Course Description
An exploration of various stages of German and Austrian culture through the visual arts. Attuned to the relation between word and image, we interpret exemplary paintings, poetry and prose from the rich German and Austrian artistic traditions. Figures: Duerer, Friedrich, Klimt, Lasker-Schueler, Schiele, Kokoschka, Kiefer, Beuys, Hoech, Rilke, Celan, and Richter. Taught in German.
Athena Title
Culture Through Visual Arts
Prerequisite
GRMN 3010 or GRMN 3015
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
This innovative course has several important interrelated objectives. It aims to familiarize students majoring in German with some of the most significant German and Austrian accomplishments in the realm of the visual arts and culture. Taking major art works and artists as its point of departure, the course introduces students to the political, cultural and literary achievements of the epoch or artist under consideration (the main emphasis being on modern art). Taught entirely in German, the course relies heavily on the use of state-of-the art technology as well as the use of WebCT. Through the technique of Bildbeschreibung, students refine their language skills, expand their vocabulary and practice difficult points of grammar. Students will be evaluated on the basis of in-class discussions and oral presentations, written assignments, such as a reading journal, a midterm paper and a final research paper.
Topical Outline
Sample Topical Course Outline The poetry of Hildegard von Bingen and medieval art Duerer’s Melencholia and the poetry of transcience Caspar David Friedrich’s sublime landscapes and sentimental poetry Otto Runge and Goethe Angelika Kauffmann, portraitist, and the role of women in the 18th century Arnold Boecklin and the Gothic The femme fatale in Jugendstil art: Gustav Klimt Der blaue Reiter: Franz Marc and Else Lasker-Schueler Rilke and the thing-poem World War I, Expressionist art and literature: Die Bruecke, Schiele, Kokoschka Berlin dada and the photomontages of Hannah Hoech, poetry by German Dadaists World War II and the resistance: Max Beckman and Felix Nussbaum The Holocaust in the work of Anselm Kiefer, poetry by Paul Celan Post-war art and literature: Joseph Beuys, Rebecca Horn and Gerhard Richter