Course program
Abstract Expressionism and Its Critics
This course explores the world of American Abstract Expressionism, beginning with an in-depth look at its history, the formation of its canon, and the dominant critical ideas that accompanied the movement during its formative and triumphant years. In its later stages, the course will examine how both art and criticism began to challenge the “heroic” vision of Abstract Expressionism and the modernist ideals that underpinned it—a necessary demystification that paved the way not only for new critical perspectives, but also for the emergence of the new art of the 1960s and 1970s.
Abstract Expressionism: The Origins (8 hours)
Abstract Expressionism: The Triumph (8 hours)
Abstract Expressionism: Signs of Crisis (6 hours)
Abstract Expressionism and the Cold War (4 hours)
The Beginnings of Postmodernism (8 hours)
Action and Lived Space in the Revision of the Neo-Avant-Garde (8 hours)
The Premises of Cubism (4 hours)
Braque and Picasso 1907-1914 (18 hours)
Cubism of the Salons (8 hours)
The Spread of Cubism (6 hours)
The Crisis of Cubism (6 hours)
Prerequisites
The course is aimed at master’s degree students. It is intended to offer advanced methodological tools for the historical and critical analysis of Abstract Expressionism and the artistic movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Therefore, students are expected to have a general knowledge of twentieth-century art.
Books
Audio recordings of lectures and .ppts will be available on on the moodle Sapienza platform
The bibliography is as follows:
David Anfam, Abstract Expressionism, London, 1990
Clement Greenberg, Pittura Modernista (1961), in Alle origini dell’opera d’arte contemporanea, a cura di G. Di Giacomo e C. Zambianchi, Laterza, roma-Bari 2008
L. Steinberg, Altri Criteri (1972), in Alle origini dell’opera d’arte contemporanea, a cura di G. Di Giacomo e C. Zambianchi, Laterza, roma-Bari 2008
R. Krauss, Capitolo Sei, in Ead., L’inconscio ottico, trad it. 2008, Bruno Mondadori
S. Guilbaut, How New York Stole the Idea of Modern Art, Chicago University Press, 1985
M. Fried, Art and Objecthood (1967)
A. Kaprow, The Legacy of Jackson Pollock (1958)
Frequency
Attendance is strongly recommended. For those who cannot attend, the program is the same, and audio recordings of lectures and .ppts of images will be made available on the Sapienza e-learning platform
Exam mode
The exam is meant to evaluate the degree of knowledge of the student about the historical, cruitical and methodological issues of the course. In order to pass the exam a grade above 18/30 is needed. In order to get this grade the student must show a sufficient knowledge of the main issues dealt with in the lectures and readings (only in the readings if s/he cannot attend the lectures) and to move with enough ease as to the chronology and the general issues. To pass the exam with 30/30 cum laude the student must show an excellent knowledge of the topics dealt with in the course, and s/he must show the ability to connect them with ease and coherence.
Lesson mode
lectures
