THE CONTRACT
 

This syllabus is the operational contract between the professor and the student.  Read it carefully.  The information contained herein is intended as a guide to allow the student to know what the policies of this class are, and to help her/him achieve success within the structure of the course.

 CONSULTATIONS

I will be glad to schedule individual office appointments to discuss class material from lectures, readings, or examinations with any student.  At the end of a lecture, see me, and we will book your appointment.

 THE COURSE

 All around us in today's United States are buildings which offer a means to travel back to the remote past.  This seminar will examine the architectural styles of ancient Greece and Rome and the architectural inspiration that other cultures and other centuries have derived from those sources.  The student will gain a useful familiarity with the original principles of classical architecture and the stylistic versions and their cultural meanings that have shaped subsequent environments.

The content and methodology of this seminar are entirely standard within the discipline of Art History.  The student will gain a useful familiarity with the original principles of classical architecture and the stylistic versions and their cultural meanings that have shaped subsequent environments.

Initial class sessions will be on a mastery of the architectural orders of ancient Greece.  The monuments for our focus will be the architectural program of the Athenian Acropolis which was directed by Pericles during the second half of the fifth century B.C.E.  The second component of classical style will be provided by a consideration of the decorative and structural properties of works selected from the Roman Republic, the Empire, and Early Christian periods (roughly spanning the first century B.C.E. to the fourth century C.E..).

The remainder of the class sessions will be devoted to the examination various classical revivals.  Specific monuments will be selected from; the Italian Renaissance (ca.1400-1600); the International Baroque (ca. 1600-1700); and Neoclassical designs from 1700-1990.  Also, we will examine the inclusion of classical ideas by the dominant architectural theories of the twentieth century--the International Style and Post-Modernism.

Lectures will be held twice a week.  During the lectures, material will be presented that is based upon the assigned reading for that day.  The points of the lectures will be demonstrated by the projection of slides architectural works.  Questions about the material under consideration are strongly encouraged.  The lecture meeting will be the best time for the student to ask about any aspect of the readings he or she found difficult or unclear.

But for those when your work is due, the days that you come to class are entirely your own business.  WHEN you come during lectures is entirely the professor's business.  Class begins promptly at its appointed time.  Do not come late thereby interrupting your peers and the professor.  When class has started, we are busy: do not bother us.  You will know that our class is underway because the door(s) to the lecture hall will be closed: do not come in.  If you need to see the professor or a peer, wait until the class is over.

The grade for this course will be determined by the average of four examinations.  Your only opportunities for grades are to take the examinations at their appointed times.  Do not request special favors that cannot be granted to all of your peers; "extra work" does not exist.  These examinations are scheduled (see WORK DUE).  You should mark those dates on your personal calendar immediately.  Examinations are given neither earlier nor later than the scheduled slot.  Make-up examinations are not given.  Should you miss either EXAM I, II or III, the final grade will be determined by an average of three grades rather than four.  Should you miss two of these examinations, a grade of zero will be recorded for each of the missed exams.  In determining your final grade for the course, the lowest exam grade will not be dropped.  The final examination--EXAM IV--on may 7, 8:00–11:00 a.m. is required of all students (see Undergraduate Bulletin under "Grading"); if it is missed, a zero will be averaged with the other grades rather than an INC (incomplete) assigned as the course grade.

 In keeping with the policy of this university which has no standardized grading scale, I have determined that the scale for this course will be:  A 100-95;  B+ 94-92; B 91-88; B- 87-85;  C+ 84-82; C 81-78: C- 77-75;  D+ 74-72; D 71-68; D- 67-65;  F 64--.

 In order to fully comply with the Federal Rights of Privacy Act, grades are never posted or given out over the telephone.

Blue Books are required.  Only complete (no pages missing) Blue Books with a signed honor pledge will be acceptable.  Ink--blue or black--is the only proper medium for your examination writing.  Your submitted examinations must fulfill all of the above requirements or they will not be accepted for grading.  The examinations for FMS 105 will follow usual practices for art history surveys, and each will consist of three sections:

1. Identifications--provide the crucial data for major artifacts.  Information such as the title of the work, its date, its location, the name of the architect, the style or period to which it belongs, and its culture or country of association, or artist's nationality will be required.  Information for this section will be taken directly from your text unless otherwise indicated during lectures.

2. Essay(s)--will concentrate on issues of style and culture.  In studying the material, you should always construct a clear idea of the importance that works hold in the history of art.  Your essay should contain accurate and specific information from your text and the lectures--never vague generalizations and uninformed observations.  The essay should be written in a clear, concise standard form for essays in the English language.

3. Terms--often have a specialized usage in art.  Mastery of terms is essential since they are often keys to understanding both the general properties of a style and the specific properties of an artifact.  Should you be required to define a term, do so fully; short answers may not be clear enough to allow you to receive credit.

Each examination will test only the material (text and lecture) covered since the previous exam.  Note:  Spelling is essential.  As in any discipline, the student is required to know the material.  2 + 2 = 5 is not correct, and neither is Bruneleschi for Brunelleschi.

 THE WRITING COMPONENT OF THE EXAMINATIONS

Your essays for the examinations will be marked for style as well as content--only content will be graded.  If an essay needs to be revised for problems in style, you must make the required revisions or the grade for the examination will not be recorded.   Individual conferences may be scheduled if needed.

 Trachtenberg, Marvin and Isabelle Hyman.  Architecture from Prehistory to Post-Modernism.  Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: 1986.

 WORK DUE:  Each reading is due for the class that falls on the date cited.  Also, examinations are scheduled in this calendar.  These assignments are all in Trachtenberg.
 

DATE		CHAPTER(S)	VIDEO #s & TITLES*
Jan	11	2	1414  Classical Ideal;  2544  Acropolis;  2545 Parthenon;  2369 Athena;  3267 Tragedy and Architecture.
	23	3
Feb	06	Exam I
	08	8	1415 White Garment of Churches;  1113 Cathedral;  3649 Mont Saint-Michel;  1068 Castle;  1416 Early  Ren;  1417 High Ren.
	20	9
Mar	13	Exam II
	15	10	1418 Realms of Light;  3651Versailles;  1419 Age of Reason
	22	11
Apr	05	Exam III
	10	12	1420 Fresh View.
	19	13	1421 Into the 20th Cen;  1422 In Our Time.
May	08	Exam IV   3:30—6:00 p.m. in 103 A. B. Cone Bldg.

* These videos are not required viewing, but are intended both for your explication and enjoyment.  They will be held in reserve--building use only--for you at The Learning Center in McNutt Building for three weeks from the date noted on this syllabus.  CHECK-OUT PROCEDURE:  At reference desk you will need--my name (Gantt), video # (listed above), your valid I.D. (somewhere on your person).

Telephone calls should not be necessary.  Information and questions can be dealt with by your professor during class times and conferences. .  Remember: you already have a scheduled appointment with your professor every Tuesday and Thursday—31 times this semester—and he can always be found then.  Also, the departmental and museum staffs are  occupied with their duties; please do not hinder them in their work.  Never call the Weatherspoon Gallery if you are trying to locate a faculty member.

 BUILDING USE

This class is held in the Cone Building which houses the Weatherspoon Gallery.  The gallery is the University's art museum and owns a world–class collection of contemporary art from the United States.  As is common with museums--food, drinks, smoking are not permitted in the building.

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