Steven Mansbach

This professor has taught: ARTH201, ARTH350, ARTH488D, ARTH488E, ARTH488G, ARTH759, ARTH759C, ARTH759D, ARTH759F, ARTH759K

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Steven Mansbach Anonymous 03/30/2021	heard great things about this course, but it seemed to be a lot different in the pandemic setting. You learn a lott of cool things, but try to take it in person because it is overwhelming online and it is asynchronous (so not as fun as it could be). Lectures were supposed to be 50 minutes, but they were on average 90+ minutes (and this is 2 lectures + discussion/week). Heavily run by TAs during fall 2020, and seemed to be a little disorganized. Wish I took it in person, but I still learned a lot and liked the class.
Steven Mansbach ARTH201 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/24/2020	Professor Mansbach is great, but the class organization (at least online) has led to quite a difficult time. Mansbach is a lovely professor with a fantastic voice, and he has a beautiful passion for art history. I really enjoyed listening to his lectures. On the other hand, at least online the class was not organized well. It was entirely run by the TA's, and I often felt that grading could be arbitrary (and often took over a month). I ended up with an A, but I know a lot of people did not but probably deserved one. In general, quality of writing is a huge deal on the midterm and final exam, so keep this in mind if you're considering taking the class as a gen-ed. If you cannot write well you almost certainly will not get an A in this class. Getting an A requires a strong understanding and memory of important compositional elements and to be able to apply them to various time periods and styles well. This class is not easy but it is very rewarding. I know so much more about art now, and I am very thankful to Professor Mansbach for that gift.
Steven Mansbach ARTH201 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/21/2019	Professor Mansbach was an awesome professor whose passion and knowledge are evident in his lectures. Like others mentioned, he's quite eloquent and poetic in his descriptions of paintings, but they only help the student in remembering specific phrases and vocabulary for those specific paintings. This class is only graded on 5 factors: participation in discussion, two midterms, a paper (you have to go to the national gallery of art to view a painting), and a final exam. He gives around 40 paintings to memorize per midterm, but most of the content consists of understanding the context/history of what was going on at that time and how that affected art, so the textbook is key for that. I don't know if it was like this for other semesters, but he was pretty lenient on grading, especially if he saw improvement in the student's work. I usually studied by just memorizing the paintings dates/names and reading the textbook a few days before. His TA Tony was also super cool. He was always available to help students and constantly encouraged us to do our best. Take this class if u wanna broaden ur mind ahahha
Steven Mansbach ARTH488G Anonymous 05/23/2013	Prof. Mansbach is a fantastic professor. He is so elegant in his speech that it is sometimes actually difficult to understand some of his vocabulary. Awesome guy though, very nice and always thoughtful. The class itself is very enjoyable. We read several novels about utopias and had a few presentations with a final term paper. The atmosphere is very fun and relaxed. Really glad I took the class!
Steven Mansbach ARTH201 Expecting a B wombat 05/15/2012	Great professor. Tremendous speaking voice that can hold your attention for the entire class period. He does have a tendency to use vocabulary which might be unfamiliar to some, as well as get a bit poetic with his descriptions of works, to the extent that it becomes confusing what one ought to write down / commit to memory and what one ought to simply let soak in. However, he balances that out by making it crystal clear which artists / works are peripheral and which ones you should probably remember. Nine times out of ten, those are the works you will see on the exams, especially on the final. That's not to say you shouldn't remember the others, because being able to recall lesser-known but no less relevant works in your essays is always a plus. As another reviewer mentioned, the professor / TA's place emphasis on knowing the socio-political context in which the various Western art movements formed and flourished, and not at all on rote memorization of slides, dates and whatnot. There were all too many exam essays where I couldn't recall the name of the work, nor the artist, nor the date - heck there were even paintings that I had never seen before because I had missed that particular class - but I never received anything less than a "B" on an in-class essay (they grade to the "C" as being average) simply because I talked about the work in the context of its time period / art movement and the stylistic trappings of that era. So, if you're not good with names, dates, etc, don't sweat it and take Steven Mansbach's class! I guarantee it will be an interesting and enriching experience.
Steven Mansbach ARTH350 Expecting an A Anonymous 03/05/2012	Simply put, he is the best. As a professor, yes--he is exceptional in every regard as an educator, not only incredibly knowledgeable but also a dynamic, engaging, captivating speaker and lecturer. As a human being--he recognizes talent and is generous in his appreciation. He is as good a listener as he is a speaker. He is approachable and friendly, and never before have I met a professor with whom I genuinely enjoyed talking to, and with whom it was so easy and natural. He combines philosophy, politics, and theory with art in a way that is astounding. For the love of god, do yourself a favor and take a course with him, I promise you won't be disappointed.
Steven Mansbach ARTH201 Expecting an A- Anonymous 01/17/2011	Dr. Mansbach is hands down the best professor I have had so far. He is a great lecturer and the class material is really interesting. He and the TA's do a lot to help you out and get a good grade. The hardest part of any art history class is slide id's, especially for a course that covers so much material like this one. Dr. Mansbach, however, puts almost no emphasis on actually knowing the name and date of a painting (I got A's on all of the exams and correctly identified maybe half of the art works). The only slide id's we had to do were in discussion, and they were broken into a few weeks worth of lecture material at a time, so they weren't that bad.
Steven Mansbach ARTH201 Anonymous 12/29/2010	He is easily one of the best professors and lecturers I have had so far that I actually looked forward to coming to lectures. He has a nice voice and is very clear and organized. However, the class requires a lot of work for a 200 level course and you will have to work hard for a good grade.
Steven Mansbach ARTH201 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/21/2010	Take. This. Class.
Steven Mansbach ARTH201 Expecting a B rose11 12/20/2010	Professor Mansbach is one of the best professors I have taken at Maryland. He is so enthusiastic; it was enjoyable coming to lecture and listening to him. The course is difficult. There are A LOT of paintings to memorize and it is difficult to remember all of the information about each stylistic time period. Assignments consisted of two exams, three quizzes, one paper, and the final. Lyndsay Bratton was a great TA. She was helpful in clarifying the concepts and wanted her students to do well. This was a very interesting course for a HA core, but it involves work so be prepared to study.
Steven Mansbach ARTH350 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/18/2010	How has no one written about this professor yet? He is, first of all, the highest paid professor in the art history department, considering well.. he's written scholarly texts and is a renowned professor. He is not easy. And it can be a good or a bad thing. Good thing - he knows his stuff. Too well. Just like most of the art history professors. At times, I thought he'd make up words but no.. intense vocabulary. And he'll throw in some German and French just to spice the lecture up. Bad if you are going to slack off on the paper. He's the toughest grader I've had, because he can really see right through the bull and the slacking. I highly recommend him because its really rare to get such a great professor, even if he is a tough grader. I felt he really challenged students intellectually.