Intro to Art History for High School II-Impressionism Modern Contemporary (FLEX)

In this class, students will explore the development of artistic production throughout world history over the course of ten weeks, starting with Baroque art of the sixteenth century, moving through Impressionism, Modern art of the twentieth century, all the way to the present day. This class is designed for students aged 13-18 as a way of exploring world history through the arts. Each week, students will watch 45-90 minutes of lecture videos and participate in a class discussion in the classroom message boards on the given topic for the week. Students will participate in two writing assignments over the course of the semester to invite students to think critically about artworks that interest them. 

PARENTS: This is a FLEX class, meaning there are no weekly meetings and every assignment and lecture is completed at the student's pace. Each week contains 45-90 minutes of lecture, a weekly group critical thinking and research discussion question in the classroom, and there are two longer writing assignments assigned across the ten weeks. Each week, students are provided with external links for further activities, including virtual field trips, articles about related topics, videos, and more. Students are encouraged to discuss these items with each other in the classroom. Grading is optional.


The class schedule is as follows:

Week 1: Introduction to Art History and Arts of the Baroque Period
During Week 1, we will begin with a brief overview of what art history actually is and how it formed as a discipline. We will also introduce major art terminology that we will use throughout the course. Afterwards, this week is all about the elaborate ornamentation of baroque and rococo art! Students will start this week discussing famous artists Rembrandt and Caravaggio and how their attention to detail produced art that was very different from their Renaissance counterparts! We will discuss the introduction of realistic light and shadow in art to dramatize scenes, looking at Artemisia Gentileschi's "Judith and Holofernes" as an example of this. 

Week 2: Romanticism and Neoclassicism  
In this second week, Romanticism and Neoclassicism battle it out for the lead in the art world! We will discuss the lush landscapes and stories of Rococo through the works of French artists like Jean Honore-Fragonard, whose work "The Swing" is considered the pinnacle of Rococo lavishness. Rococo will lead us into our discussion of Romanticism. Students will discuss the stark differences between the romanticists and neoclassicists, and be able to identify the traits of both. We will discuss the Romantics through the works of Peter Paul Reubens and the Reubenists followers and the Neoclassicists through the works of Nicholas Poussain and his Poussainists followers. Students will learn about how this break in the art world would allow for later developments of academic art in France and a push back against rigorous artistic development rules, which would lead to the Impressionist movement in the late 1800s.  This week, I will introduce the visual analysis assignment. Students will have three weeks to select an artwork from a given list and write an in-depth description of the work, engaging with the work in a highly observant manner. Students will get instructions and practice with this assignment in class today.

Week 3: Impressionism 
During Week 3, we will analyze Impressionism, the first big shift away from traditional art practices of the previous few centuries. Students will start with Courbet, who first tested the boundaries of traditional academic style paintings through his new style, Realism, and continue to evaluate the paintings of Impressionists such as Manet, Degas, Van Gogh, and Monet. The discussion will emphasize the impact of Modernity on the art world during the late 19th century. This week’s case study will be Monet’s infamous Water Lillies series, through which we will discuss how Impressionists thought of color, light, and materials. 

Week 4: Post-Impressionism and Fauvism
During Week 4, students will jump into post-Impressionism and Fauvism at the turn of the century! This unit will emphasize the expressive usage of color in each of these movements and important techniques for the application of paints, as developed by each of these groups. This week’s case study will be Seurat’s “La Grande Jatte,” also known as “Sunday Afternoon in the Park, emphasizing the scientific application of paint used by Seurat known as stippling. Students will connect this movement to the impact of Modern technology in Europe.

Week 5: Cubism and German Expressionism
Week 5 is all about art around the first World War! This week we will start by discussing how art is becoming more and more abstracted through the movement of Cubism. This week’s case study is Picasso’s "Guernica" and "Ma Jolie" as a way of discussing how artists transition to abstraction and geometric patterning. We will discuss how Cubism impacted movements that come later consistently throughout the rest of class. The rest of class emphasizes how politics influence artistic practice through an evaluation of German Expressionism. Our discussion of German Expressionism focuses on how the destruction of World War I left entire populations feeling alienated and lost, leaving these artists struggling to cope. Our case study is Edward Munch’s famous “The Scream,” through which we will discuss how irrational color and dark subject matter was used by the German Expressionists to try to convey their new anxieties. Students will be asked to watch a piece of “Night on Bald Mountain” from “Fantasia” to prepare for this discussion as well.

Week 6: Dada and Surrealism.
Week 6 is when everything gets weird! In Week 6, we delve into the mindset of the Surrealists and Dadas, who both questioned what art truly was and what it should represent.  This week's case study revolves around Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain" and how the Dadas sought to question the practices of the art world through their mockery of traditional artistic practices. What did Duchamp seek to achieve by plastering his name on a factory-made urinal? Further, what does it accomplish when you draw a simple mustache on a basic postcard of Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa"?  Surrealism sought to evoke psychological, inward subject matter in a way that was similar to a dreamlike state. Students will be able to discuss how new sciences, like psychology, influenced the art world at this time at the end of the lesson. This week, we will focus heavily on artists Frida Kahlo and Salvador Dali, who both used a number of mediums to evoke Surrealist ideas. This week, students will learn how each of these movements pushed the art world to its fringes and asked the institutions of the art world to look inward at their own value systems.This week, students will be introduced to their final writing assignment, in which they research an artist that was active between 1600 and 1950 and write a five-paragraph essay that evaluates the artist's biography and one of their works. 

Week 7: Abstract Expressionism 
This week, students will evaluate the impact of Abstract Expressionism, considered the first truly American art form, on the art world in the post-War period. This week's case study will include several works by Jackson Pollock, the most well known of the Expressionists, and students will discuss how art shifted to purely abstracted imagery, as well as focusing on the purely abstract subject matter. Students will be able to identify what factors caused artists to shift from representational, familiar imagery, to purely abstracted subjects and how the movements we discussed in the prior five weeks impacted how this movement developed. Students will be able to discuss key concepts of abstract expressionism, including all-over composition, monumentality, and a shift in paint application tools--from paintbrushes to palette knives, cans of paint, hands, etc. 

Week 8: The Impact of Modernism post-1960--Pop Art, Minimalism, and Performance
To conclude the course, we will briefly discuss how this movement will impact the art world in the 1960s, starting with Pop Art, and how the contemporary art world will evolve from the hands of these artists. Students will look at artists like Andy Warhol, Marina Ambramovic, and Robert Smithson, who interpreted Modernist tendencies in new ways during the contemporary period. Students will discuss how popular culture impacted the art world and how artists began shifting away from traditional methods of art in the contemporary period.

Week 9:  Feminism and Identity Politics in Art 
This week is all about women and artists of color in the contemporary era, primarily from 1980-today! We will discuss how artists of different backgrounds tell their stories through their art, including Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, Carrie Mae Weems, Kara Walker, Jean Michele Basquiat, and Romare Bearden. In this class, we will discuss why traditional art history tends to ignore these important voices and why their contemporary works are so influential. For homework, students are asked to create an artwork that embodies their family or life experience or share an artwork they find online that does the same.

Week 10: Art from 2000 to the Present Day
In this final class, we will discuss trends in art today. We will discuss everything from the mass produced art of Jeff Koons and his inflatable dog sculptures, the identity politics of Kehinde Wiley and his portraits of black artists in traditional paintings and his portraits of the Obamas, and the resurgence of graffiti as an artform with Banksy. After this course, students will understand trends in the art market in the present day and why they see the art they see out in the world!  Students will submit their final papers today.