Art History

What is queer art and who makes it? Has there always been queerness in art? This course looks at art-historical practices from a variety of historical, geographical, and social contexts, to explore how queerness, same-sex desire, or “homosexuality” have been represented, and how these representations changed over time, at intersections with their sociopolitical contexts. While the course has a predominantly contemporary focus, it begins with an examination of historical examples of same-sex desire in art before the 19th century. It looks at the modern developments brought by the Enlightenment and scientific progress which first invented and categorized “homosexuality” as a medical category and deviance, prompting 19th century artists to develop an elaborate language of coded homoeroticism. Following this historical introduction to the course, the focus shifts to a thematic approach: it covers a broad range of distinct practices and reflect on many different meanings of queerness, including: the US gay liberation history and the AIDS epidemic; thriving spaces of queer cultures such as waterfront and nightclubs; Irish, Polish, and Jewish queer artistic practices; and gender binary-defying practices of two-spirit Indigenous Americans and Indian Hijras. The course also looks at queer exhibitions and exhibiting queerness in various international contexts, and explores instances of explicit or implicit censorship of same-sex desire in art institutions. The course features a visit to an exhibition.

Designed for international students, this course explores famous classical Chinese poems across seven major themes. It aims to remove language barriers, analyzing content, artistic features, and historical context. Through guided practice in recitation, the course helps students understand, appreciate, and memorize these classics, experiencing the beauty of Chinese poetry.

Johannes Vermeer has become a pivotal figure in the Western European art tradition. This is largely due to the hushed solitude and enigmatic themes of his paintings, which seem to give a glimpse of social practices and material culture in the Dutch "Golden Age". This course interrogates some of our preconceptions of Vermeer and his work and to situate him fully within the branch of painting that became his specialty - genre art. The course traces the evolution of genre imagery in Dutch art, from its roots in 15th- and 16th-century printmaking, and the peasant caricatures of Pieter Bruegel, to its apogee in the refined interior spaces of Vermeer and contemporaries such as Gerard ter Borch, and Gabriel Metsu. Lectures focus on key practitioners, groups of related artists such as the Leiden "fine painters" and the Utrecht Caravaggisti, as well as socio-economic and contextual themes. The course also explores contemporary reception and interpretation, the role of the art market in the production of paintings, and the extent to which these engaging, quotidian images are reflective of actual domestic practices in the Dutch Republic of the 17th century. The course makes extensive use of the National Gallery of Ireland's exemplary collection of Netherlandish art.

This course introduces students to an expanded canon of premodern art. Students consider traditional European material spanning from the Late Antique through the Renaissance and Baroque periods, whilst also looking in depth at simultaneous artistic developments in places such as East and South Asia, Africa, the Indigenous Americas and the Islamic world. Art historical touchstones by famous artists like Michelangelo, van Eyck, and Dürer are examined alongside works by artists of earlier and non-Western cultures whose names less well known or lost to us. The aim, in all cases, is to understand the diverse ways that artistic practices intersected with issues of, for example, identity, gender, sexuality, nationality, and religion. 

This course considers histories and theories of modern and contemporary art. It provides an overview of the heterogeneous and experimental development of modern and contemporary art. Artistic responses to society, politics, science, and technology are discussed. The module also addresses the practices of governing institutions of the contemporary art world, such as art markets and museums. Furthermore, the course features visit to (local) art institutions, including the Jan van Eyck Academie.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. In this course, students acquire necessary knowledge to read and critically interpret architecture between the fourteenth and sixteenth Centuries as well as the methodological tools to understand the territory, the city, and its major buildings. In addition, the course deals with a number of theoretical and practical issues of Renaissance architecture that are still alive nowadays.

The course provides a historical overview of the major figures of Italian Renaissance architecture from 1400 to 1600—Brunelleschi, Alberti, Bramante, Raphael, Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, Michelangelo, Peruzzi, Giulio Romano, Sanmicheli, Sansovino, Palladio as well as an outlook on a selection of European Renaissance architects. They are analyzed within the cities or countries they operated and will be compared with the cultural, social, and political local context. The second part of the course is an overview on a selection of European courts and on the role of humanistic architecture at the dawn of colonialism. Issues such as local antiquities, revival and survival, rules and license, theory of architecture, drawings and graphic conventions are addressed throughout the course. 

By the end of the course the student: knows the categories and practices of contemporary art, both in terms of technical-linguistic and theoretical aspects; understands the role assumed by the visual arts in the transition between the 19th and 21st centuries, in their specific development and relation to the parallel trends of other artistic disciplines; is able to understand the contribution made by contemporary art to the development of visual culture with particular attention to technological, media, and social issues.

Course contents: contemporary art, i.e., the aspects that have developed and have been commonly accepted, in the transition between the 19th and the 21st century, as fundamental to defining artistic practices. In particular, the definition and meanings of contemporary art, the mediums and the characteristics of the work, the role of the artist, the dynamics of the art system—from the market to the different forms of circulation—and the evolution of a pluralistic and global perspective.

In the first unit, the main parameters of periodization of contemporaneity are exposed, the forms and contexts are identified, and the meanings usually attributed to contemporary art are discussed. The second unit is devoted to the work of art, i.e., the mediums commonly adopted by artists, issues related to the uniqueness of the work, and the rise of forms of expression that understand the work as an experience. The third unit considers the perception and social role of the artist, with a focus on the convergences between art and life, collective practices, and the evolution in the working methodologies of visual artists. The fourth unit considers the founding features of the art system, from the role of the public to the art market and the idea of the exhibition. Finally, the fifth unit examines the emergence of a pluralistic perspective in light of issues related to feminism, gender identity, postcolonialism, and globalization.

This course provides a thematic study of historical and contemporary book arts in the Islamic world, drawing on the art of painting and calligraphy as well as key texts to engage with the foundational interrelations between text, image, orality and other forms of sensory experience. Starting with early Qurans, it moves to pre-modern illustrated manuscripts, and modern and contemporary works of art inspired by manuscript cultures, exploring histories of authorship, portraiture, patronage, workshop practices, audience and perception, as well as the collecting and display of manuscripts in museums.