| Course | Title | Instructor | Description |
|---|
| ART HIS 40A | ANC EGYPT GRC ROME | MILES, M. | In this course we start with a brief look at prehistoric cave painting and megaliths, and move on to the art of the ancient Near East, Egypt, Greece and Rome, with a focus on the early cultures around the Mediterranean Sea. We study famous works of art and architecture such as the Great Pyramids and Sphinx, the Palace of Minos at Knossos, the Parthenon, the Venus de Milo and Winged Victory, Pompeii, and the Colosseum and Pantheon in Rome: a selection of the art and architecture of the past admired and studied by people for many centuries or in some instances only recently excavated. We consider how and why the peoples of antiquity created art and architecture, how the visual arts can illuminate cultural issues, and how ancient art takes on various meanings to us today. Some attention is given to archaeological methods, and the issues of ownership, conservation and presentation of ancient artifacts. |
| ART HIS 40C | ARTS OF JAPAN | WINTHER | We will explore compelling images and objects of spirit and power created in Japan over many centuries in this course. You will gain a general understanding of developments of art in the Japanese archipelago from prehistoric times to the present day. Focus is placed on religious expression, techniques of making art, urban design, political functions of art, and art historical methods. Topics range from Samurai castles and gilded carvings of Amida Buddha to manga cartoons of Atom Boy and nude avant-garde performance. Japanese interactions with Korean, Chinese, and European cultures are emphasized. This course fulfills General Education Requirements IV (Arts and Humanities) and VIII (International/ Global Issues). No prerequisites. |
| ART HIS 103 | ANCIENT ATHENS | MILES, M. | The celebrated monuments of Athens, such as the Parthenon, the Propylaia and the Erechtheion—and some which are little known or even lost—will be our focus. We will see how the city developed, from a small village beneath the Akropolis into the seat of a far-flung empire, and the intellectual center of the Mediterranean world for many centuries. Special attention throughout the course will be given to the historical, social, political, literary and religious context of the monuments, art and artifacts we study: how people made them, and why; how the temples were used and what the public buildings were for; what the sculpture and vase-painting can tell us about Athenian values and attitudes. In addition, we will consider the history and ethics of the “rediscovery” of Greece and Greek art during the past two centuries. The architects and sculptors set a high standard against which all subsequent art in the Western tradition is inevitably compared, and their art serves as an inexhaustible source of inspiration. |
| ART HIS 140A | GLOBAL ART | NISBET, J | Tracing the rapid explosion of international biennials and art markets across the globe in the aftermath of the Cold War, this course will examine the major themes, artists, and exhibitions of the phenomenon we now call “contemporary art.” We begin by considering the arguments that have shaped the discourse of globalization in the visual arts. Then, analyzing developments that have contributed to the recent and intense focus by critics and historians on the events of our own time, we will work through the practices of numerous artists including Ai Weiwei, The Otolith Group, William Kentridge, Julie Mehretu, Takashi Murakami, Francis Alÿs, and Emily Jacir. |
| ART HIS 151B | LATR IMPERIAL CHINA | WUE, R. | This course will investigate the roles and history of photography primarily in China and Japan, from its arrival in the mid-19th century through the 20th century. We will examine the uses of photography in the service of journalism and news reporting, ethnography and geography, science, propaganda, tourism, entertainment, and of course, art. Beginning with Western photographers’ images of a distant “Orient,” this course will conclude with the uses of photography in contemporary Asian art. |
| ART HIS 155D | SOUTH ASIA PHOTO | PATEL, A. | This course will explore the intervention of photography as a technology in the visual culture of South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka) in the mid-19th century. Almost upon its emergence in France and/or Britain in the 1840s, photography was taken up in colonial South Asia by both European and Indian practitioners. The course will begin with the "indigenous" early modern visual culture of South Asia, including painting and other depictive arts from the 17th-18th centuries. It will go on to analyze the new visualities of the 19th century, both in photography and the ongoing practices of painting and other arts. Ultimately, the course will chart the shifting realities of the 19th and 20th centuries, highlighting local contributions along with non-local, imported notions to the creation of modernity. |
| ART HIS 165D | U.S. ART & WAR | WHITING, C | |
| ART HIS 185 | ART OF FILM DESIGN | GLEBOVA, A | Learn about the history and theory of the cinematic set and costume design. Often left out of histories of film, production design is a hybrid form that sits at the intersection of cinema, art history, architecture, design, and craft. Explore the visual style of a wide variety of genres (epic, costume drama, sci-fi, thriller, etc) from the 1910s to today, and interconnected material histories, including film design's influence on popular fashion and interior design trends. Every week, we will look at a case study; a preliminary list includes the epic sets of Silent Hollywood, including D.W. Griffith's Intolerance and the recently rediscovered set of Cecil B. Demille's Ten Commandments; early Soviet films, such as Bed and Sofa, that investigate the politics of everyday space through their sets; German Expressionist films; costume designs by Edith Head; Wong Kar-Wai's In the Mood for Love; and the Harry Potter films. Please contact Prof. Glebova (aglebova@uci.edu) to request an authorization code for this course. |