This course is a critical study of the discipline of art history. Students will examine a range of works within different cultural contexts, dating from antiquity to the present day. We will interrogate categories that have been at the center of art history as a discipline: the object, the artist, the viewer, and the institution. Our goals will be 1) to understand how social power has manifested through the idea, production, and circulation of “art” and forms of visual culture more broadly, and 2) to practice reading, writing, discussion, and sustained looking in relation to the visual field. Short papers, presentations, and/or exams are required. Required for the art history and studio art majors and minors. Open to sophomores and juniors; others by consent of instructor.
Any 100-level course in Art History.