1. Introduction
Baroque art, especially Andalucian, is studied as an expression with a high degree of blending between the popular and the cultured as seen mainly in sculpture and painting. This course will study the great masters of painting from the XVII and XVIII centuries, for example Ribalta, Ribera, Zurbarán, Cano Valdés Leal. The work of Velázquez will be studied in greater detail particularly regarding the symbolic and aesthetic aspects.
Modernity, beginning with Goya, completes the last great section of this course, paying special attention to the great masters of the XIX and XX centuries in various arts: Gaudí and Modernism, Spanish Impressionists, Picasso and the great rupture of aesthetic values, Dalí and Surrealism, Miró's works, and the generations of contemporary artists.
2. Program
l. Baroque style: the importance and development of this style in Austrian and Bourbon Spain.
2. The great works of Baroque architecture in Spain: Andalusia.
3. Hispano-American architecture.
4. Baroque sculpture: the great image makers of the Castillian and Andalusian Schools.
5. Baroque painting. Tenebrista Naturalism and its symbolism: Ribalta, Ribera, and Zurbarán.
6. Velázquez, Baroque painter. The still life in its Sevillian stage. His first works as royal painter: portraits and mythologies.
7. Velázquez, final stage. Mastery and genius of this main works: las Hilanderas and las Meninas.
8. Other great masters of Andalusian Baroque painting: Alonso Cano, Murillo, and Valdés Leal.
9. The contemporary period and Neo-classicism in Spain.
10. Goya as a genius precursor of contemporary art. Sketches for tapestries and portraits.
11. Goya: the disasters of the war and the engraving series. The black paintings.
12. Architecture from XIX century until Modernism: Gaudí.
13. XX century Spanish architecture.
14. Contemporary, figurative, and abstract Spanish sculpture.
15. XIX century Spanish painting, from Neo-classicism to Impressionism. Sorolla.
16. The great Spanish masters from the XX century: Dalí, Miró, and other masters.
17. Picasso before Cubism: the blue and pink period.
18. Picasso after Cubism. The disasters of the war and the harmony of the peace.
19. Spanish contemporary artists.
3. Activities
In order to enhance this global vision of Spanish art- situated within its respective historical periods and within the relationships the work of art has to its socio-cultural environment, the students will make educational visits to monuments at the Alhambra (five two hour visits), Museums in the city, Capilla Real (with the tombs of the Catholic King and Queen and the important collection of primitive Flemish paintings), the Cathedral, the Royal Hospital, the Central University Library, the Monastery of San Jerónimo, and Baroque Churches: San Juan de Dios, Cartuja, etc
Throughout the course, there are trips planned to different cities in order to study the art. Out of the three weekly hours, one hour is designated for application and review, in which student intervention during slide presentations becomes an important experience and exercise to familiarize the student with vocabulary and to facilitate their ability to converse about art both specifically and generally.
4. Evaluation
The students will be evaluated periodically in the practical classes. In these sessions, attendance will be taken and the practice will focus on classification and description of known works of art viewed in the museums or studied in class during slide presentations. The purpose of these exercises is to encourage student oral participation by formulating questions about the topics developed.
At the end of the semester, a written exam will be administered consisting of an essay on a particular topic. This essay will be selected from two proposals corresponding to the subject matter stated in the course program and including the works studied during the visits to the monuments, museums, and excursions that took place during the semester.The second part of this final exam evaluates the students' classification and description of various works of art; again these works have been directly viewed either in museums, class, or on excursions. On a voluntary basis, the students will be able to do papers on topics of their choice as long as they are listed or related to the course program.
5. Bibliography
Besides an elemental bibliography at the level of manuals and dictionaries of artistic terms, the students, under the direction of the professor, can work in the following libraries: University of Granada's Department of Art History, University of Granada's Central library, as well as the Alhambra's library.For further development of an art history student, the following manuals about Spanish art history might be of assistance in pursuing more in-depth knowledge.
GAYA NU"O, Juan Antonio, Arte Español, Madrid, Plus Ultra, 1963.
BOZAL, Valeriano, Historia del Arte en España, Madrid, Istmo, 1972.
CHUECA GOITIA, Fernando, Historia de la Arquitectura Española, Dossat, 1965.
LAFUENTE FERRARI, Enrique, Breve Historia de la Pintura Española, Madrid,Tecnos, 1953.
SÁNCHEZ-MESA MARTÍN, Domingo, Historia del Arte en Andalucía, Tomo IX de la Historia de Andalucia, Barcelona, Planeta, 1984. Historia del Arte Andalucia, 8 vols, Sevilla, Gever, 1989-1991.
Ars Hispaniae is recommended as a general and specific resource. It is a collection of 22 volumes edited in Madrid by the Editorial Plus Ultra which contains an extensive bibliographical repertoire and illustrations in each volume.
The students will receive information organized by chapters corresponding to their level of preparation and their desire to expand their knowledge.
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