| Course | Title | Instructor | Description |
|---|
| ART HIS 40B | EUROPE:MEDIEVL &REN | POWELL, A. | Explore the long period that extends from the end of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century through the sixteenth century. There are no prerequisites for the course and no expectations that students will necessarily have taken Art History 40A. Less a survey than a series of case studies, this course looks at colossal statues of emperors, miracle working icons, gem encrusted reliquaries, Gothic cathedrals, the eye-tricking illusions of Renaissance painters, the first nude statues in the West since antiquity, Michelangelo’s paintings in the Sistine Chapel, and Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. In looking at these things, we will trace the emergence of Christian visual culture, its dialogue with other cultures, the questioning of the nature and validity of representation within that culture — especially the representation of the human body — and the gradual eclipse of the sacred icon by the secular, modern work of art during the Renaissance. |
| ART HIS 42C | ARTS OF JAPAN | WOLFGRAM, J. | 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 44 | IMAGE COLLISION | BETANCOURT, R. | What is an image? How do images operate? What do images do? Focusing on the central role of images in contemporary culture as mediators and active participants in issues of race, gender, sexuality, and socialization, this course pays close attention to how these basic questions about images and their socio-cultural powers in the age of social media can be inform by historical works of art from antiquity to the early modern period. Each course will be structured through a series of central image collisions. These collisions serve as critical comparisons between two representative images (one from a distant past and another from a near present), which exemplify the tensions and themes addressed by the course. For example, medieval cults around images will be collided with contemporary fandoms and their practices, representations of minorities in the Classical world will be collided with modern representations of minority groups in film, and images of early modern trade and discovers will be collided with contemporary manifestations of globalization and social networking. The course investigates where we draw the line in defining “the image” in the contemporary by radically making contemporaneous with said present a series of historical examples that force us to question and reevaluate our givens and understandings of what an image is and how the image wields its effects on our daily lives. The key question in this course is that of representation, considered literally in terms of what entails an ‘image’ proper and also metaphorically so as to consider the possibility of the cultural representation of minority groups in the contemporary United States. |
| ART HIS 110 | SEX&SENSES MEDIEVAL | BETANCOURT, R. | Conceptions about the Middle Ages and its art have recently been revolutionized by thinking about the importance of sexual and sensual experience in the medieval world, demonstrating the manner in which the senses are deployed for salvation, damnation, and pleasure within the sacred and secular realms. This course analyzes the construction and articulation of sex, the senses, and sensual experience in the medieval world, considering equally the Western, Byzantine, and Islamic worlds. Each session focuses on a different one of these areas with a particular thematic concern. |
| ART HIS 121 | LEONARDO&MICHELNGLO | 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 134C | IMPRSSNSM TO FAUVES | STAFF | This class takes as its subject the cultural and political crucible of Paris and its surrounds during the second half of the nineteenth century. The fine art of painting, at the time a highly privileged medium for the formulation and expression of ideas, will deservedly receive a great deal of our attention, but we will also investigate urban planning, drawing and printing, and a bit of sculpture. We will analyze the engagement of many of these visual artifacts in the cultural and social battles of their day during a contentious period of French history. Artists studied include Manet, Degas, Monet, Renoir, Morisot, Cassatt, Seurat, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Matisse. |
| ART HIS 134E | AVANT-GARDE RUSSIA | GLEBOVA, A. | Explore the revolutionary art and ideas of the Russian and Soviet avant-garde from the first decades of the twentieth century, including abstract painting, utopian architecture, modernist photography, and experimental film. Discover the connections between Russian art of the period and Western avant-gardes, including Dada and Cubism, as well as the presence of the avant-garde in far-flung corners of the Soviet Union. Learn about the influence of politics on the development of art, and the end of radical art-making under Stalinism. Artists studied include Goncharova, Malevich, Lissitzky, Rodchenko, Tatlin, Stepanova, Vesnin, Vertov, Eisenstein, Kandinsky. |
| ART HIS 150 | E ASIA PHOTOGRAPHY | WUE, R. | This course will investigate the roles and history of photography primarily in China, Japan and Korea, 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, especially themes of national and personal identities and commentary on traditions. |
| ART HIS 190W | PRACTCUM FOR MAJORS | COOKS CUMBO, B. | 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 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. |