Fine Arts 312 B01 The Philosophy of Art and Criticism Instructor: Dr. Claude Lacroix Schedule: Thursdays, 16:00 - 19:00 Telephone: 822-9600 extension # 2733. Room: Molson 010 E-mail address: clacroix@ubishops.ca

COURSE OUTLINE (Winter 2005)

TOPIC: Walter Benjamin’s Philosophy of Art Through his various works on epistemology, history, language, and aesthetics, Walter Benjamin. (1892-1940) has been. important for twentieth-century philosophy and poststructuralist thought Of major interest for art history, theory, and practice, are his writings on aesthetics, the work of art, photography, and history. His Marxist perspective has provided rich insights on art and art production which often are even critical of the ideological views generally accepted by communist intellectuals of his time. This course explores Benjamin’s ideas on art throughout his writings. His views will be considered in relation. to other philosophers, and in connection, to traditional art forms and photography. The political avant-garde art of Berlin Dadaists and the Russian experiments with. Constructivism. and. Productivism — both ending in dismissal by Fascism in Germany and Stalinism in the U.S.S.R., will be of special interest. in light of art’s potential use as propaganda. In so many ways, Benjamin’s philosophy about art was also foretelling about mass culture, Pop Art, the. “death” of art, and aspects. of poststructuralism.

CALENDAR (TOPICS. and SOURCES)

Jan. 13: Introduction Presentation of course outline: content, objectives, required readings, bibliography, requirements, and evaluations PHILOSOPHY AND. LANGUAGE “On Language as Such and on the Language of Man” (1916) in Walter Benjamin. Selected Writings vol. 1:1913-1926: 62-74 Jan. 20: PHILOSOPHY AND LANGUAGE (continued...) ”On the Program of the Coming Philosophy’ (1918) in Benjamin. Philosophy. Aesthetics, History, ed. Smith:1-12 (cf. biblio.) or in Walter Benjamin. Selected Writings vol. 1: 1913-1926: 100-110. “The Task of the Translator” (1923) in Illuminations (cf. biblo.) or in Walter Benjamin. Selected Writings vol. 1: 1913-1926: 253-263.

Jan. 27: ART THEORY A )- i) AESTHETICS “Aphorism on Imagination and Color” (1914-15) in Selected Writings: 48-49. “Painting and the Graphic Arts” (1917) in Selected Writings: p. 82. “Painting; or Signs and Marks” (1917) in Selected Writings: 83-86. “Categories of Aesthetics” (1919-20) in Selected Writings: 220-222. “The Medium through Which Works of art Continue to Influence Later Ages” (1920) in Selected Writings: 235. ii) ROMANTICISM AND THE SUBLIME “Two Poems by Friedrich Holderlin” (1914-15) in Selected. Writings: 18-36.

Feb. 3: iii) CRITICISM “The Concept of Criticism in German Romanticism” (1919) in Selected Writings: 116-200 “The Theory of Criticism” (1919-20) in Selected Writings, op. cit: 217-219

iv) BAROQUE, MELANCHOLIA, AND ALLEGORY “Goethe’s Elective Affinities” (1919-22) in Selected Writings: 297-360 The Origin of German Tragic Drama (Cf. biblio.)

Feb. 10: B) ART AND POLITICS: and 17: ‘WaIter Benjamin’s.Short History of Photography”(1931), (cf. biblo.). ‘The.Work of.Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” (1935) in Illuminations Joel. Snyder, “Benjamin on Reproductibility and Aura: A Reading of ‘The Work of Art in the Age of its Technical Reproductibility’,” in Benjamin, ed by. Smith Susan.Buck-Morss, “Aesthetics and Anasthetics: Walter Benjamin’s Artwork Essay. Reconsidered,” October 62, Fall 1992. Richard Shiff, “Handling Shocks: on the Representation of Experience in Walter. Benjamin’s Analogies,” The Oxford Art Journal 15 Feb. 1992. Jennifer Todd, “Production, Reception, Criticism: Walter Benjamin and the Problem of Meaning in Art” in Benjamin (cf bib). Sandor Radnoti, “Benjamin’s Dialectic of Art and Society” in Benjamin (cf bib).

Feb. 24: C) MODERN ART AND THE AVANT-GARDE “On Some Motifs in Baudelaire” (1939) in Illuminations (bib.)

Feb. 28 to March 4: Reading Week Mar. 10: HISTORY AS METHOD “An Introduction to ‘Rigorous Study of Art” (1932-1933)… ThomasLevin, “Walter Benjamin and the Theory of Art History” in October 47, Winter 1988: 77-90 “Theses on the Philosophy of History” (1940) in Illuminations (cf. biblo.).

Mar. 17: Student oral presentations Mar. 24: Student oral presentations Mar. 31: Student oral presentations Apr. 7: Student oral presentations Final exam (25%) Assignment due date during the examination period: April 18-30

NB: This schedule serves only as a. guideline. Lectures are subject to. modification at any time depending- on student participation and interest

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

- Class attendance is obligatory. More than three absences without valid justification will result in course failure.

- The course is scheduled from 16:00 to 19:00. Out of consideration for your classmates, please be punctual and avoid disturbing the class.

- Students are invited to ask questions, give comments and participate in class discussions at all times.

- Knowledge of all content and information given during lectures and discussions, and from the readings is the responsibility of each and every student.

- Required readings: a READER for FIN 312. BOl is sold at the bookstore.

EVALUATION

A - 10% Answer a question based on Benjamin’s “Work of Art “text B - 30% In class participation: 1) In-class assignment on student oral presentations of the day (10%) 2) In-class assignment on student oral presentations of the day (10%) 3) In-class assignment on student oral presentations of the day (10%) C - 60% Research project (Start thinking about it now) a) February 24: DEADLINE to submit a topic for your research and oral presentation. (or you loose 5%) in a few lines, tell me your subject, why you are choosing it, which artists and works you’d like to discuss, how you intend to approach your subject, and what issues you intend to raise. b) February 24 to March 24 (deadline: a week before your oral presentation) Annotated bibliography (Reviews) on your topic (20%) The joys of reading! Half-page summary plus half a page critical commentary on 5 relevant-sources: articles from periodicals, chapters from books, books, exhibition catalogues — internet sources not accepted c) A week before your oral presentation: a detailed outline of your presentation in point form, including an Intro, 5 to 6 points, to be developed, conclusion (5%) d) From March 11 to April 8. (10%) Students’ Oral presentations, scheduled according to topics; 30-35 minutes focused on your topic, followed by questions and discussion e) April: Essay. Due date to be scheduled during exam period (25%) Revised and extended-written version of the oral presentation taking into account questions and discussion raised by the presentation. Your paper must be between 2700 and 3000 words maximum, typed in regular font (about this size): which means 12 to 13 pages, typed in double spacing, approximately 250 words per page. NB - Late assignments will not be marked. There will be no supplemental exam

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Writings by Walter Benjamin at the Library

BENJAMIN, Walter, The correspondence of Walter Benjamin, 1910-1940, ed. by Gershom Scholem and Theodor W. Adorno (translated by Manfred and Evelyn Jacobson), Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1994, 651 p. (PT 2603 .E455 Z48 1994) _____ Illuminations, edited and with an introd by Hannah Arendt, (translated by Harry Zohn), New York: Harcourt, Brace.&.World, 1968, 280 p. (PN 514.B3623) ______Moscow diary, (translated by Richard Sieburth), edited by Gary Smith, Cambridge, Mass Harvard University Press 1986, 150 p. (PT 2603 .E455 Z4713 1986) ______The origin of German tragic drama, translated by John Osborne, London: NLB, 1977, 256.p. (PT 671 .B413) ______Reflections: essays, aphorisms, autobiographical writings (translated by Edmund Jephcott), edited with an intro. by Peter Demetz, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978, xliii, 348 p. (PT 2603.E455 A26 1978) ______Understanding Brecht (translated by Anna Bostock), intro, by Stanley Mitchell, London: Verso, 1983, xix, 124 p. PT 2603.R397 Z528 1983)

Other writings by Walter Benjamin

Books: ______Charles Baudelaire: A Lyric Poet in the Era of High Capitalism. London: New Left Books 1973. ______The correspondence of Walter Benjamin and Gershom Scholem 1932-1940. New York: Schocken-Books, 1989. _____ One-Way Street and Other Writings. London: New Left Books, 1979 _____ Reflections. Essays, Aphorisms, Autobiographical Writings (1955), edited by Peter Demetz. New York & London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978. _____ Selected Writings; Volume 1, 2 and 3, general editor Michael W. Jennings, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1996. Articles: _____“Adorno-Benjamin,” (Correspondence) trans. Harry Zohn, New Left Review 81 (September-October 1973): 46-80. _____‘The Author as Producer,” trans John Heckmen, New Left Review 62 (July-August 1970): 83-96. ____ “Central Park,” trans. Lloyd Spencer (with Mark Harrington), New German Critique 34 (Winter 1985): 32-58 ____ ‘The Destructive Character,” trans. I. Wohlfarth, Diecritics. 8., 2 (June 1978): 47-8. _____“Eduard Fuchs: Collector and Historian,” trans. by Knut Tarnowski, New German Critique 5 (Spring 1975): 27-58 ____ “Goethe: The Reluctant Bourgeois,” trans. Rodney Livingston, New Left Review 133 (May- June 1982): 69-93.

_____ “On the Program. of the Coming Philosophy” (1918) in. Benjamin. Philosophy, Aesthetics, History, ed. by Gary Smith, Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, [1983] 1989: 1-12. _____ “Rigorous Study of Art,” trans. Thomas Y. Levin, October 47 (Winter 1988): 84-90. _____ “A Short History of Photography,” trans. Stanley Mitchell, Screen 13, 1 (Spring 1972): 5-26. ____ “Theories of German Fascism,’ trans. Jerolf Wikoff, New German Critique 17 (Spring 1979): 120-8. ____ “Walter Benjamin’s Short History of Photography,” trans. Phil Patton, Artforum 15, 6 (February 1977): 46-61. _____ “The Work of Art in the Epoch of Mechanical Reproduction,” trans. H. Gerth & Don Martindale, Studies on the Left 1, 2 (Winter 1960): 28-46

Books on Walter Benjamin at the Library

BERNSTEIN, Michael André, Five portraits: modernity and the imagination in twentieth century German writing, Evanston, III : Northwestern University Press, 2000, x, 150 p. (PT 401 .B47 2000) BUCK-MORSS, Susan, The dialectics of seeing: Walter Benjamin and the Arcades project, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1991, 493 p. (PT 2603 .E455 P334 1991) BUCK-MORSS, Susan, The Origin of Negative Dialectics: Theodor W. Adorna, Walter Benjamin and the Frankfurt institute. New York: Free Press. 1977, xv. 335 p. (B 3199 .A34 B8) COHEN, Margaret, Profane illumination: Walter Benjamin and the Paris of surrealist revolution, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993, xi, 271 p. (B 3209 .B584 G64 1993) EAGLETON, Terry, Walter Benjamin: Towards a revolutionary criticism, London : Verso Editions, 1981, 187 p. (PT 2603 .E455 Z68 1981) FRISBY, David, Fragments of modernity: theories of modernity in the work of Simmel, Kracauer and Benjamin, Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, 1986, viii, 319 p. (BH 301 .M54 F75 1986) HANDELMAN, Susan A., Fragments of Redemption: Jewish Thought and Literary Theory in Benjamin, Scholem, and Levinas, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1991, xxiii, 389 P. (BM 565 .H26 1991) HANSSEN, Beatrice, Walter Benjamin’s other history: of stones, animals, human beings, and angels, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998, xi, 207 p. (PT 2603 .E455 H36 1998) NORDQUIST, Joan, Walter Benjamin (Bibliography), Santa Cruz: Reference and Research Services. 1989, 60 p. (PT 2603 .E455 Z996 1989) SCHOLEM, Gershorn, On Jews and Judaism in crisis: selected essays, ed. by Werner J. Dannhauser, New York: Schocken Books, 1976, xiii, 306 p. (DS 135 .G33 S297) STAMPS, Judith, Unthinking modernity: Innis, McLuhan, and the Frankfurt School, Montreal : McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1995, xviii, 205 p. (CB 428 .S73 1995)

Other writings on Benjamin

ALTER, Robert, Necessary Angels: Traditions and Modernity in Kafka, Benjamin and Scholem, Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1991. BENJAMIN, Andrew[ed.] The Problems of Modernity: Adorno and Benjamin, London and New York, Routledge, 1989. _____ and P. OSBORNE [eds.] Walter Benjamin’s Philosophy: Destruction and Experience, New York: Routledge, 1994. CESAR, Jasiel, Walter Benjamin on Experience and History: Profane Illuminations, Mellen, San Fransisco, Edwin Press, 1992. FERRIS, David S. Walter Benjamin. Theoretical Questions Stanford; California: Stanford University Press, 1996. McCOLE, John, Walter Benjamin and the Antinomies of Tradition, New York, Cornell University Press, 1993. MISSAC, Pierre. Walter Benjamin’s Passages, Trans. by Shiery Weber Nicholsen. Cambridge, Mass. and London England, MIT Press, 1995 (French pub. 1987). NAGELE, Rainer, Theatre, Theory, Speculation: Walter Benjamin and the Scenes of Modernity, Baltimore, John Hopkins University Press, 1991 PENSKY, Max. Melancholy Dialectics. Walter Benjamin and the Play of Mourning. Amherst: The University of Massachusetts Press, 1993. SEINBERG, Michael P. [ed.] Walter Benjamin and the denials of History Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1996. SMITH, Garry [ed.] Walter Benjamin: Philosophy, Aesthetics, History Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, (1983] 1989. _____ (ed.), On Walter Benjamin: Critical Essays. Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press, 1988.. WEIGEL, Sigrid. Body— and Image—Space. Rereading Walter Benjamin. London. and New York: Routledge, 1996 WITTE, Bernd, Walter Benjamin: An intellectual Biography, trans. James Rolleston. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1991. Chapters: ARAC, Jonathan. ‘Walter Benjamin and Materialist Historiography” in Critical Genealogies: Historical Situations for Postmodem Literary Studies, New York: Columbia University Press, 1987. BENJAMIN, Andrew, Art, Mimesis and the Avant-garde, London. and New York Routledge, 1991 (Chapters. 9 and 10) •_____ Translation and the Nature of Philosophy, London and New York, Routledge, 1989 (Chapter 4). EAGLETON, Terry. “The Marxist Rabbi: Walter Benjamin” in The Ideology of the Aesthetic, Oxford; UK and Cambridge. USA: Basil Blackwell, 1990: 316-340. JOHNSON, Pauline. “Benjamin” in Marxist aesthetics: The foundations within everyday file for an emancipated consciousness (The role of art in modem capitalism). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1984: 49-67.

Articles: BUCK-MORSS, Susan, “Aesthetics and Anaesthetics: Walter Benjamin’s Artwork Essay Reconsidered,” October 62 Fall 1992: 3-41. LEVEN, Thomas, ‘Walter Benjamin and the Theory of Art History” in October 47, Winter 1988: 77-83. SHIFF, Richard. “Handling Shocks: on the Representation of Experience in Walter Benjamin’s Analogies,” The Oxford Art Journal 15, Feb. 1992. WOHLFARTH, Irving. “Re-fusing Theology: Some First Responses to Walter Benjamin’s Arcades Project,” New German Critique 39, Fall 1986: 3-24.

A Few Titles in French

BENJAMIN, Walter, Charles Baudelaire: un poète lyrique a l’apogée du capitalisme (traduit de l’allemand et préfacé par Jean Lacost), Paris: Petit Bibliothèque Payot, 1982. 286 p. (PQ 2191 .Z5 B44) JIMENEZ, Marc, “Benjamin-Adorno : vers une esthétique négative” in Revue d’esthétique n° 1,1981. PETITDEMANGE, Guy, “Le seuil du présent. Défi d’une pratique de l’histoire chez Walter Benjamin" in Recherches de sciences religieuses n° 3, juillet- septembre 1985. POINSOT, Jean-Marc “Quand l’oeuvre a lieu”, Parachute no. 46, mars/avril/mai 1997, pp. 70-77. ROCHLITZ, Rainer. Le désenchantement de l’art. La philosophie de Walter Benjamin. Paris: Gallimard, 1982. SCHOLEM, Gershom, Walter Benjamin : histoire d’une amitié (traduit par Paul Kessler), Paris : Calmann-Lévy, 1981, 262 p. (PT 2603 .E455 Z894 ChamC) TIEDEMANN, Rolf, Etudes sur la philosophie de Walter Benjamin, préface de Theodor W. Adorno., Actes Sud, 1987.

RELATED TOPICS

ADES, Dawn, Photomontage, London: Thames and Hudson, World of art series,1986, 1.76 p. (TR 685 .A26 1986). BARTHES, Roland, Camera Lucida : Reflections on Photography, translated by Richard. Howard, New York: Hill and Wang, 1981, 119 p. (TR 642 .B3713 1981) BUCHLOH, Benjamin. “From Faktura to Factography” in October no. 30, 1984: 82-119. CROW, Thomas.. “Modernism and Mass Culture in the Visual Arts” in Modernism and Modernity: the Vancouver Conference Papers edited by B. Buchloh., S. Guilbaut and D. Solkin. Halifax, Nova Scotia: The Press of Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, 1983, pp. 215-264. FREUND, Gisèle, Photography and Society, Boston: D. R. Godine, 1980, 231 p. (TR 147 .F6513 1980) MALRAUX, André, Museum Without Walls, translated from the French by Stuart Gilbert and Francis Price, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1967, 252 p. (N 70 .M3353) SONTAG, Susan, On Photography, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1977, 207 p. (TR 183 S65 1978)

TEITELBAUM., Mathew [ed.], Montage and Modern Life 1919-1942, Cambridge (Mass.) and London (U.K.): MIT Press; Boston: The institute of Contemporary Art, 1992 P.S.: Refer to the bibliographies in these books for specific publications on topics, periods, styles, movements, artists and photographers. N. B: Electronic Sources: There are numerous internet sites about art, artworks and artists; as there is no kind of control over them, one has to be watchful about the quality and reliability of the information they provide.