What does it mean to describe a work of art? To write something inspired by it? To place it in—or remove it from—its cultural context? In this class we will explore, and practice, multiple approaches to writing about visual art. With a primary focus on the nineteenth century to the present, we will read some short fiction and enjoy a great deal of ekphrastic poetry (that is, poems describing and responding to art objects). At the same time, we will carefully examine nonfiction art writing by such figures as Victorian critic John Ruskin, Harlem Renaissance scholar Alain Locke, and contemporary Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie among many others. Through discussions, short writing assignments, and at least two museum field trips, students will develop an individual research project that explores an artwork, text, or art-inspired question of their choice.
About Professor DiGiacomo
Dr. Mark DiGiacomo is Assistant Teaching Professor and Associate Director of the Rutgers Writing Program. His research specialties include African and British literature of the twentieth century, visual culture, and composition studies. He is working on a book manuscript entitled Resistant Forms: African Art and the Making of Literary Modernism. Additional works in progress include an article on the aesthetics of flatness and an essay on graduate pedagogy based on his experience working with doctoral students across the disciplines in the Rutgers Graduate Writing Program. His work has been published in Modernism/modernity, Comparative Literature Studies, and Teaching in Higher Education.