"Guest of Cindy Sherman" Trailer

In reference to our conversation during Friday Discussion:

Slide Images for August 27

 Mont Sainte-Odile Abbey also known as  Hohenburg Abbey

Alsase, France

Abbey built 1050

Illuminations from Hortus Deliciarum

Herrad of Landsberg

c. 1167-1185

Illuminations from Scivias

Hildegard of Bingen

1142-52

Terms of the Day for August 27

• Miniature (Illuminated Manuscript) – derived from the Latin minium, red lead—a picture in an ancient or medieval illuminated manuscript; the simple decoration of the early codices having been “miniated” or delineated with that pigment.
• Hortus Deliciarum – a medieval manuscript compiled by Herrad of Landsberg at the Hohenburg Abbey. It was an illuminated encyclopedia, begun in 1167 as a pedagogical tool for young novices at the convent. It is the first encyclopedia that was evidently written by a woman. It was finished in 1185, and was one of the most celebrated illuminated manuscripts of the period.

History Through Art - The Bayeux Tapestry

This video was designed mainly for children, but there is a lot of great information in it about the Bayeux Tapestry.  Check it out.

Slide Images for August 25

Illustration from The Beatus Apocalypse of Gerona

Spain

975

The Bayeux Tapestry

Normandy, France

c. 1086

 “Ælfgyva and the Cleric”

from The Bayeux Tapestry Normandy, France

c. 1086

Gospel Book of the Abbess Hitda

Showing the Abbess offering her Gospel Book to the cloister’s patron, St. Walburga

c. 1020

 Page from German Psalter from Augsburg

Claricia

c. 1200

German Psalter from Augsburg (detail)

Claricia

c. 1200

Terms of the Day for August 25

• The Middle Ages (Medieval Era) – a period of European history that lasted from the 5th until the 15th centuries. It began with the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, and was followed by the Renaissance.  The era is marked by the rising influence of the Catholic church, the development of feudal governments, and many wars and plagues.
• Feudalism – a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for structuring society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labor.
• Convent – a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church.  Most often the term refers to a “nunnery”, specifically a community of women.
• Abbess – the female superior, or mother superior, of a community of nuns, often an abbey.  In feudal Germany, Abbesses were often official women with control of small provinces.
• The Bayeux Tapestry – an embroidered cloth—not an actual tapestry—nearly 230 ft long, which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England concerning William, Duke of Normandy and Harold, Earl of Wessex, later King of England, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings.

Slide Images for August 22

The Lives of the Artists

Giorgio Vasari

1550

 The Last Supper

Tintoretto

c. 1592-1594

 Portrait of an Old Man with Boy

Marietta Robusti

1585

 Tintoretto Painting His Dead Daughter

Leon Cogniet

1843

The Happy Couple

Judith Leyster

1630

 The Jolly Toper

Judith Leyster

1629

 The Jolly Topper

Frans Hals or Judith Leyster

c. 1628-30

 Napoleon Crossing the Alps

Jacques-Louis David

1801

Young Woman Drawing

Marie-Denise Villers

1803

 Portrait of Dublin-Tornelle

Adélaïde Labille-Guiard

c. 1799

Portrait of Antonio Bruni

Césarine Davin-Mirvault

1804

Terms of the Day for August 22

• Attribution – in art history, the explicit or formal acknowledgment of authorship to a singular artist.
• Provenance – the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.
• Connoisseur – a person who has a great deal of knowledge about the fine arts or an expert judge in matters of taste.   In the fine arts, a connoisseur is considered an in-depth expert on a particular artist’s life and work, and can therefore make attributions.

Understanding Binary Oppositions By Examining FIGHT CLUB

http://www.westga.edu/~mmcfar/understanding_binary_oppositions1.htm

Click on the link above to read an article that examines the nature of binary oppositions by analyzing the film Fight Club, which, if you didn't realize, is all about tearing down the social, cultural, and political power of binaries of language and thought.

Terms of the Day for August 20

• Western Culture – a term used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, belief systems, political systems, and specific artifacts and technologies that have some origin or association with Europe. The term has come to apply to countries whose history is strongly marked by European immigration, colonization, and influence and is not restricted to the continent of Europe.
• Patriarchy – a social system in which males are the primary authority figures central to social organization, occupy roles of political leadership, moral authority and control of property, and where fathers hold authority over women and children. It implies the institutions of male rule and entails female subordination.
• Binary Opposition – the system by which, in language and thought, two theoretical opposites are strictly defined and set off against one another. It is the contrast between two mutually exclusive terms, such as on and off, up and down, left and right.
• Individual Inspired Genius – the model or concept of art being the product of one person’s inspiration rather than a collaborative craft.

Course Syllabus

Click below for the full text of the course syllabus: