No, I'm not advertising for Dan Brown :)I thought I'd do a post about how I'm spending a good chunk of my time this summer. I've taught summer courses for my department for the last three years, and decided to debut a new one this year. It's called "Masterpiece? Renaissance Art and Popular Culture." I'm in turn fascinated and disgusted with how certain works of art have entered the cultural mainstream to the point that they lose all meaning. So, I thought I'd bring the issue to the undergrads and have them question these issues.
The semester is about halfway through at this point and I would say it's going really well. I've set up each class period as a case study of a particular "masterpiece" or an artist considered a "master." I have them brainstorm what they know or have heard about the monument/artist, then we watch some kind of movie - typically a documentary or a fictionalized account - they then do readings I've assigned, some art historical and some not, and then we discuss what this all means. We've already covered Leonardo's Last Supper and Mona Lisa, Michelangelo's David and the Sistine Ceiling, and we'll also be working with Caravaggio, Bernini, Rembrandt and Vermeer.
I'm doing my best not to put too much of my cynicism into their heads and I'm also making an effort not to disparage pop culture adaptations or the vast majority of people's experiences with these objects. I know that not everyone is an art historian. Not everyone needs to be as engaged with the images as I want to be, and that strolling through the Louvre just to spend 30 seconds in front of the Mona Lisa is a valid experience for many people.
I've been teaching art history consistently for the last five years. This is most likely my last course for the next 2-3 years and I'm really pleased with how it's going so far. The students seem to be enjoying themselves and they are thinking about some really critical issues. I just finished grading their first submission of their semester-long projects and I've never been so excited to read their final papers. I'm really glad that I'm going out with a bang before my teaching hiatus and, as always, hoping to convert a few non-believers to the fascinating world of art history.
No really, I promise, it's incredibly fascinating :)
Pop culture puts a terrible spin on quite a few things. Have you ever noticed how they portray anyone that is "religious"? Mostly zealots and hearing voices types.
ReplyDeleteI think your class sounds incredibly interesting. I wish I was in it!