METHODOLOGY
This course concentrates on:
1) intense visual training in the skills of recognizing and analysing
the major stylistic phases of medieval art, and the components of style
(composition, pose, motif, color, space, background, decorative detail;
plan, elevation, vault, distribution of space, decoration)
2) training in the ability to demonstrate those acquired skills
verbally
and in writing, using appropriate terminology.
3) training in asking and answering questions: what is a work of art
made of ? what is it about ? how does it look ? when
and where does it come from ? what else does it look like ?
what is it for ? what does it mean ?
Major styles are presented first in purely visual terms (lots of images with little verbal analysis); then the evolution of each component of style is traced through the chronological periods of the Middle Ages (e.g. treatment of the human figure, Early Christian through Gothic; the vault, Early Christian through Gothic); eventually the student reconstructs the whole from its constituent parts and presents his or her reconstruction in the form of a written paper. The structure of the course emphasizes the active demonstration of the mastery of skills by the student. Each group of lecture units or web pages is accompanied by exercises designed to test the student's understanding; these form the basis of the work done outside of class time and are the focal point for in-class discussion; suggested answers are provided. The exercises concentrate on recognition and analysis of parts of buildings or works of art as represented in a single views; the skills of part recognition and analysis are reviewed in class each week and are tested in the midterm and final. The written papers concentrate on testing the cumulative mastery of skills by presenting works of art as a whole (multiple different views of the same monument, or the same style represented by several examples in painting or sculpture). There are three required written assignments, one each for the painting, architecture and sculpture parts of the course, done outside of class time and due according to the Course Schedule.
The web materials form the core of the course materials. They are presented in class by the professor as Lecture Units. The same web materials can be accessed by registered students at http://vrlab.fa.pitt.edu/stones-haa0050/index.html. There is a supplementary optional textbook: James Snyder, Medieval Art, New York: Prentice Hall-Abrams, 1989. Other readings are recommended.
The Pittsburgh area offers a few items of medieval art for firsthand study, and effort is made to include the holdings of The Carnegie Museum of Art, and the facsimiles of medieval manuscripts in the Frick Fine Arts Library, as well as visiting at least one neo-medieval building on or close to campus.
PROCEDURES
The web page lays out for each week of the course a sequence of
lecture/web
units consisting of 1) pages of images and information and 2) self-test
exercises, supplemented by 3) reference material.
You must attend the presentation of the web pages in class. Outside of class, you may take as much (or as little) time as you wish in using the web materials. You must work through the exercises in your own time and come prepared to discuss them in class meetings. Weekly assignments are listed on the schedule page.
NB You are not expected to memorize identifications of every image: they are given for reference.
The 3 written papers, due by the deadlines on the schedule, will reflect what you have learned in each of the three major component parts of the course. Guidelines will be given in class. Please note that the papers must be yours. You may certainly discussion your written work with the professor and with your fellow classmates but what you hand in must be by you. Plagiarized work is not acceptable. If suspicions arise, you will be asked to repeat the paper. (see pages 82, 84, 234, 236, 311, 313 in this workbook).
The midterm and final will test your ability to analyse what you see in the test images and to write about it using sophisticated technical vocabulary.
Prof Stones can be contacted in 129 FFA, tel 8-2420, email
mastones@hotmail.com
Office hours: W 5.30-6, and by appointment.