F0304 “That Beastly Venus”: Is it a naked woman or ist it a goddess? American and British writers look at Titian’s paintings
In this course we will look at 19th and 20th century British and American writers\' and painters\' reactions to Italian paintings of the Renaissance (and of later centuries), in particular by Titian (but not only: Tintoretto and Tiepolo will be discussed too).
The \"beastly Venus\" was of course the Venus of Urbino by Titian, in the Tribune of the Uffizi Gallery: a painting of a naked woman, lying on a couch, which has been at the center of recent critical debate to decide whether she was a seducing naked woman or a goddess, as the title would imply.
The reactions to this and other paintings express the Puritan attitude of many American writers, who could simply not accept the nude; they also indicate a more general suspicion as regards art.
We will be looking at the relationship between the role of art and that of practical \"meckanics\" (the practical arts: engineering, agriculture etc.) which seemed more important in the early years of the American republic.
Other problems connected with the Americans \"looking\" at paintings will be discussed: the knowledge and awareness of art in America before writers and artists came to Europe, a knowledge dependent on the circulation of prints, copies, but also local exhibitions; the importance of copies, both as a means of knowledge and as a means for the young painters to pay their own Grand Tour; the need for technical information, particularly as regards oil painting; the beginning of the taste for collecting, often contrary to what collectors were \"preaching\" as regards the usefulness (or uselessness) of art in the young republic (J.Adams, Th. Jefferson).
We will also look at the way specific paintings acted on the writers\' imagination, in stories and poems.
We will be reading diaries, letters, stories, poems, by N. Hawthorne, Robert Herrick, Henry James, W.D. Howells, Edith Wharton, Ezra Pound, Mary McCarthy, Bernard Malamud and others. Readings from British writers will fill in some of the background.Aim of the course:
to make students aware of the different ways of looking at paintings and to make them add their own reactions to those recorded, and to see how art can influence creative writing. To achieve some knowledge of literary texts concerning art.
We will go and look at some paintings on location.
The \"beastly Venus\" was of course the Venus of Urbino by Titian, in the Tribune of the Uffizi Gallery: a painting of a naked woman, lying on a couch, which has been at the center of recent critical debate to decide whether she was a seducing naked woman or a goddess, as the title would imply.
The reactions to this and other paintings express the Puritan attitude of many American writers, who could simply not accept the nude; they also indicate a more general suspicion as regards art.
We will be looking at the relationship between the role of art and that of practical \"meckanics\" (the practical arts: engineering, agriculture etc.) which seemed more important in the early years of the American republic.
Other problems connected with the Americans \"looking\" at paintings will be discussed: the knowledge and awareness of art in America before writers and artists came to Europe, a knowledge dependent on the circulation of prints, copies, but also local exhibitions; the importance of copies, both as a means of knowledge and as a means for the young painters to pay their own Grand Tour; the need for technical information, particularly as regards oil painting; the beginning of the taste for collecting, often contrary to what collectors were \"preaching\" as regards the usefulness (or uselessness) of art in the young republic (J.Adams, Th. Jefferson).
We will also look at the way specific paintings acted on the writers\' imagination, in stories and poems.
We will be reading diaries, letters, stories, poems, by N. Hawthorne, Robert Herrick, Henry James, W.D. Howells, Edith Wharton, Ezra Pound, Mary McCarthy, Bernard Malamud and others. Readings from British writers will fill in some of the background.Aim of the course:
to make students aware of the different ways of looking at paintings and to make them add their own reactions to those recorded, and to see how art can influence creative writing. To achieve some knowledge of literary texts concerning art.
We will go and look at some paintings on location.
Evaluation
Readings
Readings