonprint 372.897.Ae1me 1997)
Assignment: Look through Ades
– including bibliographies,
footnotes, and biographies – for research paper questions and thesis
ideas. On the basis of your strongest
interests, select and write down the following: 1) a country (Mexico,
Argentina, Cuba, Brazil, U.S., etc.); 2) a medium (ceramics, photography,
printmaking, mural painting, performance art, etc.); 3) a theme (art and
literature, politics of indigenism, dialogue with Europe, identity, popular
art, feminism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, the fantastic, etc.); 4) a genre
(landscape, portrait, concept, abstraction, still life, action, etc.); 5) an
artist or artist group; 6) a decade between 1820-2004. If
your interest in classical pre-Conquest is strong, see me about selecting a research question and
thesis.
February 6: Maya // videos: “Lost Kingdoms of the Maya” (video
2731), “Maya: Blood of Kings,” and “Popol
Vuh”
Journal: “Word and Image in the Maya Court,” from Courtly
Art of the Ancient Maya, (available from course website)
February 8: Toltec & Aztec // “The Aztec Empire”
Journal: (Coe)
Chapter 8: “The Post-Classic Period: The Toltec State,” Chapter 9: “The
Post-Classic Period: Rival States,” pp. 184-189, Chapter 10, “The Aztecs in
1519,” and “Epilogue,” pp.225-231
February 13: Moche & Inca
Journal: “Moche Portraits: Masterpieces from Ancient Peru,”
Christopher Donnan, from Retratas: 2,000 Years of Latin American Portraits
(course website)
February 15: film: The Mission
Journal: “Eyeing the Other: The
Indigenous Response,” from Gauvin Bailey, Art of Colonial Latin America
(course website)
February 20: Research paper
proposal due
Journal: Carolyn Dean, "The Renewal of Old World
Images and the Creation of Colonial Peruvian Visual Culture" (R); Natalia Majluf, “’Ce n’est pas le
Perou,’ or the failure of authenticity: Marginal cosmopolitans at the Paris
Universal exhibition of 1855” (R); Ades 6 - 61.
February 22: No Class – O’Brien at
professional conference
Journal: Ades 63-123;
Jose Marti, Our America 1891 (website
“Readings”); Stacie Widdifield, “Dispossession, Assimilation, and the Image of
the Indian in Late-Nineteenth-Century Mexican Painting” (R)
February 27:
Journal: Ades
125-149; Nestor Garcia Canclini, “Strategies of Modernity in Latin America” (R)
March 1: No Class: 2-hour attendance required on March 4 at
Art History Symposium
Journal: Fatima Bercht, “Tarsila do Amaral” (R); “Pau Brasil Poetry Manifesto” (Ades 310-311); “Anthropophagite Manifesto” (Ades 312-313)
·
Saturday, March 4, 1-5 pm,
Art History Symposium: “In Light of the Pacific: Photography from the Pacific
Rim”
March 6:
Journal: (Ades
150-179 “Mexican Mural Movement”); Siqueiros, “Three Appeals for a Modern
Direction to the New Generation of American Painters and Sculptors” (Ades 322-323); “El Machete: Newspaper
of the Workers and Peasants. Manifesto
of the Union of Mexican Workers, Technicians, Painters and Sculptors” (Ades 323-324)
March 8:
Journal: (Ades
180-193); “Master Prints from Puerto Rico: Linoleum and Woodcuts by Three
Generations of Artists,” “A Public Voice: Fifteen Years of Chicano Posters,” Goldman
(course website)
March 13 & 15: Spring Recess
March 20: video: “The Frescos of Diego
Rivera” (video 1307)
Journal: Ades , 195-213
March 22: No Class: Field trip TBA to City College of San Francisco or San Francisco
Art Institute mural by Diego Rivera. Recommended dates, March 23 or 24.
Assignment: Due first class after the field trip. Write 2 pages on the Rivera mural. Include 1) brief historical background (2
paragraphs) 2) a detailed description of narrative content and a formal
analysis (1 page) 3) meaning of work (1 paragraph)
March 27: video: Frida
Journal: Ades 215-239; “Ana
Mendieta: A Return to Natal Earth,” Goldman (website); Gerardo Mosquera, “Modernism from Afro-America: Wilfredo Lam” (R)
March 29: Modotti / Bravo
No assignment
April 3:
First draft of
Research Paper due
Ades 240-251, and manifestos,
“Arturo”, “The Problem of the Frame in Contemporary Art”, “Madi Manifesto”
328-330
April 5:
Journal: Ades
253-283, “Lygia Clark: In Search of the Body” Guy Brett (website)
April 10:
Journal: Mari Carmen Ramirez, “Blueprint Circuits:
Conceptual Art and Politics in Latin America” (R)
April 12: Royal Chicano Air Force guest speaker
Journal: "'Portraying Ourselves': Contemporary Chicana
Artists," "Mujeres de California: Latin American Women Artists,"
Goldman (website)
April 17: Contemporary artist case
study: Doris Salcedo
Journal: “Silence Seen,” Nancy Princenthal (R)
April 19: Contemporary artist case
study: Guillermo Gomez-Pena
Journal: “A Binational Performance
Pilgrimage,” Gomez-Pena (website)
April 24:
Final draft of
research paper due
Journal:”The Baroque Planet,” Serge Gruzinski;
“Ultrabaroque: Art, Mestizaje, Globalization” Victor Zamudio-Taylor (R)
April 26: Contemporary art and the Baroque
May 1: Paper presentations
May 3: Paper presentations
May 8: Paper presentations
May 10: Paper presentations
Write
2-page paper for class discussion of question: What is Latin American and
Latino/a art?
May 17: 3-5 PM – Reading journals due / Presentations
and class discussion of “What is Latin American and Latino/a Art?”
On How to Write a Reading Journal Entry
·
Write your name, the date,
the name of the author, and the title of the reading(s) at the
top of the first page.
·
Write 2 pages, 550 words
(double-space, 12 font) altogether, no matter how many readings there are.
·
Use loose-leaf paper and
staple together.
·
Turn the entry in after
class. They are the basis of class
discussion, so you might need them during the class.
The format of a reading journal entry is a dialogue between the author and you.
·
First read the
author’s entire essay slowly all the way through, underlining important
passages as you read. Make your own
copy of the articles on reserve so that you can write on them.
·
Go back through the
readings and reread the passages you underlined.
·
Introduce the
journal entry with a paragraph summary
of the entire reading that states the main idea (thesis) of the reading.
·
Then proceed to a dialogue
format: Select the most interesting of the sentences you underlined from
the entire reading to quote or paraphrase.
·
About half the journal entry should be what
the author says and half your responses. Connect the ideas to those of other readings, the textbook, videos
and lectures, other classes, and movies, books, music, literature you
know. Continue the dialogue with the
author until you have written around 550 words.