The History of Western Art, in Two Images
Today, I was ‘oriented’ to my new position as Teaching Assistant. Yes, I, Elissa Weichbrodt, am about to be partially entrusted with the minds and grades of WashU freshmen whose parents are paying extraordinary amounts of money for their child to attend a top twenty school.
I’ll be TAing for our so-called “Intro to Western,” that strange beast of a survey class that covers everything in the west from cave paintings to last week in a semester. Yep, a single semester. Depending on the faith you do or do not place in radiocarbon dating, this means that we are covering 32,007 years of art in about twelve weeks.
As a scholar-in-training of contemporary art and theory, I find it hilarious to note the similarity between the cave paintings that we begin with:
And the paintings we end with:
I realize that thinking this is funny rather than proof that culture has died simply underlines the fact that I am, indeed, a hopeless nerd. And that formal teleology is silly. Also that I’m a hopeless nerd.
funke said:
on August 22, 2007 at 11:24 pm
I think it just means that there are some things no amount of education and progress can get rid of. We grow up drawing stick horses and we will die drawing stick horses…
Mary said:
on August 27, 2007 at 7:48 am
Love the post! Welcome Pinksy to the family! I love Colbert Report, and where is he from? SC of course!! He represents us well. I just watched another video, titled “Better Know a Protectorate”, look it up on his website, so funny. When he interviews congress members, hilarious! He is so clever. You and Noel should write for the show.
anyway, proud of your new teaching job, exciting!! Miss you lots! Things here are good. Mandy Watanabe is coming to visit in a few days, so that should be fun!! Tell Noel hello for me! If you think about it, pray for Katie, she is RA of 3-C this year!!! love, bell
ps–I think of you a lot here, bc the word “Nani” means, “what”, so I hear it a lot!!!
Luke said:
on September 6, 2007 at 10:34 am
However uninterested I might be in your cat or cats… I like you blog, and I dig the modern version of the horse. Whose that artist? Its not the same as the one who made those large Rothko-esque paintings of horses, is it?
elissa said:
on September 6, 2007 at 9:57 pm
It’s Susan Rothenberg, and yeah, she has done some really Rotho-esque horse paintings. I like-y.
I think I’m going to have a bunch of freshmen art majors in my section; this makes me happy.