CA 117:

MODERN ART HISTORY

Instructor: Dr. Dorothy Barenscott
Email: dbarensc@sfu.ca
Website: www.dorothybarenscott.com

Teaching Assistant: Nina Stoiber

Email: nina_stoiber@sfu.ca

Office hours: Thursdays @ 5:20-6:20 pm

SFU Harbour Centre HCC TBA

Thomas Struth, Art Institute of Chicago II (1990) from Museum Audiences series
Class Meetings: September 8- December 1
Thursdays @ 6:30-9:20 pm, HCC 1700

Course Description: This course provides an introduction to the complex ways in which social and political
change, and ideologies of gender, class, race and ethnicity, worked to shape aspects of 19th century visual
culture in Europe and North America. Emphasis will be placed on the roles played by industrialization, political
revolution, rapid urban growth, global commerce, and the new media technologies of an expanding consumer
culture in defining a wide range of visual culture. Throughout the term we will also examine different
representations and debates around the idea of modernity and the “modern.” Since the time period under
investigation has often been called “The First Modern Century”, we will pay particular attention to shifting ideas
related to labour and leisure, urban social space and spectacle, and issues bearing on Eurocentrism and Euro-
American expansion of empires in relation to Indigenous populations throughout the 19th century to turn of the
twentieth century.

Importantly, this class is not intended to be all-inclusive in which each and every monument contributing to the
“canon” of Western art is studied. Instead, we will also consider the constructed nature of the discipline of art
history in order to trouble assumptions, both historical and contemporary, regarding the nature of art, its relation
to different social and political institutions, and issues of patronage and viewing publics. Furthermore, through
an introduction to critical and historical methods, students will develop the basic tools and terminology for
analyzing visual culture, a skill set of crucial importance in understanding the barrage of images and
technological stimulus at play in our postmodern world.

Course Text: 1) Stephen Eisenman et al, Nineteenth Century Art, fifth edition. Thames & Hudson: 2019. **The
2011 4th edition is OK too, but the pages will change slightly from those listed on the lecture schedule.

Requirements and Due Dates:

In-Class Midterm Exam (Thursday, Oct 27th @ 6:30pm in HCC 1700) 20%
Reflective Private Journal (collected three times during semester at 15% each) 45%
Participation, Attendance, and Contribution to Group Project 10%
Final Exam (date TBA) 25%

1
CA 117: MODERN ART HISTORY—SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY, FALL 2022
Assignments:

Midterm Exam:
Since class lectures and in-class discussion will concentrate on the close analysis of specific images, as well as
on broad historical developments and critical themes concerning the visual arts, you will be provided with
analytical tools to “read” images and develop critical thinking skills in preparation for the midterm and final exams.
The 1.5 hour in-class midterm exam will focus and test your ability to work closely with images and the
identification of key components of art objects (form, content, and context), and will also test the ability to identify
and create a written argument using visual art objects.

Reflective Private Journal

As a part of the course, you will maintain a private journal seen only by me and the TA for which you will be
prompted during each week to produce reflective and critical feedback in the form of written, video, audio, and/or
creative responses in connection to class content. From time to time, I will give you the option to share entries
with your classmates, but the primary purpose of the journal is to keep you actively engaged with the course
material and core concepts on your own terms. I will ask you to submit your journal entries ONLINE three times
during the semester, and you will be provided a rubric in the first two weeks of class to help orient you to options
for creating the journal, and to understand the grading assessment.

Final examination:
You will write a 2.5 hour final exam on the content, images, and issues covered in the course after the midterm
exam. The exam will consist of a mix of slide identifications and comparisons and short essay answer responses
based on the format completed in the in-class midterm. You will be responsible for the content of lectures that is
not covered by readings and only the images listed on a predetermined final master slide list sheet. Images and
weekly slide lists can be reviewed on the course’s Canvas site.

**note** Discussion sessions during class provide you with an opportunity to engage in a close formal analysis
of images informed by lectures and readings. Your active attention and/or involvement in these discussions is
the best preparation for in-class writing/note-taking, exams and the class assignments.

Participation Policy:
The importance of actively taking part in class activities is difficult to over-state. Research has consistently shown
that students who participate in the learning process learn more, and retain their learning for longer, than students
who do not. You won’t learn well by passively listening to someone lecturing at you. Therefore, this class will ask
a lot of you. You are expected to come to class ready to engage with me and your fellow students on the topic
of the day. You will practice the skills we are learning through in-class exercises in groups, and otherwise. What’s
more, you will play a vital role in your peers’ education—you will help them learn more, and they will, in turn help
you.

Your participation mark will be based on your demonstrated ability to contribute to class activities and discussions
in ways that raise the level of the discourse. Talking all the time is not necessarily the same thing as great
participation. Actively listening to your classmates, responding with relevance to others’ comments, and reflecting
and building on your classmates’ ideas lead to a strong participation grade. This classroom is your classroom.
Please don’t keep yourself from asking a question because you fear it will sound stupid or unsophisticated or
obvious. Sometimes, clichés are true; in here at least, there are no stupid questions. Feel free to explore and
question ideas—this is your right and privilege as a student in my class.

Some Common Courtesy Ground Rules for the Classroom and Online Environment:
I am very serious about helping to create a classroom and online course environment in which anyone feels
free to ask questions, raise concerns, make brilliant points and so on. Although I am committed to a democratic
classroom in which students exert a great measure of control, I recognize I have institutional authority as the
instructor. I choose to use that authority to forbid any behavior that would make anyone else in the course
(online or offline) feel threatened or bullied, or lead to obstacles in learning.
2
CA 117: MODERN ART HISTORY—SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY, FALL 2022
To avoid disturbing the classroom learning environment, I will expect students to arrive to class on time and
refrain from the use of computers, phones, or other technological devices outside the express purpose of taking
notes. Behaviours such as sleeping in class, eating in class, side conversations, displays of disrespect to fellow
students, returning late from breaks, leaving the room while a fellow student is presenting/speaking, and/or
leaving the room for an excessively long period of time, or packing up early at the end of class will not be
tolerated, and may result in the student being marked absent from the class or having deductions in their overall
course grade.

Policy Regarding Absences, Late Arrivals and Early Departures, and Late Submissions:
Time management and the successful completion of deadlines is a key part of the university experience (and
life in general), and as adults I respect your right to make these decisions for yourself. Therefore, how you budget
your time and weigh the consequences of your individual choices regarding your academic career is entirely up
to you. That said, I will be taking regular weekly attendance and will always have a good idea of who is missing
from class, and I will take that into consideration when assigning the discussion/participation mark and/or when
bumping grades up or down in borderline cases at the end of term. Arriving excessively late to class or leaving
early will also result in being recorded as absent from class.

Please DO NOT contact me if you anticipate being away from class for personal reasons Do contact me
if your absence is due to debilitating illness or extenuating circumstances for which you have clear
documentation (ideally, for the latter, you will want to speak with me in person in advance). In other words,
missing one class from time to time will result in some deduction in your grade, yes, but not showing up for
class as a pattern without a documented reason will result in a meeting with me where we discuss your future
in the course. As a third year seminar course, your active attendance is required. Any material missed during
an absence is your responsibility to catch up, and you can come see me in office hours f you have any
questions about lectures and work you have missed.

All written assignments assigned outside of class are due electronically by the stated deadline. Extensions
on assignments will be penalized with 5% for the first day and 10% per day thereafter (remember, this includes
weekends) and will be returned with fewer comments and feedback. In other words, an assignment that would
have received 80% (A) if it were handed in on time, would receive 75% (B) if handed in one day late and 65% if
handed in two days late. Regardless of any late penalties, you must submit ALL assignments to pass the
course. You are also responsible for accessing and watching any films missed because of an absence.

Policy Regarding Plagiarism:

Plagiarism is a serious academic offence, and Simon Fraser University has a zero-tolerance approach to the act
of representing the words, ideas, images or data of another person as your own. This includes handing in the
same or similar paper to more than one class. For more information on how to avoid plagiarism, please see the
following link: https://www.lib.sfu.ca/help/academic-integrity/plagiarism

Policy Regarding Communication with Professor:

I have placed a Q&A Forum up on the class Canvas where you can ask me questions that can also benefit the
entire class. I will be checking the Q&A Forum several times a week, and I would ask that you DO NOT contact
me directly via email unless there is a personal matter you need to discuss that cannot be posted
publicly. To that end, I am also available by appointment for in-person or virtual office hours (both sign up or
drop-in are available) where you can consult with me further about class material and have more in-depth
discussions.

Please note that it is also your responsibility to check your SFU email and class Canvas regularly for updates
and information related to the class, along with emails that I may periodically send to you or the class as a whole.
It is also your responsibility to familiarize yourself with Canvas and upload all assignments according to the
instructions.

3
CA 117: MODERN ART HISTORY—SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY, FALL 2022
Grading Scale:
While your final mark in this course will consist of a letter grade, we will be marking all assignments, midterm,
and final, according to a percentage system that correlates to letter grades as follows:

Percent Grade Level of Achievement

95-100 A+ outstanding
90-94 A excellent
85-89 A- excellent
80-84 B+ very good
75-79 B good
70-74 B- good
65-69 C+ satisfactory
60-64 C satisfactory
55-59 C- marginal
50-54 D unsatisfactory
00-49 F fail

LECTURE SCHEDULE:
NOTE: The schedule of assignments and due dates will remain unchanged. The following lecture schedule is, however,
subject to revision as needed to meet the needs of the class. Readings should ideally be done prior to the class under
which they are listed.

REFLECTIVE
DATE TOPIC READINGS QUESTION

Sept. 8 Introductory and Organizational What is FORM,

Class: Preview of Course, CONTENT, and
Understanding FORM, CONTENT, CONTEXT in visual art?
and CONTEXT

Sept 15 Function of Art in Revolutionary Ch. 1 “Patriotism and How can a visual style
and Imperial France, Part I: The Virtue: David to the be political?
Rococo Young Ingres” pp. 16-27

Sept. 22 Function of Art in Revolutionary Ch. 1 “Patriotism and How do artists work with
and Imperial France, Part II: Return Virtue: David to the themes of revolution,
to Order Young Ingres” pp. 28-54 patriotism, and/or
political propaganda?

Ch. 2, “Classicism in
Sept. 29 Dilemmas of the Modern I: Impact Crisis: Gros to Delacroix” How do artists visually
of French Revolution Ch.3, “Tensions of language profound social
Enlightenment: Goya” and political crises?
pp. 96-105

4
CA 117: MODERN ART HISTORY—SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY, FALL 2022
 Ch. 4, “Blake and His
Oct. 6 Dilemmas of the Modern II: Contemporaries” What is the role of nature
Reflective Developments in England Ch.5, “Nature in our personal and
Journal Historicized: Constable, collective “picture” of our
Submission #1
Turner, and Romantic surrounding world?
Landscape Painting”

Oct. 13 Nationalism, Manifest Destiny, and Ch. 6, “Landscape Art What are the things that
the Language of Landscape and Romantic are “naturalized” through
Nationalism in Germany visual art?
and America”

Oct 20 Slavery and Abolitionism in Britain Ch. 8: “Old World, New How do artists bring
and America World” visibility to the
Ch. 9: “Black and White marginalized and
in America” invisible of society?

Oct. 27 IN-CLASS MIDTERM

Nov 3 Courbet, Radical Politics, and the Ch. 11 “The Rhetoric of How do artists visually
Reflective Myth of the Rural Realism: Courbet and language the spaces of
Journal the Origins of the Avant- transformation in our
Submission #2
Garde” modern world?

Nov 10 The Painting of Modern Life and Ch. 15 “Manet and the What is the role of the
Avant-Garde Strategies I: Manet Impressionists” “everyday” in visual art?
and the Construction of the Artistic
Flaneur

Nov. 17 The Painting of Modern Life and Ch. 16 “Issues of Gender How do artists signal
Avant-Garde Strategies II: Gender, in Cassatt and Eakins” gender and class in
Class, and Urban Spectacle visual art?

Nov. 24 Reframing the Term “Post- Ch. 17 “Mass Culture What is the problem with
Impressionism”: Seurat, Neo- and Utopia: Seurat and “beauty” in visual art?
Impressionism, and the Art of the Neoimpressionism”
Crowd Ch. 18 “The Appeal of
Modern Art: Tolouse-
Lautrec”

Dec. 1 The Colonized and the Ch. 19 “Abstraction and Why do artists want to
Marginalized: Van Gogh, Gauguin Populism” “see” with their eyes
Reflective and the Discourses of Abstraction Ch. 20 “Symbolism and closed?
Journal and Populism the Dialectics of Retreat”
Submission #3

5
CA 117: MODERN ART HISTORY—SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY, FALL 2022
 Dec. TBA FINAL EXAM

6
CA 117: MODERN ART HISTORY—SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY, FALL 2022