Here is our reading group schedule with all the sources for this semester available for download (the Art Since 1900 chapters that go with the lectures you will read on your own, though they should inform our discussions as solid background knowledge).
For the discussion leading groups, please come in prepared with a good understanding of the text. This may involve reading certain passages more than once. Also, please come to class with a powerpoint the group prepares together. A word of caution: please use a minimal amount of text in the powerpoint. No one should be reading slides and discussions should be organic. Instead, prioritize images of the works themselves and possibly images that tell of the social/political context. The reading scans are sometimes wanting, so make sure to come in with very nice high resolution images that we can refer to in our discussions. Another word of caution: we are not looking for laborious summaries of the readings or presentations where the discussion leaders do all the talking. Instead, please present the central arguments from the text and key artists/works with the aim of getting a discussion going with the whole class. One of the best ways to do this is to come in with incisive questions about the text. In short, our meetings should feel more like a reading group that is interesting and fun, while also being critical and explorative.
June 8 Shock of the New
Discussion Leaders: Ping & Rachel
Wright, “Arche-tectures_Matisse and the End of (Art) History”
June 13 “Primitivisms”
Discussion Leaders: Peter & Sarah
Foster, “The Primitive Unconscious of Modern Art”
June 15 Cubism
Discussion Leaders: Akane & Bryan
June 20 Back to the Past/Future
Discussion Leaders: Peter & Sarah
Poggi, “Folla/Follia: Futurism and the Crowd”
June 22 October
Discussion Leaders: Akane & Bryan
Buchloh, “From Fraktura to Factography”
June 27 Dada
Discussion Leaders: Catherine & Mikhaila
Lavin, “Strategies of Pleasure and Deconstruction: Hannah Höch’s photomontages in the Weimer years”
June 29 Duchamp
Checking in on research (no readings)
July 6 Surrealism
Discussion Leaders: Catherine & Mikhaila
Krauss, “The Photographic Conditions” of Surrealism
July 11 Machine Aesthetic
Discussion Leaders: Ping & Rachel
Silver, “PURISM: Straightening Up After the Great War”
July 13 Cynicisms
Discussion Leaders: Catherine & Mikhaila
Lewis, “Lustmord: Inside the Windows of the Metropolis”
July 18 Realisms
Discussion Leaders: Ping & Rachel
Kaier, “Was Socialist Realism Forced Labor?”
July 20 Fascism
Discussion Leaders: Peter & Sarah
Fiss, “In Hitler’s Salon: The German Pavillion at the 1937 Paris Exposition” + Buchloh, “The Dialectics of Design and Destruction: The Degenerate Art Exhibition (1937) and the Exhibition internationale du Surréalisme (1938)
July 25 Harlem Renaissance
Discussion Leaders: Akane & Bryan
Dickerman, “Aaron Douglas and Aspects of Negro Life”
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1. Surrealism
2. Cynicism
3. Fascism
4. Harlem Renaissance
5. Dada
In order of preference:
1. June 27 Dada
2. July 13 Cynicisms
3. July 25 Harlem Renaissance
4. July 6 Surrealism
5. June 15 Cubism
Catherine T.
1. Harlem Renaissance
2. Surrealism
3. Machine Aesthetic
4. Realisms
5. Dada
Rachel & Ping 👥
1. Matisse
2. Cynicism
3. Machine Aesthetic
4. Harlem Renaissance
5. Realisms
Peter
1. Fascism
2. Harlem Renaissance
3. Past and Future
4. Cubism
5. Primitivism
1. Fascism
2. Primitivism
3. Past and Future
4. Cubism
5. Harlem Renaissance
1. July 25 Harlem Renaissance
2. June 15 Cubism
3. June 22 October
4. July 20 Fascism
5. June 20 Back to the Past/Future