Courses
All courses carry 3 credits unless otherwise specified.
602 Evaluating Greek Art: Ancient Culture, Scientific Technology and Modern Politics
The origins, unfolding, and flowering of Greek sculpture, architecture, and painting from approximately 900 to 100 B.C. Readings from ancient literature provide essential historical and cultural background. Particular attention paid to the powerful magic of early Greek images and to issues and controversies surrounding Greek art as it is presented to the American public. LaFollette
603 Roman Art: Politics, Power and Society
The artistic and cultural achievements of the Romans—portraiture, illusionistic wall painting, and the development of vast interior spaces in architecture—as well as the creation of a multi-ethnic empire extending from England to Egypt. Particular attention paid to the dynamic of reciprocal influence between conquered and conqueror. La Follette
604 Biology and Art
This seminar explores the intersection of Biology and Art from an art-historical perspective, focusing on the ways modernism and contemporary art of the 20th and 21st centuries relate to the history of biology as well as current social and ecological developments.
605 Early Medieval Art
A comprehensive survey of early medieval art and architecture from the third trough the tenth centuries.? This course recognizes the religious, political, and socioeconomic contexts in which medieval art and architecture were produced, and although the material is organized chronologically, lectures will emphasize key themes, including: the origins of Christian images, the changing depictions of Christ, the contested place of images in religious worship, the relationship between text and image, the role of patrons and politics, the liturgical function of the object, and the art of imperial propaganda. Drimmer
607 Romanesque and Gothic Art
Development of architecture, sculpture, painting and minor arts from 1050 to 1400 in France, England and Italy; society in which these art forms developed. Relationship of monuments to contemporary political, social, intellectual, and literary trends. Drimmer
608 Medieval Painting
The history of the illustrated book from early Christian period through the high middle ages. Problems in materials and technique; stylistic and iconographic questions. Drimmer
610 Art and the City-State in Early Renaissance Italy (1250-1500)
How city-states developed distinctive artistic styles, and how different governmental systems favored various forms of patronage. Cities include Naples, Rome, Siena, Florence, Milan, Mantua, Ferrara, Padua, Urbino, and Venice. Focus on the revival of interest in classical antiquity and the development of the mathematical system of one-point perspective. Schmitter
613 Late Renaissance and Mannerist Italian Art
The development of the visual arts in the major artistic centers of Italy during the 16th century, including Florence, Rome, Venice, Mantua, Ferrara, Parma, and Bologna. The lives and works of specific artists, such as Leonardo, Raphael, Titian, and Michelangelo. Focus on thematic issues concerning the relationship between art and society, including: the rise in social status of the artist and the conception of artistic genius; the influence of patronage and collecting; art and the creation of political identities; women as subjects, patrons, and practitioners of art; classicism and “anti-classicism” (Mannerism); art and religious reform; government and city planning. Schmitter
614 Sexuality, Drama and Invention: The Baroque Artist in Italy
The lives, works, and careers of five Baroque artists and architects: Michelangelo da Caravaggio, Artemisia Gentileschi, Guido Reni, Gianlorenzo Bernini, and Francesco Borromini. Focus on the role of sexuality in the artists’ lives and works as well as in Baroque culture more broadly. Concepts of drama and invention in relation to the theory and practice of Baroque art and architecture. Schmitter
623 European Art, 1780-1880
This course explores European art and visual culture in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with an emphasis on painting, sculpture, drawing, prints, and photography. We begin with the festive yet decadent Rococo, which leaves its place to Neoclassicism's utopian search for a new world in the second half of the eighteenth century. We then investigate the emergence of Romanticism from a deep disappointment with Enlightenment ideals as it transforms into a fascination with the dark recesses of the human psyche. Realism ushers in new themes of contemporary life in the aftermath of the Revolution of 1848. Our survey will culminate at the birth of modernism in the second half of the nineteenth century with Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. Çakmak
624 Modern Art, 1880 to Present
20th Century art, from the move toward total abstraction around 1913 to the development of Postmodernism in the 1980s.? We examine the impact on art of social and political events such as World War I, the Russian Revolution, the rise of Fascism, the Mexican Revolution, the New Woman in the 1920s, World War II, the Cold War, and the rise of consumer culture.? We will investigate the origins and complex meanings of movements such as Fauvism, Cubism, Dada, Surrealism, Mexican Muralism, Abstract Expressionism, and Pop Art.? We will reconsider and reevaluate major issues in Modern art and culture such as the evolution of personal expression, the recognition of non-western culture in Euro-America, the interest in abstraction as a universal language, new technologies in art, the politics of the avant-garde and its attempts to reconnect art and life, issues of gender, race and representation, the role of myth and the unconscious, and the dialogue between art and popular culture. Kurczynski
627 Contemporary Art
Addresses the history of contemporary art since 1980 from a western perspective, but in a global context. Introduces students to major issues in contemporary art and criticism such as conceptualism, new media, earth art, postmodernism, neo-expressionism, institutional critique, identity politics, political interventions, installation art, ecology, globalization, relational aesthetics, and the role of consumerism and the art market. Kurczynski
628 American Art to 1860
Survey of American art and architecture to 1860. Emphasis on major painters within the cultural and historical contexts.
629 Latin American/US Latinx Art 1800-Present
introduction to the art produced in Latin America and by people of Latin American descent, from 1800 to the present. Organized chronologically, the course emphasizes the essential role that art and visual culture have played in the political, social, and religious spheres of Latin America since the wars of independence, as well as the way art is mobilized by Latinx people in the United States. Classes will focus on key topics, including the art of national propaganda, the activation of indigenous visual traditions, the representation and erasure of Afro-Latin Americans, the visualizations of diasporic identities, and art as a contemporary political tool. Gómez
634 History of Decorative Arts
The history of the decorative arts from the Renaissance to 1960. Various media examined, with an emphasis on furniture.
642 19th-Century Architecture: History Reform and Technology
The economic, social, and political forces that led to the creation of new building types, institutions, and technologies from 1750 to 1914. Seminal figures, monuments, urban environments such as Pugin, Viollet-le-Duc, Wright, Haussmann’s Paris, Olmsted’s Central Park, the Gothic Revival, the Beaux-Arts, and the various city-planning movements. Rohan
643 20th-Century Architecture: Modernism, Capitalism and Globalism
The architecture, design, and theory of the Modernist movement considered in relation to the primary ideologies of the twentieth century—socialism, capitalism, and globalism. Includes the works of founding figures—Wright, Mies, Gropius, and Le Corbusier—and significant themes such as the individual vs. the collective; European vs. American ideals; contributions of non-western cultures; impact of war, mass culture, and new technologies. Rohan
645 Architecture Now
What is sustainable architecture? How can we build sustainably, and what lessons can we learn from the past? This course addresses the history of environmental concerns about the built and unbuilt environment, from vernacular and indigenous buildings to 19th- and 20th-century reactions to the Industrial Revolution and the modern city. Through a study of landscape painting, landscape architecture, and architectural history we will review Western perceptions of nature and industry to better understand evolving expectations of the two and how these expectations affect the way we live. The course covers the environmental movement of the 1960s and 70s and how architects responded to the oil crisis. It concludes with a study of recent work by contemporary architects who are intent on addressing ecological and climate-related challenges. Vickery
647 History of Islamic Art and Architecture I
Chronological study of history of Islamic art from its origins in Byzantine and Sasanian traditions of Near East, to its formation under Arab Empire and subsequent Turkish and Iranian dynastic patrons. Islamic world from Spain to India, with emphasis on the central Islamic lands of Middle East. Architecture, painting, textiles, carving in wood, crystal, stucco, stone, and ivory, metalware, ceramics, other media. Museum field trip. Given alternate years with ART-HIST 537. Denny
648 History of Islamic Art and Architecture II
Continuation of ArtHis 536. Artistic legacy of Islamic peoples from 14th through 17th centuries, including the arts of the Mamluk, Timurid, Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal dynasties in the Middle East and India. Museum field trip. Given alternate years with ART-HIST 536. Denny
655 Chinese Painting
The concept of landscape, or "mountains and waters" (shanshui), was a central preoccupation for Chinese artists, viewers, and collectors. Focusing primarily on the ninth to the eighteenth centuries, this course surveys historical changes in representations of nature through paintings produced for tombs, the imperial court, scholars, and merchants, but also through the decorative arts, private gardens, and imperial grounds. We think about what it meant to make paintings but also what it meant to view paintings. Reading primary texts in translation by seminal artists such as Guo Xi, Dong Qichang, and Shitao in conjunction with analysis of major monuments, students gain a foundation in the development of Chinese painting, while investigating the cultural, political, and economic contexts that have shaped ideas about landscape and environment. All readings in translation. Ho
688 Modern Art in East Asia
This course examines how art became modern in China, Korea, and Japan. We explore issues distinctive to the history of modernism in East Asia: the confrontation between brush-and-ink traditions and new artistic mediums such as photography and easel painting; the spread of art academies and Japanese imperialism; urban modernity and Western semi-colonialism; proletarian art movements; and postwar legacies and the creation of new avant-gardes. Throughout the course we ask: can modernity and modernism become multiple? Do histories from the periphery challenge, or reinforce, narratives of Western modernism? Ho
690A Black Subjects in Popular Culture
Nelson
696 Independent Study: Art History
Credit, 3-12.
697P The Portrait in Medieval Europe
This course takes as its object of focus one of the most contested forms of medieval art: the portrait. Drimmer
697V Vexed Antiquities
The problems of looted art and the ancient world. La Follette
697R Special Topics: Women in Architecture
From gendered, architectural spaces and how and why they were structured for women in the 19th century in both Britain and America to the work of early and contemporary women architects. Vickery
697S Special Topics: The Black Subject in Historical and Contemporary Popular Visual Culture
Nelson
697X Special Topics: Nuestra Senora: Popular Marian Devotion in Latin America. Gómez
Graduate Seminars
(Topics may change from semester to semester.)
700 Problems in Greek Art
701 Problems in Roman Art
705 Studies in Medieval Iconography
710 Problems in Italian Art of the Early and High Renaissance
711 Problems in Italian Art of the Later Renaissance and Mannerism
718 Art of Northern Europe 1400-1600
719 Art of Northern Europe 1600-1700
721 19th-Century Painting and Sculpture
722 Art Since 1880
725 Problems in Contemporary Art
727 Drawing in Color
This course considers histories of race, colonialism, and categories of social identity in relation to the medium of drawing in global contemporary art from the 1990s and later, through specific artist case studies. Kurczynski.
743 Themes in Postwar Architecture, 1945-1972
747 Problems in Islamic Art and Architecture
781 Methods of Art History
History of the discipline, methodological orientations, and the conceptual and technical framework for art-historical research. Required of all M.A. candidates in Art History during first year of study.
782 Museum Studies
Introduction to museum methods and practices. Issues such as the role of museums in society, the development of collections, conservation, curatorial and registrarial responsibilities, museum management, public relations, funding, ethics, and the production of exhibitions and catalogs. Includes field trips to area museums. Consent of instructor required.
791A Afro-Latin American Art
This seminar investigates Afro-Latin American and Afro-Latinx art from the colonial period to the present. Gómez.
791G Asian Art: Transpacific Revolutions
This seminar explores recent scholarship surrounding the “Pacific Century” in order to consider how the paradigm of the transpacific and thinking oceanically offer new ways of approaching art history. Ho.