Mountains in European and African Art and History
ARHA 296
Fall 2013
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
ENVS 296 |
| Course Cluster: African Studies |
This course is a comparative study of mountains as artistic inspiration, focusing on the Atlas of northwest Africa and the Alps in Europe. We begin with Berber holy mountains and associated religious traditions in Morocco. Across the High Atlas, Moroccan influence provided the cultural link from southern Europe and the Maghreb to West Africa. We then turn to medieval Europe. There, passes through the Alps and the Black Forest were conduits for the transit of men, goods, and cultural forms. Mountains were not barriers but passageways that linked cultures. In 16th- and 17th-century Europe, Netherlandish artists--Breughel, Seghers, Ruisdael, Jos de Mompers--first gave full expression to the grandeur, far beyond a human scale, of Alpine scenery. Gradually, mountains came to be viewed as places of aesthetic beauty and as manifestation of the sublime.
Romanticism, in the visual arts, poetry, and music, captures the experience of the Alps as both symbol and physical manifestation of the transcendent. Constable and Turner depict mountains in England's Lake District and the Alps as their primary subject matter. A deeper understanding of landscape painting may be had through the poetry of Wordsworth and Coleridge. This transition coincided with the birth of mountaineering as a sport. We will read selections from narratives of climbing expeditions--Leslie Stephen, Mark Twain. The late 19th-century colonization of West Africa led to exploration of the interior. For the first explorers of the Futa Jalon of Guinea (Hecquard, 1850; Noirot, 1881), sketching these mountains was a form of documentation. After World War One, mountaineering took on a heightened spiritual dimension for men who had survived the horrors of trench warfare. In Austria and Germany, climbing was identified with the cult of physical prowess and, sadly, with National Socialism and antisemitism. In fact, however, the development of climbing and skiing in the Alps owes much to Austrian and German Jews. In art, too, during the first decades of the 20th century, mountains were an important source of spiritual inspiration for painters whose work is central to the evolution of modern art. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA ART |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: None |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Clark, Sir Kenneth. LANDSCAPE INTO ART. London, 1949.
Davis, Wade. INTO THE SILENCE; THE GREAT WAR, MALLORY, AND THE CONQUEST OF EVEREST. Knopf, 2011.
Gellner, Ernst. SAINTS OF THE ATLAS. London. 1969.
Roberts, David. MOMENTS OF DOUBT AND OTHER MOUNTAINEERING WRITINGS. Seattle, 1986.
Twain, Mark. A TRAMP ABROAD. Harper, 1879 et. seq.
Vaughan, William. CASPAR DAVID FRIEDRICH. Phaidon.. London. 2004.
Wilson, David. THE LOST PHOTOGRAPHS OF CAPTAIN SCOTT. Little, Brown, 2011.
For German-speaking students:
Alperverein-Museum and Hofburg Innsbruck. Berge, eine unverständliche Leidenschaft. [exhibition catalogue] Folio Verlag. Wien-Bozen. [Vienna, Bolzano] 2009.
Deutscher Alpenverin, Oesterreichischer Alpenverien, Alpenverein Südtirol, eds., Berg Heil, Alpenverein und Bergsteigen 1918-1945. Böhlau Verlag, Vienna and Cologne, 2011.
Küster, Hansjörg and Ulf, eds. Garten und Wildnis, Landschaft im 18. Jahrhundert. Verlag C.H.Beck. München. 1997.
Loewy, Hanno, and Gerhard Milchram, eds., HAST DU MEINE ALPEN GESEHEN? EINE JUDISCHE BEZIEHUNGSGESCHICHTE. Jüdische Museum Hohenems and Jüdische Museum, Vienna. 2009.
Messner, Reinhold. KONIG ORTLER. TAPPEINER VERLAG. Lana. 2004.
Messner. Mein LEBEN AM LIMIT.
In Italian:
Rigoni Stern, Mario. IL BOSCO DEGLI UROGALLI. Torino. Einaudi, rpt: 2000.
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Examinations and Assignments:
MID-TERM EXAM, THREE ESSAYS OF 5 pp; 5 pp; 12 pp; |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
IF permission is granted by the University, there will be an optional weekend-long hiking trip. |
| Instructor(s): Mark,Peter A. Times: ..T.R.. 01:10PM-02:30PM; Location: WYL112; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 25 | | SR major: 3 | JR major: 3 | | |
| Seats Available: 10 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 5 | JR non-major: 5 | SO: 5 | FR: 4 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 1 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 1 |
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