Art History

This course addresses the meaning, expression, material, and technique of Japanese visual art masterpieces.  It teaches the skills to appreciate fundamental and diverse characteristics of Japanese visual art from the ancient times to the contemporary.

This course explores the literary and artistic foundations that contribute to the construction of the cultural space and the politics we inhabit. It examines how sources are managed, interpreted, and renewed over time; the architecture and art they inspired; and how they have been adapted to the religious and political installation of Christianity; all of which have informed our unique identity today. The French model is at the center of these lineaments of cultural anthropology. The artistic representations (literary, pictorial, architectural) that endure over time reveal how people in the Middle Ages viewed the world and will influence the identity of future European nations over time.

This course explores the emergence and key concepts of the global market for art from the 18th to the 21st centuries through a discussion of its history, disruptions, and innovations. The course takes a thematic approach delivered via specific case studies to map the key concepts, individuals and institutions, and the various business models, and ethical and legal considerations that underpin the contemporary market. Students gain an understanding of the globalized art market economy through a comparative study of different geographical market regions across time, including the emergence of new global art market centers and the rise of the millennial collector. Throughout, the auction house and the unique behind-the-scenes access afforded to students of Sotheby’s Institute of Art, provides a detailed and practical case study of the history, development, and future of this market.

The course combines the theoretical agenda with new media art activities to showcase influential new media artists and their artistic achievements around the world, and aims to make students aware of many research directions and topics in new media art.The course will appreciate and discuss representative works of new media art, so as to improve students' aesthetic appreciation ability of various new media art works, cultivate independent observation habit and interdisciplinary collaborative thinking.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. Students develop the critical and historical tools to appreciate the link between art and social engagement, particularly but not exclusively, in relation to the politics of representation and around the role of contemporary art practices in activating processes of gathering, assembling, and communing. The course matures the skills to analyze and contextualize the main artistic currents within visual and conceptual art, both within the western context and regarding wider decolonial processes. Students are also able to critically assess artistic practices, carry out independent research, and activate their knowledge in the urban context, in critical dialogue with existing cultural and social institutions.

This course is an exploration of Italian art – painting and sculpture - from c.1300 to c.1700 in the major centers of Florence, Rome, Venice, Naples, and Milan. The era is distinguished by a revived interest in Italy’s classical past and the emergence of humanist philosophies. The evolution of religious subject matter is analyzed via a number of different typologies – the fresco cycle, the altarpiece, the sculpted figure. The emergence and development of secular themes, including representations of classical mythology, are considered. The course examines evolving stylistic debates around the values of naturalism and classicism over time, and the ways in which artists reflected on the very concept of the “Renaissance” in different artistic centers. The role of patronage, both civic and private, and the rising status of the artist feature prominently, and particular attention is paid to artistic processes and means of production. The “long” of the title of the course touches on the idea of the iteration and reiteration of the themes summarized here over an extended timeline.

A distinctive feature of Japanese cultural tradition is an aesthetic that favors the subtle, the condensed, the pure, and the ephemeral. This contrasts with the West, which finds beauty ideals in things that are large, rich, powerful, and rationally ordered. From bonsai to figurine, it is said that this characteristic has been passed down through repeated exchanges with China in ancient times and with the West in modern times.　

This course considers the factors behind Japan's unique sense of beauty, centered on plastic arts, and what the results were, through comparison with those of the West and China. Taking advantage of the geographical advantage of studying in Kyoto, which has nurtured Japanese aesthetic traditions and produced excellent art, the course also includes a tour.　

This course explores the dynamic discourse at the intersection of contemporary art and digital technologies, equipping students with a practical and contextual knowledge of how these technologies are reimaging the landscape of contemporary art practice. The course explores what it is to have "an art without objects" and the impact this is having, in turn, on the international art market and the curatorial field. Topics include artificial intelligence, augmented theory, virtual reality, NFT's, digital conservatism, and the history of digital art.

This course introduces the art of Thai painting and drawing through an analysis of both scholarly texts and hands‐on sessions. The course provides visual journey through all the major periods of Thai classical art. Emphasis is also be placed on regional and folk styles of painting as well as with new forms of traditional art. The course focuses primarily on the Rama 3 style of Thai painting as developed in nineteenth century Bangkok and which has become the most common form of Thai classical art seen in the country today. Students enrolled in the class will be taught not only how to appreciate traditional Thai painting but also how to draw, create compositions, and critique art works.

Culture is very much a combination of lifestyle and art. This course explores the development and transition of Japanese aesthetic in lifestyle from the prehistoric Jomon Period all the way to today, with special emphasis on the crafts and arts of Edo, Meiji, Taisho, and Showa eras. In Japan, there are fine arts, fine crafts, Mingei (the people’s arts and crafts), and design. The course examines the trends in art and lifestyle from ancient times; how traditional crafts and arts appeared in art history, and how Japanese arts and lifestyle transformed with the industrial revolution during the Meiji Era with a newly applied idea of “fine arts,” followed by the emergence of the philosophy of Mingei. The course finishes by discussing how art and crafts influence our everyday lifestyle; what it means to us today, and what you think will happen in the future.