I. General Information

1. Course Title:
Art History/Ancient

2. Course Prefix & Number:
ARTS 2486

3. Course Credits and Contact Hours:

Credits: 3

Lecture Hours: 3

Lab Hours: 0

4. Course Description:

This course is a survey of art from pre-history through the Middle Period. It includes human creativity presented through a variety of media and art forms. This course offers an excellent basis for cultural diversity, critical analysis, and aesthetic appreciation. MnTC Goal 6

5. Placement Tests Required:

Accuplacer (specify test):

Reading College Level CLC or Reading College Level

Score:

6. Prerequisite Courses:

There are no prerequisites for this course.

9. Co-requisite Courses:

There are no corequisites for this course.

II. Transfer and Articulation

III. Course Purpose

2. MN Transfer Curriculum (General Education) Courses - This course fulfills the following goal area(s) of the MN Transfer Curriculum:
Goal 6 – Humanities and Fine Arts

IV. Learning Outcomes

1. College-Wide Outcomes

College-Wide Outcomes/Competencies	Students will be able to:
Demonstrate written communication skills	Students complete several written essays during the semester.
Demonstrate reading and listening skills	Students complete weekly/biweekly quizzes, tests, or study worksheets on information studied in the course.
Discuss/compare characteristics of diverse cultures and environments	Students complete discussions or compare/contrast assignments in which diverse cultures are studied.

2. Course Specific Outcomes - Students will be able to achieve the following measurable goals upon completion of the course:

• Explain the characteristics of various artistic mediums such as painting, sculpture, and architecture (Goal 6);
• Explain the basic visual elements and principles of design present in all works of art, and explain works of art in terms of these elements and principles (Goal 6);
• Analyze the major movements, periods of art, and the stylistic characteristics, which differentiate them, and identify examples of those styles (Goal 6);
• Analyze the historical, religious, and social circumstances that have shaped the history of art (Goal 6);
• Analyze the work of artists as expressions of human values within a historical, social, and cultural context (Goal 6);
• Describe the lives and work of individual artists, influences upon them, and their stylistic development (Goal 6);
• Write critical and analytical essays using academic research, rigor, and scholarship with citations (Goal 6);
• Express informed personal responses in discussion to works of art (Goal 6); and
• Write critical and analytical essays or visual analysis using academic research and scholarship (Goal 6).

V. Topical Outline

Listed below are major areas of content typically covered in this course.

1. Lecture Sessions

1. Defining Art History
• Art History in the 21^st Century
• Performing visual analysis
• Style
• Subject matter and historic perception
• Form and composition
• Material and technique
• Perspective and foreshortening
• Texture
• Mass, space, and volume
• Proportion and scale
• Carving and casting
• Relief sculpture, architectural drawings
• Different ways of seeing
• Descriptive terminology
2. Art in the Stone Age
• Paleolithic Art
• Neolithic Art
• Africa, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Europe
• Art and Society
• Problems and solutions
3. Ancient Mesopotamia and Persia
• Ancient Sumer
• Mesopotamia
• Persia
• Religion and Mythology
• Art and Society
• Problems and solutions
4. Egypt from Narmer to Cleopatra
• Ancient Egypt and Egyptology
• Predynastic and Early Predynastic Periods
• Old Kingdom
• Middle Kingdom
• New Kingdom
• Religion and Mythology
• Art and society
• Problems and solutions
5. Prehistoric Aegean
• Greece in the age of heroes
• Greece before Homer
• Cycladic Art
• Minoan Art
• Mycenaean Art
• Religion and Mythology
• Art and society
• Problems and solutions
• Architectural basics
6. Ancient Greece and The Etruscans
• The Greeks and their gods
• Geometric Period
• Orientalizing Period
• Archaic Period
• Early and High Classical Periods
• Late Classical Period
• Hellenistic Period
• Tombs and temples
• Etruria and the Etruscans
• Early Etruscan Art
• Later Etruscan Art
• Italy in Etruscan times
• Religion and mythology
• Art and society
• Problems and solutions
• Architectural basics
• Materials and techniques
7. The Roman Empire and, in contrast with later, Romanesque Europe
• Roman Art as historical fiction
• Rome, Caput Mundi
• Republic
• Pompeii and the city of Vesuvius
• Early Empire
• High Empire
• Late Empire
• Portraits, houses, and catastrophes
• Written sources from eye witnesses
• Spectacles
• Religion and mythology
• Art and society
• Problems and solutions
• Architectural basics
• Materials and techniques
• Perspective and contrast to Romanesque Europe
• European culture in the new millennium
• France and northern Spain
• Holy Roman Empire
• Italy
• Normandy and England
• Pilgrimage and crusades
• Written sources from eye witnesses
• Spectacles
• An early look at Gothic Europe
• Religion and mythology
• Art and society
• Problems and solutions
• Architectural basics
• Materials and techniques
8. Late Antiquity, Byzantium, Early Medieval Europe
• Romans, Jews, Christians
• The Late Antiquity World
• Early Christian saints and their attributes
• Josephus
• The spiritual world
• Church and state unification
• Early, Middle, and Late Byzantium Art
• From Soldier Empires to the sack of Rome
• The Mediterranean and Islamic world
• Merovingians and Anglo-Saxons
• Vikings
• Hiberno-Saxon Monasteries
• Visigothic and Mozarabic Art
• Carolingian Empire
• Ottonian Empire
• Religion and Mythology
• Art and society
• Problems and solutions
• Architectural basics
• Materials and techniques