W.S. 104 INTRODUCTION TO WOMEN'S STUDIES IN THE ARTS Spring Semester, 1994; 2:00-3:30 Monday & Wednesday Professor: Dr. Patricia A. Carter Teaching Assistant: Joanne Solley-Hansen Office: Women's Studies, Hillside Place, University of Connecticut Phone: 486-3970, 486-2186 Hours: by appointment COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course provides an overview of the work and social history of American women artists from the periods of indigenous cultures to 1990s. COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING SYSTEM: 1. Students are responsible for all materials presented in the lectures, slides, films, tapes and assigned readings. If you are absent from class due to illness it is your responsibility to get the notes from another student. Questions from all these sources may appear in the midterm and final. Students are expected to read the assignments each week and be prepared to discuss them intelligently if called on to do so. 2. Students are expected to attend every class and to be attentive when present. Independent conversations during class will not be tolerated and offenders will be asked to leave. Please note that this class lasts one hour and 20 minutes each session. Slide/lectures and films will often last an hour or longer. If this is not conducive to your attention span or learning style please do yourself a favor and find another course. Slide/lectures and other visuals are often fast paced and you will need to develop a style of taking notes which can accommodate this. 3. The reading guide is provided so that students can assess their own understanding of the Rubenstein text. The guide will also provide the basis for some of the questions on the mid-term and final. 4. Although this course is primarily lecture-oriented, you are welcome to ask questions at the end of each session or bring them individually to the instructor. 5. There will be a midterm (50% of your total grade) and a final examination (50% of your total grade). Please refer to the course outline for the dates that these will be given. NOTE: Because this class is scheduled at an irregular time both exams will be given during regular class time and in the regular class room. The final will cover, primarily, materials presented after the midterm. Exams may include matching, true/false, multiple choice, short answer, and essay questions. Please prepare for all formats. There will be no period of class time devoted to preparation for the exams. You must do this on your own. Make-up exams are given only with a written doctor's excuse. Make-ups will then be given at the convenience of the instructor. 6. Your FINAL COURSE GRADE will be based on an average of the two exams. An "A" grade represents excellent & outstanding work and it is expected that few students will earn this grade. A "B" represents work well above average. A "C" is earned for work which is average for students taking this course. A "D" represents work below average but of a passing level. If you feel that this is unreasonable you should drop the course. REQUIRED READINGS and RECORDINGS: (all but the tapes & handouts are also on Reserve in the Babbidge Library) 1. Charlotte S. Rubenstein American Women Artists: From Early Indian Times to the Present. 2. Selected Readings for WS 104, Spring 1993. (coursepak) 3. Handouts as given. 4. Additional Readings on Reserve in Library. 5. "Mean Mothers" : Independent Women's Blues. v1 (this is a cassette tape) 6. "The Best of the Girl Groups" (this is a cassette tape) Optional texts: Ally Acker Reel Women: Pioneers of the Cinema ($18.95); Gillian Garr She's a Rebel: The History of Women in Rock & Roll ($16.95); Daphne Duval Harrison Black Pearls: Blues Queens of the 1920s ($12.95); Hayden Herrera Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo ($20); Laurie Lisle Louise Nevelson: A Passionate Life ($13.95); Trina Robbins A Century of Women Cartoonists ($16.95); Richard Spivey Maria: Native American Potter ($21.95) KEY: R= Rubenstein; SR= Selected Readings ASSIGNMENTS Jan. 26 Introduction to the Course; Syllabus and course expectations discussed. Jan. 31 THEORETICAL OVERVIEW; Reading: SR, Nochlin "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?"; Video: "The Artist was a Woman" (58') Feb. 2 NATIVE AMERICAN ART; Reading: R, chpt. 1"Native Americans: The First Women Artists"; Video: "Mohawk Basketmaking" (28') Feb. 7 NATIVE AMERICAN ART; Reading: SR, Batkin's Harmony By Hand, "The Ceramic Tradition"; Video: "Maria: Indian Pottery of San Ildefonso" (27') Feb. 9 EVERYDAY USE: WOMEN'S RELATIONSHIP TO UTILITARIAN ART Video: "Anonymous was a Woman "; Reading: R, chpt. 2, "Colonial Women Artists & American Women Folk Artists" Feb. 14 EVERYDAY USE: QUILTS IN WOMEN'S LIVE Readings: SR, "Everyday Uses","Looking at Quilts", & "Quilts & Women's Culture"; Zegart's "Old Maid: New Woman", Meyer's "Pinetree Quilts"; Video: "Quilt on the Wall"(28') Feb. 16 MAKING A PLACE FOR THEMSELVES: COLONIAL & FEDERALIST WOMEN; Reading: SR, Betty Ring's American Needlework Treasures Feb. 21 LOSING GROUND IN THE GOLDEN AGE; Reading: R, chpt. 3 "The Golden Age, 1800-1876" Feb. 23 INTO THE MAINSTREAM OR CREATING SEPARATE SPHERES? THE GUILDED AGE; Reading: SR, Weimann's The Fair Women; Video: "Women of Rookwood" (30') Feb. 28 THE GUILDED AGE; Reading: R, chpt. 4, "The Guilded Age"; Video: "Mary Cassatt: Impressionist from Philadelphia" (30') March 2 REEL WOMEN: WOMEN AND FILM; Reading, SR, Heck-Rabi's Women's Filmmakers: A Critical Reception; Faludi's "Fatal & Fetal Visions" from Backlash;Tanenbaum's "Reel Feminism" Video: "Women Who Made the Movies" (56') March 7 BRINGING MODERN ART TO AMERICA; Reading: R, chpt. 5, "The Ash Can School & Armory Show, 1900-1929"; Video: "Georgia O'Keeffe" (30') March 9 MEET IN ARJONA 143; THROUGH THE LENS: WOMEN & PHOTOGRAPHY Reading: SR, Tucker's ,The Woman's Eye; & Viewfinders: Black Women Photographers. GUEST LECTURER: Naomi Rosenblum "The Persistent Presence: Women as Photographers". March 14 MIDTERM: in class at regular time and place March 21 & 23 SPRING BREAK March 28 MEAN MOTHERS: WOMEN & THE BLUES; Reading: SR, Harrison's "Blues from the Black Women's Perspective". Listening: "Mean Mothers" tape: make notes of lyrics of one or two songs, deconstruct them, i.e., what do they mean about the singer and her outlook on life? What do they say about the status of women in the period? Video: "Wild Women Don't Have the Blues" (58') March 30 THE THIRTIES: WOMEN ARTISTS AND THE DEPRESSION; Reading: R, chpt. 6, "The Thirties: Daughters of the Depression"; Film: "Alice Neel: Collector of Souls" (28') April 4 THE NEW DEAL FOR WOMEN ARTISTS; Reading: SR, Melosh's Engendering Culture; Video: "Isabel Bishop"(45) April 6 COMING TO AGE IN A GENERATION OF MALE HEROES; Reading: R, chpt. 7, "The Forties and Fifties: Women of the New York School" Video: "Louise Nevelson" (26') April 11 A SEARCH FOR MEANING IN A COOL WORLD; Reading:R, chpt. 8, "The Sixties: Pop Art and Hard Edge"; Film: "Frankenthaler: Toward a New Climate" (29') April 13 THE SIXTIES AND POP MUSIC "GROOVEY GIRLS"; Reading: SR, Gilligan's "Girl Groups" & "Power of Love"; Listening: "The Best of Girl Groups", make notes of lyrics of one or two songs, deconstruct them, i.e. , what do they mean about the singer and her outlook on life? What do they say about the status of women in the period? VIDEO: "Girl Groups"(65') April 18 BECOMING ONE'S OWN HERO; Reading: SR, Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo ; Video: "Frida Kahlo" (59') April 20 SEE YOU IN THE FUNNY PAPERS: WOMEN CARTOONISTS; Reading: SR,"Strip Artist"& "The Girls' Talking : WIth A Black Perspective". Film: "Funny Ladies" (46') April 25 MODERN PHOTOGRAPHY: CREATING ICONS; Reading, SR, "Annie Leibovitz"; Video: "Annie Leibovitz" (60') April 27 RACE & GENDER MEET IN ART; Readings: SR: Faith Ringgold: A 25 Year Survey; & The Art of Betye & Alison Saar ; Video: "Spirit Catcher: Betye Saar" (29') Video: "Faith Ringgold" (28') May 2 FEMINIST ART MOVEMENT ; Reading: R, chpt. 9 "The Feminist Art Movement"Video: "Guerillas in Our Midst"(35') May 9 FINAL EXAM DURING REGULAR CLASS PERIOD & REGULAR CLASSROOM EXTRA CREDIT: You may be able to earn up to 5 extra credit points by attending at least five artistic events during the semester and writing a critique of each event. Each event should be in a different category of art: film, theater, concert, opera, symphony, dance, art gallery, or museum exhibition. THIS IS LIMITED TO events that are women-centered or at least have women as key actors. Develop a 1-3 page (typed, double-spaced) critique of each of the events by responding to the following questions: 1. How were women portrayed in this event? Explain in detail. 2. What were your favorite parts of the event and why? 3. What would you have liked to see done differently and why? 4. Attach programs from event to each paper. Reading Guide Introduction to Women's Studies in the Arts (WS 104) Charlotte Rubenstein's American Women Artists Chapter 1 1. Who was the Spider Woman? What was her relationship to art? 2. What type of designs are traditional in the art of Native American women? 3. How did the religion of Native Americans differ from that of white settlers? 4. How does the art of Navajo blankets relate to the status of the women who wove them? 5. What was the taboo about men and Cheyenne quillwork? Why do you think this belief occurred? 6. When did Indian women's basketry begin? 7. What are ollas and why were they important in the southwest? 8. What is coil pottery? 9. Who are three women potters noted in the text and for what is each best known? 10. Why weren't Native American students at the Studio at the Santa Fe School taught European methods? 11. Name three of the Native American women painters in the text. For what are they best known? Chapter 2 1. Why did quilts become one of the first types of colonial women's art? 2. What is a sampler? What purpose did it serve? 3. What arts did girls from wealthy families learn in school? 4. Who was Patience Lovell Wright? What was her art? 5. What is folk art? 6. What are the two main types of quilts? How do they differ? 7. What is a theorem painting? 8. Why did memorials become a popular form of women's art? 9. Who was Mary Ann Wilson? What kind of art did she do? 10. Who was Deborah Goldsmith (Throop)? Why was she unusual? 11. Who was Anna Mary Robertson Moses? By what name is she better known? 12. Who was Clementine Hunter? Chapter 3 1. What was the Golden Age? How was it reflected in art & architecture? 2. What was the status of women in the Golden Age? How did this effect women artists? 3. What is minaturistic art? Why was it, along with portrait art, an important means of female artistic expression in the Golden Age? 4. Who was Sarah Miriam Peale? Who were the other Peale sisters? 5. Who was Lily Martin Spencer? What was genre painting? 6. What was history painting? Who were some of the best-known women engaged in this type of art? 7. How were women restricted in landscape painting? Describe two women who engaged in this art style? 8. What is still-life painting, and why did so many women excel in this field? 9. Who were two of the best-known female graphic artists? 10. Who was the most famous 19th century woman sculptor? 11. Who was Edmonia Lewis? 12. Why was the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition important to women artists? Why did radical feminists oppose the Women's Pavilion? Chapter 4 1. What was the Guilded Age and what was its relationship to art & architecture? 2. What was the status of women in this period? What was their status in American and European art academies? 3. How did sculpture change in this period? 4. Who were two women sculptors mentioned in the text? For what work were they known? 5. What is academic painting? Who are some female artists in this area? 6. Who were the radical Impressionists? How did their work differ from more traditional forms of painting? Who were three artists in this area? 7. What is realism in painting? Who were some realist artists? 8. What was the arts & crafts movement? In what ways did female artists participate in this movement? 9. Why was the Chicago World's Fair (the Columbian Exposition) of 1893 important in the history of women's art? chapter 5 1. What were some of the art movements of the early twentieth century? What changes did these movements reflect? 2. What was the status of women in the period? 3. How did graphic arts change in this period? How were these changes reflected in the work of women artists? 4. What was the Ash Can School? Who were some of the women associated with it? 5. Who were the fauves? Why were the called by this name? 6. Who were the post-Impressionists? 7. What was the Whitney Studio Club? 8. Who were Stettheimer and Brooks? For what are they noted? 9. Who was Georgia O'Keefe? 10. How did sculpture styles change in the period between 1900-1929? 11. Who were some of the female sculptors during this period? Chapter 6 1. What were social conditions like in the 1930s? What impact did this have on the status of women's artists? 2. What were the predominant art styles in the 1930s? 3. Who was Marion Greenwood? 4. Who was Isabel Bishop? How would you describe her artistic style? 5. What is American Scene painting? 6. Who was Laura Wheeler Waring? For what type of art was she best known? 7. Who were some of the artists best known for their Modern and Abstract painting? 8. Who was Helen Lundeberg and for what artistic style was she best known? 9. Who was Augusta Savage? How was her artistic life affected by racism? 10. Who were some of the California muralists? Chapter 7 1. What was were the trends in arts in the 1940s and 1950s? Why? 2. Who was Peggy Guggenheim and what was her contribution to the art world? 3. What was the status of women artists in the 1940s and 1950s and why? 4. What was abstract expressionism? 5. Who was Lee Krasner? Why did it take a long time before her work became well known? 6. Why did women form cooperative galleries? 7. Who is Joan Mitchell? For what work is she best known? 8. Who was Kay Sage? How would you describe her work? 9. Who was Dorothea Tanning? What does her painting Guardian Angels represent? 10. What were the trends in sculpture in the 1940s and 1950s? 11. Who was Louise Nevelson? How would you describe her sculpture? Chapter 8 1. What were some of the artistic trends in the 1960s? 2. Who was Helen Frankenthaler? Describe her stain painting style. 3. What is the hard-edge style? 4. Who is Joan Brown? Why is she known as a feminist painter? 5. Who is Marisol Escobar? Describe her style. 6. Describe Varda Chryssa's style and medium? 7. What is assemblage? 8. Describe Nikki Saint-Phalle's work. 9. What kind of art Eva Hesse did create? 10. What are woven forms? How does Lenore Tawney use them? Chapter 9 1. What was the status of women artists in the 1970s? 2. What were the artistic trends in this period? 3. How did the feminist movement effect women's status in art? 4. In what ways was women's art avant-garde? Give examples. 5. How was pattern and decoration reflected in women's art in the 1970s? 6. What was street art and how did women participate in it? 7. What was performance or environmental art? What was its purpose? 8. What was the Women's Coalition of Art Organizations? 9. Who was Alice Neel? Describe her style. 10. What is photo-realist painting? 11. Describe Shapiro's "shrine paintings." 12. For what work was Judy Chicago best known? Describe it? How was it representative of women's art? 13. Describe Nancy Graves' work. 14. Who is Faith Ringgold? In what ways is her race reflected in her work? 15. What is environmental sculpture? Give some examples. 16. Who are Las Mujeres Muralistas? 17. What is performance art? Give some examples of Eleanor Antin's work in this area. Daphne Harrison's Black Pearls : Blues Queens Introduction 1. In your own words define "the blues." Chapter 1 1. What was the TOBA and why was it important to the blues? 2. What influenced the major emigration of southern African-Americans northward in the late decades of the 19th and early 20th centuries? 3. What kind of problems did this group encounter in the north? 4. What were the benefits for those who moved north? 5. How was racism a factor in blues? 6. What was the African-American community's concern about the morality of blues performers? 7. How was skin color a factor in women's entrance into show business? 8. Who was Gertrude Pridgett. Describe her contribution to the blues. Chapter 2 1. Why did recording companies avoid signing women blues signers? How and why did this change? 2. Who was Bessie Smith? Compare her career to Ma Rainey's. 3. How did the recording industry standardized the blues? Chapter 3 1. How did blues lyrics represent the new urban Black woman? What is the paradox expressed? 2. How different was the southern rural Black woman's experience from her sister's? 3. What is the theme of Ida Cox's "Pink Slip Blues"? 4. How is voodooism integrated into blues lyrics? 5. What are some of the other themes in early blues songs and why? Quilts & Women's Culture 1. How far back do the origins of the quilt extend? Why did women start quilting? 2. What are the stages of quilting? 3. What is the difference between a pieced and appliqued quilt? 4. What is a quilting bee? What is its purpose? 5. What kinds of variations and distinctions of quilting have developed? 6. The authors state that sewing could be an oppressive experience, give an example. 7. Why did quilts become more decorative during the Victorian era? "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker 1. How would you describe the differences in the relationships between Dee and her mother, and Maggie and her mother? Why have the differences emerged? 2. What are the differences in Dee's and Maggie's attitude about the quilts? Why? What do the quilts represent to each of them? 3. Do you think that Dee started the fire in which her sister Maggie was injured? If so, why? Marge Piercy, "Looking at Quilts" 1. What question does Piercy ask about quilts? 2. How do you think she feels about quilts? Course pak readings: 1. Linda Nochlin, "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?" Women, Art, and Power and Other Essays," NYC: Harper & Row, 1988. 2. Batkin, Jonathan "Pottery: The Ceramic Tradition" in Harmony By Hand: Art of the Southwest Indians, San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1987. pp.77-89. 3. Shelly Zegart, "Old Maid: New Woman," Suellen Meyer, "Pinetree Quilts," The Quilt Digest, v. 4 San Francisco: The Quilt Digest Press, 1986. 4. Alice Walker, "Everyday Use" in her In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women. NY: Harcourt Brace, Jovanovich, 1973. 5. Marge Piercy, "Looking at Quilts" in her Living in the Open, NY: Knopf, 1976. 6. American Needlework Treasures: Samplers and Silk Embroideries from the Collection of Betty Ring, New York, E.P. Dutton in Asssociation with the Museum of American Folk Art, 1987. pp.1-3, 59 , & 97. 7. Jeanne Madeline Weimann," A Glorious Wealth of Mediocrity", The Fair Women: the Story of the Women's Building, World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago 1893. Academy Chicago, 1981. 8. Daphne Duval Harrison, Ch. 3 " Wild Women Don't Have the Blues: Blues from the Black Women's Perspective", Black Pearls: Blues Queens of the 1920s. New Brunswick: Rutgers U. Press, 1990. 9. The Woman's Eye (Anne Tucker, ed.). NYC: Knopf, 1975. 10. Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, Viewfinders: Black Women Photographers NY: Dodd, Mead & Co. 1986. pp. 29-34, 60-63, 98-101 11. Louise Heck-Rabbi, "Alice Guy-Blache: Photoplay Pioneer," in Women Filmmakers: A Critical Reception , Scarecrow Press, Inc. 1984. 12. Susan Faludi, "Ch. 5--Fatal and Fetal Visions: The Backlash in the Movies" in Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women, NY: Crown Publishers, 1991. 13. Leora Tanenbaum "Reel Feminism vs Real Feminism: A Look at Feminist Film in the '90s," On the Issues, v.XXV Winter 1992, p.12-17. 14. Barbara Melosh, Engendering Culture: Manhood and Womanhood in New Deal Public Art and Theater. Washington, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991.pp.220-7. 15. Herrera, Hayden Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo, NY:Harper & Row, Publishers, 1983. "Preface" pp.ix-Xii. 16. Gillian Gaar, "Ch. 2--Girl Groups" in She's a Rebel: The History of Women in Rock & Roll, Seal Press, 1992. 17. Rob Hoerburger, "The Power of Love" The New York Times Magazine, June 20, 1993. 18. Moira Roth, "A Trojan Horse", in Faith Ringgold: A 25 Year Survey. Hemstead, NY: Fine Arts Museum of Long Island. 1990. pp. 49-55. 19. Lucy Lippard, "Sapphire and Ruby in the Indigo Garden" in Secrets, Dialogues, Revelations: The Art of Betye and Alison Saar, Elizabeth Shepard, editor. Los Angeles: Wright Art Gallery, University of California, 1990. 20. "Leibovitz, Annie" Current Biography Yearbook 1991, pp.360-364. 21. Dwight Gardner, "Strip Artist" Boston Globe Magazine, August 15, 1993. 22. Sheila Rule, "The 'Girls' Talking, With a Black Perspective" New York Times, Sunday, July 19, 1992.