11728

ARTH 102   Perspectives in World Art II

Julia Rosenbaum

M . W . .

3:10 -4:30 pm

OLIN 102

AART/DIFF

This course, the second half of the general art survey, explores the making of visual arts worldwide. Beginning in the fourteenth century and ending in the twentieth, the class will survey painting, sculpture, and architecture, as well as works in newer media (such as photography, video, and performance). The class will encompass works from Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, arranged chronologically in order to provide a more integrated historical context for their production. In addition to the course textbook, readings will be chosen to broaden critical perspectives. This course is designed for those students with no background in art history as well as for those who may be contemplating a major in art history or studio.  Open to all students: first and second year students are especially encouraged to enroll. Class size: 22

 

11730

ARTH 113   History of Photography

Laurie Dahlberg

. T . Th .

8:30 -9:50 am

OLIN 102

AART

Cross-listed:  Science, Technology & Society  The discovery of photography was announced in 1839, almost simultaneously by several inventors. Born of experiments in art and science, the medium combines vision and technology. It possesses a uniquely intimate relation to the real and for this reason has many applications outside the realm of fine art; nevertheless, from its inception photography has been a vehicle for artistic aspirations. This survey of the history of photography from its earliest manifestations to the 2000s considers the medium's applications - as art, science, historical record, and document. This course is open to all students and is the prerequisite for most other courses in the history of photography. Class size: 22

 

11428

ARTH 122   Survey of African Art

Susan Aberth

. T . Th .

3:10 -4:30 pm

OLIN 102

AART/DIFF

Cross-listed: Africana Studies, LAIS   This introductory course surveys the vast array of art forms created on the African continent from the prehistoric era to the present, as well as arts of the diaspora in Brazil, the Americas, and Haiti. In addition to sculpture, masks, architecture and metalwork, we will examine beadwork, textiles, jewelry, house painting, pottery, and other decorative arts. Some of the topics to be explored will be implements of divination, royal regalia, the role of performance, music and dance, funerary practices, and the incorporation of western motifs and materials. Because art and visual culture most deeply reveal the aesthetic, spiritual and social values of a people, this course fulfills the Rethinking Difference requirement.  We will examine the ways in which objects, performances, regalia and other forms designed for visual consumption work together in African societies to create a cohesive sense of identity and belonging to community members. All students welcome.     Class size: 25

 

11731

ARTH 140   Survey of Islamic Art

Katherine Boivin

. T . Th .

10:10 - 11:30 am

FISHER ANNEX

AART/DIFF

Cross-listed:  Africana Studies,  Medieval Studies, Middle Eastern Studies   This course offers an introduction to the widespread visual production defined as "Islamic Art".  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, India and other areas.  In particular, the course will explore cultural identity can be articulated through visual means.  Students will also present on contemporary works of "Islamic Art" from around the world.  Class size: 25

 

11429

ARTH 160   Survey of Latin American Art

Susan Aberth

. T . Th .

11:50 -1:10 pm

OLIN 102

AART/DIFF

Cross-listed: LAIS (core course) Related interest:  Africana Studies, Theology    A broad overview of art and cultural production in Latin America, including South and Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. The survey will commence with an examination of major pre-Columbian civilizations and a field trip to the Metropolitan Museum.  This is followed by an examination of the contact between Europe and the Americas during the colonial period, the Independence movements and art of the 19th century, and finally the search for national identity in the modern era. All students welcome.

Class size: 25

 

11734

ARTH 209   Art & Nation Building

Julia Rosenbaum

. T . Th .

1:30 -2:50 pm

OLIN 102

AART

Cross-listed:  American Studies, Human Rights  Between 1650 and 1876, a new nation came to dominate the world scene. This course explores the contribution of the visual arts to the conceptualization of an American national identity, from the founding of the colonies through the Federal and Antebellum periods to the Civil War and Reconstruction. We will look at a range of visual and textual materials to examine the development of American culture and the efforts to portray the political experiment of democracy. Topics range from depictions of authority and difference, to the importance ofportraiture and landscape painting to national culture and politics, to the emergence of American art institutions, to issues of aesthetics, to transatlantic connections and traditions. The course serves as an introduction to the painting, sculpture, photography, and material culture of America.  Class size: 22

 

11434

ARTH 210   Roman Art and Architecture

Diana DePardo-Minsky

. T . Th .

4:40 -6:00 pm

OLIN 102

AART

Cross-listed: Classical Studies, Environmental and Urban Studies  This class follows the development of Roman art and architecture from the founding of the city by Romulus in 753 BCE to the transferal of the capital to the east by Constantine in 330 CE.  Lectures explore how Romans incorporated and synthesized the styles and achievements of conquered peoples (including the Etruscans, Greeks, and Egyptians) to produce a complex visual vocabulary which articulated the nature of their Empire and established a common artistic language throughout the Mediterranean world  –  a vocabulary which continues to influence.  The ability of art and architecture to communicate political policy and, eventually, Christian doctrine number among the themes of the class.  This course is open to all students.  Requirements include two papers, a mid-term, a final, and quizzes.   Completion of this class qualifies students for consideration for Roma insitu, taught in Rome during January and completed at Bard in the Spring semester.  

Class size: 22

 

11740

ARTH 214   Architecture and Media

Irene Sunwoo

. T . Th .

3:10 -4:30 pm

RKC 101

AART

Cross-listed: Experimental Humanities  This course traces architecture’s multifaceted engagement with media–including but not limited to books, magazines, television, and film. We will consider building typologies, such as libraries, television studios, and “media cities,” as well as theoretical projects that have appropriated publishing, cinematic, cybernetic, and broadcasting techniques to further architectural experimentation. We will approach media as technologies of spatial organization, and will consider how architecture itself operates as a form of media. Case studies span from the 19th to the 21st centuries; protagonists will include Henri Labrouste, Le Corbusier, Rem Koolhaas, Jacques Tati, Gordon Matta-Clark, Julius Shulman and Thomas Demand. Drawing from architectural, critical, and media theory, we will examine texts by Walter Benjamin, Sigfried Kracauer, Marshall McLuhan, Friedrich Kittler, Robin Evans, and Reyner Banham, among others. Students are required to submit written analyses of texts and projects, including a final research paper. Permission of instructor required. Class size: 22

 

11736

ARTH / PHOT 215   Photography in America

Laurie Dahlberg

. T . Th .

11:50 -1:10 pm

FISHER ANNEX

AART

Cross-listed:  American Studies  Photography was one of the first areas of artistic production in which the United States achieved international recognition. This course examines American photographs in the context of the history, art and literature of the 19th and 20th centuries. Topics include the daguerreotype’s resonance with transcendental philosophy; the indelible photographic images of the Civil War; Progressive Era “muckraking” and Depression Era propaganda photography; the medium's place in Stieglitz’s literary/artistic circle; and postwar photographers who re-imagined documentary photography as subjective expression. Class size: 22

 

11729

ARTH 216   Leonardo’s Last Supper and Italian Renaissance Iconography

Diana DePardo-Minsky

M . W . .

3:10 -4:30 pm

OLIN 203

AART

Cross-listed: Italian Studies;  This class situates Leonardo's Last Supper within the Renaissance tradition of representing Christ and the post-Renaissance trajectory of interpreting meaning.  The focal texts for the course are Leo Steinberg's Leonardo's Incessant Last Supper (2000) and his controversial Sexuality of Christ (1983) in addition to readings from Vasari, Leonardo, Goethe, Freud, Panofsky, Clark, Kemp, and Pedretti.  Requirements include critical essays and class presentations.  Some knowledge of Renaissance art, literature, or culture will prove helpful.  Permission of the instructor required. Class size: 20

 

11735

ARTH 218   Survey of  20th Century Sculpture

Tom Wolf

. . W Th .

10:10 - 11:30 am

OLIN 102

AART

This class is a history of 20th century art, focused on the medium of sculpture.  We will begin with the works of August Rodin, the most famous artist in the world in 1900.  We will move on to consider the evolution of modernism, concentrating on major figures like Picasso and Brancusi, as well as the German Expressionists, the Russian Constructivists, and the Italian Futurists.  After examining Dadaist and Surrealist sculpture we will look at sculpture after World War II, including the work of David Smith, Minimalism, Pop Art, and subsequent developments.   Class size: 22

 

11732

ARTH 226   Architecture since 1945

Irene Sunwoo

. T . Th .

10:10 - 11:30 am

AVERY 338

AART

Cross-listed:   Environmental & Urban Studies;  Science, Technology & Society A survey of the major transformations in architectural and urban design practice and theory since the end of World War II, with a focus on the challenges aimed at the modernist discourses of the early twentieth century. These challenges begin with Team 10's retort to historical vanguardism and move on to encompass-among others- regionalism, neorationalism, corporate modernism, postmodernism, poststructuralist critique, and various permutations of these models. We will discuss major figures such as Le Corbusier, Louis Kahn, Charles & Ray Eames, Eero Saarinen, Yona Friedman, Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, Aldo Rossi, Peter Eisenman, and Rem Koolhaas. Attention is also paid to alternative and experimental practices that deal with pop art, cybernetic, semiological, and new media discourses. The course concludes with the impact on built form of globalization and advanced information technologies.  Class size: 22

 

11733

ARTH 244   Contemporary African Art

Teju Cole

M . W . .

1:30 – 2:50 pm

OLIN 102

AART/DIFF

Cross-listed:  Africana Studies, Human Rights  This course looks at the visual arts of Africa and its recent diaspora from the post-colonial period to the present. We will focus on painting, photography, installation, video, and conceptual art, and challenge received ideas about the artistic practice of African artists. Some of the key figures studied, through lectures and discussions, will be El Anatsui, Wangechi Mutu, Julie Mehretu, Yinka Shonibare, Nnenna Okore, William Kentridge, and Jelili Atiku.  For assessment: two short papers, a midterm, and a final. Class size: 22

 

11737

ARTH 286   Spanish Art & Architecture:

El Greco to Goya

Susan Merriam

. . W . F

11:50 -1:10 pm

OLIN 102

AART

Cross-listed:  LAIS   This course surveys the complex visual culture of early modern Spain with particular attention given to major figures including El Greco, Velázquez, Murillo, Zurbaran, and Goya. Spain exercised enormous political and military influence during this period, and undertook a number of expansionist enterprises. At the same time, the nation witnessed the emergence of the Spanish “Golden Age” in art and literature. We will examine the formation of a distinct Spanish style within the context of European art, and consider how Spanish artistic identity was a kind of hybrid, complicated both by Spain’s importation of foreign artists (Titian, Rubens), and by its relationship to the art and architecture of the colonies. Palace art, architecture and interior decoration--visual manifestations of Spanish power--will be one important focus. We will also look at some of the most intense devotional art ever produced, including elaborate church furnishings, altarpieces, reliquaries, and hyper-real sculpture. Particular emphasis will be paid to the art of Spanish visionary experience. Other topics to be addressed include: Spanish artistic theory and the training of artists, the art market and collecting, artistic critiques of monarchical power. Class size: 22

 

11739

ARTH 287   Experiments in Art & Technology

Alex Kitnick

M . W . .

1:30 -2:50 pm

HEG 204

AART

Cross-listed: Experimental Humanities  This course will explore various connections between art and technology from the 1960s up to the present day. Students will examine a wide range of writings, artworks, performances, and videos by figures including Marshall McLuhan, John McHale, Robert Rauschenberg, and Carolee Schneemann. The idea of the course is to show that both artists and theorists are involved in a common project of responding to new technologies. Questions of distribution, audience, and globalization will be of key concern. In the last weeks, we will consider how these ideas have evolved in the age of the Internet. Open to all students. Students will work on various writing assignments and class presentations.

Class size: 22

 

12039

ARTH 290   Art of China

Patricia Karetzky

. . W . .

1:30 -3:50 pm

RKC 103

AART

Cross-listed: Asian Studies  This survey begins with a survey of Neolithic culture, the earliest expression of the Chinese aesthetic.  Next, the early civilization of the Bronze Age is viewed, both the visual culture and the origins of writing and literature. When the First Emperor unified China, he inaugurated the imperial dynastic system; his tomb is a tour de force with over 8,000 life-sized figurines of soldiers and their mounts.  In subsequent eras religious art blossomed. Buddhist art achieved expression in colossal sculptures carved from living rock, paintings of paradise, devotional icons crafted from a variety of media and Zen painting and calligraphy. Confucian and Daoist philosophy, literature, and popular culture are examined through the paintings of the later dynasties, with an emphasis on landscape painting. The course ends with a consideration of 20th century art. Class size: 22

 

11436

ARTH 332   Villa Culture: Origins and Adaptations

Diana DePardo-Minsky

. . . . F

1:30 -3:50 pm

FISHER ANNEX

AART

Cross-listed: Environmental & Urban Studies, Italian Studies    The villa or country house, as opposed to a working farm, embodies a city dweller’s idyllic interpretation of country life.  Conceived to express an idea rather than fulfill a function, the villa allows its patrons and designers to create innovative means to express the relationship between man and nature.  This seminar studies the evolution of villa architecture, pastoral literature, and landscape design from their development in ancient Rome, through their revival in the Italian Renaissance, to their flourishing during the European Baroque.  Students then apply the principles developed in Europe to Hudson Valley estates.  Requirements include critical essays, presentations, one research paper, and field trips.  Permission of the instructor required.  Class size: 12

 

11937

ARTH 335   The Awful Beauty: Romantic Arts in Britain and France

Laurie Dahlberg

. . W . .

10:10 - 12:30 pm

FISHER ANNEX

AART

Cross-listed: French Studies The intellectual movement called Romanticism was both a manifestation of Enlightenment philosophy and a counter-Enlightenment response to the ascendant values of reason and empirical thought. Like their literary counterparts, British painters in the 1790s were pioneering a new set of subjects and techniques that offered doubt, mystery, and high emotion as alternatives to the smug certainties of modern empiricism. Across the channel, conditions were very different for French painters, who were in the grip of an intellectual and political allegiance to neoclassicism, which in many ways could be described as the antithesis of the new Romantic movement. Although the apocalyptic landscapes, stormy seascapes, moody portraits, and outright fantasies of British Romantics are strikingly different from the austere homogeneity of early French neoclassicism, the second generation of neoclassicists presented their neoclassical subjects through the impassioned, sometimes irrational lens of the new Romanticism. Our bookends in time will be the British visionary William Blake and the French academic Eugène Delacroix.  Topics will include Burke's theory of the sublime, the cult of Ossian, medievalism, nationalism and war, the self in nature, themes of horror and fantasy, slavery, and the rise of "originality." Seminar-level reading, writing, and discussion, culminating in a research paper and class presentation.  Pre-requisite: at least one course in 19th century European Art or Literature. Class size: 15

 

11430

ARTH 349   Women Artists of the

Surrealist Movement

Susan Aberth

. . W . .

1:30 -3:50 pm

FISHER ANNEX

AART

The Surrealist Movement, launched in the 1920s by the poet André Breton in Paris, ascribed to woman a pivotal and revolutionary role in the life and work of man.  The movement offered women unique roles as both muse and creator and attracted a large number of active female participants.  Until recent feminist scholarship, the lives and work of these women were overshadowed by those of the male Surrealists.  This course will first examine the use of, indeed the centrality of, female sexuality in Surrealist imagery, and then juxtapose it to the writings and art work of such female Surrealists as Dorothea Tanning, Remedios Varo, Lee Miller, Meret Oppenheim, Leonor Fini, Nusch Eluard, Dora Maar, Jacqueline Lamba, Valentine Hugo, Mimi Parent, Unica Zürn, Ithel Colquhoun, Eileen Agar, Frida Kahlo, Leonora Carrington, Kay Sage, Toyen, Claude Cahun, and others.  Issues explored will be female subjectivity, cultural identity, occultism, mythology, dream imagery, artistic collaboration, the role of poetry, and the various methodologies employed to interpret Surrealism in general. Class size: 15

 

12040

ARTH 364   Seminar in the History of Art in Woodstock

Tom Wolf

. . . Th .

1:30 -3:50 pm

FISHER ANNEX

 

Cross-listed:  American Studies  While mostly known for the 1969 concert, Woodstock, New York, was founded as an art colony in 1902, and has been a town associated with artists ever since.  The history of American art in the twentieth century can be traced in microcosm there, beginning with the Arts and Crafts movement and continuing with pioneering modernists in the second decade of the century, Social Realists in the 1930s, and members of the Abstract Expressionist group in the 1950s.  We will study these developments in class and will take several trips to Woodstock to visit historic sites and arts organizations.  It will be hands on, as students will present seminar reports based on research involving actual works of art and archives available in Woodstock.  Class size: 15

 

11727

ARTH 385   Art Criticism and Methodology

Katherine Boivin

M . . . .

10:10 - 12:30 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.  Class size: 15