Art History Courses
Arh 532 Gothic Painting (3)
Studies the style and technique of stained glass, manuscript illumination, and wall and panel painting in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, with emphasis on France and Italy.
Arh 542 Art and Change in Northern Europe, 1300-1500 (3)
Research seminar examining selected topics in the art produced in northern Europe from 1300-1500. Special emphasis upon the cultural significance of art in an era that saw dramatic changes in social structures and religious beliefs.
Arh 550 Art and Society in Early Modern France (3)
Seminar examining selected topics in art and architecture in France from the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries. Special emphasis upon the cultural significance of art in an era that saw the rise and fall of monarchical power as well as dramatic changes in understandings of social hierarchy, gender, the natural world, and philosophy. Open to graduate students in Art, Humanistic Studies, and French Studies.
Arh 561 (Wss 561) Women in Cinema (3)
This course provides an introduction to women in cinema with an emphasis on images of women in film and films directed by women. Drawing upon film history and feminist film theory, this course takes on the construction of femininity and embodiment on screen as well as the role of the camera, the anticipated or implied spectator, and the film industry at large in those representations. Students will also examine alternatives to the traditional visual relationships and gender dynamics emphasized by Hollywood and other film industries, and will become familiar with experimental, animated, and feminist counter-cinema as important instances of visual culture that either transgress or work through issues of gender and the gaze differently.
Arh 563 Landscape in Film: Cinematic Space and Setting (3)
Seminar on landscape in cinema examining the role of setting, set design, art, architecture, and the environment in the creation of cinematic space on screen for both characters and viewers. Examines a wide range of films that feature landscape as a protagonist and undeniable presence within the world of the film, and approaches cinema as a mode of visual storytelling. Incorporates a study of other, closely related art forms such as photography, sculpture, architecture, and dance in order to better understand cinematic space and how film operates to create mood and meaning. Students will apply this approach to their own experiences of spatial mediation and the nature of representation in our lives and in the arts.
Arh 564 Advanced Analysis of Film Form, Story, and Style (3)
Advanced film studies seminar on the artistry of film form, story, and style that aims to provide students with the advanced analytical skills and increased visual literacy to identify film language at work (textual analysis), film as a cultural artifact (contextual analysis), and film in relation to other art forms (intertextual analysis). This study of cinema includes its stories, characters, settings, and narrative devices as well as its non-narrative, experimental, or expressive possibilities. The course situates trends in contemporary cinema and its current sensibilities and styles in the context of film history, auteur theory, genre studies, and technological advancements as they effect the industry, aesthetics, and audience expectations. Prerequisite: Graduate student status.
Arh 566 Art Criticism of the Modern Period (3)
A study of the major European and American critics of 20th century art up to circa 1970. Student essays in criticism of actural artworks will emphasize understanding of historically significant critical perspectives, as well as the development of personal approaches to criticism.
Arh 567 Art Criticism of the Post-Modern Period (3)
Investigation of practice and theory of art criticism. Reading will concentrate on critics and writers from the 1970s to the present. In writing about works of art, students will practice the basic critical skill of description, formal analysis, interpretation, and articulation of personal responses.
Arh 568 Art Since 1945 (3)
Survey and critical analysis of art circa 1945. The course will cover directions in late Modernism and Post-modernism, including Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Minimalism, Feminist Art, Graffiti Art, and Political Art. The period will be examined from a global perspective.
Arh 569 Art Criticism and Theory After 2000 (4)
What makes a work of art worthy of criticism? How do we critique a work? This course is designed to give students important critical tools while asking them how to think, write and develop their own voice. Focus will be placed on art writing while covering important intellectual and artistic developments from the contemporary period. Students will be introduced to new trends, concepts, thinkers and works of art from the 21st century. Issues discussed include environmental and climate concerns, public art, participatory and community projects, trans- and posthumanism, virtual reality, artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Arh 575 (Wss 575) Women in Art from the Renaissance to Impressionism (3)
Examines representations of women in European and North American art from the Renaissance through Impressionism. Special attention is given to works made by women, and to the problem of how women artists negotiated their position as both subjects and objects of artistic depiction. While women artists faced challenges to their authority on every level -material, theoretical, and ideological- the course explores the inventive ways they reconfigured, or even challenged, traditional expectations.
Arh 576 (Wss 576) Women in Art from the New Woman to Now (3)
This course examines the ways in which women artists living within diverse historical and cultural contexts gained social agency through visual imagery and material construction. Beginning with the "New Woman" movement around the turn of the twentieth century, it examines women's contribution to avant-garde movements in Europe and north America; the feminist art movement of the 1960s and 70s; "post-modern" feminist art which critiqued the very notion of social identity; and women artists' continuing efforts to enrich, question, and challenge the global art world of the twenty-first century. May not be taken by students with credit for Arh/Wss 475 or Arh/Wss 575 prior to Fall 2014.
Arh 598 Topics in Art History (3)
In-depth study of selected topics in art history not otherwise covered in curriculum. May be repeated for credit when the topic varies. Prerequisites: Consent of instructor and department chair.
Arh 599 Art History Research Seminar: Selected Topics (3)
Seminar focusing upon selected topics in art historical research. Students will study all aspects of research in art history, including the formulation of a topic; historiographic analysis; preparing an annotated bibliography and scholarly notes; and using primary sources, library and web-based catalogues, databases, museum archives, image banks, and other research tools. The main focus of the coursework will be an individual research project. This course may be repeated for credit as the topic varies.
Arh 600 Seminar in Contemporary Art (4)
Focus on art since 1970. Includes readings and discussions on selected artists and current issues. Slide presentations on topics related to their studio work or area of research by students. Prerequisite: Enrollment in MFA program, or graduate standing and permission of instructor.
Arh 797 Independent Study in Art History (1-6)
Independent study in areas not dealt with in regular curriculum. Prerequisites: Consent of instructor and department chair.
