Professor Alexander Nemerov

Loria 656
Office Hours: Thursdays, 2 to 4
or by appointment

Western Art from the Renaissance to the 20th Century

This course surveys the history of Western art from the start of the 14th century to the late
20th century. Lectures will introduce important artists and paintings (this is primarily a
course about paintings), as well as major themes associated with the art of particular
periods and cultures. We will pay special attention to the power of looking at and
creating works of art, as that power has been manifest in different historical moments,
and to developing students’ abilities to write about works of art. Sections will take place
in the Yale University Art Gallery. Images for study will be available online.

REQUIREMENTS

--Lecture and section attendance, section participation (10% of the final grade)
--Short paper (10%) Due February 1
--Midterm examination (20%) on February 17
--5-page rough draft of final paper, (5%) Due March 3 (paper topic due February 22)
--10-page final paper (25%) Due April 21
--Final examination (30%)

A NOTE ABOUT THE SHORT PAPER (due February 1)

This paper is about learning to look closely at a work of art and learning to find the right
words to describe what one sees. It is also about learning to identify and translate into
written language one’s personal response to a work of art. The paper is to be two pages
in length and should focus on a single work of western art, from ca. 1300 to 1900, at the
Yale University Art Gallery or the Yale Center for British Art. The paper will emphasize
sensitive and insightful description—how many features of the work you’ve chosen can
you point out?—but not only description. You will need to make a case for what you feel
is the overall mood of the work you’ve selected. Is it austere and foreboding? Is it
lyrical or even playful? Importantly, how do the details you’ve noticed in the picture
contribute to this mood? No library research is required for this paper; indeed it is better
if you simply look intensively at the work you have selected and tell, in effect, a two-
page story detailing your response to it.

A NOTE ABOUT THE FINAL PAPER (rough draft due March 3; paper due April
21)

The paper is to be written about one or two works of art at the Yale University Art
Gallery and/or at the Yale Center for British Art. Students will select the work(s) they
wish to write about in consultation with their t.a. and/or the professor. The final paper
will be a thesis-driven account, analyzing the painting(s) in detail and also including

1
research from at least three library sources. Correct footnoting and bibliographic formats
will be expected. Special extra class meetings will be arranged (attendance
recommended but not mandatory) to cover the skills and strategies of writing a research
paper in art history.

REQUIRED TEXTS

--Fred S. Kleiner, Christin J. Mamiya, Gardner’s Art Through the Ages, the Western
Perspective, v. II (13th Edition). Available at Labyrinth Books.

LECTURE AND READING SCHEDULE

January 11 Space: Duccio and the Maestà Altarpiece, Siena, ca.

1309
--Gardner, xxv-xxxvii

January 13 Presence: Giotto and the Arena Chapel, Padua, ca.

ca. 1305
--Gardner, 375-395

January 18 Space and the Body: Masaccio, Uccello, Fra Angelico,

and Painting in Florence, ca. 1425-1445
--Gardner, 419-440

January 20 Emotion and Devotion: Rogier van

der Weyden’s Descent from the Cross and Painting
in Flanders, ca. 1435
--Gardner, 397-417

January 25 Self and Selfless, Well-Traveled and Untraveled:

Durer, Holbein, and Grünewald, 1493-1533
--Gardner, 503-512

January 27 Rivalries: Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael in

Florence, ca. 1503-05
--Gardner, 457-465

February 1 Figuration, Disfiguration: Michelangelo and the

Mannerists, 1508-1530
--Gardner, 466-475, 490-492
NOTE: SHORT PAPER DUE

February 3 The Imagination: Bosch and Bruegel, ca. 1500-1560

--Gardner, 515-521

February 8 Flatness and Depth: Titian, Tintoretto, and Painting

2
 in Venice, ca. 1516-1590
--Gardner, 482-489, 493-494

February 10 The Arrested Image: Caravaggio, ca. 1600-1610

--Gardner, 527-543

February 15 Excess and Restraint, Bombast and Cogitation:

Rubens and Poussin
--Gardner, 551-555, 569-571

February 17 MIDTERM EXAM

February 22 Art and Royalty: Velazquez

--Gardner, 543-549
NOTE: FINAL PAPER TOPIC DUE

February 24 Mysteries of Darkness: Rembrandt

--Gardner, 557-566

March 1 Art and Inwardness: Vermeer

--Gardner, 566-568

March 3 Pictorial Intelligence: William Hogarth

--Gardner, 583-597
NOTE: ROUGH DRAFT OF PAPER DUE

March 22 Body and Nation: Gericault’s Raft of the Medusa,

1819
--Gardner, 609-623

March 24 Body and Labor: Gustave Courbet, 1849-57

--Gardner, 630-634

March 29 Painting and Modern Life: Manet in the 1860s

--Gardner, 635-637, 653-663

March 31 Art of Feeling: Van Gogh, 1885-90

--Gardner, 663-668

April 5 The Nude: Picasso and Matisse, 1908

--Gardner, 668-670, 685-700

April 7 The Aftermath of the First World War: Dada

and Surrealism
--Gardner, 702-714

3
April 12 Drip Painting: Jackson Pollock, 1947-50
--Gardner, 745-753

April 14 Pop Art: Warhol and Lichtenstein, ca. 1959-65

--Gardner, 757-761

April 19 Art and Addiction: The 1980s

--Gardner, 763-778, 788-789

April 21 Conclusion: Bruegel, Auden, and Turning Inward

NOTE: FINAL PAPER DUE

FINAL EXAM