Fall 2020 Courses
Undergraduate Courses
AH 111- Introduction to Art History I: Antiquity to the Middle Ages
An introduction to art history and the analysis of painting, sculpture, and architecture. Study of masterpieces from prehistoric to medieval times. Focus on monuments of Greece, Rome, and the Middle Ages, with a survey of Egyptian and Near Eastern art.
BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness
T,R 11:00-12:15 and Discussion Section Martin/Kahn
AH 201- Understanding Architecture
Introduces a range of approaches to understanding architecture in an historical perspective. Learn how architects and others have interpreted meaning through rubrics of art, nature, and culture, focused upon European and American architecture from 1400 to the present.
BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Research and Information Literacy
T, R 2:00-3:15 Abramson
AH 210- Learning to See
Strengthens your ability to describe and analyze the visual world. From fundamentals such as color and composition to the design of advertisements, propaganda, and appliances. A lab component with frequent visits to the MFA and other Boston sites provides opportunities for direct engagement with objects, images, and the built environment.
BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking
M,W,F 9:05-9:55 Ribner
AH 220- Islamic Art & Architecture
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.
BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Research and Information Literacy
M, W, F 11:15- 12:05 Fetvaci
AH 232- Archaeology of Ancient Egypt
The technology, economy, social life, political organization, religions, art, and architecture of Egypt from Predynastic times through the Hellenistic period, based on archaeological and historical sources. Emphasis on the period of the pharaohs (ca. 3000-323 BCE).
BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness
M,W,F 2:30-3:20 Bard
AH 233- The Arts of Greece
Greek architecture, painting, sculpture, and minor arts. Emphasis on developments in Athens and on the creation of the classical style in art and architecture.
BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness
T, R 12:30-1:45 Martin
AH 242- Latin America Since Contact
Course surveys Latin American art from the colonial period to present and relates it to imperial, state, institutional, and private agendas. Course interrogates both notions of art within colonial / neo-colonial contexts and changing roles of artists over past half-millennia.
BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness
M,W,F 2:30-3:20 Reyes
AH 284- Arts in America
A survey of art and visual culture made in North America between the early colonial period and World War I, exploring the ways that painters, sculptors, photographers, and graphic artists navigated major aesthetic debates, political conflicts, and economic crises.
BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness
M,W,F 10:10-11:00 Barrett
AH 317- From Morocco to Timbuktu: Art and Architecture at the Saharan Crossroads
Cultural exchange between North and West Africa, and its impact on art and architecture from the medieval period to the present; the interaction between Islam and other modes of African religious practice and how this interaction influenced African aesthetic expression.
BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Digital/Multimedia Expression, Creativity/Innovation
M,W,F 2:30-3:20 Becker
AH 326- Arts of Japan
The arts of Japan, from prehistory to the twentieth century. Lectures intend to cover a broad range of media (painting, sculpture, ceramics, prints) and building types (temples, palaces, castles, teahouses). Special attention is paid to major projects integrating multiple forms.
BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Research and Information Literacy
T, R 9:30-10:45 Tseng
AH 327- Arts of China
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.
BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Aesthetic Exploration, Research and Information Literacy
T, R 12:30-1:45 Feng
AH 352- Venetian Renaissance Art
A study of art and architecture in Renaissance Venice with focus on the “Myth of Venice,” Byzantine heritage, introduction of the oil medium, Scuole, and the work of the Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, Palladio, Veronese, and Tintoretto.
BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Digital/Multimedia Expression, Creativity/Innovation
T, R 11:00-12:15 Cranston
AH 365- Baroque Arts in Northern Europe
Explores Netherlandish art from the late sixteenth through the seventeenth centuries, focusing on Rubens, Rembrandt, and Vermeer. Addresses the embattled Christian image; art in the service of princely, patrician, and ecclesiastical authority; the Dutch art market; women and domesticity.
BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness
M,W,F 10:10-11:00 Zell
AH 369- American Folk Art
Explores the objects that collectors and museums identify as “American Folk Art.” Examines how this label developed throughout the twentieth century; familiarizes students with major collections and genres including painting, sculpture, textiles, and other media.
T,R 1:25-2:15 Moore
AH 391- Twentieth Century Art to 1940
A study of the key tendencies in European art between the 1880s and World War II. The work of van Gogh, Picasso, Matisse, Dali, and their contemporaries is examined in relation to major issues in European culture and politics.
BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Research and Information Literacy
M, W, F 9:05-9:55 Sichel
AH 393- Contemporary Art: 1980 to Now
Explores the terms of debate, key figures, and primary sites for the production and reception of contemporary art on a global scale since 1980. Painting, installation art, new media, performance, art criticism, and curatorial practice are discussed.
BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness
T, R 3:30-4:45 Williams
AH 495- Picasso
This seminar explores more than eight decades of incessant art making by Pablo Picasso. We will see how his friends, his lovers, and his preoccupation with eroticism and death affected his imagery. Students master fundamental currents of European Modernism.
M 2:30-5:15 Ribner
500 Level Seminars for Undergraduate & Graduate Students
AH 500 A1- The Silk Road and Dunhuang Caves
This course will explore the visual and material culture of the Silk Road through the caves of Dunhuang. We will analyze the modern invention of the “Silk Road”, politics and patronage, Buddhist art and architecture, medieval manuscripts, ritual practices, and the impact of China’s current “Belt-Road” policy.
T 3:30-6:15 Feng
AH 500 B1- Istanbul: From Imperial Capital to Global City
Architectural and urban history of Istanbul 18th Century to the present: major buildings, urban fabrics and public spaces discussed in national, regional and global context; role of spatial practices in the making, transformation and re-negotiation of cultural and national identities.
R 12:30-3:15 Bozdoǧan
AH 507- Digital Curation: Towards National Parks: Art and Nature, Nature and Nation
Before national parks, wild locations attracted artists, photographers and poets. Their works made these areas known to tourist-viewers. Prepare a digital exhibition and map artist-advocates as they explored mountains, forests and waterfalls.
T 12:30-3:15 Hall
AH 520- The Museum and Historical Agency
History, present realities, and future possibilities of museums and historical agencies, using Boston’s excellent examples. Issues and debates confronting museums today examined in the light of historical development and changing communities. Emphasis on collecting, display and interpretation.
R 12:30-3:15 Hall
AH 527 B1- Picturing Property: Real Estate in American Visual Culture
This course explores the roles that visual representations have played in American real estate markets and examines the creative ways that artists and writers have interpreted the objects, figures, practices of the land business during the past two centuries.
F 11:15-2:00 Barrett
AH 527 C1- Cathedrals and Castles: the Art and Architecture of Medieval Europe
Castles and cathedrals with their splendid treasures from gold and gem-studded objects to vast stained-glass windows, precious textiles and illuminated manuscripts will be explored as the backdrop for the social political, religious and cultural conditions of the period.
T 3:30-6:15 Kahn
AH 546- Places of Memory: Historic Preservation Theory and Practice
Covers key aspects of the history, theory, and practice of historic preservation. Preservation is discussed in the context of cultural history and the changing relationship between existing buildings and landscapes and attitudes toward history, memory, invented tradition, and place.
T 3:30-6:15 Bluestone
AH 548- Global Heritage Conservation
Examining global approaches towards heritage conservation through a study of concepts, charters and case studies, using themes such as world heritage, cultural tourism, historic towns, new design, intangible heritage, authenticity, integrity, recent past, historic landscapes, conflict, disasters, revitalization and reconstruction.
R 3:30-6:15 Haenraets
AH 554- Somerville Project
Explores the architectural and urban transformation of Somerville from agricultural fields, country estates, to an area of dense urban settlement and industrial development. Explores places and sources that help assess and narrate the rich history of architectural and urban development.
W 2:30-5:15 Bluestone
AH 596- Contemporary Exhibition Practices
This seminar explores how, over the past thirty years, artists, curators, critics, and architects have played various roles in the expansion of large-scale exhibitions and the emergence of new museums of contemporary art around the world.
W 2:30-5:15 Williams
Graduate Courses
Graduate Courses
AH 742- Colloquium in Latin American Art
Case studies designed to explore the main aesthetic, social, and historical discourses surrounding image production in Latin America while familiarizing students with main scholars in the field and their methodologies.
F 12:20-2:05 Reyes
AH 813- On the Eve of Modernity: Islamic Art and Architecture of the 18th Century
Examines eighteenth century art and architecture from the Ottoman Empire, Iran and India paying particular attention to cross-cultural exchange, collecting, dynastic legitimacy, and urban growth. Situates Islamic visual culture within global trends of the period.
M 2:30-4:15 Fetvaci
AH 822 Art and Trade Across the Medieval Sahara
This seminar examines how the Sahara was a geographic and intellectual crossroads, allowing for the transmission and exchange of arts, culture, and religion. We concentrate on cross-cultural contact between Africa, Europe, and the Middle East during the medieval period.
W 10:10-11:55 Becker
AH 853- Collecting and Exhibiting Italian Renaissance Art
This seminar will consider the collection and exhibition of Italian Renaissance art from the 15thcentury until the current day. Relevant topics will include: historic and contemporary practices of collecting and display; private and public space; 19th-c. Boston and the interest in Italian Renaissance art; and the architecture of seclusion. The seminar will also critically evaluate current exhibitions of Italian Renaissance art in Boston-area museums, as well as digital exhibitions/projects.
T 9:00-10:45 Cranston
AH 863- Rembrandt
Explores Rembrandt’s art and career through various methodological approaches, situating his staggeringly prolific production of paintings, prints, and drawings within the cultural and social worlds for which they were created. Some meetings conducted at the MFA and Harvard Art Museums.
W 2:30-4:15 Zell
AH 867- Material Culture
Introduction to the 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. Explores contemporary scholarship from a range of disciplines.
T 12:30-3:15 Moore
AH 893- Governance and Governmentality
How do structures of governance, like federalism, shape architecture? And how do government centers shape citizens’ consent to be governed, following Foucault’s theories? Focused upon modern America, this seminar is open to students’ explorations in other places, times, and media.
W 10:10-11:55 Abramson
AH 895- Paris 1900-1940
This interdisciplinary seminar will explore the representation of Paris in a variety of media, from the Exposition Universelle in 1900 to the beginning of World War II, through the media of literature, universal expositions, painting, photography, fashion, and film.
M 12:20-2:05 Sichel