ART HIS 23
Modern Art
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour; museum field trips. History of modern art from 1860s to 1960s, from Manet and impressionists to pop art and minimalism. Study of origins and social functions, as well as aesthetic innovations and philosophical dilemmas of modernism. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2016 - Professor Baker could be lecturing about the most incredibly mundane topic and I would still be at the edge of my seat. He is so passionate about this material, making it easy to engage with and master it. He has amazing speaking skills, always delivering his points in a clear and precise way. He organized lecture well and made it really easy to follow the main themes. I genuinely enjoyed going to lecture; his humor and passion made it like going to a performance. I wish Baker was my professor for every class. Would definitely recommend it.
Winter 2016 - Professor Baker could be lecturing about the most incredibly mundane topic and I would still be at the edge of my seat. He is so passionate about this material, making it easy to engage with and master it. He has amazing speaking skills, always delivering his points in a clear and precise way. He organized lecture well and made it really easy to follow the main themes. I genuinely enjoyed going to lecture; his humor and passion made it like going to a performance. I wish Baker was my professor for every class. Would definitely recommend it.
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2023 - she was pretentious and used big words incorrectly... easy GE tho. loved oliver ruhl if you get him as a TA you are honestly set! she was just so hard to deal with, and wanted everyone to put art history above absolutely everything... also avoided classical discussions in favor of her own ideas and interpretations. take this if you want to be looked down upon (af), but kill a GE :)
Spring 2023 - she was pretentious and used big words incorrectly... easy GE tho. loved oliver ruhl if you get him as a TA you are honestly set! she was just so hard to deal with, and wanted everyone to put art history above absolutely everything... also avoided classical discussions in favor of her own ideas and interpretations. take this if you want to be looked down upon (af), but kill a GE :)
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2023 - If you aren’t already a strong writer AND interested in art history, do not take this class. This review is going to sound exactly like the other two already posted but I don’t know a single person who took this course and didn’t regret not dropping it. Prof. Kahng lectures very quickly using slides with no info outside of pictures of the art so note taking is incredibly difficult. She doesn’t post these slides online or record/Zoom her lectures, so falling behind is very easy. If you miss something she says, the only way to get that info is to ask another student. Weekly readings are crazy long - the Olympia passage at the beginning of the quarter was over 100 pages. The midterm was okay but your grade was dependent on which TA you had, with some handing out minimal A’s and others giving their students extra credit on top of 100%’s. This class has a final and a final paper and both were time-consuming and difficult. The paper was a 7-8 page original thesis based off of a work of art displayed at the Getty and required an in-person Getty visit (with proof), while the final was an hour and half of straight writing that required you have a strong handle on all of the pieces of art, artists, short films, readings, and movements covered in and out of class. Expectations (especially for the final) were crazy high with very minimal support provided for students (ie slides not being posted, not including vocab terms/quotes/main ideas on slides). Went to every lecture/discussion, took detailed notes, did the readings, scored highly on all of the assignments, and still had to spend 7 hours writing the paper and 5 hours studying for the final.
Fall 2023 - If you aren’t already a strong writer AND interested in art history, do not take this class. This review is going to sound exactly like the other two already posted but I don’t know a single person who took this course and didn’t regret not dropping it. Prof. Kahng lectures very quickly using slides with no info outside of pictures of the art so note taking is incredibly difficult. She doesn’t post these slides online or record/Zoom her lectures, so falling behind is very easy. If you miss something she says, the only way to get that info is to ask another student. Weekly readings are crazy long - the Olympia passage at the beginning of the quarter was over 100 pages. The midterm was okay but your grade was dependent on which TA you had, with some handing out minimal A’s and others giving their students extra credit on top of 100%’s. This class has a final and a final paper and both were time-consuming and difficult. The paper was a 7-8 page original thesis based off of a work of art displayed at the Getty and required an in-person Getty visit (with proof), while the final was an hour and half of straight writing that required you have a strong handle on all of the pieces of art, artists, short films, readings, and movements covered in and out of class. Expectations (especially for the final) were crazy high with very minimal support provided for students (ie slides not being posted, not including vocab terms/quotes/main ideas on slides). Went to every lecture/discussion, took detailed notes, did the readings, scored highly on all of the assignments, and still had to spend 7 hours writing the paper and 5 hours studying for the final.
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