Latin American and Latino/a Art 111

MW 1:30-2:45

Kadema 145

Professor Elaine O'Brien

Office: Kadema 190

Hours: W 4-6, Tu 4:30-5:30

Email:

Website:

Course Description:

An overview of the history of Latin American and Latino/a art beginning with the arrival of Columbus in the Caribbean in 1492. After a video survey of Pre-Conquest cultures our study shifts to Spanish and Portuguese colonial art and then to art of the independence era in the first half of the 19th century. Popular visual cultures, academic art, the birth of modern art across Latin America in the 1920s, key artists and works of modern and contemporary Latin American and Latino/a art, including Chicano/a, are considered. A field trip to see one of the three Diego Rivera murals in San Francisco is planned on Saturday, November 3. We will also go to 40 Acres Gallery in Oak Park for the Claudia Bernardi installation (TBA). The geographical and historical breadth of the course allows us to ask what (if any) identifiable forms, attitudes, and concepts characterize “Latin American and Latino/a” art.

Note: This is a General Education Writing Intensive Course. Pre-requisites are the WPE and English 109. The system will eventually drop you automatically if you haven’t completed them. If you feel you have fulfilled these pre-requisites in other ways and want to add, please see me. A petition to add without system-recognized prerequisites must be initiated by you and signed by me and the Dean of General Education, Greg Wheeler.

Note: Please free your schedule for the class trip to see the City College of San Francisco or the San Francisco Art Institute mural by Diego Rivera on Saturday November 3.

Course Objectives:

  • Increased knowledge and appreciation of forms, contents, and contexts of Latin American and Latino/a art and visual culture
  • Advancement of skills in research and in the articulation of visual concepts
  • Development of analytic and critical thinking abilities
  • Improved formal presentation skills
  • Direct experience with artistic production via thefield trip to the San Francisco Diego Rivera murals and the RCAF guest lecture
  • Increased worldliness, cultural sophistication and generosity

Required texts:

  • Dawn Ades, ed., Art in Latin America: The Modern Era 1820-1980 (1989) (on syllabus as “Ades”)
  • Patrick Frank, ed., Readings in Latin American Modern Art (2004) (on syllabus as “Frank”)
  • Hard copies of readings accessed through the course website, URL links embedded in the digital syllabus, and on reserve (R) in the SacramentoStateUniversitylibrary reserve room
  • Sylvan Barnet, A Short Guide to Writing About Art, 9th edition (2008)

Course Requirements and Grade Basis:

10% participation: Good participation is how much you help others learn:an engaged attitude toward the material and the class, good attendance, being prepared for discussions, and contributing informed comments and questions.

Attendance policy

  • Two unexcused absences reduce your grade by half a letter grade; three reduce it by one letter grade; each subsequent absence reduces your grade by a whole letter. Five unexcused absences result in automatic failure. Chronic (more than 5 times) lateness or leaving early can reduce your grade by one letter.

Scheduled appointments, transportation problems, and job demands are not excused. Illness and family/childcare emergencies are excused. Absence due to illness requires a doctor’s note. You can get one from the CSUS student health clinic. Inform me of family emergencies or any situation that will keep you from class or affect your ability to learn, whatever it is. Do not hesitate to come to see me during my office hours or make an appointment, and feel free to email me.

  • NOTE: Use of cellphones, laptops, all electronic gadgets and communication equipment distracts other students. Please keep everything turned off and out of sight during class. Otherwise I willask you to leave the class and count you as absent.
  • Note: No food please. Drinks are okay.

If you have a disability and require accommodations, you need to provide disability documentation to SSWD, Lassen Hall 1008, (916) 278-6955. Please discuss your accommodation needs with me after class or during my office hours early in the semester.

25% reading journal: A 1-page (300-word, double-spaced, 12 font) response to each reading assignment indicated on the following schedule as “Journal.” The journal entry is turned in at the end of class and will be given a grade of check plus, check, or check minus. See directions “On How to Write a Reading Journal Entry” at the end of this syllabus. Because the readings are often the basis of a quiz and class discussion, the entry mustbe on time. Late journal entries receive a check minus. If lateness was unavoidable, explain why in a brief note; attach it to the journal entry when you turn it in for possible full credit.

  • Bind all of your journal entries together at a copy store like Kinkos with a spiral binding and a front and back cover. Submit for a final letter grade on December 12
  • Before binding:
  • Reread each entry and highlight interesting points. Add marginal comments and questions as if you were a teacher.
  • Write a 2-page (550-word) Introduction reflecting on what you have learned from the readings. Use the dialogue format required for the readings and described in “On How to Write a Reading Journal Entry.”
  • Paginate the whole journal and create a detailed table of contents with date, author, and title of each reading listed.

25% 10-minute quizzes: Dates are indicated on syllabus and changes are announced in class. My PowerPoint lectures will be available on the course website under “Lectures” after they are presented in class. You will be asked to identify an art work (or two artworks in a comparison)– name and nationality of artist, title of work, date of work – and respond to a question related to the lectures, textbooksand other readings.

20% PowerPoint presentation of your research paper:a 20-minute illustrated talk. Your presentation must be practiced with me a week or more before you present it to the class. Practice sessions are scheduled, butyou are responsible for making sure that you are able to come to one of them.

40% Research Paper:

Note: Your paper is eligible for the Witt prize of $300 for the best art history research paper. The prize is awarded at the Student Award presentation in February.

  • Before you start your research, complete theInformation Competence Assignment: Due September 24:
  • See directions and the “FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions about the Information Competence Assignment” at the end of the syllabus
  • Paper proposal and research bibliography: Due October 8
  • Proposal:A one-page (250-word) research question and thesis statement. See Sylvan Barnett and website tutorial: for definitions of these terms
  • Research bibliography: This lists every information source available on your topic and is the starting point of your research. It should be at least 4 pages. Make a bibliography of everythingpublished on your subject in books, articles, video, and the web. If you can use interviews or archival sources, list those too. Consult footnotes and bibliographies of books, catalogues, art encyclopedias, and articles on the topic. Use search engines available through the CSUS library. Consult the Art Index (Library 2nd floor reference area) for magazine articles published before the 1980s. Preparing the research bibliography also tells you whether or not your thesis has already been published.
  • Start right away andlet me know if you have trouble figuring out a thesis or finding sources. I will help you.
  • First and Second (final) draft have exactly the same requirements:
  • First draft dueNovember 14
  • Final draft dueNovember 26
  • A 10-page (3000 word, 12 font, double spaced) research paper, including footnotes, “Works Cited” bibliography, and a cover page with your name, title of paper, course name, and date
  • Reproductionsof all artworks referred to in your paper.
  • Stapled in upper left corner (*Do not use plastic sleeves.)
  • Submit the Second draft in flat, 2-pocket file. Include the Research Bibliography, the original (marked) Proposal andFirst Draft. Submit all three together. Your grade will be based on overall quality, effort, and presentation.

Format:

  • Follow the procedures for research papers in Sylvan BarnetThe Short Guide to Writing About Art
  • Useful research websites with examples of format for footnote and bibliographical citation. MLA and Chicago style are both acceptable:

CSUS online Style Guide:

DukeUniversity citation guide:

NOTE: This class adheres to CSUS policy on plagiarism. Please review it: Always use quotation marks andcite (in footnotes or endnotes) all information that is not general knowledge. Web sources must have full bibliographical information or they cannot be used in your paper. Wikipedia is a good place to start, but because the authors are anonymous, Wikipediacannot be cited as a source for research papers.

Evaluation criteria for research paper:

Unacceptable performance (D or F level work) is full of mechanical mistakes in structure, grammar, spelling and format. It might not respond to the assignment or show no sign that enough time was spent thinking about the subject. It might merely parrot clichés, be repetitive, vague, tangential, uninteresting, or much too broad in scope. It might not be on time or accompanied by required materials. D or F work fails to demonstrate knowledge, comprehension, analysis, or evaluation.

Competent Performance: (C level work) often has flaws in grammar, spelling, and structure. It might not quite follow the assignment. It has an organizing idea but it might be vague, broad or uninteresting, obvious, cliched. It might be excessively subjective, mostly opinion, and not have enough supporting evidence. It might demonstrate knowledge but doesn’t question, analyze, synthesize, evaluate.

Above Competent Performance: (B level work) No writing mistakes. Presentation is neat and orderly with good structure and argument. The thesis is proportioned to the assignment, worthwhile, and well composed with no digressions.

Outstanding Performance: (A level work) has all the good qualities of B level work, but is also unique, lively, and interesting. The writing has style and all elements in the piece are necessary for the thesis development. There is a feeling that the writer is engaged with the ideas and is attentive to effective use of language.

Schedule of assignments(subject to change)

Sept 5: Introductory

Assignment: print out a copy of the syllabus from the course website and prepare for the syllabus quiz on September 19. Send O’Brien ( ) an email with “Art 111” in the subject line for the course distribution list. No message is necessary.

  • Make plans to free your schedule for Diego Rivera mural trip to San Francisco on Saturday, November 3

Journal: Ades 1-5; Ella Shohat & Robert Stam, “Unthinking Eurocentrism” (website “readings”)

Sept. 10:“Guns, Germs and Steel”

Journal: “Cultural Collisions: Spaniards on Hispaniola” from Urs Bitterli, Cultures inConflict (website)

Assignment: Study map at the end of this syllabus. Be able to fill in names of all the countries on a blank map.

Sept 12:

Assignment: Study map at the end of the syllabus. Memorize countries, including Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico

Sept 17:

Sept 19: Map and Syllabus quiz // Teotihuacán // video: “In Search of History: Mexico’s Great Pyramids” (non-print 372.897.Ae1me 1997)

Assignment: Review therequired texts, Frank and Ades –including bibliographies, footnotes, and biographies – to getideas for research paper topics and thesis. On the basis of your strongest interest, select and write down the following: 1) a country (Mexico, Argentina, Cuba, Brazil, U.S., etc.); 2) a medium (ceramics, photography, printmaking, mural painting, performance art, etc.); 3) a theme (art and literature, politics of indigenism, dialogue with Europe, identity, popular art, feminism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, the fantastic, etc.); 4) a genre (landscape, portrait, concept, abstraction, still life, action, etc.); 5) an artist or artist group; 6) a decade between 1820-2007.

Sept 24:

“Inca: Secrets of the Ancestors,” “Maya, the Blood of Kings”

Journal: “Moche Portraits: Masterpieces from Ancient Peru,” Christopher Donnan, from Retratas: 2,000 Years of Latin American Portraits (course website)

Sept 26: “The Aztec Empire” (Video 004291)

Journal: Ades 6 - 61

Oct 1: Information Competence Assignment due

Journal: “Eyeing the Other: The Indigenous Response,” from Gauvin Bailey, Art of Colonial Latin America (course website)

October3: Pre-view screening and discussion of “Romance: Laurie Simmons, |Judy Pfaff, Lari Pittman, Pierre Huyghe,” in the PBS program, “Art 21” (with Associate Professor Elaine O’Brien and CrockerArt Museum curator, Colin Dusek; 6:00 pm, Kadema 145).Extra Credit

Oct 3: Quiz

No Assignment

October 4: Lecture by Off-Center Femininities Curator, Jovana Stokic, Mariposa 1000at 5 pm. Extra Credit

October 6 (11:30 am – 5:30 pm, Mariposa 1001): Symposium for “Cycle of Life” (exhibition in the University Library Gallery) Extra Credit

Oct 8: Research paper proposal and bibliography due

Journal: Natalia Majluf, “’Ce n’est pas le Perou,’ or the failure of authenticity: Marginal cosmopolitans at the Paris Universal exhibition of 1855” Critical Inquiry, Vol. 23, No. 4. (Summer, 1997), pp. 868-893.

Stable URL:

Oct 10: Quiz

Journal: Ades 63-123; Jose Marti, Our America 1891 (website)

Stacie G. Widdifield, “Dispossession, Assimilation, and the Image of the Indian in Late-Nineteenth-Century Mexican Painting”Art JournalVol. 49, No. 2, Depictions of the Dispossessed (Summer, 1990), pp. 125-132
Stable URL:

October 10: Pre-view screening and discussion of “Protest: An-My Lê, Alfredo Jaar, Jenny Holzer, Nancy Spero” in the PBS program, “Art 21” (with Associate Professor Elaine O’Brien and CrockerArt Museum curator, Colin Dusek; 6:00 pm, Kadema 145). Extra Credit

Oct 15:Journal: Ades 125-149; “Pau Brasil Poetry Manifesto” (Ades 310-311); Frank ix-xii, 10-30, and 135-141

Oct 17:No assignment

Oct 22: Quiz

Oct 24:

Journal: Frank 31-49; Ades 150-193 “Mexican Mural Movement”;

Siqueiros, “Three Appeals for a Modern Direction to the New Generation of American Painters and Sculptors” (Ades 322-323)

October 25: Lecture: Venice Biennale artist Emily Prince at 6pm in Kadema 145

Oct 29:

Assignment: View video: “The Frescos of Diego Rivera” (video 1307)

Journal: Ades 195-213

Oct 31: Quiz

Assignment: Due November 7. 15-minute sketch of Rivera mural detail and two pages (550 words) on the mural: Include 1) brief historical background, 2) a description of narrative content and a formal analysis 3) meaning of work

Nov 5:No Class: Quiz(because) Field trip to City College of San Francisco or San Francisco Art Institute mural by Diego Rivera. November 3, Saturday: Field trip to City College of San Francisco or San Francisco Art Institute mural by Diego Rivera

Journal: Ades 215-239

Nov 7: Journal: Frank 67-99

Nov 12: No Class – Veterans’ Day – No assignment

Nov 14: First draft of Research Paper due

Journal: Ades 240-283, and manifestos, “Arturo,” “The Problem of the Frame in Contemporary Art”; Frank144-153

November 10 (2:00-4:00 pm): Artists’ symposium for “Area: Blurring the Lines” (exhibition in the University Library Gallery) Extra Credit

Nov 19:No assignment

Nov 21:

THANKSGIVING

Nov 26:

Assignment: study for quiz and prepare your paper for peer review

Nov 28: Quiz

Term paper outline andpeer review due

Journal:Frank 176-181 and Guy Brett “Lygia Clark: In Search of the Body” (website)

Dec 3:

Journal: Mari Carmen Ramirez, “Blueprint Circuits: Conceptual Art and Politics in Latin America” (On reserve in the library)

Dec 5:

Journal: Alicia Gaspar de Alba, “There’s No Place like Aztlan: Embodied Aesthetics in Chicana Art” (on website)

Dec 10: Quiz

Dec 12: Final draft of research paper due and bound reading journal due(See syllabus for presentation requirements) Class discussion of journals and research papers.

December 19, 3pm – pick up paper and bound journal. Art History program reception. Everyone invited!

On How to Write a Reading Journal Entry

  • Write your name, the date, the name of the author, and the title of the reading(s) at the top of the first page.
  • Write 2 pages, 300 words (double-space, 12 font) altogether, no matter how many readings there are.
  • Use loose-leaf paper and staple together.
  • Turn the entry in after class. They are the basis of class discussion, so you might need them during the class.

The format of a reading journal entryis a dialogue between the author and you.

  • Make hard copy of reading that you can write on.
  • Read the essay slowly all the way through, underlining important passages as you read.
  • Start the journal entry with a paragraph summary of the entire reading that states the main idea (thesis) of the reading.
  • Go back through the readings and reread the passages you underlined.
  • Select at least three of the most interesting of the sentences you underlined from theentire reading to quote or paraphrase. Then proceed to a dialogue format
  • Quote or paraphrase the passages you selected and reply to each with questions and comments.
  • About half the journal entry should be what the author says and half your responses. Connect the ideas to other readings, the textbook, videos and lectures, other classes, and movies, books, music, literature and so on. Continue the dialogue with the author until you have written around 550 words.

/ Information Competence For Communication
Studies STUDENTS /

A system-wide CSU goal is to have all students graduate with the ability to “find, evaluate, use and communicate information in all of its various formats.” We call this Information Competence (IC). To meet this IC goal the Sac State Library has developed a number of online tutorials for students that are designed to teach basic information competencies. Achieving these competencies will help you to do your research for this class, your other research needs during your time at on campus, and in your future career and workplace.