Lesson 12: Photography and After

Art Appreciation · Unit 4 · Lesson 12 of 15 · ← L11 | L13

At a glance

Session codesU4·L12U4·L17
Days6
DatesFri 2026-12-11 to Fri 2026-12-18
DeliverableA4: Unit 4 synthesis
HomeworkSontag, first essay, 30 min, set day 2, due day 3

These dates may shift once the school publishes the calendar for this period.

Goal

A4 is the last thing you submit this semester. It clears the roughly 1 January late-work cutoff by two weeks, which means nothing in this stretch can be handed in late. The synthesis is the second constellation of the year; the Unit 1 boards go back up on day four so you can measure this one against your first.

How it runs

  • Day 1 · Fri 11 Dec · U4·L12 — what the poor image gains: what circulation gives that quality takes.
  • Day 2 · Mon 14 Dec · U4·L13 — photography and the claim to truth: why we believe photographs, and whether we should. Sontag reading set.
  • Day 3 · Tue 15 Dec · U4·L14 — Sontag: photographing as an act on the world.
  • Day 4 · Wed 16 Dec · U4·L15 — avant-garde and kitsch: test Greenberg’s line and find the place it stops holding. Unit 1 boards back on the wall.
  • Day 5 · Thu 17 Dec · U4·L16A4 sits: build the constellation and write the argument, 40 minutes.
  • Day 6 · Fri 18 Dec · U4·L17 — synthesis debrief: work returned with the criteria, and the one move that would have sharpened it.

Assessment

  • A4 — Unit 4 synthesis constellation, 40 minutes. Marked on arguing across the whole unit, not a selection of favorites. The exact sitting date will be confirmed in class.
  • Review is in-lesson on day six — the only in-lesson review this term, done while the work is still live.