How art has been studied in the past and how it is currently studied, its historiography and methodology. Consideration of the earliest writers (Pliny, Vasari) but also modern approaches, from traditional style analysis and connoisseurship through the "founders" of modern art history (Panofsky, Riegl) to more recent approaches, e.g. psychoanalysis, feminism, social history, anthropology, semiotics, etc.

This course introduces theories and methods of art history that have played a major role in the formation of the discipline from the later eighteenth century to the present day. Readings include key texts by major art-writers, art theorists, and art historians, ranging widely and in roughly chronological order from early connoisseurs and iconologists to recent proponents of ecoaesthetics and affect theory. To explore this set of methods as it operates broadly and perhaps globally, we touch on art-historical practice in ancient, medieval, modern and contemporary studies, as well as from Western and non-Western contexts. This course emphasizes the methods and theories developed in the Euro-American tradition of art history, while remaining attentive to critiques and shortcomings of
that tradition.

Discussion sections provide the setting for further practice in visual analysis and description, strategies for object research, and more.

This course fulfills the Theories and Methods requirement for History of Art. It may also be taken to fulfill an upper division HA lecture if HA 101 has been completed.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills