COURSE DETAIL
The first part of the course introduces American art and artists, with a focus on the second half of the 20th century. It includes a survey of American art from Abstract Expressionism to Land Art, through Minimalism, Conceptual Art, Pop Art, Graffiti Art, Hyperrealism, Body Art. The course highlights the interplay between artistic practices and discourses. It brings to the fore the textual dimension or discursive component in a selection of postwar American artistic practices and artworks while examining the status of commentaries in their relationship to the artwork, be they statements by artists or by other commentators (reviewers, critics, writers, scholars). The second part of the course focuses on the Ekphrastic poetry of Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882), the leading figure of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, particularly on some of his most significant double works. Close reading is also essential in showing the fruitful relations between art and poetry in the Victorian Age.