ART 445
AMERICAN ART: COLONIAL PERIOD TO 1945

1. Catalog Entry

Art 445. American Art: Colonial Period to 1945
Three hours lecture (3).

Lecture course in art history covering American art from the Colonial period to 1945. General Education credit – Fine Arts.

2.  Detailed Description of Content of Course

Major Units: (according to chapters in previously used text, Craven, Wayne. American Art, History and Culture) Text for 2000 was American Visions (1998) by Robert Hughes.

• Native American
• The Colonial Period:
• 17th-Century Painting and Sculpture
• Painting and Sculpture: 1700-50
• Painting: After 1750
• The Federal Period:
• Painting: The Tradition of the Grand Manner 1785-1830
• Painting: Still Life, Genre, Landscape, and Natural History, 1785-1830
• Sculpture: 1785-1830
• The Romantic Period
• Painting: Landscape 1825-70
• The Hudson River School
• A Vanishing Native American Culture
• The Concept of Manifest Destiny
• Painting: Genre, Narrative, Still Life, and Portraiture, 1825-70
• Photography: The Early Years, 1839-70
• Sculpture: Neoclassicism and Classicism, 1825-70
• Folk Art: A Mode of Vision
• The American Renaissance
• Painting: The Naturalistic Tradition and Cosmopolitanism, 1870-1900
• Expatriates
• Painting: American Impressionism, American Renaissance, and Trompe l'Oeil Realism
• Photography: 1870-1900
• Sculpture: From the American Renaissance to the Western Frontier, 1870-1900
• The Early Modern Period
• Painting: Realism and Regionalism, 1900-1940
• Painting: The Modern Mode, 1900-1940
• Photography: Aesthetic Maturity, 1900-1940
• Sculpture: Tradition, Diversity, and Anarchy, 1900-1940

Students taking the course for graduate credit will be required to write and present a more in-depth research paper or do a more in-depth research project on some aspect of art within the scope of this course. Presentations will be longer than undergraduate presentations. Graduate Students will take a leadership role in group discussions.

3. Detailed Description of Conduct of Course

Slides, CDs, and videos will be used to support lectures and small group discussions in the instruction of this course. Oral presentations will be required of graduate students and possibly from undergraduates. Students will sometimes work in small groups. A field trip to a museum displaying American art may be scheduled, for example The National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.; Reynolda Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, N.C.; and The Art Museum of Western Virginia, Roanoke, VA.

4. Goals and Objectives of the Course

1. Students will be able to relate American art to the cultural, social, and political aspects of American culture from the Colonial Period through World War II.
2. Students will be able to identify significant works of art by specific artists.
3. Students will be able to recognize the influence of European art on American art, as well as significant American characteristics.
4. Students will be able to read scholarly articles on the topic critically and be able to summarize articles.
5. Students will be able to write critical analyses, as well as responses to works of art or exhibitions.
6. Students will be able to do library research for papers and/or projects.
7. Students will be able to convey their research orally to others.
8. Students will be able to relate the visual arts to the other arts, music, literature, and/or theater, as well as history, when projects are interdisciplinary in nature.

5. Assessment Measures

1. Writing assignments
2. Tests and/or research papers or projects
3. Attendance might be required and be assigned a point value

6. Other Course Information
7. Review and Approval and Subsequent Reviews

DATE ACTION APPROVED BY
March 21, 2005 Reviewed by Steve Arbury, Chair