Course Description

Course Name

History of Arts, Literature & Photography

Session: VPRS3225

Hours & Credits

3 US Credits

Prerequisites & Language Level

Taught In English

  • There is no language prerequisite for courses at this language level.

Overview

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course is designed to introduce students to major works in the literature, art and photography of
France with an overview covering the period from the mid 19th century through the end of the 20th
century. The last one hundred fifty years has been a period of stunning changes in societies
throughout the world, with the arrival of the industrial revolution and the move from largely agrarian
societies to those much more centered in urban areas. We'll look at the inter-play between historical
and political changes to society and the evolution of the literary and visual arts. Paris can be said to
have been one of the important capitals of the art, literature and photography worlds while also being
the center of so many important political and societal changes during this period. We'll discuss the
transformation of the literary and visual arts and how the geopolitical changes influenced and were
influenced by the creative arts. Our goal is to help students develop an overview of some of the major
cultural developments in the late 19th and 20th centuries, while developing their own skills for
understanding and interpreting these various creative endeavors.
 
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
Students will:
? develop a foundation for understanding some of the more important periods and artistic/intellectual
movements in the literary, artistic and photographic worlds of the last 150 years.
? develop a better idea of some of the important world events and their impact on the creative world.
? begin to recognize some of the most accomplished names in the literary, artistic and photographic
worlds.
? develop sensitivity for understanding and analyzing the subtleties of creative work in these different
artistic worlds.
? begin to see similarities and differences between the artistic and the luxury goods worlds over these
past two centuries; how each has impacted as well as been influenced by the other creative worlds.
 
EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES:
Upon completion of this course, students should be able to: engage in a richer, more sophisticated
manner in writing and verbally to creations in literature, the visual arts and in photography. Students
will likewise better-understand and better-articulate what makes various creations interesting and/or
important. Additionally, students will develop a greater sense of the history of these three creative
endeavors over the course of the last 150 years.
 
TESTS, PRESENTATIONS, MIDTERM & FINAL EXAMS:
Students will be asked to complete regular reading assignments throughout the semester. There will
be one long novel: Camus? L?Etranger (or The Outsider in translation), which will be supplemented
with other smaller texts, including poems and short stories. Students will likewise be expected to read
essays on photography and art from Robert Hirsch's Seizing the Light, Naomi Rosenblum's A World
History of Photography and E. H. Gombrich's The Story of Art as well as other selected short
essays on the visual arts and related topics which will be offered to students as PDF files. Class
participation will be an important component of student's grades as will a journal students will keep in
which they will be asked to offer written reactions to the various readings during the semester.
Likewise, students will frequently be asked to write brief reactions to questions the teacher will raise
which relate to subjects we are discussing in class. This journal will be graded as a kind of work book
of student reflection about topics we'll discuss during the semester. Students will give an oral
presentation in class and there will be one photographic project where students will use a camera
(your telephone camera is perfect) to create images in reaction to photographic work we will discuss in
class. Students will have a midterm as well as a final exam.
The final grade will be determined as follows:
Class participation: 10%, Journal writings: 15%, Photo Project: 15%, Midterm: 20%, Oral
Presentations: 15%, Final Exam: 25%.

*Course content subject to change