Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Upon completion of the course students should be able to:

• Explain how art is representative of the historical moment in which it was produced, acknowledging the interactions between social, cultural, technological, and/or economic factors and early twentieth century art.
• Utilize a critical vocabulary as a framework for discussing, creating and/or writing about art.
• Analyze the relationship between form, context and meaning in visual communication. 
• Articulate the relationships between modern art, the history of visual culture and world history to enhance civic and global engagement.
• Apply insights gained from course content to visual culture encountered outside of the classroom.

Assessment tools may include:

• informal and formal responses to discussion questions

• analysis and evaluation of reading assignments

• visual and contextual analysis of art in writing assignments and exams

• journals assessing learning in and out of the classroom

• research projects resulting in papers or presentations

COMPETENCIES AND SKILLS:

• Analyze and work creatively with art historical data, using it to better understand the history of art and visual culture.

• Evaluate primary and secondary art historical sources, assessing their stakes and motives.

• Assess the ways in which art is impacted by the viewer’s vantage point.

• Articulate the relationship between art and its historical, social and political context.

• Recognize and differentiate various styles of art and evaluate how values and interpretations change over time.

• Recognize and identify parallels between the art historical past and the present.

• Conduct a formal analysis of a work of art and articulate the way its elements are interrelated.

• Research and write coherently about art history, using evidence to support arguments.

• Use knowledge gained in the course to study fine art, multimedia, art history, design, anthropology or history at a four-year institution.

THEMES, CONCEPTS, AND ISSUES:

• Modernism and Modernity

• Art and the Belle Epoque

• Art Nouveau and Turn of the Century Design

• Modern Art, Science and Technology

• The Early History of Film

• Fauvism

• Expressionism

• The Early History of Photography

• American Art in the early twentieth century

• The Ash Can School

• Photojournalism and Labor Reform

• The Photo Secession and Straight Photography

• Cubism

• Colonialism and Imperialism

• Art and Cultural Appropriation

• Representation and Abstraction

• Italian Futurism

• Dada

• The Early History of Performance Art

• Art and the Russian Revolution, Suprematism and Constructivism

• Montage and Photomontage

• Socialism and Marxism

• World War I and Modern Art

• Art in the Interwar Period

• Neue Sachlichkeit

• De Stijl

• The Bauhaus and the Weimar Republic

• Surrealism

• Art and Economic Depression

• The Harlem Renaissance

• Art and the Mexican Revolution

• The WPA and the Federal Arts Project

• Art and Gender in the Twentieth Century

• The Birth of the Modern Museum

• Art and Nationalism

• Social Realism

• Art and Italian Fascism, Stalinism, Nazism

• World War II and Modern Art

• Early 20th century Modern Architecture