Fundamental Aspects of Spanish Art

Course Description

Course: Fundamental Aspects of Spanish art
Course number: CH3191
ECTS credits: 6
Prerequisites: None

Description
This course will analyze main artistic manifestations in Painting in Madrid and will
provide you with the tools to identify, classify, understand, criticize and appreciate the
most relevant Spanish art works, particularly those to be found in Madrid.
You will have the opportunity to learn by seeing, feeling, living the art and its
expressions in Madrid as you study the painted art works in situ. To this end, you will
explore the most relevant museums in Madrid that hold the artistic expressions of the
painters studied in this course. In your study of painting you will be able to recognize
and personally analyze the most important works of Spanish painters such as El
Greco, Velázquez, and Goya in the magnificent Prado Museum; and Picasso, Dalí,
Miró, and other contemporary authors at the Centro de Arte Museo Reina Sofía.

Learning outcomes

-to classify the main artistic movements into their correspondent historical
period
-to acquire and employ technical glossary on materials, art tools, styles,
aesthetic
-to critically analyze a work of art
-to generate comparisons between international styles and artists
-to be able to expound (orally and written) art concepts in an organized way

Educational Activities

Educational activities will be developed by means of different didactic strategies:
-Theory and Practica
-Collective and individual tutoring
-In-class presentations
2
-Daily assignments
-Team work assignments
-Workshops and additional training
-Extra-learning activities: field trips

Attending Hours: 45 hours

Methodology

The majority of the course syllabus follows the main methodological guidelines of the
Communicative Approach, based on the core principles of procedure conception and
constructive acquisition of knowledge. The methodology is based on the teachinglearning
procedures, focused on the learner, which encourages active participation
and results in the development of general and specific competencies that prove
knowledge, capacities and attitudes for their future professional careers.

Form of Assessment

The form of assessment is based on the core principles of the educational
assessment, i.e., an active and participative teaching-learning process focused on the
learner. The instructor will use numerous and differentiated forms of assessment to
calculate the final grade you receive for this course. For the record, these are listed
and weighted below. The content, criteria and specific requirements for each
assessment category will be explained in greater detail in class.

The final grade consists of three parts: class participation, daily work and exams

o 33% Active in-class participation
o 33% daily work
o 34% exams

Grading Scale goes from 0 to 10.

Numerical Grade Range Letter grade Percentage
Range
10 A+ 100%
9.5 ? 9.9 A 95 -99%
9 ? 9.4 A- 90-94%
8.5 ? 8.9 B+ 85-89%
7.5- 8.4 B 75-84%
7 ? 7.4 B- 70-74%
6.5 ? 6.9 C+ 65-69%
6 ? 6.4 C 60-64%
5 ? 5.9 C- 5-59%
0-4.9 F 0-49%

The final grade will be the average of active in-class participation, daily work and
exams.

Attendance Policy

Attendance is compulsory. In order to excuse any absence, students have to deliver a
3
doctor?s note or any valid justification.
An absence is equivalent to a session. Two delays of more than 15 minutes will be
considered as an absence.

Any unjustified absence will affect negatively students? final grade by dropping their
participation grade.

Participation grade will be dropped in the following way:

NÚMBER OF ABSENCES PARTICIPATION
3 unjustified absences - 30%
4 unjustified absences - 40%
5 unjustified absences - 50%

If a student has more than 5 unjustified absences, the PARTICIPATION GRADE will
zero (0).

Any student with 7 or more absences will NOT pass the course. Those students
whose absences have been properly justified will get No presentado (N.P). Absences
do NOT excuse the fulfillment of tasks, papers or essays.

Active Participation

The methodology used in class demands from the student a daily participation in the
following aspects:

To answer the questions done in class;
To establish debates about the topics in class;
To relate the actual politics with past history;
To analyze the class slides.

Criteria for Assessing Class Participation Grade

The student very often contributes with important and original comments that
encourage debate, using critical and analytical arguments clearly based on reading,
investigation, daily work, and class work. 8.5-10

The student frequently participates voluntarily and makes valuable contributions that
are generally based on reflection and daily work 7-8.4

The student makes eventual comments, practically only when asked, and shows no
clear interest in the course. The student does not start a debate nor shows a clear
understanding of the importance of class/homework and readings. 5- 6.9

The student makes no comments at all, or makes irrelevant or distracting ones during
class. This is usually a result from frequent absences or lack of preparation for the
class. 0-4.9

Daily Work

Daily work will be made up of a variety of assignments, readings and researches to be
done after class.

Exams /Presentations/Essays
There will be a Mid-term exam and a Final exam. Written or oral format could be
possible as well as presentations regarding the specific features of the course.
If any student does NOT take an exam, deliver a paper or attend to any presentation,
they will get a grade of zero (0) in this part.

* A warning on plagiarism. When writing a research paper or an essay exam you
must identify your intellectual indebtedness to the authors you have read. This can be
done through footnotes, bibliography, or by making a direct reference to the scholar or
author in question. Failure to do so will be considered plagiarism. Plagiarism is the
most serious academic offence you can incur in and could have serious
consequences for you.

Readings:

General Reference: Art History, Aesthetics and transversal subjects
Barrai i Altet, X: Art and architecture of Spain. Spain: Bulfinch, 1998, 575pp.
Berger, J: Ways of seeing. UK: Penguin Books, 1972, 178pp.
Breton, A: Manifestoes of Surrealism. Michigan: University of Michigan Press,
1972, 304pp.
Bryant Wilder, J: Art History for Dummies. New Jerssey: Wiley Publishing New
Jersey, 2007, 456pp.
Eco, U (Ed.): On Beauty. A History of a Western Idea. New York: Rizzoli, 2004,
438pp.
Eco, U (Ed): On Ugliness. New York: Rizzoli, 2007, 455pp.
Emerling, J: Theory for Art History. London & New York: Routledge, 2005, 268pp.
Elkins, J: Why Art Cannot Be Taught. USA: University of Illinois Press, 2001,
228pp.
Fleming, W: Art & Ideas. USA: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1986, 552pp.
FREELAND, C: Art Theory. A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford, 2001,
158pp.
Fuentes, C: The Buried Mirror. Reflections on Spain and the New World. USA:
Marina Books, 1999, 400pp.
Giedion, S: The Eternal Present: the beginnings of Art. A contribution to constancy
and change. New York: Bollingen Foundation, 1962, 588pp.
Gies, D. T: Modern Spanish Culture. Cambridge, 1999, 368pp.
Govignon, B (Ed.): The beginner?s guide to art. New York: Abrams, 1998, 288pp.
Harris, J: Art History: The key Concepts. London & New York: Routledge, 2006,
360pp.
Hoving, T: Art for Dummies. California: IDG Books Worldwide, 1999, 408pp.
Lucie-Smith, E: Dictionary of Art Terms. London: Thames&Hudson, 1984, 240pp.
Moffitt, J. F: The Arts in Spain. London: Thames and Hudson, 1999, 240pp.
Murrai, C (Ed.): Key Writers on Art: From Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century.
London & New York: Routledge, 290pp.
Murrai, C (Ed.): Key Writers on Art: The Twentieth Century. London & New York:
Routledge, 338pp.
Nash, E: Madrid. A Cultural and Literary Story. India: Oxford, 2006, 246pp.
Nici, J: Barron´s AP Art History. USA: Barrons, 2008, 594pp.
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Read, H (Ed): The styles of European Art. UK: Thames&Hudson, 1965, 468pp.
Robinson, W: Instant Art History: From Cave Art to Pop Art. USA: Ballantine Book,
1995, 237pp.
Roskill, M: What is Art History? USA: The University of Massachusetts Press, 1989,
192pp.
Smith, B: Spain, a History in Art. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1966, 206pp.
Sturken, M & Cartwright, L: Practices of Looking. An Introduction to Visual Culture.
New York: Oxford University Press, 2002, 385pp.
William, M: The Story of Spain. The bold and dramatic history of Europe´s most
fascinating country. Málaga: Santana Books, 1996, 250pp.
Williamson, B: Christian Art. A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford, 2004,
132pp.
Painting
ARNHEIM, R: The Genesis of a Painting: Picasso?s Guernica. USA: University of
California Press, 1962, 139pp.
ASHTON, D (Editor): Picasso on Art. A selection of views. New York: Da Capo
Press, 1972, 220pp.
BOZAL, V: Goya: Black Paintings. (Gallery Guide). Madrid: Fundación de amigos
del Museo del Prado, 2002, 64pp.
CALVO SERRALLER, F: Masterpieces of the Prado Museum. (Gallery Guide).
Madrid: Fundación de amigos del Museo del Prado, 2005, 67pp.
CALVO SERRALLER, F: Velázquez. (Gallery Guide). Madrid: Fundación de amigos
del Museo del Prado, 2002, 64pp.
CHARNEY, N: Museum Time. Madrid: GeoPlaneta, 2010, 109pp.
DALÍ, S: Diary of a genius. Solar Books, 2007, 191pp.
DÜCHTING, H: Picasso. Germany: Presel Art Guide, 2004, 71pp.
EBBECKE, G: Dalí. Germany: Presel Art Guide, 2004, 71pp.
ELSOHN ROSS, M: Salvador Dali and the Surrealist: Their Lives and Ideas.
Singapore: Chicago Review Press, 2003, 144pp.
FAERNA GARCÍA-BERMEJO, J. M: Sorolla. Barcelona: Polígrafa masterpieces, 2006,
79pp.
FINKELSTEIN, H (Edit.): The Collected writings of Salvador Dalí. USA: 1998,
496pp.
MARÍAS, F: El Greco. (Gallery Guide). Madrid: Fundación de Amigos del Museo del
Prado, 2005, 64pp.
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MENA MARQUÉS, M. B: Goya. (Gallery Guide). Madrid: Fundación de Amigos del
Museo del Prado, 2002, 96pp.
ORSO, S: Velázquez. Los Borrachos, and Painting at the Court of Philip IV. USA:
Cambridge University Press, 1993,224pp.
RAQUEJO, T: Dalí: metamorphoses. Madrid: Edilupa, 2004, 144pp.
READ, H: A concise history of Modern Painting. Singapure: Thames&Hudson, 2001,
392pp.
RYNCK, P: How to read a painting. Lessons from the Old Masters. New York:
Abrams, 2004, 384pp.
SCHIEBLER, R: Dalí. The reality of Dreams. Germany: Prestel, 1996, 127pp.
STRATTON-PRUIT, S (Editor): Velázquez?s Las Meninas. UK: Cambridge University
Press, 2003, 236pp.
STRICKLAND, C: The Annotated Mona Lisa. A Crash Course in Art History. From
Prehistory to Post-Modern. Missouri: Andrews and McMeel Books, 1992, 208pp.
DVDs
Arteseros, A: Salvemos el Prado. The artistic front during the Spanish Civil War.
Spain: Borderdreams, 2004.
Ayuntamiento de Madrid: Madrid Monumental. Spain: Sci-dreams, 2002.
Buñuel, L: Un perro andaluz. France: Manga Films, 1929.
Clouzot, H-G: El misterio de Picasso. France: Gaumont, 1956.
Dalí, S: Destino. USA: Walt Disney, 1946.
Díaz, A: El capitan alatriste. France, Spain & US: La Chauve-Souris, 2006.
Forman, M: Goya´s ghosts. Spain: Warner Sogefilms, 2005.
Hitchcock, A: Spellbound. USA: Manga films, 1945.
Luna, B: Volaverunt. Spain: Universal, 1999.
Munt, S: Gala. Spain: Manga Films, 2003.
Ribas, A: Dalí. Spain: Manga films, 1990.
Saura, C: Goya en Burdeos. Spain: Lola films, 1999.
Saura, C: Buñuel y la mesa del Rey Salomón. Spain: Sogedasa, 2001.
Thevenet, M: Picasso y sus mujeres. La intensa relación entre su obra y su vida
amorosa. Spain: Planeta Arte, 2003.

Online Reference & Research Tools

www.march.es/cuenca
Abstract Museum in Cuenca
http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/sub_art.html?arthist
AP Art History
http://www.questia.com/library/art-and-architecture/
Art texts
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/audiointerviews/profilepages/dalis1.shtml
BBC Online. Interview with Salvador Dalí in Portlligat, 1962
http://www.scribd.com/doc/243296/Ways-of-Seeing-John-Berger
BERGER, J: Ways of Seeing.
http://www.csus.edu/indiv/o/obriene/art109/readings/ManifestoOfSurrealism.pdf
BRETON, A: Surrealist Manifesto. 1924.
http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/b/burke/edmund/sublime/complete.html#part3.21
BURKE, E: The Sublime and the Beautiful
http://obrasocial.lacaixa.es/centros/caixaforummadrid_es.html
Caixa Forum in Madrid
http://history.hanover.edu/texts/trent.htm
Council of Trent
http://www.salvador-dali.org/
Dali Museum in Figueras
http://www.salvadordalimuseum.org/home.html
Dali Museum in San Petersburg, FL. USA: (A Surrealist game)
http://www.aesthetics-online.org/asa/
DEVEREAUX, M: The Ugly. American Society of Aesthetics
http://www.bcn.fjmiro.cat/
Joan Miró Foundation in Barcelona
http://miro.palmademallorca.es/english/index.htm
Joan Miró Foundation in Palma de Mallorca
www.march.es/
Juan March Foundation in Madrid
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hi/te_index.asp
Metropolitan Museum: world maps, timelines, thematic essays, work of art, etc.
http://www.humanehealthcare.com/Article.asp?art_id=803
Volume 4, Number 2. 2004
http://www.calcografianacional.com/
National Chalcography
http://www.surrealismcentre.ac.uk/publications/papers/index.html
Papers on Surrealism
www.museupicasso.bcn.es
Picasso Museum in Barcelona
www.museopicassomalaga.org/
Picasso Museum in Malaga
http://museoprado.mcu.es/home.html
Prado Museum
http://www.museoreinasofia.es/portada/portada.php
Reina Sofía Museum
http://museoromantico.mcu.es/index.html
Romanticism Museum Madrid
http://www.patrimonionacional.es/preal/preal.htm
Royal Palace
http://www.realfabricadetapices.com
Royal Tapestry Factory
http://rabasf.insde.es/
San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts
http://museosorolla.mcu.es/
Sorolla Museum
9
http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/arthistory.html
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: How to write an Art paper guideline
http://www.gombrich.co.uk/
The Gombrich Archive
http://www.museothyssen.org/thyssen/
Thyssen Museum
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~jenglish/English104/tzara.html
Tzara, T: Dada Manifesto. 1924
Virtual Campus
http://cursos.nebrija.es/index.php

The university offers a virtual platform (Dokeos) where students can revise contents,
do their tasks and interact with the other members of the group.
Dokeos is an e-learning environment and also a collaboration tool. The main goals of
Dokeos are to be a very user-friendly and flexible system. It wants to be a tool for
good learning, so that users have minimal notice of the tools and maximum attention
for the content.

Dokeos contains several tools for different purposes: Agenda/calendar;
Announcements: important messages for students; Course description: explain the
objectives, methodology, course material, assessment methods to the students?
documents; Learning Path: this tells students which steps they should follow and
guides them through the course. Students can submit assignments to the teacher and
share their work with the rest of students (Chat module)

FUNDAMENTAL ASPECTS OF SPANISH ART

SESSIONS TOPIC ASSIGNMENT
COURSE

PRESENTATION

Overview of syllabus with focus on course objectives
Looking at paintings: the analysis of a picture.
Basic artistic elements: light and color; volume and perspective; visual perceptions.
Readings:

? Pook, & Newall, Introduction (pp. xvii-xxi)
? Pook, & Newall, Glossary of terms (pp. 217- 227)
? Pook, & Newall, Formalism Modernism and Modernity (pp. 33- 58)
? Pooke & Newall, (pp. 65-70)

Related terms:
Abstraction, aesthetic, allegory, architecture/architect, art, art-for-art?s- sake, art history, art
world, artifact, artist, artwork, author, beauty/ugliness, body, classical/class, commission,
composition, connoisseurship, curation, epoch, exhibition, figurative, form, formalism, high
art, identification, look, museum, painting/painter, period, still-life, style, subject matter,
theory, title

1. SPANISH MEDIEVAL ART AND THE RENAISSANCE

Impact of the CounterReformation on Spanish Art Readings:
Musso, El Greco: Painting the Soul.

http://www.humanehealthcare.com/Article.asp?art_id=803
http://cursos.nebrija.es/courses/1011CH31912063ING1P/document/Assignments/El_Greco/EL_GRECO_BACKGROUND.pdf?
cidReq=1011CH31912063ING1P
http://cursos.nebrija.es/courses/1011CH31912063ING1P/document/Assignments/El_Greco/OUTLINE_EL_GRECO.pdf?cidReq
=1011CH31912063ING1P

Related terms:
Artisan, craft, gothic, iconography/iconic, medieval art/medieval/middle ages, patron,
perspective. academy, humanism/human, ideal, illusionism, mannerism, renaissance.

2. EL GRECO Religious paintings and portraits

Readings:
http://cursos.nebrija.es/courses/1011CH31912063ING1P/document/Assignments/El_Greco/THE_ART_OF_RENAISSANCE.pd
f?cidReq=1011CH31912063ING1P

The Holly Trinity
The Martyrdom of St. Maurice
Christ Carrying the Cross

3. THE BAROQUE PERIOD
Basic characteristics and an overview of the works of Ribera, Murillo and Zurbarán

Readings:
? Moffitt, The court of the last Habsburgs (pp. 169-174)
? Nash, Paseo del Prado: From Siesta to Fiesta (pp. 1-19); Puerta del Sol: Ruffians
and Royals (pp. 21-40); Plaza Mayor: Blood and Theater (pp.61-73)
? http://cursos.nebrija.es/courses/1011CH31912063ING1P/document/Assignments/Diego_de_Vel%E1zquez/INTROD
UCTION_TO_THE_ART_OF_THE_BAROQUE_%5BSolo_lectura%5D.pdf?cidReq=1011CH31912063ING1P

4. VELÁZQUEZ
Reading behind Velázquez?s paintings
Velazquez?s masterpieces at Prado: Earthly vision of Gods, Court Jesters and Royal Portraits

Readings:
? Moffitt, Velázquez: The High watermark of Spanish Painting (pp. 147-163)
? Fahy, Velázquez (1599?1660) http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/vela/hd_vela.htm
? Nash, The Royal Palace: The World of Velázquez (pp.45-59)
? http://cursos.nebrija.es/courses/1011CH31912063ING1P/document/Assignments/Diego_de_Vel%E1zquez/MINOR_
BAROQUE_AND_NEOCLASSIC_PAINTERS.pdf?cidReq=1011CH31912063ING1P

5. ?I see you seeing me, in you I see myself seen and I see you seeing yourself being seen? Or What is hidden in
Las Meninas
Velázquez as a court painter
Official portraits and Historic work
Customs and mythology

Readings:
? Stratton-Pruitt, Velázquez´s Las Meninas: an Interpretive Primer (pp.124-149); The
Aura of a Masterpiece: Responses to Las Meninas in Nineteenth-Century Spain and
France (pp. 8-46), Representing representation (pp.150-169); Las Meninas in
Twentieth-Century Art (pp. 170-202)
? http://cursos.nebrija.es/courses/1011CH31912063ING1P/document/Assignments/Diego_de_Vel%E1zquez/DIEGO_
VELAZQUEZ_OR_THE_CULMINATION_OF_PAINTING.pdf?cidReq=1011CH31912063ING1P
12

6. NEOCLASICISM
The Neoclassic period and the new tendencies in architecture, sculpture, and painting

Readings:
? Galitz, Romanticism. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/roma/hd_roma.htm
? Burke, Of the Sublime and the Beautiful
http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/b/burke/edmund/sublime/complete.html#part3.21
? http://cursos.nebrija.es/courses/1011CH31912063ING1P/document/Assignments/Goya/THE_18TH_CENTURY_Enli
ghtment_Neoclassicism.pdf?cidReq=1011CH31912063ING1P

7. GOYA
Goya before being Goya
Cartoons for the Royal Tapestry
Popular topics

Readings:
? http://cursos.nebrija.es/courses/1011CH31912063ING1P/document/Assignments/Goya/FRANCISCO_DE_GOYA_-
_BACKGROUND.pdf?cidReq=1011CH31912063ING1P
? http://cursos.nebrija.es/courses/1011CH31912063ING1P/document/Assignments/Goya/GOYA_S_TAPESTRIES.pdf
?cidReq=1011CH31912063ING1P

The Wedding
The Wine Harvest

8. GOYA
An intruder in the Court Portraits, the Majas and the Black Paintings
?The Dream/Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters?
Goya´s drawing and engraving albums

Readings:
? Pooke & Newall, Sex and Sexualities: representation of gender (pp. 136- 163)
? Berger, Ways of seeing Chapter 3 (pp. 45-64)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/7346945/Berger-John-Ways-of-Seeing)
? Devereaux, The Ugly http://www.aesthetics-online.org/asa/
? Nash, The Buena Vista: Goya and The Duchess (pp. 81-91); Plaza Dos de Mayo:
Goya and National Heros (pp 93-103)
? Campbell, European Tapestry Production and Patronage, 1600?1800
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/tapb/hd_tapb.htm

9. THE END OF TRADITIONAL LANGUAGE
Introduction to the change of the century; new trends: Impressionism

Readings:
? Pook, & Newall, Exploring Postmodernities, (pp. 164-191)
? http://cursos.nebrija.es/courses/1011CH31912063ING1P/document/Assignments/Picasso/Picasso_CONTEXT.pdf?ci
dReq=1011CH31912063ING1P
? http://cursos.nebrija.es/courses/1011CH31912063ING1P/document/Assignments/Picasso/PICASSO_STUDENTS.pd
13

Avant-Garde and its understanding tools
Symbolism
Related terms
Avant-garde, contemporary, cubism, dada, expressionism, functionalism/function, futurism,
installation/installation art, ism, mass culture/mass, movement, pop/pop art/popular,
primitivism, psychoanalysis/psychology, surrealism.

10. ?A painting is an addition of
destructions? Picasso and the stages of Cubism
?Every child is an artist. It's a challenge to remain an artist when you grow up?. ? Picasso
Artistic and personal stages, interest and styles

Readings:
? Moffitt, The Picasso Phenomenon & The Native Sources of Spanish Cubism & Art,
Politics and War (pp. 201-214)
? Murrell, African Influences in Modern Art.
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/aima/hd_aima.htm
? Rewald, Cubism. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cube/hd_cube.htm Voorhies,
Pablo Picasso (1881?1973) http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/pica/hd_pica.htm
? http://cursos.nebrija.es/courses/1011CH31912063ING1P/document/Assignments/Picasso/PICASSO.pdf?cidReq=10
11CH31912063ING1P

11. THE APPROPIATION OF A CHARACTER
Surrealism, Dali?s artistic and personal stages
The Automatic Writing and Process of Images
A movie without plot: Surrealism and Cinema

Readings:
? Pook, & Newall, Psychoanalysis, Art and the Hidden Self, (pp. 115-135)
? Moffit, Paradoxes of Modern Spain (pp. 214-218)
? Voorhies, Surrealism http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/surr/hd_surr.htm
? Nash, The ?Resi?: The Birth of Surrealism. (pp. 145- 162)
? Department of Photographs (MOMA), Photography and Surrealism
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/phsr/hd_phsr.htm
? Dalí, Diary, entries 1952 (pp. 15-32), 1953 (pp. 81-113)
? http://cursos.nebrija.es/courses/1011CH31912063ING1P/document/Assignments/Dal%ED/THE_SPANISH_SURREA
LISTS.pdf?cidReq=1011CH31912063ING1P

12. ART AND CULTURE IN SPAIN TODAY.
Final Exam Review
Course content Review