HUAS 6330.

001
Mondays 3:30pm to 6:15pm
ROOM: AS. 1.105 (Media Room in the Visual Art Building)
Visual Culture
Richard R. Brettell (972-883-2475; brettell@utdallas.edu)
Assistant: Pierrette Lacour: pierret@utdallas.edu

Reading:

Final Exam or Research Paper: 60% of the student’s grade will be based on a 15-20 page
research paper on a topic to be selected with the professor or a comprehensive final exam
(the choice is the student’s).

40% of the student’s grade will be based on attendance and class presentation. Students
who miss more than 2 classes will have their grades lowered significantly (1 letter lower
for each 3 classes missed). All absences must be excused by the professor via email
BEFORE the seminar.

At the end of the class, students are expected to be familiar with

1. Five major interpretive strategies for works of visual art
2. 25 globally important works of art and architecture
3. The Diverse “meanings” of one major work in a DFW public or accessible private
collection

SYLLABUS

August 20: Manet Introduction

August 27: Architecture 1: The Catholic Cathedrals of Chartres, Cologne,

and Sagrada Familia contrasted with the great Stuppha at Borabadur and
Ankor Watt
Presenters:
Betsy Lewis: La Sagrada Familia
Debbie Gibney: The Great Stuppha at Borabadur

September 3: LABOR DAY

September 10: Architecture II: The Architecture of Wood, Paper, and

Ceramic: The Temple at Ise, the Temple at Todaiji and Katsura Palace
Presenters:
Mindy McVay: The Temple at Ise
Jill Hoes: Katsura Palace
Frank Garrett: The Temple at Todaiji
September 17: Architecture III: Four villas. Chiswick House by Lord
Burlington, Le Petit Trianon by Gabriel, The Villa Savoye by Corb, Falling Water
by Wright
Presenters:
Diane McGurren: Le petit Trianon by Gabriel
Blake Remington: Falling Water by Wright

September 24: Painting I: Devotion:The Isenheim Altarpiece by Grünewald, The

Ghent Altarpiece by Jan and Hubert van Eyck, The Deposition by Roger van der
Weyden, and the Colonna Altarpiece by Raphael.
Presenters:
Debbie Gibney: The Isenheim Altarpiece by Grünewald
A.C. Abbott: The Colonna Altarpiece by Raphael
Jill Hoes: The Ghent Altarpiece

October 1: Painting II: Painting History: The Third of May by Goya, Brutus by
David, Liberty Leading the People by Delacroix, Washington Crossing the Delaware
by Leutze

Presenters:
Dan Nuckols: The Third of May by Goya
Shellie McCullough: Washington crossing the Delaware by Leutze
Jake Wolfson: Brutus by David

October 8: (RB AWAY- students should use this week to visit museums and
buildings to narrow down a selection list to 3-5 works which will be the
subject of the end-or-term paper)

October 15: Painting III. Surface coverage/Jews making christian art: Blue
Poles by Pollock, Excavations by de Kooning versus The Stations of the Cross by
Barnet Newman and the Rothko Chapel
Presenters:
Betsy Lewis: Excavations by de Kooning
Noor Begum: The Stations of the Cross by Barnet Newman
Frank Garrett : the Rothko chapel

October 22: Sculpture I: Discoveries that changed Art: The Parthenon

Pediments, the Laocoon, and the Apollo Belvedere.
Presenters:
Mindy McVay: Apollo Belvedere
Susie Rose: The Parthenon Pediments

October 29: (RB AWAY- Final Date for the approval of students’ selection
of individual works for the end-or-term paper)
November 5: Sculpture II: Forming Death: Carpeaux’s Ugolino, Rodin’s Gates
of Hell, Gauguin’s Boston Relief (Soyez ameureuse et vous serez heureuse),
Presenters:
Jake Wolfson: The Gates of Hell by Rodin
A.C.Abbott: Gauguin Boston’s Relief :( Soyez amoureuses et vous serez heureuses)
Shellie McCullough: Carpeaux’s Ugolino

November 12: Works on Paper I: Printed Women and Illustrated Texts: The
Color Etchings by Mary Cassatt, the Kelmscott Chaucer, Toulouse-Lautrec’s
Femmes, and Redon’s Temptation of Saint Anthony
Presenters:
Susie Rose: The Color Etchings by Mary Cassatt
Blake Remington: The Kelmscott Chaucer
Noor Begum : The Temptation of St Anthony by Redon

November 19: Works on Paper II: Photographing America: Robert Frank’s

America, Public Relations by Gary Winogrand,and Eden or Commercial
Residential by Robert Adams
Presenters:
Diane McGurren: Public Relations by Gary Winogrand
Dan Nuckols: Eden or Commercial Residential by Robert Adams

November 26: Reports

December 3: Reports

Students will be assigned to two or three sessions and will, with the
professor, prepare a presentation (15 minutes) and a critical
bibliography devoted to the interpretation of a single work of art in
each of those sessions. All students are expected to contribute to the
discussion each time.

Each student must choose an original work of art to which they have
easy and repeated access (selected with the help and consent of the
professor) as the subject of an interpretive essay (13-18 pages) with a
thorough bibliography.