An introduction to the historical circumstances and visual character of Western art from the Renaissance to the present. Not a chronological survey, but an exploration of topics and themes central to this period. For example: What tasks did painting and sculpture perform in the past? For whom, at whose expense? How do the rise of landscape painting, the cult of the artist, and the new emphasis on the nude relate to the emergence of modern society? Do stylistic labels like Classicism, Realism, Impressionism, and Modernism help us answer such questions? This course is recommended for potential majors and for students in other disciplines, both humanities and sciences.

This course is an introduction to visual art in Europe and the USA since the 14th century with the main emphasis on painting and sculpture. Rather than attempting to offer a sweeping synthetic narrative of the development of art during five centuries (an impossible task!), this course intensively focuses upon a roughly chronological set of case-studies, sometimes of single works, sometimes of one or two artists’ careers. These relatively intensive case-studies will pose fundamental problems about the character and purposes of art in different historical circumstances. Together, however, the lectures will reconstruct the broader historical transformations of art, its production and reception during this period. We will explore the ways visual culture can function as a stabilizing force as well as the ways art can contribute to social and political transformation, even revolution.

Credit Restrictions

Students will receive no credit for HISTART C11 after completing HISTART 11. A deficient grade in HISTART C11 may be removed by taking HISTART 11.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills