Center: 
Paris BIA
Discipline(s): 
Art History
Course code: 
AH 215
Terms offered: 
Fall
Spring
Credits: 
3
Language of instruction: 
English
Instructor: 
Dr. Anne Catherine Abécassis
Description: 

The course retraces the evolution of architecture from the French Revolution to the present. Particular attention is paid to the Second Empire (19th century) and the major urban planning programs conducted by the Baron Haussmann, who gave the capital its current form and style. Urban planning, the new Parisian lifestyle, as well as the modernity and modernization of the city is discussed and paralleled with the major artistic movements of the times. In order to illustrate these changes and the architectural history of Paris, the works of famous painters, such as Hubert Robert and Edouard Manet, are reviewed.

Prerequisites: 

Recommended for students with no previous knowledge of art history

Attendance policy: 

Since IES courses are designed to take advantage of the unique contribution of the instructor and the lecture/discussion format is regarded as the primary mode of instruction, regular class attendance is
mandatory. Each student may have no more than one absence in each course for whatever reasons.
Your final grade in the course will be reduced by one fraction of a grade (i.e. A becomes A -) after that.

Learning outcomes: 

By the end course, students are able to:

  • Identify topics of urban planning of the period and relate it to the current form of the city;
  • Analyze the urban development of Paris and relate this to the new Parisian lifestyle;
  • Recognize the evolutions during this period, specifically the modernity and modernization of the city;
  • Understand the context of architectural style with the major artistic movements of the times.
Method of presentation: 

Lecture, field study

Required work and form of assessment: 

Class participation and attendance (10%); *research paper and presentation (30%); mid-term exam (30%); final exam (30%)

*The research paper must be at least 5-pages long, single-spaced and includes a 15-minute presentation regarding the chosen topic.

content: 

I. Introduction
Week 1: Architecture: From Lutecia to Paris
Field Study: the hot springs of Cluny, les Arènes de Lutèce, Musée du Moyen Age

Week 2: Art: Paris in French painting from the Middles Ages to the Revolution
Field Study: Musée du Louvre – French Painting section
Readings: Horne, pps. 31-45

II. Paris in the Post-Revolution period (1789-1848) and the Second Empire (1852-1870) Week 3: The City – The destruction of Medieval Paris/reorganization of the Ile de la Cité Restoration of Medieval Buildings – Viollet le Duc
Field Study: The Marais and the Musée Carnavalet
Readings: Sutcliffe, pps. 67-82; Clark

Week 4: Reorganization of the city – The Complete City: Napoleon I/Rambuteau (1781-1869)/The
Planned City: Napoleon III/Haussmann (1809-1891)/Charles Garnier & The Opera
Field Study: L’Opéra Garnier

Readings: Horne, pps. 262-285; Sutcliffe, pps. 83-105

III. Modern Paris
Week 5: Images of Modern Paris – La Parisienne/Manet/Parisian life; the painter of modern life
(Manet, Degas, Caillebot)
Field Study: Musée d’Orsay
Readings: Horne, pps. 285-305; Clark

Week 6: The Parisian and modern life – Champs Elysees/Grand Palais/Pont Alexandre III; Modernism and Industry – 1855 World’s Fair/the Metro/department stores
Field Study: Petit Palais; le bon Marché & le grand Palais

Week 7: Mid-term Exam

IV. The Belle Epoque – Art Nouveau (1890-1914)
Week 7: Hector Guimard, architect/Alexandre Bigot/Lavirotte
Readings : Horne, pps. 317-344

Week 8: Hector Guimard, Castel Béranger (1898)/Arts and crafts - Maurice Denis, Vuillard, Lalique
Field Study: Le castel béranger

Week 9: Art nouveau – Alexandre Charpentier (1856-1909)/ Naturalism and art nouveau
Field Study: Musée d’Orsay

V. Paris in the 20th Century
Week 9: Art Déco/1937 International exhibition/Women and Fashion à la belle époque
Field Study: Palais de Tokyo; Musée Galliera

Week 10: Modern Architecture – Auguste Perret and the reinforced concrete/Le Corbusier

VI. Paris under the 5th Republic
Week 10: Charles de Gaulle (1959-1969)/Georges Pompidou (1969-1974)/Francois Mitterand
(1981-1996)/Jacques Chirac (1996-2007)
Readings: Sutcliffe, pps. 200-206

Week 11: Planning projects – La Défense/Le forum des halles/Le quartier est

Week 12: “Paris actually”
Field Study: Students visit the “nouveaux quartiers” and Paris E

Week 13: Final Exam

Required readings: 

Burton, Richard. Blood in the City: Violence & Revelation in Paris, 1789-1945. New York: Cornell University Press, 2001.

Clark, T.J. The Absolute Bourgeois: Artists and Politics in France: 1848-1851 (2nd ed). Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982.

---. The Painting of Modern Life: Paris in the Art of Manet and His Followers. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999.

Horne, Alistair. Seven Ages of Paris. London: Pan MacMillan, 2002.

Sutcliffe, Anthony. Paris: An Architectural History. London: Yale University Press, 1993.