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Due
Date: World I, December 4 Ancient
Civs., December 12 Fall 2002 Special
Exhibits: World
I: There are special exhibits at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine
and at the Asia Society. Your
assignment is to visit a museum to have a first-hand look at artifacts
from one of the societies you have studied and to write up a report of
your expedition. All reports are to be typed, double-spaced; standard
spelling, grammar, punctuation and sentence structure are required. Each
of the following questions is to be answered in essay form. It is
not necessary to list and number each answer, but these points should be
commented on in your narrative. Essentially,
you will be discussing the exhibit from two viewpoints, as both artist
and historian. Think of your report as a detailed catalogue entry. You
need to give the basic details of the artifacts' dating, what, if anything,
is known of the creators, its provenance, etc. Then a basic description
of the medium, technique, aesthetic principles, intended use, and so
forth. Here you may--but you don't have to--make as much use as you like
of your own artistic knowledge and compare and contrast ancient and
modern methods, concepts, etc. How would the object(s) be perceived
by a modern audience ignorant of their antiquity? Then, and this is the
important part, you must discuss the object(s) in historical context.
Where do they fit into the course material, what do they add to your
knowledge of the people who produced them, etc. What does history have
to do with art? The
objects you discuss must have been made within the time period covered
in the course: Ancient Civilizations:
3500 BCE to 500 BCE World History I: from
the Ice Age to 1500 CE Medieval &
Renaissance: from 500 CE to 1500 CE The
objects you discuss must have been made by one of the peoples studied in
the course. No Chinese art in medieval Europe; no Native American art in
World I. Early
art is still very much alive. It is thus also acceptable to hand in as
your report a crit of a performance of early materials. In these cases
your report must include a comment on the creator's use of the ancient
materials, i.e., compare and contrast the modern and original use of the
ancient text/theme. What do you think the original creator or audience
would think of the modern version? Of course, you will explain your
opinion from your class readings and discussion. Movies must be
pre-approved by the instructor. TV shows are generally not
acceptable. Works or performances based on or depicting early times,
rather than using the early text, are not acceptable. Example: a
performance of the music of Hildegard of Bingen or the Euripides’
Medea or Benjamin
Bagby's reading of Beowulf is acceptable. Sorry, The Lord of
the Rings, either book or film, is not. The
artifact(s) you discuss in your reports have to have been created within
the time and place covered in the course. Points to consider:
(You do not have to list and answer them all.) 1. Describe the subject
area selected, name the museum visited and give the number of rooms or
amount of space devoted to the artifacts under review. HINT: Be careful
not to choose to broad or too narrow a subject area. 2. Did the exhibit
provide maps, chronological tables, photos of sites, landscapes or other
aids to give you some orientation or background information to the
cultural artifacts on display? If so, subscribe them in some detail. 3. Give a description
of the kinds of artifacts you found on display: pottery, textiles,
tools, paintings, glassware, sculpture, weapons, ecclesiastical
furnishings, parts of buildings, etc. 4. Did you find any
evidence of political ideas or institutions prevalent in the culture
under study? Give specific examples. 5. Describe what could
be learned about the economy of the culture from the artifacts on
display. 6. Is there any
evidence from the artifacts that the people of this culture were
literate? If so, describe it. 7. Works of art
frequently tell us a great deal about the ordinary details of everyday
life in a culture. What did you learn about the way of life of the
people? Focus your answer on two or three specific artifacts on exhibit. 8. Did you find any
evidence for the religious beliefs of the people whose culture you
selected? Describe it. 9. In what way did your
visit to the museum add to your understanding of the subject beyond what
was presented in your textbooks? 10. Do you think the
museum exhibit was deficient in any way as a means of educating the
viewer? Explain in specific detail. MUSEUMS TO VISIT: Metropolitan Museum of
Art, Fifth Ave. & 82nd St., Manhattan Brooklyn Museum, 188
Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn The Jewish Museum, Fifth
Ave. & 92nd St., Manhattan The Cloisters, Fort Tryon
Park, 190th St., Manhattan (medieval European art) The Morgan Library,
Madison Ave. & 36th St., Manhattan If you are not familiar
with these museums, check before you
go that they have an exhibit appropriate for your course. The report is due in
class on the assigned due date. Late reports will be downgraded; none
will be accepted more than a week late.
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