ARTS 104 - History of Art I

3 Credits: (3 lecture)

Course Description
This course is a chronological survey of the paintings, sculpture, and architecture of major civilizations of the past, including the ancient Near East, Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Early Christian world, Byzantium, and Medieval Europe. Fall semester only.

Text
No text required.

Objectives
The student will be able to 

A. Evaluate the art of specific cultures and time periods by taking into account the original cultural/historical contexts and forces that influence art, the artists who make it, and the patrons who commission it. 

B. Recognize the styles, subject matter, and themes of the art of major civilizations. 

C. Identify the formal elements and principles of art to assist them in their evaluation and recognition of the art of particular civilizations. 

D. Identify various techniques and materials used to make art. 

Content
A. Influence of the cultural/historical contexts of major civilization and time periods  beginning with ancient Near East and  ending with Medieval Europe. 

B. Patronage and the functions of art 

C. Language of art: the formal elements and principles 

D. Artistic styles of major civilizations and time periods  

E. Visual literacy 

Student Evaluation
Evaluation is based on a series of periodic exams, a final exam, and a term project and  

paper.  

Bibliography
Adams, Laurie Schneider. Art across Time. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002.  

Clark, Kenneth M.  The Nude: A study in Ideal Form. Garden City: Doubleday, 1959.  

Gardner, Helen, Kleiner, Fred, and Mamiya, Christin. Gardner’s Art through the Ages. 12th ed. Belmont: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2005.  

Gombrich, E.H. Art and Illusion. 6th ed. New York: Phaidon, 2002.  

Holt, Elizabeth G., ed.  A Documentary History of Art. vol. 1. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986. 

Kemp, Martin, ed. The Oxford History of Western Art. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.  

Kostof, Spiro. A History of Architecture: Settings and Rituals. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.  

Slatkin, Wendy. Women Artists in History: From Antiquity to the Present. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2000. 

Trachtenberg, Marvin and Isabelle Hyman.  Architecture from Prehistory to Post-Modernism.  New York: Abrams, 1986.  

Tucker, Amy.  Visual Literacy: Writing about Art. New York: McGraw Hill, 2002.