NOTE: This syllabus is subject to change

Reading:
Introduction, Richard Brilliant, Portraiture

Jean Francis Chevrier, "The Life of Forms: Fragmentation and Montage," A Self-Portrait, John Coplans, P.S.1., Contemporary Arts Center, 1977.

David Levi Strauss, "After You, Dearest Photography: Reflections on the Works of Francesca Woodman," Francesca Woodman, Scalo, 1988.

Holland Carter, "When the I Is the Subject, and It's Always Changing," The New York Times, Sept, 12, 2003.

http://www.matthewmarks.com/ (Goldin)
http://www.andrearosengallery.com/ (Coplans)
http://www.fraenkelgallery.com/artists/a friedlander.html

Assignment:
Self-portrait

Reading:
Chapter 1 & 2, Brilliant, Portraiture

http://www.pacewildenstein.com/jsp/show3.jsp

Assignment:
Self-portrait

Unrepentant Ego: The Self-Portraits of Lucas Samaras
on view until February 8, 2004
Emily Fisher Landau Galleries Floor 4
Throughout a remarkably prolific career spanning over forty years, Lucas Samaras (b. 1936) has produced a heterogeneous and highly textured body of work. Self-depiction is arguably the driving force of his entire oeuvre, and this exhibition traces the self-portrait leitmotif through approximately three hundred objects, including drawings, photographs, sculpture, and film. Samaras's innovative, idiosyncratic art has occupied a position outside the dominant trends of his time, earning him a significant place in the history of American art and exerting considerable influence on younger artists.

John Currin
on view until February 22, 2004
Mildred and Herbert Lee Galleries Floor 2
The Whitney presents John Currin, the first solo museum show in the United States devoted to the artist's work. The exhibition is organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, where it made its debut in May 2003, in collaboration with London's Serpentine Gallery. This survey exhibition includes approximately forty paintings from the past decade.
In the last decade, John Currin (b. 1962) has come to be recognized as one of the most important and provocative artists of his generation. His work is inspired by images ranging from Italian and Northern Renaissance figure paintings to modern and contemporary magazine advertisements and fashion photographs. Featured in the Whitney's 2000 Biennial, Currin's paintings explore issues of beauty, representation, and desire through the presentation of the physical body and human relationships.

Reading:
Arthur Ollman, "Introduction," The Model Wife, The Museum of Photographic Arts, 2000

Sandra Matthews and Laura Wexler, "Family Photographs and the Pregnant Pose," Pregnant Pictures, 2000, Routledge

Jessica Todd Smith, "Time of Exposure; Nancy Newhall's Unpublished Book of Edward Weston's Nudes," Edward Weston: A Legacy, 2003, The Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery.

http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/photography/photographerframe.php?photographerid=ph030

Assignment:
Intimate portrait - family or friends

Reading:
Janet Malcolm, "The Real Thing," The New York Review of Books, Jan. 9, 1997.

Joseph L. Ruby, Letter, in response to Malcolm.

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/award98/ienhtml/special.html

Arthur Lubow, "Arbus Reconsidered," The New York Times, Sept. 14, 2003.

Jerry Saltz, "Only the Lonely," artnet.com

Due:
Choice of photographer for class presentation.

Assignment:
Photograph those who are unlike you.

Due:
10 images for critique

Reading: (due after break)
Chapter 3, 4, Brilliant, Portraiture

Assignment:
One page proposal with preliminary outline for paper if this has been your choice.
One page project proposal describing the photographic project you want to undertake.

Continue to make portraits.

Myth, Reality and the Construction of Character

Due:
Due via email: paper & project proposals

Reading:
Arthur C. Danton: Past Masters and Post Moderns: Cindy Sherman's History Portraits," Rizzoli, NY, 1991.

Arthur C. Danton, "Photography and Performance: Cindy Sherman's Stills," Untitled Film Stills, Jonathon Lade, London, 1990.

http://www.tonkonow.com/lee.html (Lee)
http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/1997/sherman
http://www.getty.edu/art/collections/bio/a202 6-1.html (Cameron)

Reading:
Susan Kismaric, Judith Joy Ross, Museum of Modern Art

Alfredo Lopez Austin, Recurrent Letters," Images of the Spirit, Aperture, 1996.

http://www.gundfdn.org/images.html (Ross)

Reading:
R.B. Kitaj, "Still in Praise of Still Photography," Lee Friedlander Portraits, Little Brown & Company, 1985.

"Maria: Photographs by Lee Friedlander," Photographers at Work, A Smithsonian Series.

Reading:
Boris v. Brauchitsch, Thomas Ruff, Museum of Moderne Kunst, 1992

"Thomas Ruff," Interview with Philip Pocock

Presentations

Presentations