see also: REL 313 Primitive Art in Civilized Places
Course no. ARTH 101
Title History of Western Art
Professor Anne Bertrand
Schedule Mon 10:30 am - 12:30 pm Olin 102
Distrib. A/C
CRN 93233

This course will provide students with a basic introduction to the arts of the Western World from Prehistoric to Contemporary art. We will cover a variety of media, such as painting, drawing, print, sculpture, architecture, installation and multi-media. We will pay special attention to the political, social, historical and religious contexts in which these works of art were produced in an effort to understand more fully the role and function of art in society. This course is suitable for both majors and non-majors and provides a fundamental background for further studies in the arts.

Course no. ARTH 220
Title Early Medieval Art
Professor Jean French
Schedule Wed 10:30 am - 12:30 pm Olin 102
Distrib. A/C
CRN 93236

Cross-listed: Medieval Studies

An examination of art from the age of Constantine to the year 1000, including catacomb painting, the early Christian basilica and martyrium, the domed churches of the East, and Byzantine mosaics and icons. The class explores the contrasting aesthetic of the migrations, the "animal style" in art, the Sutton Hoo and Viking ship burials, the golden age of Irish art, the Carolingian "Renaissance," the treasures of the Ottoman empire, and the art of the millennium. Special emphasis is given to works in American collections.

Course no. ARTH 245
Title Rococo to Revolution: 18th Century French Painting
Professor Anne Bertrand
Schedule Tue 1:30 pm -3:30 pm Olin 102
Distrib. A/C
CRN 93235

Cross-listed: French Studies

This course will explore the role of painters and painting in French society and culture during the last hundred years of the ancien régime. We will study such artists as Watteau, Fragonard, Boucher, Chardin, Vigée-Lebrun and David and subjects ranging from the erotic or playful fêtes galantes to the political or moralizing historical painting of the latter part of the century. We will also examine such themes as the development of the art academy, the establishment of the annual salons in Paris, the patronage of the church, the state and private collectors as well as the emergence of professional art critics and art criticism.

Course no. ARTH 253
Title History of Garden Design
Professor Brian Brace Taylor
Schedule Thu 10:30 am - 12:30 pm Olin 102
Distrib. A/C
CRN 93463
Introduction to the history and theory of gardens from antiquity to the present. The course is conceived as a survey of traditions in a variety of Eastern and Western cultures at different periods in history. The examples selected for presentation and analysis are intended to demonstrate the social, philosophical, climatological and aesthetic criteria which have influenced the creation of gardens and parks. Particular emphasis is placed upon Chinese and Islamic (Persian, Hispano-Mauresque, Mughal) gardens, Medieval gardens and the origins of botanic gardens in Europe, the Renaissance and Baroque in Italy, the classic French garden and 18th-century English gardens. The urban park in relation to the inner-city problems generated by 19th-century industrialization in Europe and America is considered; also its role in terms of urban expansion and regional development.

Course no. ARTH 256
Title Modern Architecture: the Twentieth Century
Professor Brian Brace Taylor
Schedule Tue 10:30 am - 12:30 pm Olin 102
Distrib. A/C
CRN 93464
European and American architecture from 1850 to postmodernism, with emphasis upon the theories underlying major movements and the architectural production which resulted. The relationship between architecture and the other arts, such as cubism and de Stijl will be investigated. Projects and realizations by outstanding designers, including Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbuier, Louis Kahn and others, are to be considered; however, the focus o the lectures and the reading will be upon the fundamental problems to be resolved at the time, as perceived by these actors rather than upon monographic studies of individuals. In this sense, we shall be simultaneously developing a critical awareness and an historical perspective on the architecture of our time. Conceived as an invitation to reading' and understanding built form, this course is a prerequisite for upper-level seminars in the history of architecture and urban planning.

Course no. ARTH 266
Title American Art After World War II: Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art
Professor Tom Wolf
Schedule Th 3:40 pm -6:00 pm Olin 102
Distrib. A/C
CRN 93239

Cross-listed: American Studies

This course examines major developments in American painting and sculpture in the years following World War II. The evolution of the "New York School" is studied in relation to contemporary European artistic currents, and Abstract Expressionism is viewed in the context of the various reactions against it following its "triumph." Artists considered include Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Andy Warhol.

Course no. ARTH 293
Title East Meets West
Professor Patricia Karetzky
Schedule Th 1:30 pm -3:30 pm Olin 102
Distrib. A/C
CRN 93238

Cross-listed: Asian Studies, MES

This course views the impact of the Eastern and Western cultures on one another as seen through the art of the world. For example, evidence of cross-fertilization can be followed as early as the second millennium B.C., when the "animal style" began in the Near East and spread to China and then westward to Europe, where it was influential in the decoration of Viking personal articles, Carolingian manuscripts, and Scandinavian churches. Broad topics for discussion include the art of Buddhism and the Silk Road; medieval European borrowings from the East; travelers East and West; Arabs as transmitters of Asian technologies; concepts of heaven and hell; Western missionaries and the introduction of Western culture in India, China, and Japan; chinoiserie in European architecture, gardening, and decor; and Japonisme--the influence of the Asian aesthetic on modern art movements.

Course no. ARTH 330
Title Artists, Patrons and Ideas: Seminar in Italian Renaissance Sculpture
Professor Jean French
Schedule Mon 3:40 pm -5:40 pm Olin 301
Distrib. A/C
CRN 93234

Cross-listed: Italian Studies

The seminar examines the ideas that inspired sculptors and the patrons who footed the bills, exploring the relationship among artists, poets and philosophers of the Renaissance and the degree of influence exercised by the patron and his or her circle on the selection of thematic content and the establishment of stylistic trends. Topics discussed will include the materials and forms of sculpture, the changing social position of the artist, the Neo-Platonic movement in Florence, and Renaissance theories of love. Students will study the major sculptors of the Renaissance, with particular emphasis on the works of Ghiberti, Donatello, Jacopo della Quercia and Michelangelo, and will investigate the political ambitions and socio-economic milieu of such remarkable patrons as Cosimo de Medici, Lorenzo the Magnificent and Julius II.
Course no. ARTH 350
Title Persuasion and Manipulation in 17th Century French Art
Professor Anne Bertrand
Schedule Wed 1:30 pm -3:30 pm Olin 301
Distrib. A/C
CRN 93237

Cross-listed: French Studies

A significant proportion of Seventeenth-Century French artistic production can be understood in terms of its persuasive and manipulative function. The arts commissioned by King Louis XIV, who rebuilt Versailles, are visual expressions of the Sun King's omnipotence, reinforcing his well-known phrase, "l'état c'est moi." We will explore earlier manifestations, and the subsequent evolution under Louis XIV's rule, of propagandistic manipulations of the arts in service to the glory of the state and its sovereign as well as the countercurrents produced by artistic "fringe" groups, resistors of the mainstream establishment, and their religious, political and artistic purposes.

Course no. ARTH 384
Title Seminar in Contemporary Art
Professor Tom Wolf
Schedule Fri 10:30 am - 12:30 pm Olin 301
Distrib. A/C
CRN 93240

This seminar considers the history of recent art. It begins with a survey of the Minimalism of the 1960s and then focuses on artistic developments in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Students give reports on selected artists or topics. The class meets in New York City every fourth week to view current exhibitions.