Ephraim Rubenstein: The Literature of Art—Looking at Art Through the Words of Great Writers
To register, visit the League's front desk, call (212) 247-4510, ext. 101 or e-mail info@artstudentsleague.org
Ephraim Rubenstein: The Literature of Art
Looking at Art Through the Words of Great Writers
Dates and Readings Below
10 Sessions:
January 10, 24; February 7, 21;
March 7, 21; April 4, 18; May 2, 16
Thursdays, 4:45 pm–6:30 pm
Fee: $298 for series
Limited to 25 students
Is there such a thing as an artistic personality? To what extent and in what ways can art be taught? Is there a relationship between art-making and mental illness? And why do so many artists allude to suffering?
In his "Literature of Art" seminar, League instructor Ephraim Rubenstein addresses these and other questions by guiding students through prominent writings about the visual arts. Rubenstein is both a stunning realist painter and a provocative, award-winning teacher.
The seminar, which meets on ten Thursdays in the late afternoon, brings together students and artists from different disciplines, approaches, and walks of life to read and talk about essential questions in the visual arts. The class will examine selected landmarks of theory, criticism, connoisseurship and the writings of artists themselves. Wherever possible, it is important to read the recommended edition. Selections change from edition to edition, as do translations, and having a consistent pagination makes discussions much easier.
NB: Students should come to the first session on January 10 having read material provided in the course pack.
Wherever possible, it is important to read the recommended edition. Selections change from edition to edition, as do translations, and having a consistent pagination makes discussions much easier.
Class Dates and Readings
January 10:
Course Pack (provided upon registration)
January 24:
Andrew Martindale, The Rise of the Artist in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (New York, McGraw-Hill, 1972)
February 7:
Bernard Berenson, Italian Painters of the Renaissance (Meridian Books)
February 21:
Vasari, The Lives of the Artists, Oxford
March 7:
Leonardo da Vinci, A Treatise on Painting (Rigaud translation) Great Minds Series, Prometheus Books, or Dover reprint
March 21:
Alain de Botton, The Architecture of Happiness, Vintage International
James Howard Kunstler, The Geography of Nowhere, Touchstone Books, Simon & Schuster
April 4:
Terrence McNally, The Stendhal Syndrome: Two Plays: Full Frontal Nudity and Prelude and Liebestod (Grove Press, 2004)
Doug Wright, Quills and Other Plays (Faber & Faber, 2005)
April 18:
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own, Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich
May 2:
Student Presentations
May 16:
Student Presentations
About the Instructor
Ephraim Rubenstein received his B.A. in Art History from Columbia University and his M.F.A. in Painting from Columbia University's School of the Arts. Mr. Rubenstein has had ten one-person exhibitions in New York: at Tibor de Nagy Gallery, Tatistcheff & Co., and most recently at George Billis Gallery in Chelsea. He has also exhibited at the Butler Institute of American Art, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the National Academy of Design, where he won the Emil Carlsen and Beatrice Laufman Awards. His work is represented in numerous public and private collections, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Mr. Rubenstein is an active teacher and is currently on the faculty at Columbia University and the National Academy of Design, as well as at the Art Students League. For more information, visit www.ephraimrubenstein.com.