Art History

This course explores the place of food in art in France, with a focus on the modern and contemporary periods. Throughout the course, representations of food are studied as a means to survey the evolution of French art within a global context, and as significant markers of social, ethnic, and cultural identity. The analysis of these depictions provides the opportunity to learn about dietary and dining customs, habits, and beliefs prevalent in France from the early modern period to the present. The course begins by decoding the archetypal representations of succulent food in the still life and genre painting of 16th-17th-century Holland, which established the conventions of the genre for centuries to come. It then examines how the rise of these previously minor artistic genres in 18th-century France coincided with the birth of French gastronomy. Frivolous depictions of aristocrats wining, dining, and indulging in exotic beverages like coffee and hot chocolate then give way in post-Revolutionary France to visions of austerity and “real life,” featuring potato-eating peasants. The focus then shifts to representations of food and dining in the age of modernity, when Paris was the undisputed capital of art, luxury, haute cuisine, and innovation. The course analyzes how Impressionist picnics and café scenes transgress social and artistic codes. Building on their momentum, Paul Cézanne launches an aesthetic revolution with an apple. Paul Gauguin’s depictions of mangos and guavas speak to his quest for new, “exotic” sources of inspiration, and allow discussion of questions of race, gender, and French colonialist discourse. Drawing from these pictorial and social innovations, the course subsequently observes the place of food and dining themes in the avant-garde movements of early 20th-century Paris, whose defiance of conventional society and art leads them to transform previously comforting themes into troubling ones.  It questions the place of food—or its absence—in art to capture the suffering and violence of upheavals like the Second World War and consider the place of food and dining in contemporary art: from the Pop Art movement’s calling into question postwar consumer society through its representations of mass-produced food; to contemporary creators in a plural and globalized art scene who use these traditional themes to challenge the status and roles of the artist, the spectator, and the work of art itself; to how depictions of food in visual art grapple with multiculturalism in France today. 

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrolment is by permission of the instructor. The course offers a general view of the history of Medieval and Renaissance art. Students learn to develop a general vision of the history of Medieval and Renaissance art. On one hand, students learn how to use the skills necessary to become familiar with the artistic production of the period, and on the other, they learn to analyze some of the main works of the history of Medieval and Renaissance art using specific methodologies, and relate these to one another appropriately. Classes are divided into three sections. The first section introduces students to medieval and renaissance history and to the different approaches to a work of art (style, techniques, iconography, etc.), and discusses the most important methodological issues about them. The second section offers, in chronological order, the main lines of Italian artistic history between the beginning of Middle Age and early XVI century: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Barbaric Art, the medieval revivals (Carolingian and Ottonian), Romanesque Art, Gothic Art, the Early Renaissance, and the High Renaissance. The third section focuses on a specific topic, which varies each year. The fall 2023 topic is "Luca Signorelli and the young Michelangelo: two great artists between the 15th and 16th c."

Although Southeast Asia locates between two origins of ancient Asian culture, China and India, Indian-influenced culture had played a more important role in various phases than Chinese influenced culture. In this course, characteristics of such Indian influenced culture and arts are discussed, especially in focus material evidence, such as Buddhism towers (stupa), Hinduism architecture, sculptures, Islamic architecture, cloth culture and performing arts. Assessment: term paper.

This course introduces single songs and comprehensive stage music art. It traces century-old school music, and then expands to a variety of musical performance. The main topics include: song creation from a hundred years ago, school songs and campus songs, Chinese and foreign popular music, Chinese folk music culture, small and medium instrumental music basics, Western classic symphonic music, Chinese and foreign classic opera comparison, Chinese and foreign dance and dance music, classic musical drama appreciation, and an introduction to China opera culture.

This course is a challenging introductory course and is specifically for non-History of Art students. It examines early modern European art from the 13th to the 16th century, focusing on objects in London's galleries and museums and taught predominantly in front of works in these collections. The specific content of this course changes each year but the aim is to introduce students to key issues in Italian Renaissance and northern European art, focusing on paintings, sculpture, and the decorative arts in London institutions such as the National Gallery and the Victoria & Albert Museum.