Art History

This course offers an introduction to the history of medieval art in Italy, focusing on selected case studies which are investigated with a multidisciplinary approach and with specific regard to the visual arts. The course consists of three topics. The first topic discusses the Italian Middle Ages, and covers periodization and terminology; artists, patrons, publics, and projects of the arts; and iconographies, techniques, media and materials, and style. The second topic discuss Giotto and the city, Padua in the first half of the 14th century, and the Scrovegni chapel. The third topic discusses the Signorie, Communes, and the art of power in Padua, Milan, Florence, and Siena. This course is taught in a degree program which introduces students to knowledge of Italian language throughout the degree. The first year of instruction in this degree begins in English and then gradually shifts to Italian by the third year. Because this course is taught in the first semester of the first year of the degree, the course is mostly taught in English with some Italian and is appropriate for students who do not speak Italian.

This course studies the development of public and private architecture in Berlin from the 19th century to the present. Following an introduction to architectural terms, and an examination of the urban development and architectural history of the Modern era, the Neo-Classical period is surveyed with special reference to the works of Schinkel. This is followed by sessions on the architecture of the German Reich after 1871, characterized by both modern and conservative tendencies, and the manifold activities during the time of the Weimar Republic in the 1920s. The architecture of the Nazi period is examined, followed by the developments in East and West Berlin after World War II. The course concludes with a detailed review of the city's contemporary and future architectural profiles, including an analysis of the conflicts conerning the redesign of ''Berlin Mitte,'' Potsdamer Platz, and the new government quarter. Students examine architectural examples within Berlin designed by such famous international architects as Lord Norman Foster, Frank O. Gehry, Renzo Piano, and Richard Rogers. Field trips complement the lectures.

This course explores the theory and history of cinema, from a historical perspective, with different considerations: historical, aesthetic, linguistic, industrial, technological, and sociological.

The content, form of teaching, and form of assessment for the Current Topics in Art History course vary from semester to semester. The spring 2022 course discusses the following topics.

Why would Duke Phillip the Good of Burgundy want to eat the face of Christ? This seemingly bizarre question becomes answerable during this course, which explores the fascinating world of medieval religious objects and images (ca. 1050-1500 CE). In this period a broad array of items - ranging from unsightly pieces of bone and rock as well as simple images in woodprint, to outstandingly fine paintings, sculpture and architecture - offered those interested a means of connecting higher powers and practicing religious devotion. Why and how could these holy items play such an instrumental role? Which ideas formed the ideological basis for their production and consumption? This course considers the broader religious culture at the time to answer these questions.