AP Art History

AP Art History - Summer work for 2023-2024 School Year

Purchase: Barron’s AP Art History 5th edition and read the introduction pages 3-46 to familiarize yourself with the course. We will be using this text as a supplemental text and test prep for the AP Art History exam you will take in the Spring of 2024.

Barron’s Ap Art History 5th Edition by John B. Nici, M.A.

If you have any specific questions feel free to email me at gerald.young@howlandschools.org.

Advanced Placement Art History Syllabus

Teacher: Mr. Jerry Young

6th Period: Monday – Friday

Office Hours: During 5th period by appointment

Prerequisite: None

Grades 11-12

Full year course = 1 Credit

Room: 025

e-mail: gerald.young@howlandschools.org

Advanced Placement Art History

The AP Art History course emphasizes an intense conceptual understanding of art historical concepts. Students will develop the essential skills of visual and contextual analysis. By examining works of art from diverse cultures and the relationships among these works, students develop an understanding of global artistic traditions. Students analyze works of art in their contexts, considering issues of patronage, gender, politics, religion, and ethnicity. The interpretation of the work of art is based upon its intended use, audience, and the role of the artist and the work of art in its particular society. Students will expand their knowledge of history, geography, politics, religion, languages, and literature, as they explore the story of people as told through the art they created.

Course Objectives

The AP Art History course will enable students to:

• Understand the nature of art, art making, and our responses to it.

• Develop an in-depth understanding of individual works of art from diverse cultures.

• Develop an understanding of the relationships among these works.

• Practice the essential skills of visual, contextual, and comparative analysis.

Curricular Requirements

[CR1a] Students and teachers use a college-level art history textbook.

• See page 12 [CR1b]

Students and teachers use primary sources of different types.

• See pages 8, 12 [CR1c]

Students and teachers use secondary sources.

• See pages 7, 12 [CR2]

The big ideas and essential questions in the AP Art History Course and Exam Description are used as a conceptual foundation for the course.

• See pages 1, 6 [CR3]

Each of the 10 AP Art History content areas in the AP Art History Course and Exam Description receives explicit attention.

• See pages 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 [CR4]

Students have opportunities to engage with all 12 course learning objectives in the AP Art History Course and Exam Description through specific assignments and activities.

• See pages 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 [CR5]

Students are provided opportunities to analyze works of art both visually and contextually.

• See pages 7, 9 [CR6]

Students are provided opportunities to analyze interpretations of works of art from primary or secondary sources.

• See page 8 [CR7]

Students are provided opportunities to analyze relationships between works of art across cultures and from different content areas.

• See pages 9, 10 [CR8]

Students have opportunities to use enduring understanding and essential knowledge statements as a foundation to conduct research on a specific work of art.

• See page 9 [CR9]

Students are provided opportunities to experience actual works of art or architecture.

• See pages 9, 11, 12

Course Curriculum and Content

Big Ideas and Essential Questions: The AP Art History curriculum and content is structured around the big ideas and essential questions that frame explorations of the nature of art, art making, and our responses to art.

[CR2] Twelve learning objectives are associated with the big ideas and essential questions. [CR2]—The big ideas and essential questions in the AP Art History Course and Exam Description are used as a conceptual foundation for the course.

Enduring Understanding and Essential Knowledge Statements: These provide contextual information about the regions and time periods in each content area. Information from enduring understanding and essential knowledge statements is combined with course learning objectives and works of art in the image set to form targets of assessment for the AP Art History Exam. Enduring understanding and essential knowledge statements provide contextual information that serves as a starting point for student learning in the course.

Required Course Content (Image set): Each content area is represented by a number of exemplary works of art within a prescribed image set of 250 works. AP Art History required course content is defined to support students’ in-depth learning, critical analysis, and understanding of connections among global artistic traditions by focusing study on works representing the diversity of art through time and place. The image set consists of approximately 65 percent works from the Western tradition and 35 percent from non-Western artistic traditions. Students will also be asked to attribute works of art outside the image set based on their knowledge and understanding of works within the set; attributions should be provided in the same format and with the same level of detail as identifying information for each work of art within the image set. Students will include works they choose to study beyond the image set as AP Art History course content.

Course Organization

The AP Art History course meets for two semesters, eighteen weeks each. There are approximately 155 instructional days before the AP exam day; classes are 47 minutes long. Each unit represents one of the ten required content areas. Pacing is based on the number of works of art in the unit, with flexibility. The goals are to integrate the course learning objectives and enduring understanding statements, the overarching concepts for the content area with the works of study. These will be supported with the essential knowledge statements through assignments, activities, research and lectures. The teacher and students will expand upon this foundational information in their exploration of each work of art, referring to scholarly resources such as the textbooks, primary and secondary source documents, videos, and museum websites, etc. Students will examine, analyze, research, record, discuss, interpret, and compare works in the required course content and works beyond the image set as they develop art historical skills.

Course Schedule

1st Quarter

Introduction: Methodology, Context, and Visual Analysis – 8 days approximately

• Understand the methods used to analyze works of art and interpret their meanings within their original and subsequent cultural contexts.

• Assess the way art historians identify conventional subject matter and symbols (iconography).

• Writing about Art (essay structure) — Argumentative, Comparison, Formal Analysis.

• Research — Library Tutorial: reliable, scholarly, primary, secondary sources.

• Roles and Rules — Designing IDs, Forum and Discussion Etiquette, Working in Groups.

Unit 1: Global Prehistory 30,000-500 B.C.E. (11 works) – 6 days approximately [CR3]

• Human expression existed across the globe before the written record. While prehistoric art of Europe has been the focus of many introductions to the history of art, very early art is found worldwide and shares certain features, particularly concern with the natural world and humans’ place within it.

• First instances of important artistic media, approaches, and values occurred on different continents, with Africa and Asia preceding and influencing other areas as the human population spread.

• Over time, art historians’ knowledge of global prehistoric art has developed through interdisciplinary collaboration with social and physical scientists.

[CR3]—Each of the 10 AP Art History content areas in the AP Art History Course and Exam Description receives explicit attention.

Unit 2: Ancient Mediterranean 3500 B.C.E.-300 C.E. (36 works) – 21 days approximately [CR3]

• Artistic traditions of the ancient Near East and dynastic Egypt focus on representing royal figures and divinities and on the function of funerary and palatial complexes within their cultural contexts. Works of art illustrate the active exchange of ideas and reception of artistic styles among the Mediterranean cultures and the subsequent influence on the classical world.

• Religion plays a significant role in the art and architecture of the ancient Near East, with cosmology guiding representation of deities and kings, who themselves assume divine attributes.

• The art of dynastic Egypt embodies a sense of permanence. It was created for eternity in the service of a culture that focused on preserving a cycle of rebirth.

• The art of Ancient Greece and Rome is grounded in civic ideals and polytheism. Etruscan and Roman artists and architects accumulated and creatively adapted Greek objects and forms to create buildings and artworks that appealed to their tastes for eclecticism and historicism.

• Contextual information for ancient Greek and Roman art can be derived from contemporary literary, political, legal, and economic records, as well as from archaeological excavations conducted from the mid-18th century onward. Etruscan art, by contrast, is illuminated primarily by modern archaeological record and by descriptions of contemporary external observers.

[CR3]—Each of the 10 AP Art History content areas in the AP Art History Course and Exam Description receives explicit attention.

Unit 3: West and Central Asia 500 B.C.E.-1980 C.E. (11 works) – 6 days approximately [CR3]

• The arts of West and Central Asia play a key role in the history of world art, giving form to the vast cultural interchanges that have occurred in these lands that link the European and Asian peoples.

• The religious arts of West and Central Asia are united by the traditions of the region: Buddhism and Islam.

• Use of figural art in religious contexts varies among traditions, whereas figural art is common in secular art forms across West and Central Asia.

• Artists of West and Central Asia excelled in the creation of particular art forms exhibiting key characteristics unique to their regions and cultures. Important forms include ceramics, metalwork, textiles, painting, and calligraphy.

[CR3]—Each of the 10 AP Art History content areas in the AP Art History Course and Exam Description receives explicit attention

2nd Quarter

Unit 4: South, East, and Southeast Asia 300-1980 C.E. (21 works) – 12 days approximately [CR3]

• The arts of South, East, and Southeast Asia represent some of the world’s oldest, most diverse, and most sophisticated visual traditions.

• Many of the world’s great religious and philosophic traditions developed in South and East Asia. Extensive traditions of distinctive religious art forms developed in this region to support the beliefs and practices of these religions.

• South, East, and Southeast Asia developed many artistic and architectural traditions that are deeply rooted in Asian aesthetics and cultural practices.

• Asian art was and is global. The cultures of South, East, and Southeast Asia were interconnected through trade and politics and were also in contact with West Asia and Europe throughout history.

[CR3]—Each of the 10 AP Art History content areas in the AP Art History Course and Exam Description receives explicit attention.

Unit 5: Early Europe and Colonial Americas 200-1750 C.E. (51 works) – 30 days approximately [CR3]

• European medieval art is generally studied in chronological order and divided into geographical regions, governing cultures, and identifiable styles, with associated but distinctive artistic traditions. There is significant overlap in time, geography, practice, and heritage of art created within this time frame and region. Nationalist agendas and disciplinary divisions based on the predominant language (Greek, Latin, or Arabic) and religion (Judaism, Western or Eastern Orthodox Christianity, or Islam) have caused considerable fragmentation in the study of medieval art.

• Medieval art (European, c. 300-1400 C.E.; Islamic, c. 300-1600 C.E.) derived from the requirements of worship (Jewish, Christian, or Islamic), elite or court culture, and learning.

• Art from the Early Modern Atlantic World is typically studied in chronological order, by geographical region, according to style, and by medium.

Thus, early modernity and the Atlantic arena are highlighted, framing the initiation of globalization and emergence of modern Europe, and recognizing the role of the Americas in these developments. More attention has been given in recent years to larger cultural interactions, exchanges, and appropriations.

• The arts of 15th-century Europe reflected an interest in classical models, enhanced naturalism, Christianity, pageantry, and increasingly formalized artistic training. In the 17th century, architectural design and figuration in painting and sculpture continued to be based on classical principles and formulas, but with a pronounced interest in compositional complexity, dynamic movement, and theatricality. There was an increasing emphasis on time, narrative, heightened naturalism, and psychological or emotional impact.

• The 16th-century Protestant Reformation and subsequent Catholic Counter-Reformation compelled a divergence between northern and South-western European art with respect to form, function, and content.

[CR3]—Each of the 10 AP Art History content areas in the AP Art History Course and Exam Description receives explicit attention.

Mid-term

3rd Quarter

Unit 6: Later Europe and Americas 1750-1980 C.E. (54 works) – 31 days approximately [CR3]

• From the mid-1700s to 1980 C.E, Europe and the Americas experienced rapid change and innovation. Art existed in the context of dramatic events such as industrialization, urbanization, economic upheaval, migrations, and wars. Countries and governments were re-formed; women’s and civil rights movements catalyzed social change.

• Artists assumed new roles in society. Styles of art proliferated and often gave rise to artistic movements. Art and architecture exhibited a diversity of styles, forming an array of “isms.”

• Works of art took on new roles and functions in society and were experienced by audiences in new ways. Art of this era often proved challenging for audiences and patrons to immediately understand.

[CR3]—Each of the 10 AP Art History content areas in the AP Art History Course and Exam Description receives explicit attention.

Unit 7: Indigenous Americas 1000 B.C.E.-1980 C.E. (14 works) – 8 days approximately [CR3]

• Art of the Indigenous Americas is among the world’s oldest artistic traditions. While its roots lie in northern Asia, it developed independently between c. 10,000 B.C.E. and 1492 C.E., the beginning of the European invasions. Regions and cultures are referred to as the Indigenous Americas to signal the priority of First Nations cultural traditions over those of the colonizing and migrant peoples that have progressively taken over the American continents for the last 500 years.

• Ancient Mesoamerica encompassed what are now Mexico (from Mexico City southward), Guatemala, Belize, and western Honduras, from 15,000 B.C.E. to 1521 C.E., the Mexican (Aztec) downfall. General cultural similarities of ancient Mesoamerica include similar calendars; pyramidal stepped structures, sites and buildings oriented in relation to sacred mountains and celestial phenomena; and highly valued green materials, such as jadeite and quetzal feathers.

• The ancient Central Andes comprised present-day southern Ecuador, Peru, western Bolivia, and northern Chile. General cultural similarities across the Andes include an emphasis on surviving and interacting with the challenging environments, reciprocity and cyclicality (rather than individualism), and reverence for the animal and plant worlds as part of the practice of shamanistic religion.

• Despite underlying similarities, there are key differences between the art of Ancient America and Native North America with respect to its dating, environment, cultural continuity from antiquity to the present, and sources of information. Colonization by different European groups (Catholic and Protestant) undergirds distinct modern political situations for Amerindian survivors. Persecution, genocide, and marginalization have shaped current identity and artistic expression.

• Although disease and genocide practiced by the European invaders and colonists reduced their population by as much as 90 percent, Native Americans today maintain their cultural identity and uphold modern versions of ancient traditions in addition to creating new art forms as part of the globalized contemporary art world.

[CR3]—Each of the 10 AP Art History content areas in the AP Art History Course and Exam Description receives explicit attention.

4th Quarter

Unit 8: Africa 1100-1980 C.E. (14 works) – 6 days approximately [CR3]

• Human life, which is understood to have begun in Africa, developed over millions of years and radiated beyond the continent of Africa. The earliest African art dates to 77,000 years ago. While interpretation of this art is conjectural at best, the clarity and strength of design and expression in the work is obvious. • Human beliefs and interactions in Africa are instigated by the arts. African arts are active; they motivate behavior, contain and express belief, and validate social organization and human relations.

• Use and efficacy are central to the art of Africa. African arts, though often characterized, collected, and exhibited as figural sculptures and masks, are by nature meant to be performed rather than simply viewed. African arts are often described in terms of the contexts and functions with which they appear to be associated.

• Outsiders have often characterized, collected, and exhibited African arts as primitive, ethnographic, anonymous, and static, when in reality Africa’s interaction with the rest of the world led to dynamic intellectual and artistic traditions that sustain hundreds of cultures and almost as many languages, contributing dramatically to the corpus of human expression. African life and arts have been deeply affected by ongoing, cosmopolitan patterns of interaction with populations around the world and through time.

[CR3]—Each of the 10 AP Art History content areas in the AP Art History Course and Exam Description receives explicit attention.

Unit 9: The Pacific 700-1980 C.E. (11 works) – 6 days approximately [CR3]

• The arts of the Pacific vary by virtue of ecological situations, social structure, and impact of external influences, such as commerce, colonialism, and missionary activity. Created in a variety of media, Pacific arts are distinguished by the virtuosity with which materials are used and presented.

• The sea is ubiquitous as a theme of Pacific art and is a presence in the daily lives of a large portion of Oceania, as the sea both connects and separates the lands and peoples of the Pacific.

• The arts of the Pacific are expressions of beliefs, social relations, essential truths, and compendia of information held by designated members of society. Pacific arts are objects, acts, and events that are forces in social life.

• Pacific arts are performed (danced, sung, recited, and displayed) in an array of colors, scents, textures, and movements that enact narratives and proclaim primordial truths. Belief in the use of costumes, cosmetics, and constructions assembled to enact epics of human history and experience is central to creation of and participation in Pacific arts.

[CR3]—Each of the 10 AP Art History content areas in the AP Art History Course and Exam Description receives explicit attention.

Unit 10: Global Contemporary 1980 C.E. to Present (27 works) – 16 days approximately [CR3]

•Global contemporary art is characterized by a transcendence of traditional conceptions of art and is supported by technological developments and global awareness. Digital technology in particular provides increased access to imagery and contextual information about diverse artists and artworks throughout history and across the globe.

•In the scholarly realm as well as mainstream media, contemporary art is now a major phenomenon experienced and understood in a global context.

[CR3]—Each of the 10 AP Art History content areas in the AP Art History Course and Exam Description receives explicit attention.

Review: Study, Practice Exam

Big Ideas and Essential Questions [CR2]

[CR2]—The big ideas and essential questions in the AP Art History Course and Exam Description are used as a conceptual foundation for the course.

Big Idea 1: Artists manipulate materials and ideas to create an aesthetic object, act, or event.

• Learning Objective 1.1: Students differentiate the components of form, function, content, and context of a work of art.

• Learning Objective 1.2: Students explain how artistic decisions about art making shape a work of art.

• Learning Objective 1.3: Students describe how context influences artistic decisions about creating a work of art.

• Learning Objective 1.4: Students analyze form, function, content, and/or content to infer or explain the possible intentions for creating a specific work of art.

Big Idea 2: Art making is shaped by tradition and change.

• Learning Objective 2.1: Students describe features of tradition and/or change in a single work of art or in a group of related works.

• Learning Objective 2.2: Students explain how and why specific traditions and/or changes are demonstrated in a single work or in a group of related works.

• Learning Objective 2.3: Students analyze the influence of single work of art or group of related works on other artistic production.

Big Idea 3: Interpretations of art are variable.

• Learning Objective 3.1: Students identify a work of art.

• Learning Objective 3.2: Students analyze how formal qualities and/or content of a work of art elicit(s) a response.

• Learning Objective 3.3: Students analyze how contextual variables lead to different interpretations of a work of art.

• Learning Objective 3.4: Students justify attribution an unknown work of art.

• Learning Objective 3.5: Students analyze relationships between works of art based on their similarities and differences.

Sample Assignments

IDs (on index cards) create one card for each work in the image set.

• Content area identifier

• A photocopy of the work

• Title/Designation: name or standard description of the work (location included as present-day city and nation for architectural monuments only)

• Artist/Culture: individual and/or culture by whom/which the work was created

• Date of creation: time in which the work was created

• Media: materials from which the work was created

• Why is this work important in art history? Add any facts you find interesting, appealing, or memorable. • Visual and Contextual Analysis (LO 1.1, 1.4, 3.1) [CR4] [CR5]