Art History

The course provides a toolkit of concepts or discursive operations for contemporary students of art history. These concepts might include mimesis, iconography, space, biography/autobiography, the author, beauty/taste, the sublime, dialectic, the fetish, animism, the uncanny, aura, the sign, coloniality, race, gender, sexuality, globalization, neoliberalism, and ecology. 

This course examines the history of cool from its roots to its continuing influence through the lens of one of its most visible products – fashion. Through study of the icons of cool in mainstream Western consciousness, you will examine the history of what we have found cool, the fashions that retain the aura of cool today, and how these elements in turn reflect what we have found desirable.

This course studies several periods of French architecture. The first part of the course covers Antiquity: classic architecture, origins in Greek civilization, Roman technique, and religious and utility buildings. The second part covers the Middle Ages: feudal society, Christianity, Roman & Gothic architecture, churches and cathedrals, and fortified castles. The third part examines modern times: Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, the invention of printing, the discovery of America, Protestant reform, the Renaissance, and Baroque architecture. Finally, the course covers contemporary times: neoclassicism, aesthetics, eclecticism, the Industrial Revolution, mass production, functionalism, post-war urban expansion, social housing, and Brutalism.

This course introduces the spread of Buddhist art and culture throughout South, Central, and Southeast Asia, including Tibet, by examining related architectures, sculptures and paintings. Each art history period from each region is closely examined throughout the duration of the course. Lecture topics include South Asia: the Early Period, Gandhara, Gupta period, Amaravati, Pala Period, Anuradhapura; and Polonnaruwa; Central Asia topics include areas include Afghanistan and West Turkistan; Southeast Asia topics include the Early Period, Sumatera and Java, Bagan, Angkor and Champa, and Thailand. The course concludes with discussion on Nepal and Tibet.

This version of the Dutch Art History course includes an Independent Study Project (ISP) done under the direction of the instructor. The ISP is 10-12 pages and counts for 1/3 of the overall grade for the course. The course is about Dutch art – with an emphasis on painting. Since the Middle Ages, the Netherlands has played a pivotal role in the history of European art and culture. Dutch and Flemish artists were the first to use oil paints, the first to visually document the lives and cultures of ordinary people, and the first to produce art for a free market. Painters such as Van Eyck, Brueghel, Bosch, Rubens, Vermeer, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, and Mondrian are counted among the great masters of history. Their art embodies qualities that are believed to be typical for the country, such as a devotion to truthfulness, attention to detail, and a love of textures. But there were many more artists whose works are still considered among the most important in history – if only because they were the first to notice the mundane things nobody else had paid attention to, such as the beauty of a still-life or the wonders of a cloudy sky. From the late Middle Ages through the Renaissance and the Baroque to the modern era, Dutch artists have tried to come to terms with ever-changing principles and conceptions regarding the world around them and have been constantly improving techniques to visualize it. The results of their efforts are the subject of this course. The course mostly follows a chronological order. In the first lecture, the (religious) significance of art in the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Baroque is introduced. In the following lectures, students are given an overview of the development of Dutch art from the Middle Ages to the modern era. The course includes tours to various museums in Mauritshuis and the Hague.