Preinscription 2014 2015

I disagree with the coenmmt above: there are numerous reading assignments throughout the semester but not one of them is necessary to do well in the class (except for the novel that you will have a quiz on definitely read that). I entered the course thinking it would be an art history class with a lot of evaluations of artworks, which I am rather confident at. However, the course ended up becoming a course full of historical information (minute details, Wilson is very interested in the topics of New York and the individuals so you will end up learning so much useless information). I ended up not taking any notes for the class. We had recitations (where you just write down a poem you memorized), one book quiz which was quite long but easy to do well if you read, a midterm, and a final. The midterm was based on what we learned in class and it is very possible to do it even without having taken any notes because it asks about an artist and if you are any good at evaluating paintings, it should be easy, but I guess it'd be easier if you've been taking notes and having been reading. Wilson, overall, is impressive since he manages to keep the attention of a class (full of seniors) for three whole hours however, he is rather erratic. Some days, his lectures are great and I get surprised by the clock while on other days, he seems to not have enough to say so fills the empty moments with funny jokes or makes us watch a documentary about New York. I truly believe he is a fantastic art historian; he definitely cares for the topic of Hudson River school and it shows in his ability to link allusions, symbols, and other paintings to a specific work by Cole or Durand. This course is a different environment, and it's definitely worth taking because of Wilson and because you find that even compared to the great artists of Europe, there still is some culture in America.