Patricio Moxey

This class is the biggest and saddest joke in the history of education. It only proves why art historians to art is exactly what oil is to fresh seawater. I will demonstrate why you should spend your $5000 on another 4-credit class and avoid this dull train-wreck of a course. I did manage to get a decent grade in this class (considering the amount of effort I put in) but I don’t think it was worth the agony that this pointless course put me through. We can start with the $88 xerox-copied reader/text (a collection of articles written by other academics) we had to buy, which just glorifies these other art historians and their infinite, regurgitated theories and opinions from dull and pointless textbooks. We only really needed to know two or three of them, which could have probably been googled. I did not even bother to buy the main pricey text “Art History Vol 1 3rd Edition by Marilyn Stokstad. I should use that money for therapy after this class. The guest lecturers were mediocre for the most part. I didn’t sit through any lectures that were life changing. The lecture on gothic architecture with Amiens Cathedral was very refreshing due to this British speaker who never tripped over words but then again… something as amazing as that cathedral should be easy for anyone to teach. The teaching assistants were nice but as boring as one may come to expect and none of them displayed a…

A ton of readings I never did, a pretty difficult midterm and final (as in you have to memorize every piece of art we talk about at length), two essays, and weekly discussion sections that you must participate in.

Although this might be interesting for an Art History major, I personally found it pretty boring, and I would not recommend this as the class you take to fulfill your art requirement. It's very difficult to do well in that for the exams you have to memorize the name of the piece, artist, time period, culture in which it was founded, and medium. You also have to memorize all of these ridiculous details about the work of art that are based on these far reaching concepts like "materiality" and "form" and "directionality." Basically if you show up to class and write everything down that Moxey says, and show up to discusson and write down everything the TA says, you should be okay, it's just really hard to concentrate. Moxey drones on and on, mumbles under this delusion that everyone can hear him, and barely teaches; the class is basically taught by a host of guest lecturers who each assign a ton of readings. The class begins with Moxey giving a short history over the topic of the day, saying he knows nothing about the topic, then handing it onto the guest lecturer, who says the same thing he does only in more detail, leading to your notes becoming very disorganized given the fact that one piece of art can be spoken about multiple times. The TAs are pretty helpful and willing to meet with you, and are especially nice if you seem like you're interested in the topic (just pretend; it…

Weekly reading, which at times was no more than a short article but could also be impossibly dense (it really depended on the guest lecturer of the week). Three very short papers which were responses to the mandatory museum visits, were given far in advance, and were graded by your TA. One midterm with around 10 IDs of specific images, a handful of comparisons, and an essay (you could choose from two topics). The final exam was not cumulative, and was structured similarly but with fewer IDs and comparisons (people complained about not having enough time during the midterm, and so more time was given for each image but the required length of each ID was increased).

I have very mixed feelings about this class after having just taken the final. This is an intro class, and so at least twelve "types" of art are introduced over the length of the semester, with a focus on one each week. Professor Moxey only lecturers at the beginning of the semester and at the end, and introduces each guest lecturer while providing a quick summary of what the guest will cover. Depending on the lecturer, a week can be fantastically interesting or painfully boring. It's gold when the head of a department from the Met comes -- but that isn't always. The midterm and final are very straightforward, and as long as you make flashcards or find a way to memorize the art's relevant information (which is all provided prior to the exam in a handy powerpoint format) you will do fine on the exams. I stopped reading the weekly assignments and had no problem grasping the material. Weekly hour-long discussion sections sound brutal, but my TA was fantastic and made the exams that much easier. This class is great if you aren't an Art History major -- but be warned that you cannot hear Moxey if you sit more than five rows back, and at times his lecturing can sound entitled and pretentious. Not an easy A, but attainable if you put a bit of effort in. Positives: If you have a nice TA and prepare for the exams, the class is close to a breeze. Also, you actually learn something. Nega…

I had already taken the AP equivalent, so i never touched the main book. The "reader" is HUGE. And if you really want to get something out of the class you should keep up with it. It's really not TOO much work, but its a lot of reading, and only three essays for the semester. p.s. there are a couple of professors who teach the class, depending on the era, and some are infinitely boring, and some are infinitely interesting. You give and you take.

The course consists of: several professors to teach (varying on the era being taught), one large textbook to be read, one large reader, and discussion sections. The class itself is interesting. I've taken art history classes before and the subject is always interesting, but i find that these professors don't focus on the most important notable pieces of each era. You learn a lot about art, its history, new cultures, etc. You definitely have to have an interest for the subject to be able to sit and bare through the material. The course consists of: several professors to teach (varying on the era being taught), one large textbook to be read, one large reader, and discussion sections. The class itself is interesting. I've taken art history classes before and the subject is always interesting, but i find that these professors don't focus on the most important notable pieces of each era. You learn a lot about art, its history, new cultures, etc. You definitely have to have an interest for the subject to be able to sit and bare through the material. The course consists of: several professors to teach (varying on the era being taught), one large textbook to be read, one large reader, and discussion sections. The class itself is interesting. I've taken art history classes before and the subject is always interesting, but i find that these professors don't focus on the most important n…

2 papers, midterm and final. final was impossible and worth 30 % of your grade. all based on which TA you have.

This was the biggest mistake I have ever made! this class was horrible. Every 3 classes is taught by a different lecturer and some of them have accents that are impossible to understand. the material was so boring.

Hour long discussion section per week. 3 papers on horrible works of art. Midterm and Final (IDs and comparisons)