Art History 309B: INTRODUCTION TO BYZANTINE ART
Spring Quarter 2017
MWF 12:00–1:20
Room: Art 003
Professor Ivan Drpić
Office: Room 365 Art Building
E-mail: [email protected]
Office Hours: Tuesdays 2:00–4:00 and by appointment
Course website: https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1137190
Course Description
This course offers a wide-ranging introduction to the art, architecture, and material culture of
Byzantium—a Christian, predominantly Greek-speaking civilization that flourished in the
Eastern Mediterranean for over a thousand years. Positioned between the Muslim East and the
Latin West, Antiquity and the Early Modern era, Byzantium nurtured a vibrant and highly
sophisticated artistic culture. With emphasis placed upon paradigmatic objects and monuments,
we will examine an array of artistic media, from mosaic and panel painting to metalwork, ivory
carving, book illumination, and embroidery. We will consider the making, consumption, and
reception of Byzantine art in a variety of contexts—political, devotional, ritual, and domestic.
Topics include the idea of empire and its visual articulation; court culture; the veneration of
images and relics; patronage, piety, and self-representation; authorship and artistic agency;
materiality and the sensory experience of art; the reception of the pagan Greco-Roman past; and
the changing nature of Byzantium’s interactions with neighboring cultures.
Course Objectives
By successfully completing this course, you will gain familiarity with Byzantine art, acquaint
yourself with a range of artistic media and genres, and deepen your understanding of the values,
ideals, and attitudes that conditioned the production and reception of art in a culture very
different from our own. Additionally, you will develop the skills of visual analysis and critical
reading, master the basic concepts and vocabulary that art historians use to describe, analyze, and
interpret artworks, and achieve heightened awareness of the interrelation between art, society,
and human experience at large.
Course Materials
Two textbooks are required for the course:
•
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John Lowden, Early Christian and Byzantine Art (London: Phaidon, 1997) (hereafter
LOWDEN)
Heaven on Earth: Art and the Church in Byzantium, ed. Linda Safran (University Park,
PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998) (hereafter HEAVEN ON EARTH)
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Both textbooks may be purchased at the University Bookstore. Copies of the textbooks are also
available for 2-hour loan on shelf reserve for the course at the Art Library. To supplement
LOWDEN and HEAVEN ON EARTH, I have assigned a selection of additional readings,
including excerpts from primary sources in translation, seminal art-historical texts, and
exemplary works of recent scholarship. All the additional readings can be accessed online
through the course website (under Files/COURSE READINGS).
A selection of Study Images for the midterm and final exams is available electronically through
the course website (under Files/STUDY IMAGES).
Requirements and Grading
Your grade for the course will be assessed based on the following components:
Class participation
Midterm exam
Final exam
20%
40%
40%
Lectures: Since the lectures will include a great deal of discussion, your preparation and active
participation are of critical importance for the success of the course as well as for your success in
it. Please complete the assigned readings before class, bring them to class, and be prepared to
discuss the main points or questions they raise. The lectures will often include information that is
not covered in the readings or may offer interpretations that differ from the ones presented in the
readings. Your regular attendance is, therefore, essential.
Exams: There will be two exams. The midterm exam is scheduled for Wednesday, April 26, and
will take place in class. The final exam is scheduled for Friday, June 2, and will take place in
class. Detailed descriptions of the exams will be provided in due course.
Course Policies
All requirements must be fulfilled for a passing grade. There will be no make-up exams. An
exception will be granted only in case of a documented emergency.
Please arrive to class on time and turn off your phone in advance. Students who display
disruptive behavior, such as speaking on the phone, or make offensive and disrespectful remarks
will be asked to leave the class. For additional policies and procedures of UW School of Art +
Art History + Design, see page 7 of the syllabus. Please also refer to the Director’s letter about
academic misconduct attached at the end of the syllabus.
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COURSE SCHEDULE*
Week One
Monday, March 27: Introduction
Wednesday, March 29: Survivor’s Guide to Byzantium
• Cyril Mango, “Byzantium: A Historical Introduction,” in Byzantium, 330–1453, ed.
Robin Cormack and Maria Vassilaki (London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2008), pp. 25-33.
• Averil Cameron, “What Was Byzantium?,” in The Byzantines (Malden, MA: Blackwell
Pub., 2006), pp. 1-19, 230-34.
• LOWDEN, pp. 4-8.
Friday, March 31: Christianity and the Transformation of Ancient Art
• LOWDEN, pp. 11-60.
Week Two
Monday, April 3: Constantinople: The Queen of Cities
• Joseph Alchermes, “Constantinople and the Empire of New Rome,” in HEAVEN ON
EARTH, pp. 13-38.
• Richard Krautheimer, Three Christian Capitals: Topography and Politics (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1983), pp. 41-67, 133-41.
• LOWDEN, pp. 63-64.
Wednesday, April 5: Hagia Sophia: The Great Church
• Robert S. Nelson, Hagia Sophia, 1850–1950: Holy Wisdom Modern Monument (Chicago
and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2004), pp. 1-28, 218-23.
• LOWDEN, pp. 65-70.
• Robert Ousterhout, “The Holy Space: Architecture and the Liturgy,” in HEAVEN ON
EARTH, pp. 81-91.
Friday, April 7: ***in-class film screening TBA***
Week Three
Monday, April 10: Aspects of Early Byzantine Art, ca. 400–700
• LOWDEN, pp. 70-83.
• John Elsner, “The Viewer and the Vision: The Case of the Sinai Apse,” Art History 17.1
(1994): 81-102.
Wednesday, April 12: Ravenna
• LOWDEN, pp. 103-44.
*
All scheduled lectures and assignments are subject to change.
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Friday, April 14: The Word and the Codex: The Beginnings of Book Illumination
• Herbert L. Kessler, “The Word Made Flesh in Early Decorated Bibles,” in Picturing the
Bible: The Earliest Christian Art, ed. Jeffrey Spier (New Haven: Yale University Press,
2007), pp. 141-68.
• LOWDEN, pp. 83-95.
Week Four
Monday, April 17: Holy Places and Holy Men: The Art of Pilgrimage
• Gary Vikan, “Byzantine Pilgrims’ Art,” in HEAVEN ON EARTH, pp. 229-66.
Wednesday, April 19: Early Icons
• Katherine Marsengill, “Portraits and Icons in Late Antiquity,” in Transition to
Christianity: Art of Late Antiquity, 3rd–7th Century AD, ed. Anastasia Lazaridou (New
York: Onassis Foundation, 2011), pp. 55-60.
• LOWDEN, pp. 95-100.
• Anna Kartsonis, “The Responding Icon,” in HEAVEN ON EARTH, pp. 58-80.
Friday, April 21: Iconoclasm
• LOWDEN, pp. 147-84.
• Cyril Mango, The Art of the Byzantine Empire, 312–1453: Sources and Documents
(Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1972), pp. 169-77 (“The Orthodox Position. St. John
Damascene, De fide Orthodoxa IV, 16”).
• Theodore the Studite, Writings on Iconoclasm, trans. Thomas Cattoi (New York: The
Newman Press, 2015), pp. 135–39 (Letter to Plato).
Week Five
Monday, April 24: Midterm Exam Review
Wednesday, April 26: MIDTERM EXAM
Friday, April 28: Church Architecture
• Robert Ousterhout, “The Holy Space: Architecture and the Liturgy,” in HEAVEN ON
EARTH, pp. 91-120.
• Vasileios Marinis, “Defining Liturgical Space,” in The Byzantine World, ed. Paul
Stephenson (London and New York: Routledge, 2010), pp. 284-302.
Week Six
Monday, May 1: Monumental Pictorial Art: Mosaics and Frescoes in the Church
• Otto Demus, Byzantine Mosaic Decoration: Aspects of Monumental Art in Byzantium
(London: Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1948), pp. 3-29.
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•
•
Henry Maguire, “The Cycle of Images in the Church,” in HEAVEN ON EARTH, pp.
121-51.
LOWDEN, pp. 229-48, 260-70.
Wednesday, May 3: Icons: Power and Ritual
• Nicolas Oikonomides, “The Holy Icon as an Asset,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 45 (1991):
35–44.
• LOWDEN, pp. 365-70.
Friday, May 5: Icons: The Art of Devotion
• Glenn Peers, Sacred Shock: Framing Visual Experience in Byzantium (University Park,
PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2004), pp. 101–31, 166–77.
Week Seven
Monday, May 8: Relics in Art and Cult
• Holger A. Klein, “Brighter than the Sun: Saints, Relics, and the Power of Art in
Byzantium,” in Knotenpunkt Byzanz: Wissensformen und kulturelle Wechselbeziehungen,
ed. Andreas Speer and Philipp Steinkrüger (Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter, 2012), pp.
635-54.
• LOWDEN, pp. 210-14, 221-25.
Wednesday, May 10: Luxury Objects: Art for the Imperial Elite, ca. 900–1100
• LOWDEN, pp. 199–210, 214-20.
• Ioli Kalavrezou-Maxeiner, “The Cup of San Marco and the ‘Classical’ in Byzantium,” in
Studien zur mittelalterlichen Kunst 800–1250: Festschrift für Florentine Mütherich zum
70. Geburtstag, ed. Katharina Bierbrauer et al. (Munich: Prestel-Verlag, 1985), pp. 16774.
Friday, May 12: Encounters with the Islamic World
• Thomas Steppan, “The Artukid Bowl: Courtly Art in the Middle Byzantine Period and Its
Relation to the Islamic East,” in Perceptions of Byzantium and Its Neighbors, 843–1261,
ed. Olenka Z. Pevny (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000), pp. 84-101.
Week Eight
Monday, May 15: Nudes and Monsters: “Unofficial” Art
• Henry Maguire, “The Profane Aesthetic in Byzantine Art and Literature,” Dumbarton
Oaks Papers 53 (1999): 189-205.
Wednesday, May 17: Book Illumination, ca. 1000–1400
• LOWDEN, pp. 273-306, 361-65.
• Nancy Patterson Ševčenko, “Illuminating the Liturgy: Illustrated Service Books in
Byzantium,” in HEAVEN ON EARTH, pp. 186-228.
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Friday, May 19: Byzantium outside Byzantium: Norman Sicily
• LOWDEN, pp. 309-35.
• William Tronzo, “Byzantine Court Culture from the Point of View of Norman Sicily: The
Case of the Cappella Palatina in Palermo,” in Byzantine Court Culture from 829 to 1204,
ed. Henry Maguire (Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and
Collection, 1997), pp. 101-14.
Week Nine
Monday, May 22: Aspects of Late Byzantine Art
• LOWDEN, pp. 389-424.
Wednesday, May 24: Gifts and Prayers, Donors and Dedications
• Nancy Patterson Ševčenko, “Close Encounters: Contact between Holy Figures and the
Faithful as Represented in Byzantine Works of Art,” in Byzance et les images, ed. André
Guillou and Jannic Durand (Paris: Documentation française, 1994), pp. 255-85.
Friday, May 26: The Artist in Byzantium
• Cyril Mango, The Art of the Byzantine Empire, 312–1453: Sources and Documents
(Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1972), pp. 159 (“The Painter Lazarus”), 206-207 (“Regulations
governing Craftsmen”), 210-14 (“Icons and Iconography”), 229-33 (“The Painter
Eulalios”), 256-59 (“Moscow”; “A Cretan Painter”).
• Robert S. Nelson, “Objects, Memory, Artists,” in L’artista a Bisanzio e nel mondo
cristiano-orientale, ed. Michele Bacci (Pisa: Edizioni della Normale, 2007), pp. 311-16.
Week Ten
Monday, May 29: NO CLASS - Memorial Day
Wednesday, May 31: Final Exam Review
Friday, June 2: FINAL EXAM
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UW SCHOOL OF ART + ART HISTORY + DESIGN POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
Equal opportunity: The School of Art + Art History + Design reaffirms its policy of equal
opportunity regardless of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation,
age, marital status, disability, or status as a disabled veteran or Vietnam-era veteran in
accordance with UW policy and applicable federal and state statutes and regulations.
Disability accommodation: If you would like to request academic accommodations due to a
disability, please contact Disabled Student Services, Schmitz, Room 448, (206) 543-8924
(V/TTY) or [email protected]. If you have a letter from Disabled Student Services
indicating you have a disability that requires academic accommodation, please present the letter
to me so we can discuss the accommodations you might need for the class.
Plagiarism: Plagiarism is defined as using in your own work the creations, ideas, words,
inventions, or work of someone else without formally acknowledging them through the use of
quotation marks, footnotes, bibliography, or other reference. Please check with me if you have
questions about what constitutes plagiarism. Instances of plagiarism will be referred to the Vice
Provost/Special Assistant to the President for Student Relations and may lead to disciplinary
action.
Incomplete grades: An incomplete is given only when you: have been in attendance and done
satisfactory work through the eighth week of the quarter; and have furnished satisfactory proof to
me that the work cannot be completed because of illness or other circumstances beyond your
control.
Concerns about the course: Talk with me as soon as possible. If you are not comfortable talking
with me or are not satisfied with the response that you receive, you may contact the Director of
Advising and Student Services, Judith Clark, Art Building, Room 104, (206) 543-0646. If you
are not satisfied with the response that you receive, you may contact the Director of the School
of Art + Art History + Design, Jamie Walker, Art Building, Room 102.
Grade appeal procedure: If you are concerned that the grade you received for this class is
incorrect, contact me to discuss the matter. If the matter is not resolved to your satisfaction, make
an appointment with the Director of Academic Advising and Student Services, Judith Clark, Art
Building, Room 104, (206) 543-0646. If necessary, submit a written appeal to the Director of the
School of Art + Art History + Design who will take the matter under advisement and call a
faculty committee to review your course work and make a final determination concerning the
grade dispute.
Materials fees: All art and art history classes have materials fee that are billed on your tuition
statement. Information is available in Art Building, Room 104. If you drop a class in the first five
days of the quarter, the fee is automatically removed from the quarterly billing. If you drop after
the first five days (and before using any class materials), you must petition for a refund. The
School of Art + Art History + Design cannot process any petitions received after noon on the last
day of the quarter.
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September 28, 2016
Dear Student,
“Admission to the university carries with it the presumption that students will conduct
themselves as responsible members of the university community. As a condition of
enrollment, all students assume responsibility to observe standards of conduct that will
contribute to the pursuit of academic goals and to the welfare of the university community.
This includes practicing high standards of academic and professional honesty and integrity.”
(See the Student Code of Conduct, Chapter 478-120 WAC)
Academic misconduct that includes cheating and plagiarism is unacceptable. Borrowing,
paying for, or copying the work of others and presenting it as your own dishonors your reason
for seeking a degree at UW and breaks the trust that faculty have for you as a member of this
academic community. It undermines your ability to learn and mature as an individual.
What is Cheating?
•
Copying answers from another student's test, quiz, assignment, or paper.
•
Using pre written notes, cell phones or any other method to secretly look at information
that helps you answer test questions.
•
Using a cell phone or other device to take pictures of tests and exams and send them to
another student, or text message questions and answers to another student.
•
Pay another student to do your homework.
What is Plagiarism? It’s cheating, too.
•
Buy a term paper or essay written by someone else and turn it in as your own.
•
Copy word-for-word another person's opinions or thoughts from a book, magazine,
newspaper or online article and pass them on as your own work.
•
Borrow or copy the drawings, paintings, sculptures or designs of another student or
artist and submit them as your own.
•
Paraphrase or summarize someone else's opinions or thoughts and pass them on
as your own.
A grade of zero will be given to any assignment, paper, test or quiz that is found to be the result
of plagiarism or cheating.
If you have any questions about what constitutes cheating or plagiarism please feel free to raise
the issue in class, check with your instructor during office hours, or talk with an Academic
Adviser in Art 104.
Sincerely,
Office of the Director
Box 353440
Seattle, WA 98195-3400
P: 206.685.2442
F: 206.685.1657
art.washington.edu
Jamie Walker
Director