United States Academic Decathlon : Art Curriculum Outline

I. Art Fundamentals* A. Elements of Art* 1. Line* 2. Shape/form* 3. Space* 4. Color* 5. Texture* B. Principles of Composition* 1. Rhythm/movement/pattern* 2. Balance* 3. Contrast/emphasis/variety* 4. Proportion* 5. Unity* C. Processes and Techniques* 1. Drawing* a) Traditional and contemporary purposes* b) Media, tools, and surfaces used* c) Techniques used in drawing* 2. Painting* a) Traditional and contemporary purposes* b) Media, tools, and surfaces used* c) How changing technology has changed painting* 3. Printmaking* a) Traditional and contemporary purposes* b) Media, tools, and surfaces used* c) Types of relief printing* d) Intaglio processes* e) Lithographic processes* f) Screen printing processes* 4. Sculpture* a) Traditional and contemporary purposes* b) Media, tools, and surfaces used* c) Techniques used in sculpting* 5. Textiles* a) Uses* b) Range of materials and processes* c) Impact of geography/environment on materials and uses* 6. Photography* a) Traditional and contemporary techniques* b) Effect on painting* 7. Architecture* a) Techniques* b) Materials* c) Purposes* 8. Environmental Art* a) Purposes* b) Departures from traditional art forms*	20%
II. THE ROCOCO AND 18^TH-CENTURY NATURALISM A. Political, Social, and Artistic Context 1. The French monarchy in the 18th century a) Overview of the reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI b) The social and political landscape c) The Enlightenment d) Factors leading to the French Revolution 2. Artistic education: the Academy in the 18th century a) History of the Academy b) Artistic training c) Academic style 3. Artistic patronage and art criticism a) Major patrons: The state, the Church, and the aristocracy b) Academic exhibitions c) The role of the critic 4. Rococo and naturalism: overview and definitions a) Baroque origins b) Profile: Jean-Antoine Watteau c) The “high rococo” d) Naturalism: reactions to rococo B. Selected Works 1. Jean-Antoine Watteau, Mezzetin, probably 1718–20 a) Artist biography b) Visual analysis c) Historical context d) Significance 2. Jean Siméon Chardin, Soap Bubbles, c. 1734 a) Artist biography b) Visual analysis c) Historical context d) Significance 3. Vincennes porcelain factory, Wine Cooler, 1753 a) History of Vincennes porcelain b) Visual analysis c) Historical context d) Significance 4. Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Broken Eggs, 1756 a) Artist biography b) Visual analysis c) Historical context d) Significance 5. François Boucher, Shepherd’s Idyll, 1768 a) Artist biography b) Visual analysis c) Historical context d) Significance	25%
III. THE EMERGENCE OF THE CLASSICAL IDEAL A. Political, Social, and Artistic Context 1. The Revolutionary period, the First Republic, and the Napoleonic era a) Origins of the Revolution b) The social and political landscape of the 1790s c) The First Republic d) The Napoleonic era 2. Artistic education, patronage, and criticism a) The Revolution and the Academy b) Political patronage c) Art and its audience 3. Neoclassicism: overview and definitions a) Emergence of neoclassicism in archaeology and the Grand Tour b) Architecture and interior design c) Profile: Angelica Kauffmann d) Art in the service of politics e) Profile: Jacques-Louis David f) Neoclassicism in the Napoleonic era B. Selected Works 1. Giovanni Paolo Panini, Modern Rome, 1757 a) Artist biography b) Visual analysis c) Historical context d) Significance 2. Jacques-Louis David, The Death of Socrates, 1787 a) Artist biography b) Visual analysis c) Historical context d) Significance 3. Carle Vernet, The Triumph of Aemilius Paulus, 1789 a) Artist biography b) Visual analysis c) Historical context d) Significance 4. Joseph-Antoine Romagnési, Minerva Protecting the Young King of Rome, 1811 a) Artist biography b) Visual analysis c) Historical context d) Significance	20%
IV. ROMANTICISM A. Political, Social, and Artistic Context 1. Post-Revolutionary France a) The legacy of Napoleon b) The Restoration c) The July Monarchy 2. Artistic education, patronage, and criticism a) The Academy in the Restoration period b) Government patronage c) Critics and the rejection of Classicism 3. Romanticism: overview and definitions a) Origins: Germany and England b) Sources in medieval art c) Orientalism and exoticism d) Nature and the romantic imagination 4. The changing role of the artist a) The Academy and the art market b) The artistic imagination c) Artist and audience d) Profile: Eugène Delacroix B. Selected Works 1. Théodore Gericault, Evening: Landscape with an Aqueduct, 1818 a) Artist biography b) Visual analysis c) Historical context d) Significance 2. Émile-Jean-Horace Vernet, The Start of the Race of the Riderless Horses, by 1820 a) Artist biography b) Visual analysis c) Historical context d) Significance 3. Émile-Jean-Horace Vernet, Stormy Coast Scene After a Shipwreck a) Visual analysis b) Historical context c) Significance 4. Eugène Delacroix, Royal Tiger, 1829 a) Artist biography b) Visual analysis c) Historical context d) Significance 5. Théodore Chasseriau, Young Jewish Woman of Algeria, Seated, 1846 a) Artist biography b) Visual analysis c) Historical context d) Significance	15%
V. APPROACHES TO PORTRAITURE (18^TH–EARLY 19^TH CENTURIES) A. Portraiture: An Overview 1. Defining portraiture 2. Historical overview of portraiture 3. Portraiture and the Academy in the 18th and 19th centuries 4. Artists and patrons B. Selected Works 1. Pompeo Girolamo Batoni, Portrait of a Young Man, c. 1760–65 a) Subject/patron b) Artist biography c) Visual analysis d) Historical and art historical context e) Significance 2. Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, Self-Portrait with Two Pupils, Mademoiselle Marie Gabrielle Capet (1761–1818) and Mademoiselle Carreaux de Rosemond (died 1788), 1785 a) Subject/patron b) Artist biography c) Visual analysis d) Historical and art historical context e) Significance 3. Jean-Antoine Houdon, Bust of Voltaire, 1778 a) Subject/patron b) Artist biography c) Visual analysis d) Historical and art historical context e) Significance 4. Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Princesse de Broglie, 1851–53 a) Subject/patron b) Artist biography c) Visual analysis d) Historical and art historical context e) Significance	15%
VI. INDEPENDENT RESEARCH TOPIC* A. The Impact of Classical Art on French Architecture and Monumental Sculpture* 1. The Panthéon* 2. The Vendôme Column*	5%
* Topics with an asterisk are topics that students will need to research independently. Information on these research topics can be found in most general art history textbooks, the USAD Art Research Guide, the USAD Art Basic Guide, encyclopedias, and on the Internet. NOTE: All of the selected works are from the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.