SURVEY OF WESTERN ART
(Art 150)

Professor Michelli
Flaten Auditorium
Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 2.00 - 2.50 p.m.
Required set book:
Hugh Honour and John Fleming, The Visual Arts: A History, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 4th ed, 1995

BRING THIS BOOK TO CLASS

Requirements:
Two 500 word papers with full scholarly apparatus, three 300-word reviews of peers' papers exchanged in class, two prepared discussions, two terminology tests. Check web-site and e-mail for details.
Courses Syllabus What you should be doing now


Introduction

This course covers Western art from the year dot to the middle/late Gothic period. It may be the only Art History course you ever take. Or it may be the foundation of your major. Either way, you want to leave it with a good grasp of the range of ideas, styles and periods, and a personal "take" on the field. If it turns out to be the foundation of your major, you really want to keep it all from slipping out of your mind. This course is intended to achieve that.

Survey courses can be a grind because of the sheer quantity of material to be learned. This course is different: you do not have to learn any identifications, and there will be only one test during the semester. But there is a lot of work. This course involves nearly three hours in the classroom each week. You should therefore expect to put in at least seven hours of your own time, outside class (10 hours is quarter of a normal working week). This is for reading the text, learning the terminology, and doing the assignments. You will remember the stuff you understand (terminology) and the stuff do and think for yourself (assignments, class discussion) infinitely better than anything you merely read or hear.

You are encouraged to exploit the Web. To help you, I have put the course materials on my teaching site: http://www.ariadne.org/studio/michelli/, and you will notice a link to "what you should be doing now". This will keep you up to date with current requirements. There is also a page of links to interesting sites which show galleries, prehistoric caves, individual artists, medieval manuscripts, architecture etc. Do visit that page (click on "Art History Browser"), and let me know if you discover other interesting links. The web is growing all the time and, as it grows, it slows down. So make a point of using the web in the MORNINGS when it is at its fastest.

Requirements

Course Grade Break-Down

Five assignments 100 points each 500 points total
Two written tests 50 points each 100 points total
Attendance 0.5 points each 20 points total
Participation
40 students, every day
60 students, alternate days
4.5 points each
9 points each
180 points total
Total: 800 points total

Final course grades are evaluated as follows:

A 765-800 points
A-751-764 points
B+748-750 points
B 744-747 points
B-737-743 points
C+707-736 points
C 525-706 points


Courses Syllabus What you should be doing now