Critical Studies in Northern Renaissance Art
Fall 2002
Barbara Resnik

Michael Frayn, Headlong
KeithHarbison, The Mirror and the Artist
Joris Karl Huysman, Au Rebours
Andree Hyum, Gods Medicine and the Painters Vision
Keith Moxey, The Practice of Theory
Leo Steinberg, The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and Modern Oblivion

COURSE CALENDAR

WEEK 1 ABOUT HISTORY KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE and
ABOUT THIS COURSE
WED. AUG. 28
READING:
Moxey, The Practice of Theory, Chapters 4
Sigmund Freud, "Mourinng and Melancholia"
Erwin Panofsky, The Life of Albrect Durer, "Melancholia"
Linda Seidel, The Arnolfini Portrait, "Epilogue"
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:

ART:
Durer
Self Portrait as Man of Sorrrows Drawing 1522
Self-Portrait 1500
Melancholia I

Van Eyck
Arnolfini Portrait

WEEK 2 BETWEEN TWO COLMARS :
CONTENT AND MEANING IN RELIGIOUS ART
WED. SEPT.4 GRUNEWALD
READING:
Harbison, The Mirror of the Artist: Northern Renaissance Art in its Historical Context,Intro P. 7-21
Andree Hayum, Gods Medicine and the Painters Vision, Chapters 1 and 2
John, Berger, About Looking , "Between Two Colmars"
Linda Nochlin , "Mathis at Colmar"
Joris Karl Huysman, AuRebours (Against the Grain), (Begin)

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1
Section II of Havelock Ellis' Introduction to Huysman's Au Rebours an "Aesthetic attitude toward art" ...which is called decadent. He follows with a discussion of what decadence might be and suggests that an understanding of it is only possible in relation to the CLASSIC Style. (see pgs XIII, XIV)
"The first (Classic) is beautiful because the parts are subordinated to the whole; the second is beautiful because the whole is subordinated to the parts." Be prepared to discuss the Isenheim Altarpiece in light of Ellis' Essay generally, and his discussion of decadence in SectionII . Try to direct you discussionto the particularity of individual panels

ART:
Grunewald
Isenheim Altarpiece (selected images)

WEEK 3 RECAPITULATIONS: MUSIC , MANUSCRIPTS , MOTIVES & MODERNITY
WED. SEPT. 11
READING:
Joris Karl Huysman, AuRebours (Against the Grain) (Finish)
Forward, Havelock Ellis
Andree Hyum, Gods Medicine and the Painters Vision,, Chapter4 and 5
Harbison, The Mirror of the Artist: Northern Renaissance Art in its Historical Context,P.155-169
SCHOLARLY ARTICLE REPORTS: Choose 1 (Be sure to read footnotes )
1.
Read Huysmans,Au Rebours

2. 63
Andree Hayum, God's Medicine and the Painters Vision Chapter 2
3.
Andree Hayum, God's Medicine and the Painters Vision , Chapter 3
4.
Read Hayum Chapter 4 giving special attention to the comment at page 132 that "Huysmans pictures
acrisi of art and science in Grunewalds haunting distortions. His fixation on the tortuous suffering of the body in the Crucifixtion..." (132-135). Explore this passage and the discussion which follows of "Las Bas" ending with footnote 58. Your paper should explore the notions of the conflicts between science and mystery articulated in footnote 56 and in the above excerpt. How is this tension or opposition reflected in the representation of the body in the Isenheim altarpiece?

5.
Read Hayum Chapter 3, focusing on footnote 60 which discusses Ficino, Leonardo and Plato on the senses. Recall Huysmans discussion of the senses in the Preface 20 years after Publication and further examples in the excerted sections of las Bas and Against the Grain (see electronic reserves)

ART:
Grunewald
Isenheim Altarpiece (selected images)

WEEK 4 THE ALTAR AND THE ALTARPIECE
WED. SEPT. 18 CAMPIN and the International Styles
READING
Harbison, The Mirror of the Artist: Northern Renaissance Art in its Historical Context, P53-61, 63-85
Barbara Lane :The Altar and the Altarpiece, Introduction , Chapters 1 and 2 (1-41) and Conclusion (137-144)
Kenneth Clark, "The Alternative Convention" (308-347) in The Nude, A Study of Ideal Form
Meyer Shapiro, " ' Musicpula Diaboli", The Symbolism of the Merode Altarpiece"

ART:
Campin:
Merode Altarpiece

Van der Goes
Potinari Altarpiece

Geertgen
Man of Sorrows
Holy Kinship

Bouts
Last Supper

WEEK 5 COMPASSIO & REDEMTIO
WED. SEPT. 25 Van Eyck and Van der Weyden
READING:
Harbison, The Mirror of the Artist: Northern Renaissance Art in its Historical Context, P25-53
Barbara Lane :The Altar and the Altarpiece, Introduction , Chapters 1 and 2 (1-41) and Conclusion (137-144)
Linda Seidel, Jan Van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait: Stories of an Icon "The Burdens of Matrimony" (19-74)

SCHOLARLY ARTICLES:
Linda Seidel, Jan Van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait: Stories of an Icon "The Business of Painting" (75-125)
Linda Seidel, Jan Van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait: Stories of an Icon "The Power of Sight" (127-169)

ART:
Van der Weyden:
Beaune Altarpiece
Descent from the Cross

Van Eyck:
Ghent Altarpiece
Arnolfini Wedding
Three Madonnas , One Virgin and a Saint
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:

WEEK 6 HUMANITY, HUMAN SEXUALITY, DIVINITY & ICONOGRAPHY
WED. OCT. 2 Bynum , Steinberg, et al
READINGS:
Leo Steinberg, The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and Modern Oblivion, P.3.-106 and "Ad Bynum", P.364-389
Bynum, Caroline Walker , Fragmentation and Redemption , "The Body of Christ in the Later Midddle Ages , A Reply to Leo Steinberg (On Electronic Reserve, N. Ren)

SCHOLARLY ARTICLES:
___________:Bynum, Caroline Walker , Fragmentation and Redemption , Any Chapter
S. Suleimin, ed. The FemaleBody in Western Culture, (On Electronic Reserve Eros and Thanatos)
_________: Mieke Bal "Sexuality Sin and Sorrow: the Emergence of theFemale Character (A Reading of Genesis 1-3)
_________: Julia Kristeva, "Stabat Mater"

_________: "T he Virgins One Bare Breast" (On Electronic Reserve, N. Ren)
_________:Marina Warner, Alone of All Her Sex, CHOOSE 1: "Song of Solomon" 121-133; "The Milk of Paradise," 192-205; OR "Visions, the Rosary and War," 299-304 (On reserve Eros and Thanatos)
ART:

Van Heemskerk

Campin

Cranach

FALL READING PERIOD OCTOBER 4-13
TAKEHOME MIDTERM

WEEK 7 THE RENAISSANCE AND THE REFORMATION
WED. OCT. 16 DURER/PRINTMAKING (Studio)
READING:
Harbison, The Mirror of the Artist: Northern Renaissance Art in its Historical Context, P91-121
Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Spring 1997
ART:
Melancholia
Hundred Guilder Print

WEEK 8 DELIGHT, DEBAUCHERY, DEVILTRY AND DESIRE
WED. OCT. 2 3 BOSCH
READING:
Keith Moxey, The Practice of Theory, Chapter 7, "Making Genius"
Laurinda S.Dixon, "Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych"

I. Read the Moxey Chapter 7 very carefully. Pay special attention to the great variety of ways in which Moxey approaches his discussion of the Garden of Earhly Delights:

1. the subversiveness of the topsy turvey world (inversion) 2. the implications of una pittura poesis, 3. alchemy, 4 fantasy and grotesques, 5 culrural politics, and 6.appropriation; to name a few.

II Now take a look at some of the websites below and the images available there.:
http://gallery.euroweb.hu/welcome.html
http://gallery.euroweb.hu/html/b/bosch/index.html
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/B/bosch/delighto.jpg.htmlhttp://athena.english.vt.edu/~baugh/bosch/R-B-info.htm

Select a panel, or "passage" from the Garden... or ther Bosch work of your choice and write briefly about it( certainly no more then a page). here I want to know why it interests you, provokes or titillates you. In other words, how you are affected by the painting. Do not get into the "why" of all this here.You may use POETRY OR PROSE IN THIS SECTION, IN FACT YOU CAN USE ANY MEDIUM, AS LONG AS IT RESPONDS TO THE SPIRIT OF THIS QUESTION.

III Finally, choose one of the devices which Moxey used above to discuss this work and apply it to your chosen segment. Be prepared to discuss this in class and to answer questions about how this either does or does not expand your understanding of the work or your response to it. You should be able to speak for 5-7 minutes. This does not have to be written but I would suggest notes.

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DO FURTHER OUTSIDE RESEARCH HERE. YOU MAY CHOOSE A DIFFERENT APPROACH AS LONG AS IT IS DERIVED FROM SOME ASPECT OF THE MOXEY CHAPTER 7

ART:
Garden Of Earthly Delights

WEEK 9 LANDSCAPE AND THE NORTHERN CONVENTION
WED. OCT. 30 PATINIR SAENREDAM BRUEGEL RUBENS, RUISDALE
READING:
Michael Frayn, Headlong (begin reading)
Harbison, The Mirror of the Artist: Northern Renaissance Art in its Historical Context, P.134-144
Svetlana Alpers, "Art History and Its Exclusions", Feminisim and Art History (183-199)
Erwin Gombrich, "Mapping and Painting in the Netherlands in the 17th Century", Reflections on Art History ,(115-123)
Keith Moxey, The Practice of Theory, Chapter 5 'The Paradox of Mimesis' P.79-98

Assignment for Wed. 10/30
I Choose your artist
II Now take a look at some of the websites below and the images available there.:
http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/saenredam/saenredam.html
http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/html/s/saenreda/

http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/rubens_peter_paul.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/paintingtheweather/csv/artist/rubens.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/paintingtheweather/tour/

http://www.rnw.nl/culture/html/ruisdael020703.html
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/ruisdael_jacob_van.html
http://www2.students.sbc.edu/young02/ruisdael.html

You should be able to speak for 5-7 minutes. on artist/works.
ART:
Choose an artist and prepare a presentation on one work

Patiner	Saendredam	Bruegel	Rubens	Ruisdale

WEEK 10 THE HEART OF DESCRIBING

WED. NOV 6 BRUEGEL
READING:
Michael Frayn, Headlong (Finish reading)
W.H. Auden," Musee de Beaux Arts"
Bertoldt Brecht, "Alienation Effects in the Narrative Picteres of the Elder Bruegel". Brecht on Theater (hardcopy reserve)
Terence Diggory , "The Heart of Describing", (3-13), "Narrative Voice and Second Reading: Relation and Response" (274-279) in William Carlos Williams and the Ethics of Painting
John Berryman, "One Answer to the Question Changes", in Freedom of the Poet (323- 326)(hardcopy reserve)
MaryAnn Caws : "A Double Reading By Design: Auden and Williams" Art of Interference, P180-193
William Carlos Williams, Pictures from Bruegel, selected poems
Review:
H. Arthur Klein, Graphic Works of Peter Bruegel, the Elder
Nadine Orenstein Editor, Peter Bruegel the Elder : Drawings and Prints

Assignment for 11/06/02
Choose a work by Breugel which for you explempifies this notion of "the heart of decribing" which is being discussed in todays readings. Prepare a presentation (which should be in writing but which may include other mediums:painting , photography, poetry, music).

SCHOLARLY ARTICLES:
Svetlana Alpers,
Bram Dykstra, "The Poem as a Canvas", (47-81) Cubism Steiglitz, and the Early Poetry of William Carlos Williams
Bram Dykstra, "The Poem as Still -Life", *161-199Cubism Steiglitz, and the Early Poetry of William Carlos Williams
Margaret Sullivan, "Bruegels Proverbs"

ART:

The Seasons	Fall of Icarus	Childrens Games	The Battle Between Carnival and Lent

WEEK 11 PORTRAITURE, PATRONAGE, AND GENRE IN THE NORTH

WED. NOV . 13 MEMLING, VAN EYCK, VAN DER WEYDEN, HALS, HOLBEIN, DURER , REMBRANDT
READING:
Harbison, The Mirror of the Artist: Northern Renaissance Art in its Historical Context, P 124-134, 144-153
John Berger: Ways of Seeing: Hals
John Berger: "Che Guevara Dead"

SCHOLARLY ARTICLES:
L. Campbell, "The Portrait Art in the Work of Van der Weyden"
L. Campbell,"Rogier van der Weden, His Artistic Personality and Hids Influence on Painting in the XVth Century"
TBA

ART:
Choose an artist and prepare a presentation on one individual portrait and one group portrait

INDIVIDUAL PORTRAITS

Memling		Van der Weyden	Durer
Rembrandt				Hals	Holbein

GROUP PORTRAITS

Rembrandt
			Van Eyck

Hals
Holbein

SELF PORTRAITS

Rembrandt
		Durer

WEEK 12 Rembrandt
WED. NOV . 20 REMBRANDT
READING:
SCHOLARLY ARTICLES:
TBA
ART:
Jewish Bride
Return of the Prodigal Son


QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:
TBA


THANKSGIVING BREAK FRI. 11/22 THROUGH SUN. 12/1

WEEK 13
WED. DEC. 3 VERMEER
READING:

TBA
SCHOLARLY ARTICLE:
TBA

ART:
View of Delft
Little House
Girl with the Pearl Earring

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:
TBA

You are required to write 6 essays chosen from among the Scholarly ArticleMaterials. listed in the Syllabus and on reserve. Do not choose a text listed under Reading on the Syllabus. One of these essays may take as its subject a film. video or CD listed above. These essays should be prepared and presentented in class on the day of there related topic. This means the eqivalent of one every other week. Do not wait until the end to complete this work; you must have a minimum of two by midterms.

The essays should set out the central idea of the essay and a brief discussion of how it is developed by the author. How does this article contribute to our understanding , interpretation or experiece of the art in Northern Renaissance Art and in the Week it is assigned.