| Course | Title | Instructor | Description |
|---|
| ART HIS 40C | MODERN ART EUR&AMER | NISBET, J. | This course is an exploration of visual modernity in Europe and America. It will examine the conditions of modern life that have transformed the visual arts from the Industrial Revolution to the present day. We will consider the themes of labor, colonialism, political revolution, the natural environment, and image technologies as they inform topics such as Rembrandt, the invention of photography, Impressionism, Picasso, abstraction, the environmental movement, and Andy Warhol. This visual art registers the dramatic and fundamental changes that have shaped the globalized, multimediated world in which we now live. |
| ART HIS 42C | ARTS OF JAPAN | WINTHER TAMAKI, B. | This course examines compelling images and objects of spirit and power created in Japan over many centuries, presenting an overview of developments in art in the Japanese archipelago from the prehistoric period to the present day. Topics include Buddhist icons, narrative illustration, popular prints, architecture, manga, and the avant-garde. Japanese interactions with Korea, China, and Europe are emphasized. This course fulfills General Education Requirements IV (Arts and Humanities) and VIII (International/ Global Issues). |
| ART HIS 100 | HELLENISTIC ASIA | CANEPA, M. | This course explores the art, archaeology and history of Western, Central and South Asia and the Iranian world, broadly conceived, from the death of Alexander to the rise of the Sasanians. It will concentrate heavily on the development of the arts, architecture, and urbanism under the Greco-Macedonian kingdoms that emerged on the Iranian plateau and Central Asia after the fall of the Achaemenids, and the Iranian-speaking peoples who eventually overthrew these Greek kingdoms and established their own empires. Thus the core of the class will be on the development of the Seleucid Empire (from Syria to Bactria), the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, and the Arsacid/Parthian Empire. We will also consider Perso-Macedonian traditions in Anatolia and the Caucasus and the legacy of the Hellenistic period in Kushan Bactria and N. India and Sogdian to Transoxiana. Among other major themes, we will consider the common/competitive court cultures that emerged among the Seleucid, Bactrian and Indo-Greek courts; appropriation and transformation of Hellenistic culture in Mesopotamia, Anatolia and Central Asia in cities such as Hatra, kingdoms such as Commagene, Pontos, or Chorasmia, the interplay between nomadic and sedentary Iranian culture and the emergence of new forms of architecture and visual culture under the Parthians, Scythians, Kushans. In addition to an in-depth examination of the ancient sites and sources, this course will put the ancient material into dialogue with a select body of theoretical material stemming from archaeological, art historical and cultural studies discourse. |
| ART HIS 121 | LEONARDO/MICHELAN | MASSEY, L. | The names Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti are associated with some of the greatest achievements of the Italian Renaissance: the Mona Lisa, the Last Supper, the Pieta, the Sistine Chapel. Through their individual personalities and artworks, each artist has come to define what we imagine as the special and unique character of "the artist": an individual of extraordinary creativity, invention, skill, intellect and tortured mentality. Concepts like "artistic personality" or "artistic genius" are inventions of the Renaissance, and they emerged explicitly from the biographies of Leonardo and Michelangelo. The careers of these two artists intersected—both were Tuscan and were trained in Florence. Contemporaries clearly compared them, and each was seen as an outstanding master of art. The two artists knew each other, and at one point, they were placed into a competitive situation, each having been commissioned to produce a battle scene for the Palazzo della Signoria in Florence. Exploring the myths, histories, artworks, sexuality, writings and reputations associated with these two artists, we will seek to understand how and why they achieved fame in their lifetimes and why they continue to hold our fascination to this day. |
| ART HIS 140A | POST WAR EURO ART | NISBET, J. | Opening with the condition of European modernism in the ruinous aftermath of World War II, this course will examine the negotiation of experimental European art with the reconstruction of culture during the late twentieth century. We will look at a variety of practices primarily from France, Germany, Italy, and England, including Nouveau Realisme, the Situationist International, Arte Povera, and the Independent Group. Emphasis will be placed on the relationship of visual art with social life and politics. |
| ART HIS 145C | LA URBANISM | DIMENDBERG, E. | Perhaps the most remarkable artifact in Los Angeles is the city itself, an improbable creation wrested from the desert in which most buildings are the first structures built on their land. The purpose of this class is to consider the history and social and cultural meanings of the city's infrastructure and varied spatial forms. We will consider the legacies of the Spanish Mission style alongside the emergence of modernism. Street networks, water works, transportation routes, and neighborhoods will also be addressed. A varied range of urban thinkers and historians will provide points of reference for this exploration. Our goal will be to consider the metropolis in its complexity and to understand its unique features as well as the ways in which it shares the problems and possibilities of other cities and is becoming paradigmatic of the urban condition in the twenty-first century. Assignment structure: Take-home midterm and final research paper. Instructor: Edward Dimendberg |
| ART HIS 155B | MEDIEVAL INDIA | PATEL, A. | This course will explore some of the world’s great religions (Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism and Islam) and their artistic traditions, challenging modern notions of religious and national identities. Beginning with the Guptas’ aesthetic legacies in the architecture, sculpture and painting of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka (South Asia), we will continue with the dissemination of religious ideas and artistic practices in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam (Southeast Asia) in the 8th-10th centuries. The course will also examine the dispersal of Islam in South Asia, beginning with the settlement of early Muslim commercial communities in the 8th century, continuing with the Islamic Sultanates of the 12th-15th centuries, and culminating in the magnificence of the Mughal Empire (1526-1857). |
| ART HIS 181 | THE ART MUSEUM | COOKS, B. | Addresses the historical and contemporary function of the museum as an instructional device with a particular focus on twentieth century exhibitions of American Art. The roles of curators, educators, artists, and audiences are analyzed. Students will give presentations on exhibitions as case studies to explore with the class. |
| ART HIS 190W | ART HISTORY METHODS | COOKS, B. | A required course for all art history majors, this course cultivates basic skills and knowledge necessary for specialized study in art history. Students focus on analytic reading and research skills in the field, while learning methodological approaches to writing about art. Accordingly, students write, edit, and revise numerous formal analysis and research assignments. |
| ART HIS 198 | TOKYO | WINTHER TAMAKI, B. | Tokyo is one of the largest, richest, and most dangerous cities in the world. This seminar examines visual expressions of this global metropolis with a focus on photography, painting, sculpture, and architecture. These media will be explored as windows into the daily life and environmental design that gave Tokyo its character at different moments in its modern and contemporary history. Emphasis will be placed on disasters, public monuments, architecture, and individual artists’ visions of the life of the city. Seminar readings will include urban studies, as well as texts in art history, art criticism, and media theory. |
| ART HIS 298 | TOKYO | WINTHER TAMAKI, B. | |