| Course | Title | Instructor | Description |
|---|
| ART HIS 40A | HISTORY OF WESTERN ART | KENNEDY-QUIGLEY, S. | Art History 40A is the first quarter of a year-long course, “History of Western Art,” which provides an overview of art in its various forms within the context of Western civilization, from the earliest evidence of visual culture to the present day. This first part of the course surveys the art and architecture of the ancient Near East, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Particular attention will be paid to why the peoples of antiquity created art and architecture, the significance of art within its historical, political, social, and religious context, and how the visual arts can illuminate cultural issues. Course requirements include midterm and final examinations, one paper-based on a visit to a museum, and participation, homework, and quizzes in discussion sections. No prerequisite. |
| ART HIS 42B | ARTS OF CHINA | WUE, R. | This course offers an introduction to art history through the art and visual culture of China from prehistoric times to the 20th century. We will examine how the religious, political, philosophical and cultural traditions of China are expressed, created and communicated by visual images and objects. The objectives of this class are not only to gain knowledge and understanding of these art works in a cultural and historical context, but also to develop visual analysis skills in looking at and interpreting Chinese art. Two exams, one visual analysis writing assignment, quizzes, and class participation. No prerequisite. |
| ART HIS 100 | ART & ARCHITECTURE OF ANCIENT EGYPT | KENNEDY-QUIGLEY, S. | This course will survey the art and architecture of ancient Egypt from the Pre-Dynastic Period to the Ptolemaic Period (ca. 3100-31 B.C.E.). The course will be structured chronologically, examining monuments within the context of Egyptian religion, politics, and history. Particular attention will be paid to how context and function inform innovations and continuities in the visual culture of ancient Egypt. Prior exposure to the civilizations of the ancient Mediterranean and/or Near East is helpful, but not required or presumed. Course requirements include participation in class discussions relative to required readings, a research paper, and midterm and final examinations. |
| ART HIS 121 | GENDER & RENAISSANCE | MASSEY, L. | Artistic practice in the Italian Renaissance was inextricably tied to considerations of sexuality and gender. For instance, Leonardo da Vinci equated the beauty of painting with the artist's ability to represent the beauty of women. Alternately, sculptors like Donatello and Michelangelo produced works that exploited the homoerotic potential of the male nude form, celebrating it as the epitome of ideal beauty. In terms of religion, theological debates regarding Christ's humanity involved speculations about his sexuality. Altarpieces and other artworks that lavished attention on Christ's body and genitals contributed to these debates in substantial ways. On the other hand, while women artists (and there were some in the Renaissance and Baroque periods) were often represented as insufficiently masculine to achieve artistic mastery, male artists were often represented in feminized, gendered terms as "giving birth" to artistic ideas and form. In this course we will explore these and other contradictions and the various ways that gender and sex informed the production and consumption of art in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. Some knowledge of Renaissance art recommended. |
| ART HIS 123 | NORTHERN RENAISSANCE | POWELL, A. | An introduction to the visual culture of northern Europe circa 1400 -1550, with an emphasis on painting, sculpture, and print making in the Burgundian Netherlands and Germany. The course traces the transition from the middle ages to the early modern period in the work of Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden, Matthias Grünewald, Hieronymus Bosch, Albrecht Dürer, Hans Holbein, and Pieter Bruegel the Elder, with special attention to the issues of gift giving, the private devotional image, art and liturgy, the print revolution, artistic self-awareness, and the emergence of genres including portraiture and landscape. |
| ART HIS 134E | DADA & SURREALISM | WOODS, N. | This course takes as its focus Dada and Surrealist artists from World War I to the years immediately following World War II. We will survey the different historical events of the period, and explore various themes that emerge out of the artistic and cultural responses to war and trauma, including: the emergence of psychoanalysis as an aesthetic 'medium'; the role of women both as the subject matter of Dada and Surrealism and as artists in their own right; questions of language and representation, especially relationships of text and image. All the while, we will attempt to understand how Dada and Surrealism radicalized notions and practices of painting, sculpture, collage, photography and film. |
| ART HIS 150 | KOREAN ART | WOLFGRAM, J. | This one-quarter survey will explore the arts of Korea, covering the major monuments of the peninsular nation from its inception to the present time. The lectures will not only investigate the various artistic traditions that developed, but it will also address issues of methodology, patronage, ideology, symbolism, nationalism, and popular aesthetics. Each lecture will introduce artistic developments in relation to the greater context of East Asian art. The field of Korean art history is relatively new in the West, and therefore this course will also serve as an exploratory essay into the discipline's resources and content. Some knowledge of Asian art recommended, but not required. |
| ART HIS 164D | AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN IN ART | COOKS CUMBO, B. | This course provides an examination of the historical depictions of and by African American women in American art and popular culture. Students will explore the history of visual art created by African American women from the nineteenth century through contemporary art in a variety of media. The course focuses on African American women’s experiences, perspectives, and strategies for self-representation in the visual arts. |
| ART HIS 190W | PRACTICUM FOR MAJORS | BAUER, D. | A required course for all art history majors, the practicum cultivates basic skills and knowledge necessary for specialized study in art history. Students focus on basic bibliographic research skills and analytic reading skills in the field, while learning methodological approaches to writing about art. Accordingly, students write, edit, and revise numerous formal analysis and research assignments. |