91818 |
ARTH 101
Perspectives
in World Art |
Diana DePardo-Minsky
|
M W 3:10
pm-4:30 pm |
OLIN
102 |
AA |
AART |
Perspectives
in World Art introduces the diversity of the visual arts
worldwide over the course of two semesters. Students may take either
semester or both. The first semester examines painting, sculpture,
architecture, and other artifacts from the Paleolithic period through the
14th century. Works from Europe, Asia, and Africa are studied
chronologically to create an integrated historical
context. Readings from various critical perspectives present
different methodological approaches. Requirements include a
semester-long term paper (turned at three intervals), a mid-term, a final, and
quizzes. This course fulfills one requirement for moderating into
Art History; potential majors are urged to take Perspectives prior to
other Art History classes. Open to all students. Class size: 25
91829 |
ARTH 120
Romanesque
and Gothic Art & Architecture |
Katherine Boivin
|
T Th 1:30
pm-2:50 pm |
OLIN
205 |
AA |
AART |
Cross-listed: French Studies, Medieval Studies This survey covers the art and architecture
created in Western Europe from around 1000 C.E. to 1500 C.E. Emphasis is placed
on an analysis of architecture (religious and secular), sculpture, painting,
stained glass, tapestry, and metalwork within a wider cultural context. Among
the topics studied are the aftermath of the millennium, the medieval monastery,
pilgrimage and the cult of relics, the age of the great cathedrals (Chartres,
Amiens, Reims, etc.), and late medieval visual culture up to the
Reformation. The course examines
thematically the changing visual articulation of ideas about death, salvation,
social status, patronage, and the artist.
Open to all students. Class size:
22 (Ancient, Europe)
91822 |
ARTH 123
Survey of
20th Century Art |
Alex Kitnick
|
M W 1:30
pm-2:50 pm |
RKC
103 |
AA |
AART |
A survey of
the major movements of modern art, beginning with postimpressionism in the late
19th century and moving through fauvism, expressionism, cubism,
futurism, constructivism, Dadaism, surrealism, abstract expressionism, pop art,
and minimalism. Painting and sculpture are emphasized. Class size: 22
(1800-present)
91827 |
ARTH 125
Modern
Architecture: 1850-1950 |
Olga Touloumi
|
M W 1:30
pm-2:50 pm |
OLIN
102 |
AA |
AART |
Cross-listed: Environmental & Urban Studies This course will address the history of modern architecture
from its emergence in Western Europe during the eighteenth century through to
its widespread presence and diversification by the end of World War II. The
course will pay particular attention to the ways in which architects have
responded to, and participated in, formal and aesthetic developments in other
arts, as well as the role of architecture in broader technological, economic,
and social-political transformations. Covering many aspects of architecture
from buildings, drawings, models, exhibitions, and schools, to historical and
theoretical writings and manifestoes we will investigate a range of modernist
practices, polemics, and institutions. The readings, both primary and secondary
texts, have been selected both to provide an overview of the history of modern
architecture and to offer a number of critical and historical approaches to
evaluating its legacy. Figures discussed include Schinkel, Paxton, Sullivan,
Wright, Oud, Corbusier, Mies, and Aalto. Requirements include two short written
assignments, a midterm, and a final exam. No prerequisites.
Class size: 22 (1800-present)
91819 |
ARTH 201
Greek Art and
Architecture |
Diana DePardo-Minsky
|
T Th 3:10
pm-4:30 pm |
OLIN
102 |
AA |
AART |
Cross-listed:
Classical Studies, Environmental and
Urban Studies This class traces the evolution of Greek sculpture, vase painting, and
architecture from the Bronze Age through the Hellenistic Age. Topics include the
development of nude sculpture, the depiction of myths and daily life in
painting, and the political alliances and institutions which shaped Greek
architecture. The stylistic vocabulary and iconography studied in this class
both expressed contemporary beliefs and laid the foundation for future Western
art and architecture. Requirements include quizzes, two papers, a mid-term, and
a final. Open to all students. Class size: 22 (Ancient, Europe)
91825 |
ARTH 225
Art through Nature:
landscape, environment and design in america |
Julia Rosenbaum
|
T Th 3:10
pm-4:30 pm |
FISHER
ANNEX |
AA |
AART |
Cross-listed:
American Studies, Environmental and Urban
Studies, Experimental Humanities This course explores the
relationship between the natural world and American culture: How have 19th
and 20th century Americans understood “nature” and imagined its
role? How have visions of landscape
shaped perceptions about social order, health, identity and sustainability? The course is structured around historical
case studies and focuses on three conceptions of the land: visual
representations in the form of landscape painting; physical shaping through
landscape design; and preservation in terms of the development of cultural
heritage sites. Visits to local sites and to New York City will also be part of
the class. Class size: 22 (1800-present,
Americas)
91830 |
ARTH 246
Medieval Art
of the Mediterranean World |
Katherine Boivin
|
T Th 10:10
am-11:30 am |
OLIN
301 |
AA |
AART |
Cross-listed: Africana Studies, Environmental and Urban Studies, Medieval Studies,
Middle Eastern Studies This course explores connections around and across the
Mediterranean from the 4th through the 13th centuries. It considers art and architecture within
dynamic contexts of cultural conflict and exchange. Designed to introduce students to art
traditionally categorized as “Early Christian,” “Byzantine,” “Romanesque,” and
“Islamic,” the course also encourages students to question critically these
designations. Looking at art created by
Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and “pagan” communities, it examines the role of the
Mediterranean Sea as a boundary and a crossroad in the development of urban
centers around its periphery. Topics
include the relationship between centers and margins, secular and religious
spheres, and majority and minority cultures.
Particular focus will be placed on areas of cultural exchange such as
Spain, Tunisia, Egypt, Sicily, Constantinople (Istanbul), and Jerusalem. Coursework includes regular quizzes, Moodle
posts, and two 5-7 page papers. Class
size: 22 (Ancient, Europe)
91833 |
ARTH 260
New / Old
Amsterdam |
Susan Merriam
|
T Th 1:30
pm-2:50 pm |
OLIN
102 |
AA |
AART |
Cross-listed:
Environmental & Urban Studies, American Studies
This course looks at the visual culture of seventeenth- and
eighteenth-century New Amsterdam (New York City) and its namesake, the Dutch
shipping capital Amsterdam. Amsterdam emerged as a global power in the early
seventeenth century, having replaced Antwerp as the northern European center of
capital and trade. With the help of the extraordinarily successful East and
West India companies, the Dutch began exploring and colonizing locations
throughout the world, including lower Manhattan. Although the Dutch surrendered
New Amsterdam to the British in 1667, they maintained a vibrant presence in New
York for decades, shaping the growing city as well as its environs (including
the Hudson Valley) well into the nineteenth century. We will look at how images
and objects produced in both contexts during this time shaped ideas about
nationhood, citizenship, and early modern science, and consider how colonial
relationships are forged through representation. Taught at
Bard with three visits to New York City and interaction with the BHSECs in
Queens and Newark. This is an ELAS class. Class size: 22 (1400-1800, Europe)
91832 |
ARTH 271
Visual
Intelligence |
Susan Merriam
|
T Th 11:50
am-1:10 pm |
OLIN
102 |
AA |
AART |
Cross-listed:
Experimental Humanities What does it
mean to have visual intelligence? While we regularly interact with our
smartphones and computers, we tend to overlook how much we rely on visual
aptitude to interpret what we encounter there. Rarely, if ever, do we think
about how we navigate the visual world based on a shared vocabulary, gained
over time, dependent in some cases on formal conventions with long histories.
In this course, focused primarily on the early modern period, we’ll study how images
(paintings, drawings, and prints) and objects (primarily sculpture), practices
central to the creation of images and objects, and visual technologies have
shaped modes of seeing in the west from the fourteenth to eighteenth centuries.
We’ll also examine how neuroscientists study visual cognition with the help of
two guest lecturers. Class size: 22 (1400-1800, Europe)
91823 |
ARTH 285
History of
Art Criticism |
Alex Kitnick
|
M W 6:20 pm-7:40 pm |
FISHER ANNEX |
AA |
AART |
This course explores art criticism as an
historical phenomenon. Beginning with the writings of Diderot and Baudelaire,
we will consider the emergence of art criticism as a response to the public
forum of the Salon exhibition and, subsequently, its relationship to other
sites of presentation. We will also look at art criticism alongside other forms
of writing, including film and cultural criticism, and consider models such as
those of the poet-critic and the artist-critic. Towards the end of the course
we will look at the historical moment in which criticism became increasingly
embroiled with theory. We will conclude by focusing on the current crisis of
criticism. As the status of the public has changed we will ask how the role of
criticism has transformed as well. Throughout the course we will ask the
question, What can art criticism do? (1800-present) Class size: 15
91821 |
ARTH 292
Contemporary
Chinese Art |
Patricia Karetzky
|
W 1:30
pm-3:50 pm |
OLIN
301 |
AA |
AART |
Cross-listed:
Asian Studies This course begins with the emergence of
a modernist aesthetic in the 19th century (at the end of China’s
last dynasty) and covers the formation of a nationalist modern movement, the
political art that served the government under the Communist regime, and the
impact of the opening of China to the West.
The primary focus is on the various ways in which artists have responded
to the challenges of contemporary life and culture. Class size: 22
(1800-present, Asia)
91826 |
ARTH / PHOT 314
Portrait
& Its Guises |
Luc Sante
|
T 1:30
pm-3:50 pm |
OLIN
301 |
AA |
AART |
What is the object of a portrait? What constitutes the nature of “likeness” or
resemblance? Is it a matter of recording
the physical characteristics of a person, or rendering the “inner person” in
pictorial form? In addition to
considering the ontology of the portrait, this course traces developments in
portraiture in the 19th and 20th centuries, a critical
period that encompasses the advent of photography, which ultimately challenged
(and changed) the terms of the genre. (1800-present) Class size: 15
91831 |
ARTH 316
Multi-Media
GOTHIC |
Katherine Boivin
|
W 10:10
am-12:30 pm |
FISHER
ANNEX |
AA |
AART |
Cross-listed:
Experimental Humanities, French Studies,
Medieval Studies Although
scholarship on medieval art has often been separated by medium, Gothic church
programs were actually multi-media spaces with meaning transcending the
individual work of art. This class,
therefore, explores a wide range of artistic media, including stained glass,
painting, sculpture, architecture, textiles, and metalwork, as they contributed
to the dynamic space of the Gothic church.
In addition, it considers modern technologies for representing these
complex programs, drawing parallels between the explosion of images in the
Gothic era and the role of media today.
Structured around the investigation of case-study churches throughout western
Europe—with a particular focus on France and Germany from the 13th through 15th
centuries—this class will cover topics including architectural structuring of
space, image placement, dramatic performances of the liturgy, the “economy of
salvation,” and cultural notions of decorum.
Coursework includes weekly writing assignments, active in-class
discussion, and a final 15-page research paper. Class size:
15 (Ancient, Europe)
91828 |
ARTH 340
Seminar in
Contemporary Art |
Tom Wolf
|
W 10:10
am-12:30 pm |
OLIN
301 |
AA |
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. Class size: 15 (1800-present)
91820 |
ARTH 345
Michelangelo:
the Man, the Masterpieces, the Myth |
Diana DePardo-Minsky
|
F 1:30
pm-3:50 pm |
FISHER
ANNEX |
AA |
AART |
Cross-listed: Italian Studies
In addition to cultural and
iconographic readings of Michelangelo’s sculpture, painting, and architecture,
this seminar situates his life and work within the context of the biographies of
Vasari (1550 and 1568) and Condivi
(1553). The class considers how the ambitions and alliances of the
biographers shaped the texts and, thus, the reception of the art and
artist. Discussions critique the scholarship, interpret the work,
and analyze Michelangelo's role in crafting his public image as an isolated
genius. Requirements include critical essays, one class
presentation, and one research paper. Students with some background in art
history, Renaissance studies, and/or Italian will have priority. Permission
of the professor required. Class
size: 15 (1400-1800, Europe)
91824 |
ARTH 385
Theories and
Methods of Art History |
Susan Merriam
|
W 1:30
pm-3:50 pm |
FISHER
ANNEX |
AA |
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. (Art History required class)
Class size: 15
Cross-listed
course:
91839 |
HIST 2123
FROM ANALOG TO
DIGITAL: PhotoGRAPHY
& Visual History in Africa |
Drew Thompson
|
M W 11:50
am-1:10 pm |
OLIN
201 |
HA |
HIST |
Cross-listed: Africana
Studies; Art History