1. Lectures:

This course will examine some of the most famous and influential images created in Western art. We will discuss the images and read important writings about them to understand what made them iconic and philosophically important.

Week 1: Guidance
Week 2: Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights, 1450
Week 3: Michelangelo, Moses, 1513
Week 4: Hans Holbein the Younger, The Ambassadors, 1533
Week 5: Diego Velazquez, Las Meninas, 1656
Week 6: Nicolas Poussin, Et in Arcadia ego, 1637
Week 7: Jacques-Louis David, The Death of Marat, 1793
Week 8: Francisco Goya, The Third of May 1808, 1814
Week 9: Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, 1907
Week 10: Rene Magritte, This is not a Pipe, 1928
Week 11: Andy Warhol, Marilyn Diptych, 1962
Week 12: Student Presentations
Week 13: Student Presentations

2. Readings:

For every painting there is a companion reading. We will discuss the readings in groups each week. All the readings are in the class reader which costs ¥1000.

Reader Contents:

Exodus 20:1-5    
Letter from Pope Gregory I to Serenus of Marseille    
Epistle CV. to Serenus, Bishop of Massilia    
Hans Belting, Likeness and Presence: A History of the Image before the Era of Art
Sigmund Freud, The Mose of Michelangelo
Jacques Lacan, Anamorphosis    
Michel Foucault, Las Meninas        
Louis Marin, To Destroy Painting
Raymond Spiteri, A Farewell to modernism? Rereading T.J. Clark
T.J. Clark, Painting in the Year Two     
Fred Licht, Goya, The Origins of the Modern Temper in Art
Leo Steinberg, The Philosophical Brothel
Michel Foucault, Two Pipes
Jean Baudrillard, Andy Warhol: Snobbish Machine

3. Group discussions:

In groups of a few people each week we will discuss parts of the course: the readings, the lectures, and specific paintings. Sometimes a group will be asked to present their conclusions about a certain subject. 

4. Assessment

There will be a final term paper and companion short presentation at the end of the semester. Because of the size of the class these will have to be short and succinct.

Grading:   

40% Term paper (2000 words)      
40% Presentations (5 minutes)    
20% Group discussions  

Term paper: A term paper of around 2000 words (although the word limit is loose) will be due in the last week of class. The topic should concern a painting or artwork that can be considered a masterpiece or metapicture. 

Presentations: There will be a short presentation on the same topic as your essay in the last two weeks. Because of the numbers in the course these presentations will have to be short and succinct (about 5 minutes). Please rehearse and polish your presentation to cover your ideas effectively in the short time. 

5. The Metapictures: