The course is intended to offer an introduction to the most significant examples and trends of European and American art and architecture from the late 18th to the 21stC. Several sections will include also non-Western art, in order to explore the intersections of these cultures, past and present, with the Western tradition.
Some emphasis will be placed on the more “familiar” art of Europe and the emergence and gradual independence of modern art in the United States, in order to provide the student with a basic knowledge of the most significant developments in Western art of this period. From the French Revolution and a concept of art as a means of moral elevation, we will turn to the Romantic celebration of individual sensibility, and to the Impressionists’ discovery of new techniques and subjects within modern Parisian society. In the late 19thC, artists begin to emphasize emotion and spirituality over naturalistic representation; in the early 20thC, Modernist artists begin to examine the very nature of art itself. With the explosion of movements as varied as, for instance, Futurism, Dada and Surrealism, issues concerning the role of the artist and the relationship of art to reality become ever more vital, leaving those in the later part of the century to wrestle with questions concerning, among others, the value of social engagement or aesthetic isolation. Finally, more recent trends of the last decades of the 20thC and first decade of the 21st will be examined through a selection of works which exemplify the expanding borders of “what is art,” and which can even challenge the by now “classic” status of the avant-garde.
We will also take the opportunity to investigate how 19th and 20thC artists and architects in Europe and the U.S. developed an increasing awareness of visual worlds outside of their own Western framework, and absorbed and reinvented this cultural material according to their own interests. Alternatively, some attention will be given to the way in which artists in, for example, Latin America and Africa, often emerging from a colonized past, achieve an art expressive of their own cultural identity, traditions, and modern experiences.
This course is designed both for the student with no previous art history background, and for the student with some experience seeking a general historical overview. Through lectures, class discussions, readings and a few visits to sites and museums, the student will become familiar with a variety of period styles and cultures, artists and major works from the Modern and Contemporary periods. In addition, the course should stimulate consideration of some of the various approaches of art-historical study – the different ways of looking and thinking about art, and an awareness of the contexts in which art is made. In this way, the student will be introduced to the basic methods of the field, as well as to the tools which enable a more informed appreciation of painting, sculpture, architecture, and more contemporary art forms.
The range of artworks presented in this course is selective rather than all-inclusive, in the belief that deeper knowledge of a few key works will supply students with essential art-historical skills, and a foundation for what may be hoped to be a continued involvement with art. In order to achieve a firm grasp of the basic issues relevant to the quite vast spectrum of art to be investigated, students are expected to arrive at class having already carefully read the assigned sections in the textbook. Several additional brief readings, especially of texts contemporary with the artists and works under investigation, will also be required. The class lessons will consist of both lecture and class discussion, with stress on individual student engagement,
Textbook:
Gardner’s Art Through the Ages: A Global History, ed. F.S. Kleiner, Boston: Thomson/Wadsworth, fourteenth edition – Volume II