"The painters following Cézanne began to talk
of sheer paint: a picture a matter of pigments upon a piece of
cloth stretched on a frame. . . . It is the making of that step,
to come over into the tactile qualities, the words themselves
beyond the m
ere
thought expressed that distinguishes the modern . . . from the
period before the turn of the century. And it is the reason why
painting and the poem became so closely allied at that time.
It was the work of the painters following Cézanne and
the Impressionists that, critically, opened up the age of Stein,
Joyce and a good many others."
--William Carlos Williams on Paul Cézanne's contribution to modern literature. The image is Paul Cézanne's Château Noir, 1902-05. Oil on canvas.
Assignment Outline and Calendar
Case Study One: Literature and the Visual Arts
Case Study Two: The Expressive Possibilities of the World Wide Web
In this assignment, we will examine an important development in twentieth-century literature: the many ways writers and visual artists understood, synthesized, and adapted the art of others working in different expressive forms. A fine example of such a collaboration is William Carlos Williams' attempts to fashion his poetry around the example of such painters as Paul Cézanne, Charles Sheeler, and Charles Demuth. Our first case study will explore how a variety of writers and artists living during the early part of the century adpated each other's works and how that adaptation illustrates important aspects of twentieth-century culture and aesthetics. Our second case study will explore a late-century development: the ways in which the World Wide Web provides a medium for bringing text, image, video, and sound together to create new expressive possibilities.
We will devote our first four class sessions to the case studies. The required readings, images, and activities for each of those case studies can be accessed by following the specified links to the left. The second half of the assignment will be your opportunity to research and report on an artist of interest to you. More specific information about the assignment calendar, the final project, and grading criteria can be found by following the link to the Assignment Outline and Calendar. You may also contact me via email with questions or observations; I will answer your email queries once per day, Monday through Friday.
Check this space every day for announcements, changes in the scheduled reading, tips for preparing for the upcoming class lecture, recommendations for further reading, discussion questions, and ideas to jumpstart your final project.