By Miles Johnson
It’s 11 a.m. and 90 students are taking their seats in the Arnold Hall auditorium. Microphones are tested and lights are adjusted as everyone settles in for the second week of 20th Century Art. A few professors teaching this class are experimenting with a new format this quarter.
Professors Christoph Klütsch, Timothy Jackson and Capri Rosenberg teach their classes together in the Arnold Hall auditorium on Tuesdays, and in their respective classrooms on Thursdays.
All three professors are present on stage this morning. Rosenberg opens with a speech about the competing art theories of formalism and contextualism. She concludes then joins Klütsch and Jackson at a table on stage in front of a large screen displaying Joseph Turner’s painting, “Slave Ship.”
The next two hours are filled by a back-and-forth between the three professors. They click through slides, offering their perspectives on each one. Rosenburg speaks of the importance of context when considering a work. Klütsch plays devil’s advocate, opposing her analysis with a formalist approach.
“This is so much fun to have different perspectives here,” Klütsch said at one point during the discussion.
That’s the purpose of these “special events,” as they are called. Together, professors Klütsch, Jackson and Rosenberg are able to offer multiple viewpoints, broadening their students’ understanding of 20th century art. Additional guest speakers in later sessions will bring their own interpretations.
Unlike the typical classroom format, these auditorium-style 20th century courses are taught thematically. In their discussion, the professors examine artworks from a variety of movements, spanning throughout the 20th century.
This is in marked contrast to the more traditional way of progressing through the past century: covering movements as they occur in time.
While this thematic approach can come across as a bit unorganized, it is just another way of surveying the art of the twentieth century. As art history chair Geoffrey Taylor pointed out, a designer looking for inspiration is more likely to search thematically than historically.
Ideally, the diversity of voices heard in the special events, and the non-sequential nature of the course will help students make connections that they otherwise wouldn’t have.
The art history department hopes that this collaborative format will help to encourage students’ critical minds. “Art history is not just something that occurs in the classroom with a bunch of slides and facts to memorize. It’s a way of thinking,” Taylor said.
In the special events, students are asked to consider which perspectives on art they agree with, and why. Ideally, they will leave the course with a better understanding of their own artistic practice by preparing them with the analytical skills with which to do so.
There are no plans to extend the auditorium format to other art history classes, or to all of the 20th century art history courses. If students in these three classes show as much enthusiasm as their professors for the new method of teaching, future students can expect that these special events will extend beyond this quarter.
