Course Outline

This course focuses on English comprehension through the theme of art. Materials in the course include art works to discuss, museum catalogues, films, and formal art history. The course gives students an opportunity to improve comprehension of both written and spoken English, improve their speaking skills through discussion and presentation, develop art and related vocabulary and learn about the history of art.

Weekly Themes:

Week 1: Guidance
Week 2: Johannes Vermeer, The Music Lesson
Week 3: Shiva & Parvati Sculpture, Hindu India
Week 4: Michelangelo’ Dream
Week 5: The David Vases, Yuan Dynasty China
Week 6: Arcimboldo: Nature and Fantasy
Week 7: Hokusai’s The Great Wave
Week 8: Paul Gauguin, Maker of Myth
Week 9: Paul Cézanne’s The Card Players
Week 10: J.M.W.Turner
Week 11: Edward Hopper’s New York
Week 12: Mark Rothko, In the Tower
Week 13: Exam

Class work includes video, reading and listening tasks and students will be involved in discussions and presentations.
Evaluation will be based on a final exam and weekly participation.
This course will involve a lot of English conversation and debate about art and it therefore is advised for students who are keenly interested in the history of art and who desire to expand their English conversation skills on the subject of the visual arts.

Resources

Vermeer: The Music Lesson

Shiva & Parvati

Michelangelo's Dream Part 1

Michelangelo's Dream Part 2

Michelangelo's Dream Part 3

The David Vases

Arcimboldo: Nature and Fantasy

Hokusai's Great Wave

Gauguin: Maker of Myth Part 1

Gauguin: Maker of Myth Part 2

Gauguin Maker of Myth Part 3

Gauguin: Maker of Myth Part 4

Cézanne: The Card Players Part 1

Cézanne: The Card Players Part 2

Cézanne: The Card Players Part 3

J.M.W. Turner

Edward Hopper's New York

Mark Rothko: In the Tower

Full Testable Vocabulary List

virginal

halo

orthogonal

fulcrum

tapestry

recede

underscore

statuesque

proportioned

sacramental

beveled

manipulateintensify

emphasis

divergent

silhouette

reenforce

easel

reverently

sacred

secular

asceticism

paradox

trident

encircle

loin cloth

meditation

patriarchy

achilles’ heel

beguile

sensual

vindication

piety

morality

impertinent

theology

curator

refined

allegorical

mythological

preparatory

appreciation

allusive

cardinal

virtue

vice

humanist

outline

deceit

swirling

chaste

opium

mesmerized

parlours

archetypal

commissioned

quintessentially

synonymous

reeling

piglet

cobalt

assurance

elongated

vitrifies

translucent

porous

inscription

solemnity

altar

evoke

physiognomy

pageants

spectacle

exuberance

bounty

botany

ravenous

marvels

mellow

composite

wit

symbolism

embedded

legitimacy

flint-stone

avant-garde

alchemy

fetters

veneer

visionary

guise

persona

peasant

persecuted

martyr

savage

primitive

robust

refined

thread

paragon

voluptuousness

hypocrisy

sinister

undercurrents

iconic

canvas

posed

heroic

depicted

preoccupation

rowdy

monumental

oil study

anchor

underdrawing

contemplative

palette

nuances

stoic

stains

flickering

staged

isolation

opted-out

aesthetic

caricature

tranquil

ubiquitous

composition

pictorial

mulberry paper

hybrid

sensibility

overwhelmed

ambivalence

incursion

flourish

(an) impression

reluctant

imitated

awkward

lyrical

draftsman

seclusion

virtuosity

majesty

awe

exaltation

humility

fragility

spoils

rake

primary colour

indistinctness

medium

haziness

topographical

threshold

comprehensive

recognizably

inhabited

drawn to

walk-up

fancy

furtive glance

glare

anonymous

elongated

poignant

foregone

conclusion

articulate

dichotomy

escapism

cinematography

sets

masterpiece

enigma

stifling

dropped out

claustrophobic

idiom

fossil

unconscious

luminosity

ravishing

brink

glazed

looming

veiling

decline

sobriety

encompassing

preconceptions

depression

Full Testable Concepts and Context List

Vanishing point

Linear perspective

Major & minor accents

Intimate space

Echoing

Bathed in light

Hinduism

Eroticism

Full relief sculpture

Physical manifestation

Divine attribute

Moral allegory

Dürer

Phaëton

Ganymede

Renaissance

Presentation drawings

Giorgio Vasari

The Medici

The Seven Deadly Sins (Gluttony, lust, greed, wrath, sloth, envy, pride)

Kubla Khan

Blue & white porcelain

Yuan & Ming Dynasties

Pax Mongolica & the silk road

Marco Polo

Percival David

Thomas Minton’s Willow Pattern

The Habsburgs

Holy Roman Empire

Kunst und Wunderkammer

Maximillian II & Rudolf II

Order of the Golden Fleece

Invertible paintings

The Surrealists

Mannerism

Stephen Sondhein’s Pacific Overtures

Wood block printing

Prussian Blue

36 Views of Mount Fuji

Splendid Isolation

Commodore Perry & gunboat diplomacy

Van Gogh & Whistler

Japonism (Japanisme)

Manet, Degas, Pizarro, Van Gogh

Bourgeoisie

Garden of Olives

Paradise lost, Eve and the fall, original sin

Noble Savage

The World Fair

Tahiti

Aix-en-Provence

Provençal

The Courtauld Galley

The Metropolian

The Barnes

The Musée d’Orsay

The Hermitage

The Pushkin

Dutch & French genre painting

French Peasants

History painting, genre painting, portraiture, landscape, still-life

The Royal Academy

Joshua Reynolds

The Wye Valley

Nicolas Poussin & Claude Lorrain

The Sublime & Edmund Burke

The Plagues of Egypt

Carthage & Hannibal

Napoleon, Nelson, Trafalgar & Waterloo

The Burning of the Houses of Parliament

New England

Greenwich Village

New York

Elevated railroad

Film noir

Abstract Expressionism

Latvia & the Cossacks

Milton Avery

Great Depression

Jackson Pollock

Willem de Kooning

Friedrich Nietzsche