1. Catherine Soussloff discusses the significance of the artist’s body. (pg. 133) Why is this crucial to the delineation of the term “artist?” How might this relate to the construction of Van Gogh as an archetypal figure of the artist? And how might films such as Lust for Life and Vincent and Theo play on this common attribute found in the biography of artists. 
2. Much has been made of Van Gogh’s Crows in a Wheat-field, 1890. Discuss Kurosawa’s composition in the closing moments of his Van Gogh vignette in his film Dreams. What is the significance of this composition coming at the close of the vignette? How does Kurosawa seem to interpret crows? Do you think Pollock would agree with Kurosawa’s interpretation? And how might this compare to other cinematic representations of Crows in a Wheat-field (e.g., Lust for Life, Vincent and Theo). 
3. Tweedie says that Caravaggio’s “tableaux vivants [living tableaus] … represent an act of critical hermeneutics [interpretation].” What is revealed in Jarman’s staging of these tableaux vivants? And what might these reveal about cinema? Why does Tweedie call these “protocinematic”?
4. In James Tweedie’s article he discusses how Jarman’s film, Caravaggio, might rediscover “identities submerged beneath dominant histories.” What histories (note that the term is plural here) are potentially unearthed? How might this compare to last week’s discussion of Pollock’s article? In what ways might the selected clip from Jarman’s film compare to the Potato Eater sequence in Lust for Life? How might they be similar, and/or how might they be different?
5. Susan Felleman concludes her article by arguing that despite the feminist potential in the cinematic representations of female artists, such as Artemisia, the tendency is to construct the “female imagination [as] deformed by pathology.” What so-called ‘pathologies’ might we attribute to Agnès Merlet’s depiction of Gentileschi? How does this differ from the biographical models that we’ve seen thus far (e.g., Van Gogh and Caravaggio)? Or does it differ at all, has Merlet adopted common tropes associated with male artists and superimposed them over the biographical representation of Gentileschi?
6. Nochlin says that the two reactions to the question, “why have there been no great women artists?” is to attempt to first address the question as it is put, and/or to establish “a different kind of ‘greatness’ for women’s art than for men’s, thereby postulating the existence of a distinctive and recognizable feminine style …”  Does Merlet Artemisia attempt to do this, that is, establish Artemisia Gentileschi’s ‘greatness’ as distinctively feminine? Or does Merlet attempt to establish Gentileschi’s ‘greatness’ as ‘different’? Does Merlet in some way “tacitly reinforce” the dominant patriarchal regime?
7. Carlos Saura says that had Goya lived today “he would be a filmmaker.”  Explain why Saura draws this conclusion. What painterly qualities are evident in this scene in Goya? What is added to these ‘painterly’ qualities? Considering that the image is probably a reference to Rembrandt’s Slaughtered Ox (1638), what is the possible significance of the morphing from the carcass to Goya? What possible connotations might be drawn about the biography of Goya and his significance in art history?
8. Some ‘cinematic purest’ might argue that a theatrical mise-en-scene is pointless because it doesn’t take full advantage of the cinematic medium, and tends to reduce the cinematic to a recording of a theatrical drama on film.  Why does Saura adopt a theatrical mise-en-scene in Goya? As a filmmaker what possible advantages does this afford him? Despite the overt theatricality of the sequence, what uniquely cinematic elements are used? The selected sequence is working towards the final shot of the 1798 fresco depicting the Miracle of St Anthony of Padua in the Hermitage church of St Antonio de la Florida, Madrid, how does the previous theatricality inform our understanding of Goya’s painting?

Students will be required to write a paper (4 - 5 pages). You must incorporate one source from your reading material, in addition to one outside scholarly resource. Due in class December 6th.