Undergraduates and Graduates:

1.  Leslie Labowitz and Suzanne Lacy, "Mass Media, Popular Culture, and Fine Art," in Richard Hertz, Theories of Contemporary Art (Englewood Cliffs:  Prentice-Hall, 1985), pp. 171-178; reprinted from Social Works, LA:  Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, 1979.

Questions:  What connections do the authors cite between the images produced by advertising, entertainment (television and film), and the news media?  What do you think of their statement, "Advertising does not purport to be an art, but reserves for itself the techniques of science:  they want us to buy and they'll spend millions on empirical research to see what motivates us"?  Do you consider graphic design "art"?  Do you agree with the statement, "Since men own and control the media, the prevailing cultural notion of reality is based on male experience"?  Why or why not?  What do the authors feel are the inherent dangers in pornography? In what ways do the authors feel the fine art profession has been influenced by and contributed to images of violence to women?  What do the authors mean when they write, "Many artists have themselves become indoctrinated by that power structure [the media structure], recreating images from the media in their own work without questioning either the inventiveness or the morality of their actions.  Inviolate behind the myth that art is a unique and singular expression of the person's personal vision (and therefore above moral or political judgment), some artists purport to be exploring their relationship to women through violent images."    How does the authors' statement, "The continued use of popular media images in fine art legitimates their existence outside of social or politcal criticism" relate to their critique of the photography of Helmut Newton?  Do you agree with the authors' assertion that, "All images are political in that they portray a set of values and attitudes about how the world is or could be"?  Which of the questions the authors suggest should be asked of art (p. 177) do you feel are the most important and why?

Undergraduates ONLY:

2. Read the interview with Sherrie Levine by Jeanne Siegel from Art Magazine (see recommended websites listed on previous page) and visit the other Levine recommended websites.

Questions:  What does Levine take into consideration when deciding which works to copy?  What reasons does she give for choosing only male artists' work?  What is the relationship of Levine's work to feminism?  Do you see similarities between Levine's concept of originality and art as commodity and Jeff Koon's philosophies on art?  Do you see differences?  Explain.  After having visited the websites, read the interview, and heard class discussion, what do you think of Levine's appropriation of other artists' work?

Graduates ONLY:

1.  Linda Nochlin, "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?" in Linda Nochlin, Women, Art, and Power and Other Essays (New York:  Harper and Row, 1988), pp. 145-178; reprinted from Art News, 69 (January 1971).

Questions:  Nochlin writes that when feminists have attempted to answer the question of "Why have there been no great women artists?" that they have tended to "dig up examples of worthy or insufficiently appreciated women artists throughout history; to rehabilitate rather modest, if interesting and productive careers."  What does Nochlin perceive to be the problems with this approach?  What other possible responses to the question does she discuss?  What does Nochlin mean when she states, "Thus the question of women' s equality--in art as in any other realm--devolves not upon the relative benevolence or ill-will of individual men, nor the self-confidence or abjectness of individual women, but rather on the very nature of our institutional structures themselves and the view of reality which they impose on the human beings who are part of them"?  What role does she feel the myth of the artist as "genius" plays in this?  The role of social class?  The role of artists' training, including access to the nude model?