AP ART HISTORY SYLLABUS

COURSE OVERVIEW:
The AP Art History course emphasizes a deep conceptual understanding of art historical concepts and explores such topics as the nature of art, its uses, its meanings, art making, and responses to art. Through investigation of diverse artistic traditions and cultures from Global Prehistory to Global Contemporary, and through investigating the relationships among these works, the AP Art History course fosters in-depth and holistic understanding of global artistic traditions from a global perspective. Students develop and apply essential skills of visual, contextual, and comparative analysis to engage with a variety of art forms, constructing understanding of individual works and interconnections of art-making processes and products throughout history. Students analyze works of art in their contexts, considering issues of patronage, gender, politics, religion, and ethnicity. The interpretation of the work of art is based upon its intended use, audience, and the role of the artist and the work of art in its particular society. Students will expand their knowledge of history, geography, politics, religion, languages, and literature, as they explore the story of people as told through the art they created.
 
COURSE OBJECTIVES
The AP Art History course will enable students to:
·       Understand the nature of art, art making, and our responses to it.
·       Develop an in-depth understanding of individual works of art from diverse cultures.
·       Develop an understanding of the relationships among these works.
·       Practice the essential skills of visual, contextual, and comparative analysis.
 
COURSE CURRICULUM AND CONTENT
Big Ideas and Essential Questions: The AP Art History curriculum and content is structured around the big ideas and essential questions that frame explorations of the nature of art, art making, and our responses to art.  Twelve learning objectives are associated with the big ideas and essential questions.  
 
Big Idea 1: Artists manipulate materials and ideas to create an aesthetic object, act, or event.
  • Learning Objective 1.1: Students differentiate the components of form, function, content, and/or context of a work of art.
  • Learning Objective 1.2: Students explain how artistic decisions about art making shape a work of art.
  • Learning Objective 1.3: Students describe how context influences artistic decisions about creating a work of art.
  • Learning Objective 1.4: Students analyze form, function, content, and/or context to infer or explain the possible intentions for creating a specific work of art.
    • What is art and how is it made?           
    • Materials (Environment/Geography)             
    • Art making techniques             
    • Why make art? (Function)
 
Big Idea 2: Art making is shaped by traditions and change
  • Learning Objective 2.1: Students describe features of tradition and/or change in a single work of art or in a group of related works.
  • Learning Objective 2.2: Students explain how and why specific traditions and/or changes are demonstrated in a single work or group of related works.
  • Learning Objective 2.3: Students analyze the influence of a single work of art or group of related works on other artistic production
    • Why and how does art change?             
    • What features/changes of a tradition do you see?             
    • Why was the art influential?
Big Idea 3: Interpretations of art are variable.
  • Learning Objective 3.1: Students identify a work of art.
  • Learning Objective 3.2: Students analyze how formal qualities and/or content of a work of art elicit(s) a response.
  • Learning Objective 3.3: Students analyze how contextual variables lead to different interpretation of a work of art.
  • Learning Objective 3.4: Students justify attribution of an unknown work of art.
  • Learning Objective 3.5: Students analyze relationships between works of art based on their similarities and differences.
    • How do we describe our thinking about art?             
    • What are the formal qualities and content of the art?           
    • What is the context of the art? (context = differing interpretations)             
    • What attributes of a work can we attribute to other works of art? (similarities and differences?)  
 
Enduring Understanding and Essential Knowledge Statements: These provide contextual information about the regions and time periods in each content area. Information from enduring understanding and essential knowledge statements is combined with course learning objectives and works of art in the image set to form targets of assessment for the AP Art History Exam. Enduring understanding and essential knowledge statements provide contextual information that serves as a starting point for student learning in the course.

  • The big ideas, enduring understanding, and essential knowledge question in the AP Art History course and Exam Description are used as a conceptual foundation for the course.
 
Required Course Content (250 works of art): Each content area is represented by a number of exemplary works of art within a prescribed image set of 250 works. AP Art History required course content is defined to support students’ in-depth learning, critical analysis, and understanding of connections among global artistic traditions by focusing study on works representing the diversity of art through time and place. The image set consists of approximately 65 percent works from the Western tradition and 35 percent from non-Western artistic traditions. Students will also be asked to attribute works of art outside the image set based on their knowledge and understanding of works within the set; attributions should be provided in the same format and with the same level of detail as identifying information for each work of art within the image set. Students will include works they choose to study beyond the image set as AP Art History course content.
 
Students will identify the following information as it relates to each of the 250 artworks studied in class:
  • Title/Designation: name or standard description of the work (location included as present-day city and nation for architectural works)
  • Artist/Culture: individual and/or Culture from which the work originated
  • Date of Creation: Time in which the work was created
  • Media: Material(s) from which the work was created
  • Form: Principles of Design & Elements of Art
  • Content: Subject Matter & Content
  • Context: Time, Place, Culture, Religion, Artist, Audience, Patronage, Politics, Location, Display
  • Function: Intended use and/or Purpose
 
COURSE MATERIALS:
  • Fred S. Kleiner & Christin J. Mamiya, Gardner’s Art Through the Ages, 12th Edition, 2005 
                  *College Board has provided a new list of 250 artworks that students are responsible for. This textbook does not include all                       of the artworks on this list. Students MUST go to additional web or print resources. I will provide you with as many                                   resources as I can through the class website. This textbook will be provided.
  • Barron’s AP Art History, 4th Edition, 2018 (highly recommended)
  • Strickland, Carol, The Annotated Mona Lisa, 2018. (useful study guide)
  • The Insider's Complete Guide AP Art History: Beyond the European Tradition with Global Contemporary(useful study guide)
  • Barnet, Sylvan, A Short Guide to Writing about Art, 11th Edition, 2014. (Harper Collins) (useful guide)
 
PRIMARY SOURCES:
  • Khan Academy - https://www.khanacademy.org/
  • Sources that originate with or are contemporary with the works of art installation (i.e. written documents, performances on video, interviews).
                  Google Art Project. Artworks, collections, historical sites, culture and stories.
                  Annenbery Learner. Art Through Time: A Global View. Explores diverse cultural perspectives on shared human                                       experiences.
                 
SECONDARY SOURCES:
  • Sources written by scholars (i.e., journal articles, scholarly videos, museum interpretive materials).
  • The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Source of scholarly essays.
  • SmartHistory. Virtual tours of museums, architecture, and specific works of art. https://smarthistory.org/
  • How Art Made the World. Documentary investigates the far-reaching influence of art on society.
  • Internet and Supplemental Resources found on: www.ReaganAperture.weebly.com
 
NOTE: Primary and secondary sources will be made available on school writing lab computers.
 
​STUDENT MATERIALS
Students will be responsible to bring to class everyday:
  • Sturdy binder
  • Dividers for units
  • pens/pencils/highlighters
  • notebook paper
  • Index cards for flash cards
 
COURSE SCHEDULE

  • Introduction: Methodology, Context, Visual Analysis
  • Understand the methods used to analyze works of art and interpret their meanings
  • within their original and subsequent cultural contexts
  • Assess the way art historians identify conventional subject matter and symbols (iconography)
  • Writing about art (essay structure)—argumentative, comparison, formal analysis
  • Research—Library tutorial: reliable, scholarly, primary and secondary sources
  • Roles and Rules—graphic organizers, discussion etiquette, reading skills, working in groups

  • Unit 1: Global Prehistory, 30,000-500 BCE (11 works)   
  • Daily Assignments—Graphic organizers
  • Assignments—Charts, Discussion, Presentation
  • Assessments— ID quizzes, unit exam (multiple choice, essay)
  • Writing—Visual Analysis, Attribution, Analyzing interpretation

  • Unit 2: Ancient Mediterranean, 3500 BCE-300 CE (36 works)
  • Daily Assignments—Graphic organizers
  • Assignments—Charts, Discussion, Presentation, Smarthistory videos
  • Assessments—ID quizzes, unit exam (to include previous works/concepts)
  • Writing—Visual analysis, attribution, analyzing interpretation, compare/contrast, influence

  • Unit 3: West and Central Asia, 500 BCE-1980 CE (11 works)
  • Daily Assignments—Graphic organizers
  • Assignments—Charts, Discussion, Presentation, Smarthistory videos
  • Assessments—ID quizzes, unit exam (to include previous works/concepts)
  • Writing—Visual analysis, attribution, analyzing interpretation, compare/contrast, influence, Western vs. Non-Western 

  • Unit 4: South, East, and Southeast Asia, 300-1980 CE (21 works)
  • Daily Assignments—Graphic organizers
  • Assignments—Charts, Discussion, Presentation, Smarthistory videos
  • Assessments—ID quizzes, unit exam (to include previous works/concepts)
  • Writing—Visual analysis, attribution, analyzing interpretation, compare/contrast, influence, Western vs. Non-Western 

  • Unit 5: Early Europe and Colonial Americas, 200-1750 CE (51 works)
  • Daily Assignments—Graphic organizers
  • Assignments—Charts, Discussion, Presentation, AP exam requirements, review, museum visit, independent research
  • Assessments—ID quizzes, unit exam (to include previous works/concepts)
  • Writing—Visual analysis, attribution, analyzing interpretation, compare/contrast, influence, Western vs. Non-Western

  • Unit 6: Later Europe and Americas, 1750-1980 CE (54 works)
  • Daily Assignments—Graphic organizers, Observation Journals
  • Assignments—Charts, Discussion, Presentation, AP exam requirements, review, museum visit, independent research
  • Assessments—ID quizzes, unit exam (to include previous works/concepts)
  • Writing—Visual analysis, attribution, analyzing interpretation, compare/contrast, influence, Western vs. Non-Western
 
​
  • Unit 7: Indigenous Americas, 1000 BCE-1980 CE (14 works)
  • Daily Assignments—Graphic organizers
  • Assignments—Charts, discussion, Presentation, AP exam requirements, review, museum visit, independent research
  • Assessments—ID quizzes, unit exam (to include previous works/concepts)
  • Writing—Visual analysis, attribution, analyzing interpretation, compare/contrast, influence, Western vs. Non-Western

  • Unit 8: Africa, 1100-1980 CE (14 works)
  • Daily Assignments—Graphic organizers
  • Assignments—Charts, Discussion, Presentation, AP exam requirements, review, museum visit, independent research
  • Assessments—ID quizzes, unit exam (to include previous works/concepts)
  • Writing—Visual analysis, attribution, analyzing interpretation, compare/contrast, influence, Western vs. Non-Western

  • Unit 9: The Pacific, 700-1980 CE (11 works)
  • Daily Assignments—Graphic organizers
  • Assignments—Charts, Discussion, Presentation, AP exam requirements, review, museum visit, independent research
  • Assessments—ID quizzes, unit exam (to include previous works/concepts)
  • Writing—Visual analysis, attribution, analyzing interpretation, compare/contrast, influence, Western vs. Non-Western

  • Unit 10: Global Contemporary, 1980 CE to Present (27 works)
  • Daily Assignments—Graphic organizers
  • Assignments—Charts, Discussion, Presentation, AP exam requirements, review, museum visit, independent research
  • Assessments—ID quizzes, unit exam (to include previous works/concepts)
  • Writing—Visual analysis, attribution, analyzing interpretation, compare/contrast, influence, Western vs. Non-Western
                              
COURSE OBJECTIVES: 
  • Students will learn to discuss and write about Global Art using skills that define critical thinking, including analysis, inference, interpretation, compare and contrast and evaluation. 
  • Students will also learn how to use critical thinking skills to make connections from concrete to abstract, personal to impersonal and literal to figurative.
  • Students will gain a worldwide understanding of Global Art traditions through art as a reflection of those societies.
  • Students will learn to see through observing details in the art studied.  Students will learn to relate those details to observation of their own world.
  • Students will observe the evolution of art and societies through the chronological approach to teaching of art history.
  • Students will develop an art vocabulary and be able to use the language of painting, sculpture and architecture and also the Elements of Art and the Principles of Design.  They will also learn technical terms, stylistic devices and building methods.
  • Students will have an opportunity to experience hands-on approaches to various media and processes including fresco and construction for a better understanding of the arts.
  • Because of the religious purpose of much of the art studied, students will develop a basic knowledge and understanding of world religions and their relationship with art and each other.
  • Students will make connections to literary works through paintings and sculptures as narrative forms of expression.
  • Students will come to understand the business of art and the patronage necessary for much of art’s “creation”.
 
STUDENT LEARNING:
 
During the year of study students will learn to:
  • Do rigorous homework, research, and reading assignments in college level texts and online
  • In-depth study and analysis of hundreds of works of art
  • Develop an art, art history, and technique vocabulary
  • Analyze works of art and determine styles, time periods and influences
  • Understand Global historical facts through fine art images
  • Participate in classroom discussions
  • Do formal analysis using the elements of art and principles of design
  • Thoroughly research and interpret works of art globally
  • Understand world cultures and religions
  • Make connections between cultures
  • Develop learning through supporting the arts (museum and gallery attendance)
  • Organize information through daily notes and lectures, texts and PowerPoints
  • Write comparison essays using visual prompts
  • Present orally in class using a variety of media and technology
  • Formally analyze paintings through color reproductions
 
AP ART HISTORY HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS: 
Homework will be assigned weekly.  Small group (3 per group, self-selected) research and work will be an integral part of the class.  Students will be asked to read relevant pages in the art history text and use an unlimited number of online sources.  All assignments and due dates will be available on the AP Art History website.  Vocabulary terms are required for students to define as they appear in the text.  Ideas and Concepts for every period and Global location of art history will be discussed.  There will be a minimum of two group projects during the year.
 
TEST, QUIZZES, ESSAYS: 
Each week students will be given slide quizzes, short essays, or other forms of assessment based on images, lectures, and discussions from class.  It is imperative that you do not miss class!  Tests will be given at the end of each unit with short answer questions, slide identification, context questions and essays.  Students will be expected to recognize concepts, images, dates, titles, names of the artists where appropriate, techniques, materials location/place, function of the art and styles.  Students should be able to discuss art in all formats using the Elements and Principles and understand historical events that might have shaped the works of art.  Finally, students should also be able to recognize and discuss characteristics of the various styles and Global cultures.
 
STUDENT EVALUATION
60% Exams
15% Participation/Note Cards/Graphic Organizers
10% Projects/Museum visits
10% Quizzes
5%   Quarterly Exam
 
CLASS EXPECTATIONS:
  • Students are required to do all Readings and Assignments on time. LATE WORK WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
  • Students are responsible for the Materials of the class.
  • Take good notes to supplement class notes.
  • Students will be expected to participate in the ongoing conversation about art in the class.  Thus, required readings will be issued that the student has adequate Prior knowledge to class.
  • Ask for help if you need it.
  • No cell phones in class.  Period.
  • Students missing any classes are required to make up lectures and presentations. 
  • Students will be allowed to correct and resubmit homework for credit if the original work was turned in on time.
  • Students are required to keep a binder of notes and graphic organizers organized in chronological order.
  • Exams/Quizzes need to be made up the 2 days after you return- No exceptions and no excuses will be accepted for not having time to study.
 
“AP STUDY SESSIONS”
Study Sessions for the AP Exam will start in late March/April. Exact dates will be announced in March.  Sessions are not required, though strongly recommended. Study Sessions will help students better prepare for the exam by taking practice exams, working together with another student, drill vocabulary, artists, and review key movements. We will organize flashcards and notes so that students are effectively able to study. During these study sessions information about the exam and what to expect will be explained.


TEACHER AND STUDENT/PARENT COMMUNICATION:
Parents and students who have any questions or need to contact me can reach me at (305) 805-1900 or email me at [email protected]. You can also access my website to view assignments, due dates and Exam Dates. 
 
                       AP EXAM –FRIDAY, MAY 8, 2020