HST 261A

Graffiti: Art and Vandalism

Crispin Sartwell

c.sartwell@verizon.net

Bunting 417

Graffiti is now a worldwide art form with a considerable history and range of styles. From careless tags to masterpiece murals, from subway trains to city walls to galleries, it has become one of the dominant visual traditions of contemporary culture. Generations of writers have influenced and surpassed one another, and even turned back into their tradition to develop retro styles. The dissemination of graffiti imagery in such media as magazines, videos, and web sites is truly astonishing. In addition, a wide variety of scholarly works on the movement have been produced. This course will examine graffiti from a wide variety of viewpoints: art historical, sociological, and fictional, among others.

Required work for course consists of weekly one-page essays, on topics to be announced in class, and longer (circa 7 pp.) mid-term and final papers. These will be on topics of your choosing, though I will provide suggestions.

Students with disabilities: please see me so that I can accommodate you.

Required texts:

Joe Austin, Taking the Train (Columbia University Press)

Stephen Powers, The Art of Getting Over (St. Martin's)

William Upski Wimsatt, Bomb the Suburbs (Soft Skull)

Tristan Manco, Stencil Graffiti (Thames and Hudson)

Jonathan Lethem, The Fortress of Solitude (Doubleday)

January 20

Introduction

January 27

Powers, 6-53

February 3

Powers, 54-93

February 10

Powers, 94-157

February 17

Wimsatt, 2-41

February 24

Wimsatt, 42-113

March 2

Wimsatt, 114-159

March 9

Manco, entire

mid-term paper due

March 23

Austin, 1-74

March 30

Austin, 75-166

April 6

Austin, 167-271

April 13

Lethem, 1-169

April 20

Lethem, 170-348

April 27

Lethem, 349-511

May 4

Conclusion

final paper due