Lesson 01: Opening the Atlas
Art Appreciation · Unit 1 · Lesson 01 of 15 · L02 →
At a glance
| Session codes | U1·L1–U1·L3 |
| Days | 3 |
| Dates | Tue 2026-09-01 to Fri 2026-09-04 |
| Deliverable | CS1 darkroom reflection |
| Feeds | A1 |
These dates fall in a future term and may shift once the school publishes the calendar for that period.
Goal
Three days on one job: looking before explaining. The atlas method is different from art history taught as a timeline, and the course uses it deliberately. The darkroom comes on day three because it is the fastest way to make an image stop being a screen and become a thing that light did to a surface — a distinction the course returns to in Unit 4 in December.
How it runs
- Day 1 · Tue 1 Sept ·
U1·L1— First half: course opener — introductions, why this subject, and how the course runs. This is a mixed G11 + G12 group. Second half: the atlas method and how you are marked — Warburg’s panels and why resemblance beats date, and the course map showing the four majors and the retrospective on one sheet. To close, you name one thing about this course that sounds wrong to you. - Day 2 · Wed 2 Sept ·
U1·L2— look before you explain. Ten minutes silent on one image with the title withheld; write a description for two minutes, then say it aloud. To close, note what someone else saw that you did not. - Day 3 · Thu 3 Sept ·
U1·L3— darkroom: the image as physical trace. Twenty-five minutes making, fifteen minutes writing the reflection while the print is still wet. CS1 is collected at the door.
Assessment
- CS1 — darkroom reflection, written in the room, collected Fri 2026-09-04. Marked on naming a physical decision rather than a feeling about the result.
- No homework this first week.
- A1 is announced on the first day of Lesson 02 (Fri 2026-09-04), not during this lesson.