SIGHT AND SITES IN THE CITY: THE ART AND ARCHITECTURE OF PARIS
Instructor: Valerie Palazzolo
University of South Florida, Paris 2012
ARH 4890-402
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Paris is a city with a rich fabric of historically important sites and monuments. The city’s vast
expansion over its long history has greatly altered the urban landscape as a succession of rulers
and builders sought to leave their mark, from Saint Louis to Louis XIV to, more recently,
Napoleon III and Haussmann. This course explores the art and architecture of Paris as part of the
dynamic history of the city. As we move about Paris, we will explore its development as a
center of French politics, society, and culture. Students will explore many significant structures
in and around the city as well as major artworks in order to expose the political, historical, and
cultural circumstances of urban planning, architecture and decorative styles found throughout
Paris. Examples of key cultural sites we will examine include the Cathedral of St. Denis, the
château Versailles, the Hôtel de Soubise, the Louvre, and the Musée d’Orsay. We will also
discuss developments such as Haussmannization and the social function of seeing and being seen
in public spaces, which will require our spending time in various gardens, markets, and strolling
the streets of Paris. Our analysis of these sites and concepts will be supported by assigned
readings and class discussions.
COURSE FORMAT:
We will be spending as much time as possible visiting sites within the city, rather than meeting
in a classroom. My goal is to have you engaging and experiencing as much as possible, that
which is often lost in the classroom. With this in mind, the assigned readings have been chosen
to enhance your experience. They will give you the vocabulary for understanding what you are
seeing and are meant to provide historical framing.
We will begin and end each class meeting with a discussion and you will be given time to
explore on your own with prompts that will guide your experience and written responses.
Assignments include discussions, journals, worksheets for class visits, a short essay, and
readings. Details about where and when to meet for each class session will be provided week-toweek.
TEXTS:
Green Guide to Paris (Michelin, 2011) – recommended
ASSIGNMENTS:
Carnet de voyage (travel notebook) (60% of final grade)
Artists and travelers of all sorts traditionally recorded their responses to the art and cultures they
observed in carnets de voyage. These travel notebooks were part sketchbook and part journal
where the traveler reflected on art, culture and history. Your carnet de voyage will be focused to
the subjects of the class.
Like a true carnet de voyage, it may be embellished in any way you choose; you may include
whatever you like to create a rich souvenir of your visits to museums, architectural sites,
monuments, gardens, and neighborhoods that are both part of our class and your own
explorations. You might paste in pictures, tickets, cutouts from tourist brochures, and other
reminders of place. (You may wish to bring with you a small pair of scissors – in your checked
baggage! Tape and glue you can buy in Paris.) Your assignments will regularly include
sketching, but you may wish to include a higher level of detail or more images. Please wait until
you get to Paris to buy your notebook: even supermarkets in Paris sell nicely designed but
inexpensive notebooks; the notebook itself will be a souvenir of place and of cultural difference.
Your carnet will not be evaluated for its demonstration of technical skill, but for a) the content
and thoughtfulness of your responses to assigned questions, b) your ability to make connections
and apply concepts from the readings to specific works of art, and c) the quality of your analysis
of specific works.
In addition to class and reading notes, your carnet will record:
1. Assignments from class visits: These will be provided before each visit. You will be
asked to choose a few works that exemplify some quality identified by our authors and
discuss them; or, to compare and contrast specific works of art as informed by ideas from
assigned readings; or, to explain a given theme dealt with in assigned readings in
connection with works you have seen.
2. Architectural analyses: Here, we use the term “architecture” to include not only
traditional buildings and monuments, but also garden architecture, urban planning, and a
broad sense of space. You will be asked to consider buildings, monuments and spaces in
relation to their sites, surroundings, function, materials, and form, drawing upon ideas
and information from assigned readings, class discussions, and your own observations.
Architectural analyses will include a sketching assignment: you are asked to sketch a
façade elevation and floor plan (including schematic of interior, where available). You
might also sketch an aspect of your own choosing that you think particularly important.
Please note that no special drawing ability is assumed or required for this part of the
assignment. The sketches may be crude or elaborate, according to your ability and
inclination. The purpose of the sketches is to refine and sharpen your observation of
specific aspects and should demonstrate a fair amount of time spent engaging with and
looking at the spaces discussed.
Thursday, 14 June, carnets will be collected for early feedback on your progress.
Monday, 25 June, final carnets are due. They will be returned to you by the final day of class.
How to look at and analyze architecture
Analyze the building or site, relying on class readings and your own observations. Your analysis
should be thorough and specific. Try to incorporate as much as possible the technical terms
specific to the site (i.e., colonnade, dome, pilaster, etc.). Be sure to observe the following
guidelines:
• Walk around the building: if possible, enter it and explore as much of the interior as
possible. Think in terms of space and your experience of that space: a building is more
than a flat picture. Think also in terms of setting and sites: monuments and buildings are
note isolated in space; they respond to each other and their environments.
• Look at the building from bottom to top. Is there a hierarchy within the structures?
• Look at the main façade: how many bays (units), wings, windows are there? How do
they articulate and break up space? Is the façade simple or complicated? Are details in
high relief or low relief?
• Where is the main entrance and how is its presence articulated? What is the relationship
to the front and back of the building; do they echo one another?
•
Proportion is extremely important: think about the relationship of the parts to each other
and to the overall effect.
•
Additionally, you should consider: the purpose/function of the building/monument/site.
Is emphasis placed on form or function? What is the scale of the building/monument/
space and how does it inform your engagement? Does the space have a symbolic
function? Does the exterior express the interior? How do the decorative ornaments/
statuary/surrounding landscape function? What are the materials? Color? Effects of
light?
Participation and attendance (20% of final grade)
Students are expected to be in attendance and actively participate in each class meeting. Because
of the nature of this class, which relies on direct experience and specially reserved group visits,
this attendance policy will be strictly observed. The only excuse for non-attendance is illness
and any work missed because of illness must be made up. Absences or frequent lateness will
severely affect your final grade.
Short essay (750 words, may be hand-written. 20% of final grade) – due Tuesday, 19 June
Each student will be responsible for writing a short essay, addressing art and concepts discussed
in the first few weeks. Your paper will focus on a single artwork or comparison of two works or
monuments, in any medium, that we have covered in the class. The goal is to deepen your
understanding of ideas covered only very quickly in assignments and class visits; unlike carnet
entries, the essay should have a main idea (thesis) and be written as a formal paper. You may
choose some idea that you have already developed in a carnet entry that you would like to
explore further. The main resources for your essay will be class readings, information and ideas
taken from our group visits, and your own analysis and direct observations of the works.
CLASS SCHEDULE1
BEFORE ARRIVING IN PARIS
Read: James H. S. McGregor, Paris From the Ground Up “Introduction” for historical
grounding; Michael Marrinan, Romantic Paris “Introduction” for theoretical framework.
WEEK 1
06/04/2012 – 06/07/2012
Mon. 6/4: Medieval Paris – Notre-Dame, Sainte-Chapelle, Saint-Séverin, Hôtel de Cluny
Read for today: Review Architecture Packet and Elements of Gothic Architecture
Tues. 6/5: Renaissance Paris – Maubert Market, Les Halles, Saint-Eustache, Hôtel de Ville
Wed. 6/6: Visit to the cathedral of St. Denis
Read for today: Review Architecture Packet and Elements of Gothic Architecture
Thurs. 6/7: Louvre (architecture, sculpture, history of Louvre; Institute de France)
Read for today: Anthony Blunt, “Louis XIV and Colbert,” excerpt on architecture
Fri. 6/8: Program excursion to Chartres Cathedral (includes class assignment)
Read for today: Review Architecture Packet and Elements of Gothic Architecture
Sat. 6/9: Program excursion to Vaux-le-Vicomte (includes class assignment)
Read for today: Sarah Cohen, “Art as Spectacle” (begin - section on Vaux fête)
WEEK 2
06/11/2012 – 06/14/2012
th
Mon. 6/11: Louvre, 17 -cent. painting
Tues. 6/12: 17th-cent. Paris – Jardin des Tuileries, Place des Vosges, Hôtel des Invalides
Read for today: Michael Conan, “Royal Gardens, Fashionable Promenades, and Public
Opinions in 17th- and 18th-cent. Paris”; Robert Berger, “Royal Squares” (recommended)
Wed. 6/13: Louvre, 18th-cent. painting
Thurs. 6/14: Visit to the Musée d’Orsay
Read for today: Robert Herbert, “City vs. Country: The Rural Image in French Painting from
Millet to Gauguin” (begin)
Carnets de voyage due today for review
Fri. 6/15: Program excursion to La Roche-Guyon and Giverny (includes class assignment)
1
Subject to change. Meeting times and locations will be provided week-to-week in Paris.
WEEK 3
06/18/2012 – 06/21/2012
Mon. 6/18: Visit to the Hôtel de Soubise at the Archives Nationales
Read for today: Anthony Sutcliffe, “The Hôtel as Prototype of Classicism”; Petra tenDoesschate Chu, “Rococo Interior”
Tues. 6/19: Visit to the Musée Jacquemart-André
Short essays due today
Wed. 6/20: Versailles, full day visit
Read for today: Sarah Cohen, “Art as Spectacle” (complete); Farmer, “Mechanism of the Court
Life” (recommended)
Thurs. 6/21: Recover from Versailles day – no class meet: revisit works and sites.
Fri. 6/22: Program excursion to Chantilly (includes class assignment)
WEEK 4
06/25/2012 – 06/28/2012
Mon. 6/25: Louvre, 19th-cent. painting
Carnets de voyage due today
Tues. 6/26: Visit to Musée Carnavalet – Eugène Atget, Paris
Read for today: Vanessa R. Schwartz, “Setting the Stage: The Boulevard, The Press and the
Framing of Everyday Life,” excerpt
p.m. Paris Opera (Opéra Garnier) – includes class assignment
Wed. 6/27: 19th-cent. Paris – Passage des Panoramas, Galaries Lafayette, Eiffel Tower
Read for today: Robert Herbert, “City vs. Country” (review); Émile Zola, The Ladies’
Paradise, excerpt; Roland Barthes, “The Eiffel Tower”
Thurs. 6/28: No class meet – enjoy your final days in Paris!