| Course | Title | Instructor | Description |
|---|
| ART HIS 40B | EUROPE:MEDIEVL &REN | MASSEY, L. | 40B is an introduction to the arts and cultures of Europe from the early Middle Ages through the Renaissance. From the catacombs in Rome to the soaring Gothic cathedrals in France, from saints’ relics to exquisite manuscript paintings, from "anonymous" to Michelangelo, this class will cover some of the marvelous, monumental and meaningful works of art and architecture produced in Europe from ca. 100 to 1500 CE. Along the way, we will learn about: the emergence of the Christian church as a force to be reckoned with; the controversies in the early Christian church over the nature and value of images; the worship of images and relics of saints and the Virgin; the construction of both sacred and royal space; the Greek and Arabic science of optics and its relation to Renaissance theories of art; the birth of the idea of the artist as a unique type of individual; and the new empire of things and experiences that Europeans encountered through contact with colonial outposts in what is now South America, China, the West Indies, etc. |
| 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, proceeding chronologically and thematically. 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. |
| ART HIS 111B | BYZANTINE 650-1450 | BETANCOURT, R. | What is an image? How is an image used? What does an image do? Focusing on the central role of images in Byzantine culture, this course pays close attention to how these basic questions about images and their powers in the medieval world can inform the ways in which we think about images in the age of social media. Spanning the crucial years of the Byzantine Empire, this survey course looks at the art, architecture, and theories of visual culture in the medieval lands of the eastern Mediterranean, encompassing diverse places such as Sicily, Venice, North Africa, the Levant, the Balkans, and modern-day Turkey, Greece, Syria, and Russia. Course meetings will be organized around themes such as social networking, virality, image-sharing, interactivity, and so on that define our own contemporary visual experiences to see what the Middle Ages can teach us about our present. No prerequisites. |
| ART HIS 125 | ART: LUXURY & VICE | MASSEY, L. | What do Urban VIII, Louis XIV, and Gianlorenzo Bernini all have in common? Whether pope, monarch or artist, they all loved decadent architecture, lush painting and the evocative enticement of human flesh portrayed in marble. In AH 125, we will explore the excesses of southern Baroque Europe. Beginning in Rome, we will examine the passionate and sensual artistic milieu of Caravaggio and his followers, including the woman painter, Artemisia Gentileschi, while also studying the architectural and sculptural wonders of Bernini and Borromini. Moving to France and Spain, we will comparing papal ambitions to those of the absolute monarchy, examining both the grand projects of St. Peters and the sprawling palaces at Versailles and Madrid. Examining the full range of artistic questions raised during this period, the course will cover the relationship between science and art, particularly in regard to Galileo; the European Baroque image of colonized peoples, particularly of Africans and Chinese; and the experience of collecting and displaying exotica from foreign places. |
| ART HIS 134E | ART & POL BTWN WARS | WHITING, C. | Examining the political role of art in the U.S.A., France, Germany, Italy, Holland, and Russia between the world wars, this course will consider movements such as Dada, Surrealism, Neue Sachlichkeit, German Expressionism, and Russian Constructivism. Topics covered will include: art's function as political protest, the relationship between abstraction and the machine age, neo-classicism and social harmony. |
| 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
advanced 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 165D | DADA/NEO-DADA | NISBET, J. | Addressing the relationship of avant-garde movements in Europe in the
early twentieth century and in the United States at mid-century, this
course will examine the apparent congruence of collage, assemblage, and
experimental painting in artistic movements before and after the Second
World War. Focusing on artists including Sophie Taeuber, Raoul Hausmann,
Hannah Höch, John Heartfield, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jay
DeFeo, we will pay particular attention to close visual analysis.
Readings will be drawn from both artists’ writings and period criticism. |
| ART HIS 183C | MONTAGE | GLEBOVA, A. | In this course, we will investigate montage as concept, object, and technique. We will examine the role of montage in the history of the still and moving image, focusing on the period between the late 1910s and the late 1960s in Europe and the U.S, with a special emphasis on Soviet montage theory. The questions of appropriation, remixing and reprograming will take us to digital art and montage in the global context. Throughout the course we will consider, among other questions, montage’s relationship to modernism and modernity, its subversive potential and its commercial uses, and its historical significance for the practice of women artists. The course will include in-class screenings, and require weekly readings. Assignments will include a paper and a creative project. CONTACT PROF GLEBOVA TO OBTAIN AUTHORIZATION CODE TO REGISTER FOR COURSE. |
| ART HIS 190W | PRACTCUM FOR MAJORS | BETANCOURT, R. | A required course for junior and senior art history majors, the practicum has the dual purpose of 1) closely examining the tools, methods, and approaches of art history and 2) strengthening writing skills and strategies. Through analytic readings, presentations, and discussion, students will put to use the major methodologies employed by art historians and consider their implications for how we understand art, popular culture, and other forms of visual culture. Beyond class readings, students will develop their own analytical and writing skills through a series of projects, from formal analyses to a final research paper. These projects are aimed at engaging a range of visual materials from the present to the ancient world via the various methods and approaches discussed in class. In conversation with the instructor, students will be able to choose their objects of study from areas as diverse as contemporary popular culture to pre-historic cave paintings – not limited to works of art alone. |