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CAH 4110 A
The Photograph in Contemporary Art
Corcoran College of Art and Design
Spring 2015
Thursdays, 1:30 – 4:15pm, Room 18A
Instructor: Prof. Andy Grundberg
Office hours: Thurdays, 10 - 12 pm
Telephone: 202-639-1847
Email: [email protected]
Course description:
Fifty years ago the world of art virtually excluded photographs from its purview. Today,
it is impossible to think about contemporary art without the presence of photography
and other important lens-based media such as video. What were the causes of this
profound shift, and how did it happen? This course will examine the art, artists, and
critical discourses that together form the environment for today’s photo-based art. Class
sessions are in seminar format and include image presentations, discussions of assigned
readings, and critical writing; one or more field trips to galleries and museums may take
place during class hours. Students from all disciplines and art media are welcome; prior
knowledge of twentieth century art and photography is useful.
Course objectives:
By the conclusion of the course students will be expected to have learned to:
• recognize and characterize key artworks from the second half of the 20th century
and early 21st century, as well as their makers and intended audiences.
• discuss the esthetic, cultural, and ideological contexts for the production and uses of
photographs as works of art.
• employ a vocabulary appropriate to the discussion of contemporary art.
• discuss the defining formal, stylistic, and technical characteristics of photo-based
contemporary art, using appropriate terms.
• analyze a variety of critical and theoretical texts, assessing the value of the
methodology for the topic and the quality of the author’s argument.
Textbook:
The Photography Reader, Liz Wells, editor. London and New York: Routledge, 2003.
(For sale at Amazon.com for about $47 new; you also can “rent” it.)
The Photograph in Contemporary Art syllabus/ 2
Class schedule and assignments:
Date
Topics
Visuals/ artists
Texts to discuss; assignments;
events
1/15
Introductions,
Syllabus review
Pollock, Rothko,
Klein, Dine,
Warhol,
Rauschenberg,
Frank, Callahan,
Siskind, White
Homework: write analysis
comparing the two articles available
on Blackboard: NYTimes “Art
World’s Patron Satan” and
“Permission to Fail” (500-750 wds)
Ruscha, Nauman,
Baldessari,
Acconci, LeWitt,
Bechers,
Smithson, Heizer,
Snow, Oppenheim
Homework reading:
Michael Fried, “Art and
Objecthood,” 1967 (handout)
The postwar
situation in art: 50s
abstraction, 60s
Pop and
performance
1/22
1/29
FIELD TRIP
The 60s:
Conceptual Art,
Body Art, Earth Art
and their variants
FIELD TRIP TO
HIRSHHORN
MUSEUM
TONIGHT: Spencer Finch talk at the
Hirshhorn, 7pm
In class: discuss “Art and
Objecthood” in relation to
Hirshhorn exhibitions
Homework: write summary of these
two readings:
Walter Benjamin, Extracts from The
Work of Art in the Age of
Mechanical Reproduction, 1936
(Wells, 42)
W.J.T. Mitchell, Benjamin and the
Political Economy of Photography
(Wells, 53)
2/5
2/12
2/19
QUIZ
The 60s:
Photographs as art:
the MOMA view
Video art:
documentary and
performance
The Seventies:
crossovers, new
formalism, New
Topographics
Arbus,
Friedlander,
Winogrand;
Josephson,
Heinecken,
Michals, Avedon,
Penn
In class: discuss Walter Benjamin,
Mitchell
Paik, Jonas,
Campus, Ant
Farm, Graham,
Wegman
In class: discuss Szarkowski, Burgin
Groover, Webb,
Wegman,
Cumming
Adams, Baltz,
Nixon, Gibson,
Eggleston, Shore
In-class quiz #1!
Homework: write a summary of
these two readings:
John Szarkowski, introduction to
The Photographer’s Eye, 1966
(Wells, 97)
Victor Burgin, Looking at
Photographs, 1982 (Wells, 130)
Review for upcoming quiz
Homework reading:
Roland Barthes, Rhetoric of the
Image, (Wells, 115)
The Photograph in Contemporary Art syllabus/ 3
2/26
Postmodernism in
theory and practice
3/5
FIELD TRIP #2
TBA
3/12
SPRING
BREAK!
3/19
80s:
Postmodernism
and its Aftermath
Sherman, Levine,
Prince, Kruger,
Simmons, Welling
Discuss Roland Barthes, semiotics
Homework readings:
Abigail Solomon-Godeau, Winning
the Game When the Rules Have
Been Changed, 1984 (Wells, 152)
Andy Grundberg, The Crisis of the
Real, 1990 (Wells, 164)
Casebere, Brooks,
Cowin, Skoglund,
Goldin, Barney,
Wall,
Mapplethorpe,
Serrano, Mann
Discuss Solomon-Godeau,
Grundberg
Homework reading:
Martha Rosler, In, Around and
Afterthoughts (on Documentary
Photography), 1981-82 (Wells, 261)
John Berger, Photographs of Agony,
1980 (Wells, 288)
3/26
90s: Content and
culture
Weems, Simpson,
diCorcia,
Meiselas, Peress,
Webb, Salgado
Hand in review
Homework reading:
Douglas Crimp, The Museum’s Old,
the Library’s New Subject, 1981
(Wells, 422)
4/2
90s: Return of the
Real
Starns, Fuss,
Derges, Carey,
Ruff, Struth,
Gursky, Djikstra,
Richter, Sujimoto
4/9
QUIZ
21st c. topics:
Altered states
Schneider, Lux,
Grannan,
Aziz/Cucher,
Welling
In class QUIZ #2
4/16
21st c. topics:
memory,
inventory,
surveillance
Boltanski, Calle,
Magid, Paglen,
Horn, Simon
Homework readings:
John Tagg, Evidence, Truth and
Order: … , 1984 (Wells, 257)
Geoffrey Batchen, Photogenics, 1998
(Wells, 228)
ALL FINAL PAPERS DUE!
4/23
Last class!
Discuss Tagg, Batchen
Return of final papers
The Photograph in Contemporary Art syllabus/ 4
4/29
MAKE UP
CLASS
Notes:
•
•
•
Wrap up and final
presentations
Unless specified as handouts, all readings are printed in the anthology The Photography
Reader.
Readings will be discussed on the week indicated; handouts will be provided in class the
week prior or made available on Blackboard
Artists listed are mentioned in class and illustrated via projections. Lists of artists and
works shown will be distributed in class.
Required projects and papers:
Please come prepared each week to discuss the article listed as that week’s reading
assignment. Discussion is an important component of your final grade. Students will be
assigned to be discussion leaders for individual readings, and responsible for
introducing the critical issues involved.
Each student is required to give an illustrated report in class on one contemporary
artist/photographer and his/her critical reception. The classroom presentation should
be 20 – 25 min. long and include projected images, catalogues, and/or other visual
material. The presentation should be the basis for a final paper 5-8 pages long.
The final paper should be an elaboration of the research done for your classroom
presentation, using books, magazines, and other printed materials available through the
library as well as reliable web-based sources. The topic is an analysis of the artist’s use of
photography (and/or video), its pertinence to issues of contemporary art, and its
relationship to the intentions and aspirations of your own ideas about art.
Grading:
25% classroom participation (includes attendance); 25% quizzes and written reviews;
25% class presentations and discussion leadership; 25% final paper. Letter grades can
range from A (exemplary grasp of materials presented and outstanding presentations
and paper) to F (total failure to grasp materials and totally miserable presentations and
paper).
Classroom policies:
Classroom attendance is important, as is punctuality. Passionate discussion and debate
are encouraged; rudeness, verbal bullying, and lack of consideration for others are not.
All rules of comportment mentioned in the student handbook apply.
Wireless devices may be used during class time for making notes, checking facts, and
finding information – but not for emails, texts, or extraneous entertainment. No cell
The Photograph in Contemporary Art syllabus/ 5
phones or ear buds unless by special permission of the instructor. First-time violators
will receive a warning; second-timers will receive a grade reduction notation.
Academic integrity:
You are expected to be familiar with, and abide by, the George Washington University
Code of Academic Integrity. The code covers plagiarism, cheating, and lying, all of
which are violations that can lead to dismissal. See:
https://studentconduct.gwu.edu/sites/studentconduct.gwu.edu/files/downloads/141
003%20Code%20of%20Academic%20Integrity%20-%20Final.pdf
Disability accommodations:
The Corcoran supports students with identified learning disabilities by providing
accommodations and assistance. Speak to me early in the semester so we can discuss
how to enhance your experience of the course. A learning support provider is on site at
the Flagg Building. Find information on the university’s Learning Support Services at:
http://www.gwu.edu/disability-support-services.
Other campus resources:
Library: http://library.gwu.edu/
Writing Center: http://www.gwu.edu/~gwriter/
Ground rules:
Classroom attendance is important. Three or more absences will constitute a failing
grade, as will plagiarism. Passionate discussion and debate are encouraged; rudeness,
verbal bullying, and lack of consideration for others are not. All rules of comportment
mentioned in the student handbook apply. No use of cell phones, open laptops, or ear
buds, please, unless by permission. I will consider texting while I am talking a personal
insult.
You are expected to be familiar with, and abide by, the Corcoran College of Art and
Design’s Student Honor Code, as printed in the Student Handbook:
http://www.corcoran.edu/student-handbook.
Special accommodations:
If you have specific learning, attention, psychological or physical disabilities and require
accommodations, please let me know early in the semester so that your learning needs
may be appropriately met. All discussions will remain confidential. If you have not
already registered with the Learning Specialist in Student Affairs, you will need to
register and document your disability with her. The Learning Specialist is Amanda
Kleinman, and her office is in the first cubicle in the Student Affairs office. Reach her at
[email protected], or by phone 202-639-1865, or by stopping by her office.
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