98303

ARTH 101   Perspectives in World Art

Diana Minsky

M . W . .

3:00 -4:20 pm

OLIN 102

AART

Perspectives in World Art is a two-semester course which introduces the breadth and diversity of the visual arts worldwide.  Students may take either semester or both. In the first semester, the class examines painting, sculpture, architecture, and other cultural artifacts from the Paleolithic period through the 14th century. Works from Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas are studied chronologically in order to situate them in an integrated historical context. In addition to the course textbook, readings are assigned to broaden critical perspectives and present different methodological approaches. Requirements include two papers, a mid-term, a final, and quizzes. This course is open to all students especially those considering a major in either art history or studio arts. It is designed for students with no background in art history.   

 

98302

ARTH 112   Art and Nation Building

Julia Rosenbaum

. T . Th .

10:30 - 11:50 am

OLIN 102

AART

Cross-listed: American Studies, related interest:  Human Rights  Between 1700 and 1876, a new nation came to dominate the world scene. This course explores the contribution of the visual arts to the conceptualization of American national identity from the founding of colonies through the Federal and Antebellum periods to the Civil War and Reconstruction. Visualizing a United States proved a complicated affair, and we will examine artistic efforts to portray the political experiment of democracy: How should leadership be portrayed? Difference? National character? Civil War? Among the topics considered will be the role of visual culture in constructing meanings of race, class, and gender; the importance of various genres of painting (such as portraiture, history painting, and landscape) to national politics and culture; the emergence of American artistic institutions, including schools and museums; and the relationship of American art making to European traditions. The course serves as an introduction to the painting, sculpture, photography, and graphic arts of North America, focusing on the leading artists and art movements of the period.   

 

98298

ARTH 130   Introduction to Visual Culture

Laurie Dahlberg

. . W . F

10:30 - 11:50 am

Fisher Annex

AART

This course teaches students how to look at, think about, and describe works of art. It constitutes an introduction to the discipline of art history and to visual artifacts more broadly defined. Texts will include John Berger, Ways of Seeing, Nicholas Mirzoeff, Visual Culture Reader, and Henry Sayre, Writing About Art. Frequent short writing assignments will be based on first-hand observation of works of art at nearby museums and galleries. This course is designed for anyone with an interest in, but no formal work, in art history. Preference will be given to prospective majors and first year and arts division students.  Limited to 15 students.   

 

98296

ARTH 135   Medieval Manuscript: Painting from the 4th through the 15th Century

Jean French

M . W . .

10:30 - 11:50 am

OLIN 102

AART

Cross listed: Medieval Studies  A survey of Western and Byzantine painting through manuscript illumination, from the late classical tradition of the Vatican Virgil to the courtly elegance of the Très Riches Heures of the Duke of Berry. The course concludes with the early printed books of the 15th century, popular block books such as the Biblia Pauperum and the Art of Dying, and the spread of movable type. The primary focus is on paintings and prints. The format of the book, types of manuscripts and their uses, the roles of scribe, illuminator, and patron, and the effect of changing patronage on artistic production are explored.   

 

98300

ARTH 140   Survey of Islamic Art

Susan Aberth

M . W . .

1:30 -2:50 pm

OLIN 102

AART/DIFF

Cross-listed: Africana Studies.   This course offers an introduction to the widespread visual production created throughout history in the Islamic world.  In addition to architecture and architectural ornamentation, the course will also look at pottery, metalwork, textile and carpet weaving, glass, jewelry, calligraphy, book illumination, and painting.  Beginning with the death of Muhammad in 632 C.E. and continuing through the present, the course will cover works from Iran, Syria, Egypt, North Africa, Turkey, Spain, China, India, Indonesia and other areas.  Consideration will also be given to contemporary expressions around the world.   

 

98297

ARTH 176   Chinese Religious Art

Patricia Karetzky

. . W . .

1:30 -3:50 pm

Fisher Annex

AART

Cross-listed:  Asian Studies, Religion  A study of the evolution of religious art and architecture in China through its various dynasties. Subjects include the mystical arts of ancient Sichuan, the cosmological symbolism of the Ming Tang hall, the imagery associated with the Taoist arts of the prolongation of life, the importation of Buddhism from India and its adaptation in China, ancient Buddhist cave temples, the development of the pagoda, the evolution of Confucianism into an institutional religion, and contemporary popular religion. Literary, religious, and historical sources are considered.   

 

98307

ARTH 223   Wild Visions: Picturing Nature

 in Early Modern Northern Europe

Susan Merriam

M . W . .

12:00 -1:20 pm

OLIN 102

AART

Cross-listed: Envir. Studies, STS   Early modern artists, scientists, adventurers and amateurs created a compelling visual record of the natural world. The land, sea, animals, fish, reptiles, and the human body--all served as objects of study, contemplation, and delight for early modern viewers. Curious artists and observers were enabled in their endeavors by recent technologies (the microscope and telescope) and recording methods (printmaking), while an insatiable audience for images of nature provided a ready market. Nature was celebrated as divine creation and explored as a place of violence and mystery. Her boundaries were tested and recorded in maps and landscape paintings, while her bounty was pictured in spectacular still life paintings, often staged as a contest between nature and art. Cultivated nature provided a place to play in the form of elaborate gardens, while more sedentary pleasures were to be found by armchair travelers immersed in the pages of books illustrating landscapes near and far. Early modern interest in the natural world was pan-European, but the course will focus on images, objects, and environments from present day Germany, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands. Media and materials to be discussed include: painting (still life, landscape, hunt scenes), drawings (anatomy studies, botanical illustrations), New World specimens, travel literature, anatomy lessons.   

 

98304

ARTH 227   Roman Urbanism from

Romulus (753 B.C.E.) to Rutelli (2000 C.E.)

Diana Minsky

. T . Th .

4:00 -5:20 pm

Fisher Annex

AART

Cross listed: Classical Studies, Italian Studies   Politicians and popes, from the Emperor Augustus to the current Italian government, conscious of the historical significance of urban topography and architectural type, have crafted Rome into a capital that suits their ideological aims. This course focuses on the commissioning of large-scale representational architecture, the creation of public space, the orchestration of streets, and the continuing dialogue between past and present in the city of Rome. This class qualifies as a prerequisite for Roma in Situ (ARTH 248; January and Spring 2009).   

 

98301

ARTH 273   Religious Imagery in

Latin America

Susan Aberth

. T . Th .

4:00 -5:20 pm

OLIN 102

AART

Cross-listed: Africana Studies, LAIS, SRE   This course will explore the varied visual manifestations of religious expression in Latin America after the Spanish Conquest. Although Spanish missionaries originally employed art and architecture as conversion tools, Latin America ultimately developed unique kinds of Catholic imagery and building types. One of the topics discussed at length will be the Virgin of Guadalupe and the use of her image as a tool for building national identity in Mexico, as well as for other political and cultural movements. In addition to conventional churches, statuary and paintings, we will examine folk art traditions such as popular saints and cults, masked performances, and shamanic beliefs tied to healing. A significant portion of the course will deal with African diasporic religions such as Candomble and Santería as practiced in Brazil, the Caribbean and the United States. A significant portion of this course will be dedicated to contemporary art and practices. In addition to reading and viewing documentary films, students will be asked to execute and present a number of art projects such as altars, ex-votos, etc. Students who have taken my “Survey of Latin American Art” will be given preference, but all are welcome to enroll.   

 

98306

ARTH 289   Rights and the Image

Susan Merriam

M . W . .

3:00 -4:20 pm

CAMPUS WEIS

AART

Cross-listed: Gender and Sexuality Studies, Human Rights (Core Course)   This course examines the relationship between visual culture and human rights. It considers a wide range of visual media, as well as aspects of visuality (surveillance, profiling). The course is taught using case studies ranging in time from the early modern period (practices in which the body was marked to register criminality, for example) to the present day (the images at Abu Ghraib). Within this framework, we will study how aspects of visual culture have been used to advocate for human rights, as well as how images and visual regimes have been used to suppress human rights. An important part of the course will consider the role played by reception in shaping a discourse around human rights, visuality, and images. Subjects to be addressed include: evidence; documentation and witness; the aestheticization of violence; disaster pornography; censorship; surveillance; profiling; advocacy images; signs on the body; visibility and invisibility. Requirements include response papers, a research paper, and two exams. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.    

 

98299

PHOT / ARTH  313   Photography and the

Human Condition

Laurie Dahlberg

. . . Th .

9:30 - 11:50 am

Fisher Annex

AART

This course is concerned with the photographic tradition known imperfectly as "documentary" photography, and will focus particularly on social documentary photography -- that is, photography aimed at exposing social conditions with the implicit or explicit hope of effecting social change, initiating social critique, or otherwise raising viewer consciousness.  We will examine the channels through which such photography is seen -- picture magazines, news media, books, and musuem/exhibition spaces, in order to better understand the relationship of documentary photography to institutional power.  Critical thinking since the 1970s has problematized the entire premise of social documentary photography, and this course will necessarily entail a thoughtful consideration of the complex politics of representation.  Several short papers and presentations will build toward a final research project.  

 

98295

ARTH 331   Venetian Painting of the  Renaissance

Jean French

M . . . .

4:30 -6:50 pm

Fisher Annex

AART

Cross-listed: Italian Studies   An introduction to the major painters of the Venetian School: Gentile and Giovanni Bellini, Carpaccio, Giorgione, Tintoretto, Titian, and Veronese. Students investigate the development of independent easel painting, the poetic landscapes of Giorgione, the enigmatic Venuses of Titian and Veronese, the pageantry of Venetian narrative cycles, and the special character of Venetian patronage and the city itself. The class attempts to define those qualities that made for a distinctively Venetian style.    

 

98308

ARTH 340   Seminar in Contemporary Art

Tom Wolf

. . W . .

1:30 -3:50 pm

Olin 301

AART

A consideration of the history of recent art, beginning with a short survey of the minimalism of the 1960s and then focusing on subsequent artistic developments through the early 21st century.  The class meets in New York City every fourth week to view current exhibitions.   Students give presentations about selected artists and topics to the class.   

 

98492

ARTH 347   Encounters: Indigenous Arts, Peoples, and Identities

Julia Rosenbaum

. .  . .F

10:30 -12:50 pm

Olin 202

AART

Cross listed: American Studies   European conquests of the New World set the stage for centuries-long cultural encounters between Europeans and native peoples. Focusing on North America as well as South America and Australia, this course explores indigenous arts in the context of those encounters. We will consider first periods of contact and European representations of indigenous peoples through to contemporary times and activist art making. The study of indigenous arts involves notions of cultural identity and cultural difference and we will examine cross-cultural notions of creativity and aesthetic value; networks of art production; histories of collecting and institutional representations of indigenous art such as the formation of the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI); art repatriation as well as the very concept of the indigenous. Students will submit response papers and two essays as well as prepare a presentation.   

 

98305

ARTH 385   Art Criticism and Methodology

Susan Merriam

. T . . .

1:30 -3:50 pm

Fisher Annex

AART

This seminar, designed primarily for art history majors, helps students develop the ability to think critically about a range of different approaches to the field of art history. Students read and discuss a variety of texts in order to become familiar with the discipline’s development. Methodologies such as connoisseurship, cultural history, Marxism, feminism, and post-modernism are analyzed.