Modern Art
Modern Art 1851-1929 by RICHARD BRETTELL is divided into chapters that address the social, economic and political changes of the time period along with documenting the revolutions in communications systems and technology. All of these conditions and changes contributed to a modern world and modern representation. This time period saw the rise of the major European avant-garde groups: the Realists, Impressionists, Post-Impressionists, and Symbolists (and others).
The lectures have also explored the significant influence that these changes (industrialization, expansion and colonialism) had on painting at this time.
In this paper you are to choose a chapter Modern Art from Sections II or III of your text. This will be the direction of your paper. Do you want to investigate Social Class and Consciousness and its effect on art? Or perhaps you are interested in pursuing the Modern Art of Sexuality and the Body. This is just a suggestion to get you thinking about what you would like to investigate further. For example Orientalism would be a sub-category under Sex and the Body. If you are studying graphic design you might want to research the changes in design during this time period.
Now that you have your direction choose an artist or movement or influence to focus on. It will be necessary to discuss the movement and its motivation or the influence and its effect on art production.
Write about what you are interested in, what you are curious about.
The following are elements of an exceptional book report:
Clarity of expression- do you get your point across in an understandable manner. If you have problems with writing make sure you visit the Writing Center here on campus. HAVE SOMEONE PROOF READ YOUR PAPER BEFORE YOU HAND IT IN! This person should be able to be objective and should be a native English speaker or fluent in English Accuracy of information-did you investigate your Modern Art, "don't make "stuff" up".
Quality of sources- sources should be academicnot Wikipedia, JSTOR is a good place to start as it has many academic articles available for free and from the comfort of your couch.
Effective use of information-did your research back up the paper's premise?
Creativity of presentation and ideas- A re-hash? Or did you bring something new, interesting to the material?
Did you follow the MLA or Chicago format for a research paper?
Any paper that is not have footnotes and or citations will not be read or considered for a grade.
Your text can be a research source for you. If you look at the Bibliographic Essay on pages. 232-238 you will find a list of sources that apply to each chapter along with a brief summary for most of the sources listed.
You are encouraged to read through your chosen Modern Art chapter carefully. Brettell often sites sources in the body of the text or refers to works by writers of the time such as Zola's , Masterpiece, Nana, Terese Raquin and Flaubert's, Madame Bovary. You may consider these as sources for your research as they shed light on the social situation of the time albeit some in a dramatic manner. Check out the footnotes for your Modern Art chapter for more research suggestions.