GRMN 579 - Winckelmann

Institution:

University of Pennsylvania

Subject:

Description:

MacLeod. Prerequisite(s): Upper-level course, assumes some familiarity with German literature and culture. Celebrity-scholar, literary stylist, cultural monument, pagan hero, self-made man, homosexual codeword, murder victim: despite his humble origins in Prussia, Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-68) enjoyed a meteoric career as an archaeologist and art historian in Rome and came to define a century. His developmental view of culture and his celebration of Greek art challenged prevailing ideas and established new paradigms. The seminar will pay careful attention to Winckelmann's most important writings, including "Reflections on the Imitation of the Painting and Sculpture of the Greeks" (1755), the "History of Ancient Art" (1764), and his famous descriptions of statues such as the Belvedere Apollo and Laocoon group, while keeping in mind the context of mid eighteenth century Rome. The lasting impact of Winckelmann's Greek subject matter, his aestetic theory, and his literary style will be traced, with readings ranging from Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Walter Peter, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Thomas Mann, to the troubling reincarnation of Winckelmann's statues in Leni Riefenstahl's Fascist Olympic films. Finally, Winckelmann's central role in the field of queer studies will be explored, via a consideration of his representation of the male body beautiful and of his own status as a codeword for homosexual desire.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.upenn.edu

Phone Number:

(215) 898-5000

Regional Accreditation:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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