Course Content and Outcomes Guides (CCOG)

CCOG for ART 212 Winter 2025


Course Number:
ART 212
Course Title:
Modern Art History: Early 20th Century Art
Credit Hours:
4
Lecture Hours:
40
Lecture/Lab Hours:
0
Lab Hours:
0

Course Description

Explores early twentieth century revolutions in art, science, technology, politics, psychology and philosophy. Critically analyzes the relationship between art and culture to reveal the effects of those changes and to gain insight into the way modernism has impacted the world today. Prerequisites: WR 115, RD 115 and MTH 20 or equivalent placement test scores. Audit available.

Intended Outcomes for the course

Upon completion of the course students should be able to:

  • Explain how art is representative of the historical moment in which it was produced, acknowledging the interactions between social, cultural, technological, and/or economic factors and early twentieth century art.
  • Utilize a critical vocabulary as a framework for discussing, creating and/or writing about art.
  • Analyze the relationship between form, context and meaning in visual communication. 
  • Articulate the relationships between modern art, the history of visual culture and world history to enhance civic and global engagement.
  • Apply insights gained from course content to visual culture encountered outside of the classroom.

Integrative Learning

Students completing an associate degree at Portland Community College will be able to reflect on one’s work or competencies to make connections between course content and lived experience.

General education philosophy statement

Through the study of art history, students look closely at works of art and architecture, articulating the way elements of art are interrelated and considering how values and interpretations have changed over time. They critically analyze visual communication, work creatively with art historical data, use evidence to support arguments and assess the stakes of primary and secondary sources. They also analyze the relationships between art and its historical, cultural, social and political contexts. Art history enhances students’ engagement in contemporary global culture through a deeper understanding of history, which helps students recognize connections between the past and present and become more aware of their own vantage points.

Outcome Assessment Strategies

Assessment tools may include:

  • informal and formal responses to discussion questions

  • analysis and evaluation of reading assignments

  • visual and contextual analysis of art in writing assignments and exams

  • journals assessing learning in and out of the classroom

  • research projects resulting in papers or presentations

Course Content (Themes, Concepts, Issues and Skills)

COMPETENCIES AND SKILLS:

  • Analyze and work creatively with art historical data, using it to better understand the history of art and visual culture.

  • Evaluate primary and secondary art historical sources, assessing their stakes and motives.

  • Assess the ways in which art is impacted by the viewer’s vantage point.

  • Articulate the relationship between art and its historical, social and political context.

  • Recognize and differentiate various styles of art and evaluate how values and interpretations change over time.

  • Recognize and identify parallels between the art historical past and the present.

  • Conduct a formal analysis of a work of art and articulate the way its elements are interrelated.

  • Research and write coherently about art history, using evidence to support arguments.

  • Use knowledge gained in the course to study fine art, multimedia, art history, design, anthropology or history at a four-year institution.

THEMES, CONCEPTS, AND ISSUES:

  • Modernism and Modernity

  • Art and the Belle Epoque

  • Art Nouveau and Turn of the Century Design

  • Modern Art, Science and Technology

  • The Early History of Film

  • Fauvism

  • Expressionism

  • The Early History of Photography

  • American Art in the early twentieth century

  • The Ash Can School

  • Photojournalism and Labor Reform

  • The Photo Secession and Straight Photography

  • Cubism

  • Colonialism and Imperialism

  • Art and Cultural Appropriation

  • Representation and Abstraction

  • Italian Futurism

  • Dada

  • The Early History of Performance Art

  • Art and the Russian Revolution, Suprematism and Constructivism

  • Montage and Photomontage

  • Socialism and Marxism

  • World War I and Modern Art

  • Art in the Interwar Period

  • Neue Sachlichkeit

  • De Stijl

  • The Bauhaus and the Weimar Republic

  • Surrealism

  • Art and Economic Depression

  • The Harlem Renaissance

  • Art and the Mexican Revolution

  • The WPA and the Federal Arts Project

  • Art and Gender in the Twentieth Century

  • The Birth of the Modern Museum

  • Art and Nationalism

  • Social Realism

  • Art and Italian Fascism, Stalinism, Nazism

  • World War II and Modern Art

  • Early 20th century Modern Architecture