Time Schedule:
Patricia A Failing
ART H 486
Seattle Campus
Thematic and chronological survey of abstract expressionism, including major genres of critical interpretation, revisionist scholarship, and the relationship of artistic production to a larger context of visual production. Recommended: some background in the art or history of the period.
Class description
Overview of cultural dynamics contributing to the construction of first-generation abstract expressionism as the "triumph of American painting;" major critics, artists (Pollock, Rothko, Dekooning, Newman, Motherwell, ect...), social and cultural contexts, revisionist histories, and gender politics.
Student learning goals
Understand ways in which modern art histories have been constructed
Identify and analyze stylistic development of major artists associated with the term "abstract expressionism"
Review ways in which the social and political context in which abstract expressionism developed is reflected in Hollywood film
General method of instruction
Lectures, Hollywood films. In addition to regular class sessions, students should expect to spend two additional hours per week screening films
Recommended preparation
Art History 381. 382 or other upper-division art history classwork, preferably in modern art history. Not recommended for students with no background in upper-division art history coursework. No exams given except when scheduled for entire class or in cases of documented emergencies
Class assignments and grading
Weekly reading assignments from class readings packet and textbooks; film screenings; research paper drawing upon period publications
midterm, final quiz, research paper
