Art History

Tracing the development of modernity in western architecture, this course examines a series of movements and cities from the mid-18th century to the present. Major examples include Neoclassicism in Washington, D.C., Haussmann’s renovation of Paris, colonialism in Hong Kong and Shanghai, skyscrapers in Chicago and New York, and the international spread of Modernism and the diverse movements that have followed it. Emphasis is placed on construction technology, architectural theory, and the way buildings express institutional ideologies. Tutorials include visits to local buildings.

Political leaders use architecture to convey power, to express political ideas, and to influence how people think and act. In twentieth-century Europe, political ideologies including fascism, communism, colonialism, and democracy influenced the creation of new buildings and cities. This course explores those ideologies through the spaces that they produced, and a selection of examples spanning between Hitler’s plans to transform Berlin to public swimming pools in post-war Britain. Under the banner of democracy, it also explores how forces within Irish politics impacted the Dublin cityscape. This is a history of modern Europe told through the mark left by political actors upon architecture and cities. This same course exists as a 5-credit option - UCEAP Course 133A.

This course examines key philosophical and methodological approaches in the field of Art History. The development of professional skill sets will be a key focus. As such, the course serves as an essential introduction to Art History for those considering a career in the arts, education, or the museum and design sectors.

This course provides an overview of the development of art in Hong Kong from the colonial days to the early 21st century, including traditional Chinese painting, calligraphy and seal carving, modern ink painting, and various art forms in western media. It examines the uniqueness of Hong Kong’s art in the context of its economic growth, cultural integration of east and west, and freedom in artistic creation, towards an evaluation of the achievements of Hong Kong’s art in the twentieth century.

This course examines how some of the objects found in museums and collections came to be regarded as art. More specifically some objects and styles of painting are associated with the literati, a highly educated group of scholars who established certain forms of culture as their own from the Tang and Song to Yuan dynasties. By looking at the contexts of when ceramics, bronzes, calligraphy and some forms of painting were first assigned as art the course shows the literati mind guiding the process in the construction of these objects as literati art.

This course examines a focused corpus of artworks: Jacques-Louis David, THE DEATH OF MARAT and THE INTERVENTION OF THE SABINE WOMEN; Antoine-Jean Gros, BONAPARTE VISITING THE PLAGUE VICTIMS OF JAFFA; Théodore Géricault, THE RAFT OF THE MEDUSA; Eugène Delacroix, LIBERTY LEADING THE PEOPLE; Gustave Courbet, A BURIAL AT ORNANS; and Edgar Degas, LITTLE DANCER AGED FOURTEEN. It conducts an historical study of these landmark works, while opening onto broader perspectives such as the history of the tableau vivant, theater, and cinema, and initiating a reflection on their place within contemporary visual culture. Two sessions are devoted to the relationship between history painting and early cinema, with a particular focus on Jean-Léon Gérôme's JERUSALEM and Luc-Olivier Merson's REST ON THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT.
 

The course explores major movements and artists from Neoclassicism to contemporary art, including Impressionism, avant-garde, postwar trends, and current artistic languages. Students analyze artworks, understand historical contexts, and use diverse sources—including digital tools—for research and interpretation.

This course covers artistic creation during the Italian Renaissance: the work and its spatial context. It discusses methodology of analysis, analyzing architectural and pictorial works, analysis of the building's integration into the site, architectural analysis of the building, analysis of the work's integration into the space, analysis of the iconographic program, exhaustive analysis of a work from the iconographic program. Students create a commentary on a work, including fixed works (architectural creations, frescoes, mosaics) permanently linked to a place (bearing in mind that a fresco can be detached, a mosaic dismantled, a building reassembled); mobile works (easel paintings, sculptures, manuscripts), which can be moved from one place to another (but can only occupy one place at a time), heritage furnishings.

This course studies art and architecture created in East Asia during the seminal period when Buddhism was introduced to China and then transmitted to Korea and Japan. Focusing on the period c.300-c.1500, it examines selected key sites and significant works in all three countries. Students become familiar with important figures in the Buddhist pantheon; the iconography, gestures, and postures associated with Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and other deities; and popular narratives and architectural features associated with early Buddhist practice. These visual and iconographic features are studied in their historical, political, economic, and social contexts.

Korean Art in the Modern and Contemporary Era is an introductory class for any students who are interested in art, especially Korean visual art. This course explores the dynamic evolution of Korean art from the early 20th century to the present day, and examines how Korea’s historical, social, and cultural transformations have influenced its artistic expressions. Students engage with diverse media, including painting, sculpture, photography, video art, and installation art, while critically analyzing works by prominent  artists. Through lectures, discussions, and visual analyses, students develop a deeper understanding of Korean art's significant role in shaping contemporary visual culture. This course includes field trips to art museums and art galleries.