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Fall 2003
This information effective for Fall 2003. Check with instructor the first day of class for any changes.
History of Art and Visual Culture (formerly Art History)
[HAVC-080M] [HAVC-139] [HAVC-189A]
80M. Indigenous American Visual Culture
Instructor:
Carolyn Dean
Course Description:
Selected aspects of the art and architecture of the first peoples of the Americas—North, Central, and South—from ca. 2000 BCE to the present will be considered. The focus will be on ways Amerindian visual culture articulates particular understandings of people and their place in the world they construct. The course will proceed chronologically moving between the Americas so as to create the conditions for a comparative study of the varied visual cultures of these diverse areas. The course will emphasize the diversity of Amerindian cultures and stress historical relationships between the archaeological past and the present.
This is a topical, introductory lecture course based on slides with supplementary required discussion sections. No previous knowledge of the subject or specialized disciplinary vocabulary is assumed. Students who successfully complete the course will have gained familiarity with a number of the many and diverse native cultures of the Americas including the Anasazi, Aztec, Inca, Northwest Coast, Maya, Navajo, Plains, Pomo, Shipibo, Yupik, and others.
By means of slides and videos, we will explore famous archaeological sites and become acquainted with many well known monuments, objects, and practices. The emphasis will be on the varied cultural and historical contexts through which places, things, and practices both accrue and shed meaning. A special emphasis will be placed on understanding how ancient American visual traditions have articulated changing identities over time—from the archaeological past through the European invasion to the present. We will be particularly interested in how contemporary, self-identified Indian artists draw on, borrow from, alter, and even confront their rich and complex cultural heritages.
Evaluations will be based on two midterm exams and a final as well as one or more map quizzes. The exams combine slide identification with essays that test knowledge of materials delivered in lecture, section, or required readings. There will also be a short, required course project and various small assignments given by teaching assistants.
Required readings will be compiled as a course reader available for purchase. Reading will vary from lecture to lecture, but should average 50-75 pages per week.
Required images will be available for study on E-RES.
139. Islamic Art and Architecture
Instructor: Allan Langdale
Course Description:
This course is a survey of the art and architecture of Islam from the 8th to the 19th century. Focus will be on the various uses of art in the Islamic world and how these uses related to the specific social and political contexts in which the art was produced and consumed. Art from the court to empire will be considered—from the portable works of manuscript illustration to monumental mosque and tomb architecture. Examples are drawn from throughout the Islamic world: North Africa, India, the Middle East, and the art of the silk route cities. Other lectures in the course will deal with issues such as "orientalism" in the West, calligraphy, contemporary Muslim art, the problems of "modernity," and Sufism.
Course Web Page:
189A. Prints and Print Culture
Instructor: Allan Langdale
Course Description:
This course examines prints as documents of popular culture, as, indeed, the first medium of popular culture and widely disseminated propaganda. The focus will be on the political uses of the print and, in particular, the image of woman. Topics include the images of Eve and Mary in the Renaissance, the depiction of witches and their social functions, the uses of prints in the battle between the Papacy and the Lutherans during the 16th century, social criticism in the prints of Hogarth, the uses of print pornography during the French Revolution, and the rise of ladies' illustrated newspapers in the 19th century.
Course Web Site: