art history homework

ARTH2389 / UH Fall 2017 Modern & Contemporary Art / Dr. Harren

Extended Looking/Writing Assignment and Interpretive Research Paper

Overview:

Continuing to focus on the artwork that was the subject of your formal analysis paper, you will conduct scholarly research to deepen your knowledge of this work of art. You will also return to the museum to look in a more careful, informed way at your artwork for an extended period of time while recording your observations. From your research and close observation, you will compose an interpretive research paper.

Part 1: Research

Gather, read, and take notes on at least 5 scholarly sources about your artwork and/or artist that have been published in print. Your task is to learn as much as possible about your artwork, such as: • its material constitution (What is it made of? What is its medium?) • how it was made • how it fits into the artist’s larger practice • how it relates to its immediate movement and to the larger art historical period of modernism • how it relates to modernity, or the social/cultural/economic/political context of its time • how previous scholars/critics/art historians have interpreted the work (this information is crucial

to forming a thesis for your interpretive research paper)

Good places to look for books and essays include the Architecture and Arts library online catalogue, course syllabus, textbook bibliographies, Worldcat, JSTOR, ARTbibliographies Modern (ABM), the Houston Public Library, and the library at the MFAH, which is open to the public. You may also look beyond scholarly books and articles published by university presses to sources like exhibition catalogues and art magazines. In your final paper, you may only cite scholarly sources with integrity that have appeared in print (even if you access them via an online database such as JSTOR). No general-interest newspaper or magazine articles; no blogs, museum websites, or online magazines or encyclopedias.

Part 2: Extended Looking/Writing Assignment — due Monday, November 6 in hard copy in class

After you have gathered, read, and taken notes on at least 5 pieces of scholarly writing about your artist/ artwork, you will perform an extended looking and writing exercise in front of your artwork at the museum. Your task is to spend 60 minutes looking at your artwork as an informed viewer and writing down observations as they come to you. It is ideal to perform the exercise in one sitting, but if necessary you may take breaks or separate your looking sessions into smaller units of time, as long as they are not less than 30 minutes each. Make sure you bring a pencil and paper to write with, as ink pens are not allowed in museum galleries. After your writing session is complete, type up your notes so they are legible and upload your document to TurnItIn (accessible via Blackboard) by November 6. To prepare for this exercise, read Jennifer L. Roberts’s short article, “The Power of Patience,” Harvard Magazine (Nov/ Dec 2013), available on Blackboard.

Part 3: Interpretive Research Paper assignment — Due Monday December 4 to Turnitin.com

Finally, you will use all of this looking and research to write an interpretive research paper on your artwork. You will mobilize formal analysis, historical information, and the discourse that has developed around the artwork (i.e. previous interpretations of it) to mount your own argument as to the meaning of the work (a reading of its forms, its objectives, its play with meaning) and its place within art history. In

other words, this paper is not merely a report or literature review of what has already been said about your artwork. Rather, you are being asked to propose, in conversation with the existing literature on your artist/ artwork, your own claim about how and why we should understand this artwork as a significant contribution to the history of modern art. Your claim should be stated clearly in the form of a thesis statement in the first paragraph of your paper. You are encouraged to look to the assigned readings as arguments to be in dialogue with and as models for how to structure your own essay. You are also welcome to bring lessons learned in other courses to bear on this assignment, for instance literary theory, 19th and 20th century history, anthropology, etc.

Practical requirements: 1. Length: between 7 and 9 pages 2. Format: 12-point, Times New Roman font, double-spaced 3. Citations: Chicago style (i.e. footnotes). For guidance, see The Chicago Manual of Style. 4. Number of sources: During your research, you should refer to at least 5 scholarly sources that have

been published IN PRINT (even if you access them only in digital form, for example via JSTOR). 5. Bibliography of “Sources Consulted”: Although you do not have to integrate citations from all of your

sources into the final text of your paper, you must attach a bibliography of all the sources you have consulted throughout the course of your research.

6. Illustration: In addition to the bibliography, you must include one clearly labeled image of your artwork at the end of your paper. It does not need to be in color. If there are many possible views of your artwork, think about choosing an image that best communicates visually what you have argued in your paper.

Plagiarism is taken very seriously by this instructor. Students are responsible for producing new, original work for this course with careful attention to standard rules of citation and the UH Academic Honesty Policy (http://catalog.uh.edu/content.php?catoid=6&navoid=1025). Written work must be submitted through TurnItIn in order to be evaluated. To quiz your knowledge of what constitutes plagiarism, visit http://www.uh.edu/honors/human-situation/survival-kit/ writingresources/Plagiarism.quiz.htm.

Papers are due to TurnItIn (accessible via Blackboard) by noon on Monday, December 4.

No extensions, and no late papers.

Extra Credit Opportunity

You may earn extra credit toward your final paper grade by seeking help from the art history Graduate Writing Fellow. For each consultation you make with the Fellow regarding your paper for Modern & Contemporary Art, you will earn 1.5 points of extra credit. You may earn up to 3 points of extra credit toward your final paper grade. The Writing Fellow will keep track of students who consult with her/him and pass that information on to Dr. Harren.