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The Painter and French Fiction
FREN227 SP

Crosslistings: COL251

What is the object of art? For what public is it produced? What is the relationship between art and life, painting and literature? Aestheticians and novelists alike addressed these questions in redefining the sister arts in 18th- and 19th-century France. Documenting the evolution of art criticism through both real and fictional salons from classicism to post/impressionism, this course will examine the rise of the painter as a literary type. Of special interest will be the classical doctrines of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture and the themes of genius/madness, art-for-art's-sake, anti/bourgeois Bohemian lifestyle and victimization of the avant-garde artist. Authors include Dubos, Diderot, Balzac, Baudelaire, the Goncourt Brothers, Mallarme, Zola; artists include Poussin, Greuze, Boucher, Manet, Cezanne.

MAJOR READINGS

Balzac: "Le Chef-d'oeuvre inconnu" Baudelaire: "Le Peintre de la vie moderne," L'ART ROMANTIQUE (excerpts) Diderot: "Le Salon de 1765," "Le Salon de 1767" (excerpts) Dubos: REFLEXIONS CRITIQUES SUR LA POESIE ET SUR LA PEINTURE Goncourt: MANETTE SALOMON La Font de Saint-Yenne: "Le Salon de 1747" Mallarme: "The Impressionists and Edouard Manet," "Berthe Morisot" Zola: L'OEUVRE, MES SALONS (excerpts)

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Frequent short papers and oral reports.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.

COURSE FORMAT: Lecture

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: HA RLAN    Grading Mode: Student Option   

Prerequisites: NONE

Last Updated on MAR-24-2000

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