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Art Course Descriptions

Art 161 - Visual Concepts

Full course for one semester. This course introduces the concepts and processes of studio art through drawing and other media. The work will involve traditional and non-traditional approaches to representation and abstraction, and investigate such problems as appropriation and the media, symbolism, narrative, temporality, and site specificity. The focus of the course may vary each semester, depending on the interests and areas of expertise of the faculty. Areas of focus may include painting, printmaking, photography, digital media, sculpture, or the artistâ€™s book. This course serves as the prerequisite to 200-level studio courses. Studio.

Art 201 - Introduction to the History of Art

Full course for one semester. Basic art historical methods and examples of recent scholarship are examined in relationship to a chronologically, geographically, or thematically defined body of art. Credit may not be earned for this course if it is taken after passing a 300-level art history course. Lecture-conference.

Art 262 - Figure Drawing

Full course for one semester. The tradition of Western academic figure drawing began in the Renaissance. The academies of the past, reflecting the official artistic cultures of their time, considered the figure to be central to their artistic training. Each academy represented a different ideal and featured its own style of presentation. The tradition of Western figure drawing centers on the bodyâ€™s response to gravity, volume, and weight within a solid floor plane seen in perspective. The traditional methods of rendering the human body from the Renaissance to the eighteenth century will be introduced. Students will practice gesture drawing and proportion studies, and will focus on the anatomical structure. We will then investigate tonal rendering of the body with various materials, modern and postmodern composition, expressionistic representation, and abstraction. Students will sculpt the figure using fired clay to investigate the body in three dimensions and explore the concept of fragmentation and abstraction. Contemporary issues of body language and gender will be explored in a final project. Slides and readings will expose students to the range of traditional and contemporary figurative works. Prerequisite: Art 161. Studio.

Art 264 - Intaglio Printmaking

Full course for one semester. These courses are offered in alternate years. Each similarly explores the technical, formal and conceptual aspects of printmaking through such thematic assignments as organic/inorganic, interior/exterior spaces, self-representation, appropriation, relationships of images and words, and a final project involving narrative (representation of extended time and expanded space). Intaglio printmaking includes drypoint, etching, sugarlift, aquatint and multiple color processes. Relief printmaking includes woodcut, linocut, stencil, collagraph, multiple and subtractive block chiaroscuro and multiple color printing. Additional work in each class will include printing an edition of an image for exchange with class members, and studying master and contemporary prints in the Reed and other local collections. Prerequisite: Art 161. Studio. 264 is not offered in 2005-06.

Art 265 - Relief Printmaking

Art 271 - Painting I

Full course for one semester. The first semester focuses on color interaction and illusions, abstraction and composition, and unusual image shape and mixed media. Assignments include creating a "shape alphabet" and several variations on it; a painting in which there is a close correspondence between image and support; a painting involving object vs. illusion, (an unusually shaped or surfaced support in tension with an illusion of transparency or luminosity); and an independent final project that builds upon previous work in the class. The projects in the second semester focus on forms of representation, involving close study of single natural and manmade forms; a series of magnifications into an object or image; study of optical mixture in a color comic image; a double narrative involving multiple figures and still life forms; windows, mirrors and pictures within pictures; self-portraiture. In both classes, traditional and experimental approaches are introduced in demonstrations and slide lectures, toward the development of oneâ€™s own visual and stylistic vocabulary. Although 271 and 272 are conceived as a year-long introduction to painting, with a progressive sequence of projects, it may, with consent of the instructor, be entered at midyear. Prerequisite: Art 161. Studio.

Art 272 - Painting II

Art 281 - Sculpture I: The Language of Structure and Scale

Full course for one semester. This introductory course introduces the structural principles and communicative possibilities of materials and their formal three-dimensional relationships. Development of the studentâ€™s ability to apply formal visual principles such as scale, weight, and mass is emphasized. Each project addresses one of the three scales of sculpture: the architectural, into which the body fits; the human, to which the body relates; and the intimate, which relates to the hand or head. We will study the fundamentals of wood fabrication including joinery and lamination, plaster molding, and metal fabrication. Throughout the course slide lectures and readings on the work of artists and architects will demonstrate how they have addressed these problems in the past. Prerequisite: sophomore standing. Studio.

Art 282 - Sculpture II: From the Figure to the Machine

Full course for one semester. Until the twentieth century, representations of the human figure were central to the history of sculpture. In modern and contemporary art, the scale of sculpture is in direct reference to our bodies. Current subjects of art are our bodily functions, aspects of our anatomy, and ideas about the temporal nature of our bodies. In this course students will begin with an investigation of the mechanics of the skeletal and musculature structure in a welded and riveted metal form. The second work focuses on transformation of functional objects made for our bodies; students will reorient the viewerâ€™s understanding of an object, or invent the next generation of an object. Recycled products such as furnishings or home equipment may be used along with welded structures. The final work will focus on sculpture in the expanded field of landscape and architecture. Readings and discussions on figurative sculpture, Dada, Fluxus, contemporary architecture, and contemporary artistsâ€™ works will be covered. There will be focus on metal fabrication and welding, and sewing and fabric construction. Prerequisite: Art 281 or consent of the instructor. Studio.

Art 290 - Photography I

Full course for one semester. This course introduces the basic technical processes of 35mm black and white photography in the context of some key historical and contemporary issues in the fine arts. Students will learn to use their own manual 35mm cameras and the department darkroom to carry out assignments. Assignments will include camera operation, film and print development, light metering, and composition through conceptual experimentation. Conceptual topics will include the problems of mechanical representation, self-representation, and the cameraâ€™s relationship to time and space. Class time will be spent in lecture, slide presentations, lab work, critique, and occasional field trips. Students will learn to respond to assignments with technical competence and critical clarity. Prerequisite: Art 161. Conference.

Art 291 - Photography II

Full course for one semester. The course will introduce larger scale, fiber-based printing, and medium format materials. With elementary skills and historical context in place, the class will focus on manifestations of the photographic image as an art object, both physically and conceptually. Technical topics will include toning and bleaching of prints, manipulated and composite prints, aspects of non-traditional printing, archival finishing, and mounting. Conceptual topics will include the narrative, sequence, typology and the archive, the ontological implications of indexical representation, the meaning and value of the mechanically reproduced image, popular culture, and forms of collage. Class time will be spent in lecture, slide presentations, lab work, critique, and occasional field trips. Students will be expected to respond to assignments with technical competence and critical clarity. Prerequisite: Art 290 or consent of the instructor. Conference.

Art 295 - Digital Media I

Full course for one semester. This course introduces fundamental aspects of the digital work environment, photographic (bitmap) and illustrative (object oriented) digital graphics. Technical and conceptual units will be presented in a historical context and that of contemporary fine arts practice. Topics will include the nature of the digital document; the relationship of digital forms to traditionally hand-based media; resolution, format, and color reproduction; the relationship between text and image; and methods of image acquisition (such as camera and scanner). Class time will be spent in lecture, slide presentations, lab work, critique, and occasional field trips. Students will learn to respond to assignments with technical competence and critical clarity. Prerequisite: Art 161, 162, or 164, or consent of the instructor. Conference.

Art 296 - Digital Media II

Full course for one semester. In this course we will explore photographic and illustrative work in greater depth, as well as elementary three-dimensional modeling and the moving image. With basic familiarity with the digital environment and possibilities for image creation and treatment, we will concentrate on the physical or situational presentation of work. Assignments will simultaneously address technical and conceptual topics such as the relationship of the real to the virtualâ€š and the analog to the digital; scale and repetition; narrative and sequence; meaning and value in the mechanically produced image; the ontological implications of indexical representation; and the dematerialization of the visual object. Image acquisition will expand to include direct scanning, digital video, and digital sound recording. Class time will be spent in lecture, slide presentations, lab work, critique, and occasional field trips. Students will be expected to respond to assignments with technical competence and critical clarity. Prerequisite: Art 295 or consent of the instructor. Conference. Not offered 2005-06.

Art 301 - Recent Writing about Art

One-half course for one semester. This course is intended for, but not limited to, junior and senior majors in art and art history. This team-taught course will introduce students to innovative examples of recent art historical scholarship, spanning a broad geographical and chronological range of topics. Texts will be read with an eye to understanding the methods currently engaged within the discipline of art history and within other fields to interpret visual artifacts. The course also will offer a forum for participants to test the applicability of these interpretive strategies through presentations of their own work. Prerequisites: Art 201 and a least one 300-level class in art history or studio art. This class may be taken more than once for credit. Conference.

Art 310 - Art of the Italian Renaissance Courts

Full course for one semester. This course examines the art and architecture of the Italian Renaissance courts during the late medieval and early modern periods. Concentrating primarily on the dynastic centers of Milan, Mantua, Ferrara, and Urbino, the course explores the ways in which Renaissance art operated in the service of the court as a powerful tool of statecraft. We will consider the union of art and politics by examining the patronage of the secular princes, while also analyzing how the visual identity of the state intersected with representations of gender and religious difference in the Italian Renaissance city-states. The course will provide new insights into the famous masterworks by artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Andrea Mantegna and place their work within a larger discourse that incorporates less well-known local art by painters including Cosimo Tura and Dosso Dossi. Prerequisite: Art 201 or consent of the instructor. Conference.

Art 312 - Art Historical Interpretation

Full course for one semester. A consideration of the ways in which individual works of art and art in general have been understood. This course will examine the historical interpretation of art from its beginnings (Vasari and Wincklemann) through the foundations of modern art history (Panofsky, WÃ¶lfflin, Riegl) to the present day (Baxandall, Fried, Bryson). Special attention will be paid to approaches outside of the mainstream of art history (Freudian psychoanalysis and Marxism) and to the methods of interpretation developed in art historyâ€™s sister disciplines (literary criticism and history). Theoretical problems will be tested against important and controversial works of art such as the Arch of Constantine, Velazquezâ€™s Las Meninas , Poussinâ€™s Et in Arcadia Ego , the paintings of Gustave Courbet, and Manetâ€™s Olympia . Prerequisite: Art 201 or consent of the instructor. Conference.

ART 313 - Northern Renaissance Art

Full course for one semester. This course examines art produced from c. 1420 to c. 1530 in northern Europe, focusing on the work of artists such as Jan van Eyck, Roger van der Weyden, Albrecht DÃ¼rer, Matthias GrÃ¼newald, and Lucas Cranach. Our goal will be to determine what is distinctive about this period of artistic production. Can we define it as a "Renaissance," and if so, how does it differ from the contemporary phenomenon in Italy? The continuity between art-making during this period and medieval artistic production will be stressed, as well as changes in the status of the artist and the patron, audience, form, function, and subject matter of art. Key themes in art historical literature--symbolism, realism, portraiture, and the idea of the "Renaissance" in northern Europe--will be discussed in relation to specific works of art. Prerequisite: Art 201 or consent of the instructor. Lecture-conference. Not offered 2005-06.

Art 316 - Medieval Manuscript Illumination

Full course for one semester. This course examines of the manuscript book from its origins in late antiquity, tracing its development through the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance. The emphasis will be on illustrated manuscripts in their context: what they were, how they were made, and the ways in which they were used. Rather than providing a chronological survey, this course will consider some of the fundamental issues in the history of manuscripts, such as the origin and nature of the codex, the relationship of text and image, the problem of illusionism in manuscript illumination, and the interaction between manuscripts and printed books. Readings and lectures will be supplemented by the detailed study of medieval manuscripts in the Portland area. Prerequisite: Art 201 or consent of the instructor. Lecture-conference. Not offered 2005-06.

Art 319 - Late Antique, Early Christian and Byzantine Art and Architecture

Full course for one semester. An examination of works of art and architecture made in the Mediterranean world between c. 200 and c. 600. Major monuments considered include the Christian and Jewish buildings at Dura-Eupros, the catacombs, the monuments of Constantinian and post-Constantinian Rome, the churches of Ravenna, Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, and the icons and monastery of Mt. Sinai. Special attention is paid to placing works in their art historical, historical and religious contexts and in understanding how art, society and theology were not interrelated in this period. Conference. Prerequisite: Art 201 or consent of the instructor.

Art 320 - Iconoclasm

Full course for one semester. Iconoclasm, the purposeful destruction of images, and aniconism--the refusal to produce images--have been recurring phenomena throughout the history of Western art. Whether iconoclasm is an exclusively Western practice will be one of the subjects considered in this course. Prominent examples of iconoclasm and aniconism across time include the ancient practice of destroying the monuments of previous rulers; the prohibition on images in the Hebrew Bible; Christian iconoclasm in medieval Byzantium and in the wake of the Protestant Reformation; state-sponsored destruction of images during the French, Russian, and Nazi revolutions; vandalism; and contemporary attempts to censor the visual arts. Long neglected by art historians, the study of iconoclasm is now considered central to understanding the historical function of images. By examining theories of iconoclasm and selected case studies, this course will attempt to understand the phenomenon and its importance for the study of past art; over the course of the semester each student will conduct a detailed examination of an iconoclastic incident of his or her choice. Lecture-conference. Prerequisite: Art 201 or consent of the instructor. Lecture-conference. Not offered 2005-06.

Art 326 - Material Worlds: Skilled Craftsmanship and Symbolic Technologies in Africa and the Near East

Full course for one semester. This course investigates technological processes of artifact production in ancient and traditional societies in the Near East and Africa. Recently, interdisciplinary interest has emerged in the concept of "technological style" to explore the cultural processes of the making of things as the main constituent of their symbolism, meaning and style. We will explore several case studies drawn from archaeological and ethno-archaeological work. While post-colonial ethnographies will be used to explore social relations behind craftsmanship and technologies of production, archaeological material from the Near East will be studied comparatively. This involves monuments such as Neo-Assyrian palaces or the reed mudhif of Marsh Arabs, and artifacts such as Phoenician ivories or the Afro-Portuguese brasswork of Benin. Formation and circulation of craft knowledge, cultural biography of artifacts, cultural identities and collective memory, materiality and representationality of artifacts will be central in class discussions. Prerequisite: Art 201 or Anthropology 211 or consent of the instructor. Conference. Cross-listed as Anthropology 326.

Art 336 - Architecture and Memory: Modern Theories and Ancient Paradigms of Architectural Space between East and West

Full course for one semester. This course investigates 19th and 20th century theories of architecture that make explicit use of architectural evidence from the ancient and traditional societies. In the Western scholarship, architectural historians used ancient and vernacular paradigms in their interpretations, especially from classical and Near Eastern architecture. The architecture of antiquity and that of the non-western vernacular are represented in a variety of different ways, ranging from Orientalism to the phenomenological approaches of latest decades. Architectural theory contributed to the construction (or critique) of bipolar categories such as the East and West, ancient and modern. We will explore the representations of the ancient and vernacular in architectural debates. Central issues in modern architectural theory including the relationship between collective memory and built environment, and interdisciplinary approaches in the interpretation of architectural space will be main focus of discussions. Prerequisite: Art 201 or consent of the instructor. Conference.Â Â Â

Art 339 - Images of the Jew in European History

This course explores the representation of Jews in European visual and literary culture from the medieval period to the twentieth century.Â We will examine the evolution of an anti-Jewish iconography in Christian art and literature and the relationship of such representations to ecclesiastical exegesis and to the accusations of ritual murder, host desecration, image profanation, and usurious corruption that flourished throughout the continent primarily from the twelfth to the sixteenth century.Â We will also study the architecture of the Jewish ghetto, examining how Christians and Jews defined themselves and their faiths through the architectural designs, urban planning, and socio-economic structures of the city. Finally we will investigate the impact of assimilation, acculturation, and anti-Semitism on European visual culture from the eighteenth to the twentieth century â€“ exploring, for example, the work of Degas and Toulouse Lautrec, as well as the art and cultural policy of Nazi Germany. Prerequisite: Art 201 or consent of the instructor. Conference.

Art 340 - History and Theory of the Avant-Garde

Full course for one semester. This course examines the history, ideology, and practice of artistic avant-gardism from the mid-nineteenth to the late twentieth century. To be explored on the basis of several case studies are the aesthetic practices characteristic of avant-gardism, the dynamics of avant-garde subcultures, and these groupsâ€™ relationships to the institutions of art, social elites, and radical politics. Theoretical problems to be addressed include realism and the definition of the art object, the relationship of the avant-garde to mass culture, gender and the avant-garde, the status of the author/artist, and the question of avant-gardist practice in a postmodern era. Prerequisite: Art 201 or consent of the instructor. Lecture-conference. Not offered 2005-06.

Art 345 - Postmodern Visual Culture and Theory

Full course for one semester. Students will study the history, theory, and practice of postmodernism from its roots in Dada to the work of contemporary artists such as Jenny Holzer, Rachel Whiteread, Jeff Koons, Walter De Maria, Christo and Jean-Claude, Krzysztof Wodiczko, and Mona Hatoum. The course examines the relationships between postmodernist artistic practice and the modernist art market. We will map the primary strands of postmodern visual culture as they engage technology, popular culture, feminism, multiculturalism, and postcolonialist thought. Issues addressed include the death of the author/artist, the attack on the modernist cult of originality, the idea of the "expanded field," and the role of avant-gardism in a postmodern era. Prerequisite: Art 201 or consent of the instructor. Lecture-conference. Not offered 2005-06.

Art 348 - Art and Politics in the Weimar Republic

Full course for one semester. This course will study modern German artistic culture from the end of World War I and the fall of the German monarchy in 1918 until the assumption of state power by a right-wing government under Hitler in 1933. Of particular concern will be the manner in which images and cultural practices functioned in attempts to organize and define identities of class, gender, and the nation during these politically volatile and culturally unstable years. We will examine relationships between artists and radical politics, debates about the representation of World War I, responses to modern society and mass culture, and the construction and critique of radical and gender identities and stereotypes. The politically dissident work of Georg Grosz and John Heartfield will be considered alongside, Hannah HÃ¶ch's and Christian Schad's questioning of gender roles, the anti-militarist art of Otto Dix and KÃ¤the Kollwitz, and the socially ambitious building and design programs of the Bauhaus. Prerequisite: Art 201 or consent of the instructor. Lecture-conference.

Art 350 - Nazism, the Holocaust, and the Visual Arts

Full course for one semester. This course is a consideration of the relationships between Nazism, genocide, and the visual arts from the 1920s to the present. The first half of the course will examine artistic practices and discourses before and during the Nazi regime. Topics include the campaign against modern art and the appeal of Nazism to many artists, efforts to develop a definitive Nazi art and architecture, the aesthetics of the body, the staging of politics, and the work of artists belonging to oppressed groups. The second half of the course will turn to post-war attempts to come to terms visually with Nazism and genocide, and their legacies. Topics include approaches to surviving Nazi architecture and art, representations of national identity and myth in Germany and Israel, means and problems of visual commemoration and polemic (figuration and abstraction, the question of the document, depiction of victims and perpetrators, monumentality and kitsch), and debates over monuments, museums, and exhibitions. Among those whose work will be discussed are Emil Nolde, Arno Breker, Leni Riefenstahl, Albert Speer, Charlotte Salomon, Frank Stella, Anselm Kiefer, Gerhard Richter, Christian Boltanski, Shimon Attie, Nathan Rapoport, Alfred Hrdlicka, Jochen Gerz, Rachel Whiteread, Richard Serra and Peter Eisenman, Ariel El-Hanani, Daniel Liebeskind, and Zbigniew Libera. Prerequisite: Art 201 or consent of the instructor. Lecture-conference. Not offered 2005-06.Â

Art 361 - Intermediate Photography and Digital Media I

Full course for one semester. This intermediate studio course provides a forum for more advanced and independent work for students who have completed the introductory sequence in photography or digital media. It will function as both a studio intensive and a junior seminar, with regular discussion of articles in contemporary media arts and theory as well as selected historical writings and works. Assignments will be open ended, providing thematic guidelines that build on skills and conceptual awareness from the introductory courses. Assignments will also respond directly to individual and group interests. Possibilities include electronic visualization, collaborative video or still production, documentary, large-format photography, mural printing (photographic and digital), and hybridization of traditional and electronic photography. Topics of reading and research will include the aesthetics and politics of visual truth, the collective imagination of popular culture, the science and psychology of optics and seeing, and the indexical as a mode of representation. Class time will be spent in lecture, slide presentations, lab work, critique, and occasional field trips. Students must be highly self-motivated and will be expected to respond to assignments with technical competence and critical clarity. Prerequisites: Art 291 or consent of the instructor. Lecture-conference. 361 is not offered in 2005-06.

Art 362 - Intermediate Photography and Digital Media II

Art 365 - Intersection: Architecture, Landscape Sculpture

Full course for one semester. This advanced studio course explores architectural and landscape-based sculpture. We will study artists and architects from the 1970s to the present who work within the realm of environmental art, land art and architecture. We will focus on new ecological materials and planning methods, which focus on the use of available resources and the invention of new materials such as the William McDunna, Rural Studio, Orta Studio and Simpark. Studio training will begin with an introduction to drafting using Auto Cad, model building, planning strategies, writing proposals and consideration of building materials. Students will create three scaled models of architectural works, draft a proposal and build an element of one work out of doors. Land and Environmental Art , edited by Brian Wallis, will provide background texts for the course. Two local professionals will visit the class, one working in the realm of architecture and one working with landscape. Prerequisite: Art 161 and 281, or permission of the instructor. Studio.

Art 368 - Image and Text: The Book as a Sculptural Object

Full course for one semester. This course explores the significant role artistsâ€™ books have played among the avant-garde of eastern and western Europe and the United States from the turn of the century to the present. The structural format book works take and their social and political functions will be viewed, discussed, and fabricated. The course will cover binding both codex and accordion books, reproducing images using palmer plates, and setting and printing type and images using a Reprex letterpress. Reedâ€™s special collections will provide a spectrum of professional artistsâ€™ books, including magazine works, anthologies, diaries, manifestos, visual poetry, word works, documentation, reproductions of sketch books, albums, comic books, paper art, and mail art. We will read and discuss essays relating to each studio problem. Prerequisites: Art 161 and one 200-level studio course or consent of the instructor. Studio-conference.Â

Art 371 - Intermediate Painting, Drawing, and Printmaking I

Full course for one semester. The first few weeks of each course involve exploratory drawing toward a project to be proposed and executed over the rest of the semester. This project might involve continued work in drawing, painting, printmaking, collage, or two-dimensional mixed media. The two courses serve as a junior seminar with weekly discussions of critical essays and articles, and short papers. Readings may focus on modernist art and theory from 1940 to 1970; postmodernism and critical issues in art since 1970; nineteenth- and twentieth-century aesthetics; and artist intentionality. Prerequisites: Art 264 and 265, or Art 271 and 272, or consent of the instructor. Studio-conference.

Art 372 - Intermediate Painting, Drawing, and Printmaking II

Art 381 - Intermediate Sculpture and Multimedia I

Full course for one semester. This studio and seminar course focuses on specific topics in contemporary art and criticism. The course integrates studio problems and critical readings. Technical instruction includes sculptural and architectural model building, wood and metal fabrication, wiring, projection of video works, cloth and alternative material fabrication methods, and wall and room construction. Topics covered change from year to year and include sculpture in the expanded field of landscape and architecture; illuminations, video, and photography in sculptural installations; collaboration and installation in a global art world; the material semiotics of feminism; the role of the artist in society: questioning authorship; and aesthetic criteria, modernism to minimalism. Prerequisite: Art 281 and 282, or 292 and 295, or consent of the instructor. Studio-conference. Not offered 2005-06.

Art 382 - Intermediate Sculpture and Multimedia II

Art 391 - Chinese Painting: Tang to Yuan (618â€“1368)

Full course for one semester. This course will concentrate on the middle period of the history of Chinese painting: the rise of secular painting from pre-Tang and Tang dynasty to the Yuan dynasty. From the ninth to the tenth century, landscape gradually moved into a more important role and eventually become the central subject of Chinese painting. The academy painting of the Northern and Southern Song, the appearance of literati or scholar-amateur painting, the development of Chinese painting theory, and the revolution in painting at the beginning of the Yuan will also be considered. Prerequisite: Art 201 or consent of the instructor. Conference. Not offered 2005-06.

Art 393 - Mapping the Urban Landscape: Views of the City in Late Imperial China

Full course for one semester. Since ancient times Chinese artists have depicted views of cities and their environs. During the Ming dynasty (1368â€“1644), images of the urban landscape occupied an unprecedented position in the pictorial arts. In the prosperous southeastern metropolises of Suzhou and Nanjing, we witness a flourishing production of images of famous city landmarks, garden residences, and nearby scenic spots. Pictures of courtesans, itinerant musicians, and other fixtures of urban life also become important pictorial themes from the early sixteenth century onwards. We examine this diverse body of images in an effort to illuminate aspects of urban experience in late imperial China. Readings will include recent studies on Ming social and economic history as well as primary texts available in translation. Prerequisite: Art 201 or consent of the instructor. Lecture-conference. Not offered 2005-06.

Art 411 - Pictorial Narrative

Full course for one semester. This course investigates the general characteristics of pictorial story-telling from the tenth through the seventeenth centuries. We will focus on selected examples of pictorial stories, spanning from the medieval to the Baroque periods and including a variety of media (sculpture, textiles, wall painting, stained glass, manuscript illumination, and panel painting).Â In addition to a detailed exploration of these test cases, we will discuss theoretical models that have been proposed to interpret narrative texts, such as Barthes, Chatman, Greimas, Ricoeur, White, and Bal. Ancient relief sculpture and contemporary film, installation, and video will serve as comparative examples. Our discussion of the narrative organization and function of individual artworks will address the following topics: typology, history, allegory, description versus narration, reception, performance, and desire. Prerequisite: Art 201 or consent of the instructor. Lecture-conference. Not offered 2005-06.

Art 412 - Art Historical Interpretation

Full course for one semester. This course is a consideration of the ways in which individual works of art and art in general have been understood. This course will examine the historical interpretation of art from its beginnings (Vasari and Winckelmann) through the foundations of modern art history (Panofsky, WÃ¶lfflin, Riegl) to the present day (Baxandall, Fried, Bryson). Special attention will be paid to approaches outside of the mainstream of art history (Freudian psychoanalysis and Marxism) and to the methods of interpretation developed in art historyâ€™s sister disciplines (literary criticism and history). Theoretical problems will be tested against important and controversial works of art such as the Arch of Constantine, Velazquezâ€™s Las Meninas , Poussinâ€™s Et in Arcadia Ego , the paintings of Gustave Courbet, and Manetâ€™s Olympia . Prerequisite: two previous art history courses or consent of the instructor. Conference. Not offered 2005-06.

Art 414 - Realism

Full course for one semester. A consideration of the evolving criteria for defining realism in the Western artistic tradition, with particular attention to the histories of painting and photography. The first part of the course will treat the practical, scientific, and art theoretical propositions about representation put forward in the early modern period. These ideas will be discussed in relation to major seventeenth-century artists. From this foundation we will consider the social and psychological foundations for the idea of realism in certain nineteenth century European and American painters. Finally, we will examine some twentieth-century arguments about the nature and politics of realism and representation in modern art and photography. Prerequisite: two previous 300-level art history courses or consent of the instructor. Conference.

Art 470 - Thesis

Full course for one year.

Art 481 - Independent Projects or Independent Reading

One-half or full course for one semester. Independent courses are usually offered only to students already admitted to the division as art majors. Such courses cannot be used to satisfy the basic course requirements of the department. Prerequisite: approval of instructor and division.

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