Art History Courses for Fall 2008
Undergraduate Courses
CAS AH 111 Introduction
to Art History I: Antiquity to the Middle Ages
Prof. Kleiner/ Kahn: TR 11-12:30
An introduction to the history of art and the analysis of painting, sculpture, architecture, and other arts. Study of masterpieces of Western art from prehistory to the dawn of the Renaissance. Focus on the monuments of Greece, Rome, and the Middle Ages.
CAS AH 205 Introduction
to Architecture
Prof. Scrivano: TR 12:30-2:00
Examination of the factors involved in architectural design including program, spatial composition, structure, technology, iconography, and the role of architecture in society. Discussion of major monuments of Western architecture and urbanism from ancient Egypt to the twenty-first century.
CAS AH 215 Arts of Africa
Prof. Becker: TR 11:00-12:30
Introduction to the history of African arts, including figurative sculpture, masquerading, royal regalia, power objects, textiles, nomadic dress, painting, photography, and architecture. The course also addresses how African artists have responded to colonialism, tourism, apartheid, and contemporary politics.
CAS AH 220 Islamic Art and Architecture
Prof. Fetvaci: MWF 1-2
Examines key monuments of Islamic art and architecture within their historical and cultural context, and emphasizes the diversity within the visual cultures of the Islamic world.
CAS AH 257 Renaissance Art
Prof. Bensoussan: TR 11-12:30
Topics to be determined.
CAS AH 295 History of Photography
Prof. Sichel: TR 3:30-5
An introduction to the study of photographs. The history of the medium in Europe and America from its invention in 1839 to the present. After lectures on photographic theory and methodology, photographs are studied both as art objects and as historical artifacts.
CAS AH 322 Ancient Aztec and Inca Civilizations
Prof. Coggins: TR 9:30-11
(Meets with CAS AR 252.) The conquests, trade, society, history, religion, art, and architecture of the Aztec and Inca Empires in Mexico and Peru, as revealed archaeologically and in the accounts of their Spanish conquerors.
CAS AH 327 Arts of China
Prof. Bai: MWF 11:00-12:00
Introduction to the major tradition of Chinese art, from the Neolithic period to the present. Topics include bronzes, tomb sculpture, painting,calligraphy, ceramics, and gardens.
CAS AH 328 Modern Japanese Architecture
Prof. Tseng: MWF 9:00-10:00
An introduction to the major architects, buildings, theories, and critical issues of Japanese architecture from 1850 to the present. Focus on the development of new forms in response to interchanges with the West, new technologies, earthquakes, nationalism, international wars, and colonialism.
CAS AH 331 Archaic Greece
Prof. Westervelt: MWF 3:00-4:00
Examines a critical formative stage in Greek art. Analyzes the rise of identifiable artists,
the relationship of art to epic, the evolution of the architectural orders, and the formation of Greek style in monumental stone sculpture.
CAS AH 367 Material Culture
Prof. Sewell: MWF 10-11
Introduction to the theory and practice of the study of material culture, the physical stuff that is part of human life. Material culture includes everything we make and use, from food and clothing to art and buildings. Lectures will introduce a wide range of contemporary scholarship on material culture from a range of disciplines, including anthropology, archaeology, history, sociology, art and architectural history, and cultural studies. Also offered as AM 367.
CAS AH 377 American Furniture and Allied Arts, 1630-1830
Prof. Hall: TR 11:00-12:30
Survey of furniture and related arts-painting, architecture, and silver-with an emphasis on aesthetics and quality, sources, style changes, regional differences, materials, and construction.
CAS AH 379 Visual Culture of Nineteenth-Century America
Prof. Hills: MWF 9:00-10:00
Explores the visual culture of the United States from 1820 to 1910. Paintings, sculpture, prints, photographs, and popular illustrations are studied as cultural forces within the context of expanding democracy, abolitionism, the Civil War, urbanism, immigration, and the women's movement.
CAS AH 380 Romantisim
Prof. Ribner: MWF 8:00-9:00
In-depth exploration of art in the age of revolution, nationalism, colonial expansion,
and religious revival. Development of new attitudes toward history, nature, and the imagination in the work of Friedrich, Goya, Delacroix, Gericault, Ingres, Turner, Constable, Blake, and others.
CAS AH 382 19th Century Architecture
Prof. Morgan: TR 9:30-11:00
Survey of European and American architecture from 1750 to 1910. Explores issues in architecture, landscape architecture and city planning, and examines style, technology, and architectural theory.
CAS AH 393 Contemporary Art
Prof. Dumett:
Section A1 meets TR 12:30-2:00; section B1 meets T 6-9
Examines the terms of debate, the key figures and the primary sites for the production and reception of contemporary art on a global scale since 1980. Today’s art is more heterogeneous, contradictory and dispersed than ever before; there is no cohesive international “art world.” Yet, as we will explore, the separate scenes influence each other and enter into dialogue through the itinerant work habits of contemporary artists, curators and critics. Significant themes of the past three decades will be addressed: appropriation art, the “return” of painting, art and politics, new media, installation art, the art market, feminist art, neo-conceptualism, institutional critique, art as “relational” experience, and the recent proliferation of biennials and art fairs.
CAS AH 428 Seminar: Islamic Art
Topic: Kings, Heroes and Lovers: Islamic Painting and the Arts of the Book
Prof. Fetvaci: M 9-12
The development of the central aesthetic concepts and visual traditions of the Islamic world are considered through a variety of time periods, media, or themes. Topic for Fall 2008: Kings, Heroes, and Lovers: Islamic Painting and the Arts of the Book.
CAS AH 430 Seminar: African Art
Topic: Images of Africa: Race, Politics and Gender in Photography from Africa.
Prof. Becker: R 2-5
Photographs of Africa between 1890 and the 1930s are typically understood as a part of colonial discourse, reflecting European stereotypes and enacting imperialistic political agendas. This course considers the role images play in determining how the world views Africa. It also examines images created and published by African photographers from the period of 1890 to the present in order to address how Africans have played an active role in confronting colonialism and manipulating their own self image.
CAS AH 433 Seminar: Greek Art
Topic: Ancient Greek Women in Art and Literature.
Prof. Westervelt: M 12-3
CAS AH 462 Seminar: Baroque Art
Topic: The Alliance of Art and Power in the Baroque
Prof. Zell: R 9:30-12:30
Explores the relationship between visual culture and political authority in seventeenth-century Europe. Focus on painting, architecture, and sculpture by major artistic figures of the period, including Rubens, Van Dyck, Velázquez, Rembrandt, and Bernini.
CAS AH 482 Seminar: 19th Century Art
Topic: TBD
Prof. Ribner: M 9-12
CAS AH 497 Seminar: Contemporary Art
Topic: How Modernism Got Old.
Prof. Ward: R 2-5
Investigates the ways contemporary artists, critics, and art historians have defined, and then reacted against, Modernism. Topics include formalism and reactions against it, identity politics, appropriation, craft aesthetics, and theories of the Post-Modern.
CAS AH 520 The Museum and Historical Agency
Prof. Hall: R 2-5
The history, present realities, and future possibilities of museums and historical agencies. Emphasis on the collection, preservation, and use of objects, as well as on the interaction of artists, dealers, collectors, donors, scholars, trustees, and museum professionals.
CAS AH 529 Seminar: 20th Century Chinese Art
Prof. Bai: F 12-3
Critical examinations of twentieth-century Chinese art, including the fate of traditional art, art under a totalitarian regime, the problematic status of the artist in a socialist state, and avant-garde art in the international context.
CAS AH 532 Japanese Print Culture
Prof. Tseng: M 1-4
Seminar on print culture of Japan from the eighteenth century to the present. Study of woodblock prints, photographic prints, book art, print advertisements, postcards, and manga. Focus on their function as both artistic expression and instruments of mass communication.
CAS AH 583 The English Country House and America's Cottages
Prof. Redford: TR 12:30-2
For almost three centuries, the English country house played a central role in English literary culture. This course explores a variety of poetic and fictional texts, as well as attending to architecture and landscape design. Also offered as CAS EN 594 and
UNI HU 595.
CAS AH 585 Twentieth Century Architecture and Urbanism
Prof. Scrivano: W 3-6
An examination of specific aspects of architecture and urban planning from the beginning of the twentieth century to today. Topics vary annually. Topic for Fall 2008: Trans-nationalism and Architecture.
Graduate Courses
GRS AH 779 Colloquium: Visual Culture in the 19th Century United States
Prof. Hills: M 11-1
Explores the visual culture of the United States, from 1830 to 1910. Paintings, sculpture, prints, photographs, and popular illustrations are studied as cultural forces within the context of expanding democracy, abolitionism, the Civil War, urbanism, immigration, and the women's movement.
GRS AH 782 Colloquium: 19th Century Architecture in Europe & America
Prof. Morgan: T 11-1
Dilemma of style in nineteenth-century architecture; study of the relationship of architectural theory to the changing philosophy and aesthetic theory of the period. Development of functionalist theory.
GRS AH 846 Seminar: Romanesque and Gothic Art
Prof. Kahn: W 10-12
The course will provide a general overview of Romanesque and Gothic art
from the eleventh through the mid-thirteenth centuries. We will begin
by reading and discussing the best surveys of the field to provide
students with a strong general understanding of the art and architecture
of the middle ages. The class will then turn to problems particular to
the period such as the role of copy and model, monastic art and allegory
and image. In the second half of the course students will give reports
on specific monuments and works of art including Chartres Cathedral, the
metalwork of Nicholas of Verdun and the image of the Virgin.
GRS AH 867 Material Culture
Prof. Sewell: M 1-4
Introduction to tthe theory and practice of the interdisciplinary study of material culture, which includes everything we make and use, from food and clothing to art and buildings.
Meets with GRS AM867
GRS AH 891 Seminar: Photography
Topic: Landscape Photography.
Prof. Sichel: R 9-11
Historical, archival, and theoretical examinations of photography, with emphasis on its role both as document and as art. Students make use of photographs in Boston museums and archives.
GRS AH 895 Seminar: Contemporary Art
Prof. Stebbins: F 10-12
Topic: The Role of Jackson Pollock
An intensive examination of the background
and development of Pollock's style in the context of Abstract
Expressionism, with emphasis on the way his reputation was built by
critics, curators, and the media.
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