May 04, 2024  
Academic Catalog 2022-2023 
    
Catalog Navigation
  Catalog Home
  About MassArt
  Academic Calendar
  Academic Policies
  Academic Programs
  Academic Resource Center
  Accreditation and Board of Trustees
  Campus Resources
  Confidentiality of Student Records
  Cross-Registration
  Courses
  GPA Disclaimer
  International Education Center
  Leave of Absence
  Office of the Registrar
  Professional and Continuing Education Courses
  Standardized Test Policy
  Student Financial Assistance
  Tuition and Fees
  Veterans
HELP
Academic Catalog 2022-2023 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Courses

 

Graduate
  

  • HART780 Benchmark 3cr

    In one section of the course we will focus on our own personal history of creativity, as well as on recent theories of creativity. We will explore this topic from a practical, psychological, and philosophical point of view. In investigating individual characteristics of creativity, we will focus on creativity as an ongoing, multidimensional activity. 

    We will also investigate the history of the specific visual language each of us has chosen to engage in. This “influence” component includes looking at the work of other contemporary practitioners. We will focus on two artists (and an architect) to begin with, in order to lay a foundation for our approach: the painters Neo Rauch and Beatriz Milhazes (and the architect
    Jean Nouvel.) These three artists are in different ways addressing contemporary issues. The goal for this investigation is not only to sharpen attention and critical analysis, but to build vocabulary and framework for the exploration of our own work. 

History of Art
  

  • HART100 Introduction to Western Art 3 cr.

    This course is a condensed and comprehensive introduction to the history of Western art from prehistorical times to the twenty-first century. The basic purpose of the course is three-fold: to examine a selection of the most significant monuments of creative endeavor which constitute the canon of Western art; to contextualize succinctly, with historical references and coetaneous examples in other media (especially literature), those monuments; and, finally, to engage students in the ongoing discourse which determines and revises the canon and the ways in which we see and interpret works of art.

    Lecture/Seminar

    All College Required
    Fall
  

  • HART101 Intro to the History of Art 3

    Introduction to the History of Art is a wide-ranging, multi-vocal introduction to the fundamentals of Art History and to many of the major moments, movements, artists, and works in the history of global art. Mindful of, but by no means limited by, traditional chronological and geographical approaches to the examination of artistic creation in history, the processes of confronting, describing, contextualizing, and interpreting major monuments of art in every medium will be foregrounded in a series of lectures driven above all by the motivation to engage students in the active and essential dialogue between all artists and the history, or histories, of what they do. With no claims to comprehensiveness, students and faculty will be free to examine key artifacts and case studies in a variety of visual media, including painting, sculpture, architecture, textiles and metal work, printmaking and photography and film, etc. Experts from many areas in the History of Art (Ancient Mesopotamia, African and African Diaspora, South America, the Arts of Asia, Design, Medieval and post-Medieval European Art, Modernism, etc.) will present concise introductions to historically significant works of global art and to the questions that naturally arise from them-questions they have posed throughout history, and continue to pose to us in our own time.

    Lecture

    Fall
  

  • HART206 Art & Revolution 3 cr.

    Exploration of the cultural and artistic responses to the major modern, social and,
    political revolutions between the end of the 18thand 20th centuries. The focus is on rarely
     covered artistic responses to political, social,and religious revolutions of the 20th century.
     Historical, political, philosophical currents and their impact on painting, sculpture, and
    architecture are analyzed. Using a cross-cultural and interdisciplinary approach, the visual arts
    are viewed in the context of their relationships to political, social, and religious events of
    their representative time periods.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture/Seminar

    All College Elective
  

  • HART207 Ancient Greek Art 3 cr.

    Glory of Ancient Greece: Gods, Politics, and Art will survey the private and public art and architecture produced in Greece and its colonies in the east and west. Emphasis will be placed on the interrelationships among art, mythology, religion, athletics, and history. The class will first discuss the early periods before the people known as Greeks and continue with the formation of the Greek city-state and the rise of Athens as a cultural center of the Greek world in the mid-fifth century B.C.E. Students will then address the spread of Hellenism under Alexander the Great, and conclude with the Late Hellenistic Period shortly after Roman domination of the Mediterranean world.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture/Seminar

  

  • HART208 Ancient Roman Art: Politics, Propaganda, and the Decadence of Rome 3 cr.

    By the beginning of the third century CE, Rome’s dominance reached to England in the north, Africa in the south, and Russia and Iraq in the east. By the late third century CE, however, the Roman Empire became unstable. How was one city able to amass such a vast territory in a relatively short period of time? What were the long-lasting effects of Rome’s attempt at world domination? To help answer these questions and others, students will explore the numerous advancements made in architecture, engineering, and art during the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. Students will also become familiar with various forms of entertainment and literature that address the social, political, and religious makeup of the Roman world.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture/Seminar

  

  • HART209 Early Christian and Byzantine Art 3 cr.

    This course will examine the visual arts of early Christianity from its roots until the fall of the Roman Empire in the Latin west in the fifth century, and will continue with an examination of the visual arts of the Roman Empire in the Greek east until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Topics to be considered will range from whether the image of Christ might be rooted in that of Zeus or of the Roman Emperor to the role and function of icons; from iconoclasm to the art of monumental mosaics; and from cross-cultural interactions between Christian, Jewish and Islamic visual cultures to the role of visual culture in marking the development of a variety of Christian identities.

    Prerequisites: Freshman Seminar

    Lecture/Seminar

    All College Elective
  

  • HART210 Early Medieval Art 3 cr.

    A survey of art produced in early Medieval Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa, focusing on the interaction among the diverse cultural traditions of classical Rome, Byzantium, and Northern Europe from the decline of the Roman Empire through the Christianization of Europe, the advent of Islam, and the establishment of the Holy Roman Empire under Charlemagne. Emphasis will be on wall painting, manuscript illumination, stone sculpture, and portable metalwork objects.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture/Seminar

    All College Elective
  

  • HART212 Medieval Castles and Cathedrals 3 cr.

    A survey of major monuments of European architecture from the Early Christian era through the Gothic style, including both religious and secular buildings. Elements of structure, and design sources and processes, will be considered alongside the function and reception of different buildings and building types. The class will also explore the place of architecture in urban and rural settings, the importance of pilgrimage and Crusading for the transmission of ideas, and the translation of monastic ideals into buildings.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture/Seminar

    All College Elective
  

  • HART222 Artistic Personality in the Renaissance I: The Early Renaissance 3 cr.

    Students undertake an investigation of Italian
    art in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
    Students will concentrate onthose artists whose
    works signal the transition from the Early to the
    High Renaissance, a brief period when Western
    culture finds a spectacular climax in the
    artistic productions of Florence, Rome and
    Venice, and when such work comes to be known,
    imported, emulated and revered throughout Western
    Europe and beyond. Primary sources, and above all
    the artistic biographies of Giorgio Vasari, will
    be complemented by modern and contemporary
    scholastic commentaries. Artists include Giotto,
    Duccio, Masaccio, Brunelleschi,
    Alberti, Donatello.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture/Seminar

    All College Elective
  

  • HART223 Italian Renaissance Art 3 cr.

    Students undertake a detailed examination of the High Renaissance, the supreme moment of artistic achievement in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Primary sources, and above all the artistic biographies of Giorgio Vasari, will be complemented by modern and contemporary scholastic commentaries. Artists include Botticelli, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Bramante, Raphael, the Bellini, Giorgione, Titian. (Please note: It is NOT necessary for students to have taken HART 222 in order to take this course.) [Formerly titled Art.Person Ii/High Ren.]

    Prerequisites: 3 Credits from HART 100 level.

    Lecture/Seminar

    All College Elective
  

  • HART226 Northern Renaissance Art 3 cr.

    This course explores the art of the Netherlands, France, England, Bohemia, and Germany between about 1350 and 1560, focusing on the development of panel painting and portraiture, and on changes in subject matter, patronage, and the artist’s practice related to the Protestant Reformation. Modern debates about interpretation and the revelations of recent technical analyses will be brought to bear on the works of Claus Sluter, Jan Van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden, Petrus Christus, Hieronymous Bosch, Pieter Brughel, Albrecht Durer, Hans Holbein, and others.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture/Seminar

    All College Elective
  

  • HART227 An Introduction to Historic Preservation 3cr

    Often misunderstood and occasionally maligned, historic preservation is an increasingly important profession in the United States and abroad. Encompassing an array of disciplines-from architectural history to conservation, museum work to planning-historic preservation is, broadly speaking, devoted to the preservation and/or management of the built/human-shaped environment. The professionalization of the field in the United States occurred largely in response to cultural shifts and major government initiatives like urban renewal in the decades following the Second World War, a result of a growing awareness among citizens, institutions, and governments that as our society grows and changes, consideration should be made for impacts of those changes on historic resources. The course begins with a survey of American architectural history for background/context, then introduces students to the history of the field with a focus on core issues and philosophies, followed by an introduction to preservation planning, including a look at some of the work preservation professionals undertake. The final few classes look at preservation internationally and consider some of the possible directions the field is heading.

     

    Prerequisites: HART-100

    Fall and Spring
  

  • HART240 Art and Archeology of Ancient Mesoamerica 3 cr.

    Students explore the arts and cultures of the Aztec, Maya and other ancient civilizations of Mexico and Guatemala from 3000 B.C. to the Spanish Conquest of 1521. Special emphasis is given to the formation of religious ideologies and to the processes of urbanization and state development and decline. The legacy of ancient Mesoamerica in modern and contemporary art and culture in the Americas also will be addressed.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture/Seminar

    All College Elective
  

  • HART243 Art of the African Diaspora 3cr

    This course introduces students to art of the African diaspora, defined here as transnational networks of forced and chosen dispersal of people of African descent. By definition, diaspora rejects the category of the nation-state and accompanying nationalisms. Instead, we take mobility, migration, and flux across borders as a starting point for understanding the creativity of African-descended peoples. We will explore how art/aesthetics stemming from primarily West and Central Africa shifted into new forms of resistance, survival, collective memory, improvisation, and reinvention under slavery, colonialism, and white supremacy. The “global” in the title emphasizes the reach of the African diaspora beyond the Atlantic World (the primary space of diasporic displacement). We look at the U.S., Caribbean, Brazil, Europe, Japan, and the Philippines, and also explore Africa itself as part of the diaspora. Art under consideration includes craft and decorative arts (ceramics, wood carving, quiltmaking); objects of spiritual and ancestral ritual; performance; painting and sculpture inside and outside of white institutions; installation, collage, assemblage, and mixed-media work.

    Prerequisites: 3 credits from 100 level HART

    Lecture

    Fall
  

  • HART252 Survey of Japanese Art 3 cr.

    Japanese culture has been taking and transforming diverse cultural elements from various traditions into its own. The unique art of Japan continues to inspire modern artists. This class is designed as a basic introduction to Japanese art from antiquity to the modern era. It is a chronologically organized survey of the canon of Japanese art, including ceramics, architecture, sculpture, painting, woodblock prints, and religious art. We will analyze the works of art and place the art in historical and social context. We examine how this unique tradition develops and changes through the ages and how this tradition interacts with other traditions of art.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture/Seminar

    All College Elective
  

  • HART270 Modernism in European Visual Culture, 1886-1936 3 cr.

    This surveys major movements and theories of modernism in the European visual arts from the end of the nineteenth century to the 1930s.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture/Seminar

    All College Elective
  

  • HART273 American Architecture 3 cr.

    This course explores the history of American architecture and city planning from the colonial period to the present. We will study major works of architecture and urban design as well as the history of urban development.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture/Seminar

    All College Elective
  

  • HART274 Early American Art 3 cr.

    This course will focus on art and architecture in colonial and early America beginning with Native American Art up to the early nineteenth century, including artists such as John Singleton Copley, Joshua Johnston, Charles Willson Peale, Rembrandt Peale, Paul Revere, Gilbert Stuart John Trumbull, John Vanderlyn. The course will examine American art, architecture, decorative arts and visual culture from the period c. 1600 to c. 1825 from a variety of perspectives. This course will have at its center the question of how we read/should read works of art, and thus the varied course readings will range from traditional to more recent and even controversial methodological frameworks.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture/Seminar

  

  • HART280 Art Since 1945 3 cr.

    In this course we analyze several individual practices and group movements from 1945 to the present. Instead of adhering to the distilled
    summaries of a textbook, we engage art of this\ period at less of a remove. Students come to comprehend the difficulty and subjectivity
    involved in formulating a history of art by struggling to grasp one viewpoint, and then by considering similarities, differences, and distinctions of degree between it and other viewpoints. Through this firsthand experience, students weave together an understanding of art
    history that acknowledges the true variety and complexity of art at any given moment in the second half of the twentieth century and the
    first decades of the twenty-first.

    Lecture/Seminar

    All College Elective
  

  • HART281 Art After Modernism 3cr

    “Modernism” comprises images, objects, acts,
    performances, and so on that derive from an
    artist’s experimentation with the inherent
    properties of a given medium. Art after modernism
    (sometimes called “postmodern”) tends to expand
    upon the technical, material, and
    intellectual foundations of modernism while also
    investigating identity and personal narrative;
    political ambiguity and complicity;
    institutional critique; the imagery of commerce;
    and mechanisms of the artworld and other
    phenomena from culture at large. This development
    amounts to both an extension and a rejection of
    modernist principles, and we will aim to
    understand this complexity in recent art.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Spring
  

  • HART283 Russian Modernism 3 cr.

    A survey of modern art and architecture in Russia from the beginning of the twentieth century. The course will explore issues of national identity and cultural autonomy that informed the emergence of modernism; the postcolonial relationship to European art; the tension between nationalism and internationalism, and how the experiences of exile and diaspora affect these feelings and the artistic expressions thereof; how artists respond to forces such as imperialism, authoritarianism, and revolution; and how globalizing and transnational social, economic and political processes call into question the notion of Russian art. (Formerly “Twentieth Century Russian Art”)

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture

    Fall and Spring
  

  • HART284 Moving Pictures: Visual Language of Narrative Cinema: Techniques and Traditions 3 cr.

    Concentrating on the visual language of film, this course will consider the pictorial traditions upon which the new medium draws, and out of which, to some extent, it can be said to grow. We will compare the composition of the standard modules of cinema, the shot and the scene, with precedents drawn from Western art history, from Greek vase paintings to Renaissance fresco cycles and nineteenth-century English narrative pictures. We will simultaneously consider what is unique to the new medium. Weekly examinations of film clips in order to illustrate traditional and non-traditional visual techniques of cinematic narrative will be complemented by wide-ranging readings and regular viewing and reviewing of full-length films. Following a brief history of the medium before the Second World War, we will identify and examine many of the traditional ways in which cinematic artists compose their visual narratives. We will then undertake an in-depth study of some of the major works of cinema since 1945, including films by Rossellini, Bresson, Hitchcock, the French New Wave directors and those of Das Neue Kino in Germany, and the American Independents.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture/Seminar

    All College Elective
  

  • HART285 History of Photography 3 cr.

    An introduction to the history of photography from the inventions of Daguerre and Fox Talbot to the twentieth century masters. The course addresses problems and issues arising from the different techniques of, and the interrelationships between, art, photography, science, and society.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture/Seminar

    All College Elective
  

  • HART286 Modern Architecture 3 cr.

    An investigation of the designed and built environment, from the end of the nineteenth century to the present day. This course examines the influence of technology, aesthetics, politics, social history and economics on modern architecture and urban planning, including the Chicago School, Art Nouveau, international modernism of the 1920s to the 1960s, Post-Modernism, Deconstructivism and worldwide contemporary theory and practice.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture/Seminar

    All College Elective
  

  • HART289 History of Sound Art

    What is Sound Art? Imagine mind-bending sound
    pieces using nothing but the echo of a space,
    vegetable instruments that turn into soup, a
    “Sound Chair” that propels you through the room,
    and meditations that reveal sounds in daily life
    that you never dreamed were there. The course
    will
    provide a solid knowledge of sound history and
    basic acoustic principals, and examine works by
    artists who have blurred traditional boundaries
    between music and other disciplines such as
    science, design, visual arts and philosophy. This
    is an ideal course for artists engaged in
    multi-media work that includes sound (i.e.,
    video, film, animation, installation, performance art,
    circuit-bending) and people interested in
    experimental music of any genre. No previous
    experience with sound or music needed.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture

    Spring
  

  • HART294 Fashion History I 3cr

    This survey course will introduce students to
    fashions from the 18th through the early 21st
    centuries. It will address the phenomenon of
    increasingly changing styles, and connect fashion
    with concurrent art movements and social
    developments. Students will make frequent visits
    to the Museum of Fine Arts to examine historic
    garments and contextual art works, developing
    critical “seeing” and thinking. In-class
    discussions will explore fashion from multiple
    perspectives, taking into account issues of
    ethnicity, class, and gender. By the end of the
    course, students will be able to identify
    stylistic developments over three centuries, and
    understand fashion as an art form.

     

    Important themes to be covered:

    - Influences of contemporary art and design
    movements

    - Impact of politics and society on fashion

    - Emergence of the haute couture fashion system
    in Paris

    - Development of the primacy of the
    couturier/designer

    - Impact of technological advances and
    development of ready-to-wear

    - Democratization of fashion in the late 20c.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture

    Fall and Spring
  

  • HART295 Contemporary Design History 3cr

    This course approaches design as a tactile and material encounter where social, cultural,
    economic, political, technological and aesthetic forces converge. Our job will be to identify where
    and when coffee cups and forks, lp and cd covers, bicycles and automobiles, lighting and seating,
    screensavers and shopping bags-things usually considered within the scope of “material
    culture”-are culturally loaded. When looking at “classic” epicenters of innovation such as the
    Eames Office, creative consumption such as DIY production, and the global flow of materials and
    products, our concern will be design in an international contemporary context. (Formerly titled Design History)

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture

  

  • HART296 Modern + Contemporary Latin American Art 3cr

    This is an introductory course to the art and visual culture of Latin America from the
    pre-conquest era to the present. After a survey of pre-conquest cultures, our focus shifts to
    Spanish and Portuguese colonial art, then to art of the independence era in the first half of the
    nineteenth century, the rise of modernism across Latin America in the 1920s, and finally,
    contemporary Latin American and Latino American art, including Chicano American art.
    [Formerly titled Latin American Art]

    Prerequisites: HART-100

    Lecture

    Fall
  

  • HART297 Roots of Design History 3cr

    This course examines the history of designed
    objects, largely furnishings, inclusive of
    industrial design and graphic design, handicraft
    and automation. The industrial revolution changed
    the domestic sphere as much as the conditions of
    labor. The increase in mass- produced and
    accessible goods (and in ownership) is often
    referred to in shorthand as ‘democratization’ and
    as a characteristic component of the American
    experience. IKEA and Philippe Starck employ the
    phrase ‘democratic design’ and DIY practitioners
    use it to stake out their independence from
    corporations. Can we also use this perspective to
    evaluate the proliferation of such things as
    newspapers, clocks, mantelpiece statuary, chairs,
    ice cream bowls and sardine forks between 1650
    and 1920? (Formerly American Design, 1650- 1920), (Roots/Design History 1650-1920 3cr)

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture

  

  • HART300 Art of Ancient Iraq 3 cr

    The arts of the ancient Sumerian, Babylonian, and Assyrian cultures of Mesopotamia (Iraq) from the
    eighth millennium BC through the fall of the Babylonian Empire in 539 BC. Emphasis is on the
    interpretation of art objects as evidence for such historical, social, and cultural developments as
    urbanism, social stratification, the institutionalization of religion, imperialism, and
    international commerce.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Fall Only
  

  • HART301 Art of Ancient Egypt 3 cr.

    Survey of the visual culture of ancient Egypt from the Predynastic period (ca. 5000 B.C.) until the end of the New Kingdom (ca. 1000 B.C.). Emphasis is on major examples of architecture, sculpture, and painting viewed in their historical, political, social, economic, and religious contexts. The class looks at the methods and goals of archaeological work in Egypt and how these have shaped contemporary views of the ancient culture.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture/Seminar

    All College Elective
  

  • HART306 Art and Symbolism in Rituals And Festivals 3cr

    Dramatic rituals, ceremonies, and celebrations

    are pervasive in social life, but what are they

    doing and what do they mean?  This course

    explores how such cultural enactments use art and

    artifacts to present and structure people’s

    perceptions of reality. We will consider how the

    symbolic behavior of rituals and festivals

    contributes to the individual and collective

    negotiation and enactment of ethnic, gender,

    religious, and national identities.  On one hand,

    we will look at how art in ritualized

    performances function to articulate, maintain,

    and legitimize particular cultural institutions,

    world views, and ideals about consensus and

    order.  At the same time, we will also analyze

    customary rites and festivals as arenas where

    authority and resistance, memories and counter

    memories sometimes collide in controversy and

    contestation.  We will draw on analytic

    perspectives from psychology, religious studies,

    anthropology, sociology, history, art history,

    and folkloristics to examine the artistic

    aesthetic expression in a range of religious and

    secular rituals and celebrations including rites

    of passage, seasonal festivals, national

    holidays, and public protests.  Issues of

    cultural representation and preservation,

    cultural appropriation and commodification, and

    cultural tourism will also be considered,

    particularly in regard to how they relate to the

    tensions that emerge when traditional cultural

    practices come into contact with modernity and

    commercialized cultural industries. We will

    consider such topics as masking and mumming

    traditions in Ireland, Japan, and the Caribbean;

    the sacred art of Haitian Vodou, Mardi Gras

    Indians in New Orleans, the Italian-American

    Giglio festival, Day of the Dead celebrations in

    Mexico and the U.S., spontaneous memorials

    related to 9/11, and protest art used in various

    demonstrations.

    Prerequisites: HART-100

    Lecture

    Spring
  

  • HART311 Materials and Methods in Medieval Art 3 cr.

    This course will examine the broad range of materials used to create works of art during the Middle Ages, the techniques used and the thinking that underpinned medieval ideas about artists, art works and the process of artistic creation. Attention will be given to a variety of artistic media produced during the Middle Ages from monumental architecture, stone sculpture and wall painting, to manuscript illumination, textiles and metal work.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture/Seminar

  

  • HART312 Curating Cultural Identities 3cr

    Think like a curator! Investigating art/artifacts for cultural significance and capacity for self-fashioning, students will discuss art/artifacts in person and design virtual exhibitions. If a contemporary Bostonian makes a ‘yunomi’ for a tea ceremony or if IKEA mass-produces a Totem-pole Tiki cup, what are the possibilities for interpretation and strategies of display? [Formerly titled Ceramics As Cultural Identity]

    Prerequisites: HART 100 and any 200 or 300 level HART course

    Seminar

  

  • HART314 Climate Change in Contemporary Art 3cr

    In this class you will study contemporary artists working with the new conditions of social and cultural experience caused by climate change. We begin with readings by a historian and writer to learn about the implications of climate change for long standing ideas of man’s relation to nature. Following these readings are art historical interpretations of contemporary eco-artists in relation to precedents in land art, performance, activist art, and photography. The concluding readings of the course explore new ways of thinking about human relations to non-human animals and materials. Visiting lectures by an art historian and an artist will be opportunities to ask questions about their ideas and practices. We will take a field trip to a sound art project at the Arnold Arboretum to experience this site, and reflect upon how an artist and botanist worked collaboratively to produce it. One aim for this class is for you to use the research you do for this course, particularly for your paper, to develop a resource for the MassArt community on climate change issues in contemporary art and design: we will work as a group to set up a web site and/or a print publication.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture

    Fall
  

  • HART325 Palaces,Pavilions and Gardens 3cr.

    Much of Islamic art is inspired by ideas of paradise. This course will explore the image of paradise and its models in Islamic arts from the 8th through 18th centuries. Islamic palace and garden complexes such as the Alhambra, the Taj Mahal, Topkapi, and others will be examined, as well as paradisical themes in Islamic portable arts, color theory, and abstract geometries. The historical origins of Muslim paradise iconography will be investigated, including the role of Qur’anic and other early Islamic texts, and the ancient garden traditions of Persia, Rome, and Byzantium.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Undergraduate Elective
    Spring
  

  • HART337 Folk Art,Folk Craft 3cr

    This course introduces major analytic approaches and issues in the study of traditional expressive
    behavior that employs artifacts. The class explores how cultural groups use material
    expression to articulate worldview, values, and social relations, and considers such diverse
    forms of folk art as the scrimshaw carved by whalers, gravestones in Colonial New England,
    Hmong storycloths, Hopi Katsina, graffiti around the world, and Samoan tattooing.

    Prerequisites: HART-100

    Lecture

    Fall and Spring
  

  • HART340 Maya Art and Archaeology 3 cr.

    An intensive study of the ancient Maya of Mexico and Guatemala, creators of magnificent sculpture, architecture, painting and ceramics. Students will examine the origins of the Maya, their calendars, writing and artistic traditions, trace the history of the major Maya cities and investigate the decline of Classic Maya art and civilization. The course concludes with the study of modern Maya culture and political issues.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture/Seminar

    All College Elective
  

  • HART346 Australian Art 3 cr.

    This course will examine aspects of visual art and architecture produced on the Australian continent before, during and after the colonial era. In addition to questions of style, meaning and technique, attention will be placed on the question of identity: what do terms such as Australian, Aboriginal, western, non-western mean in the context of contemporary Australia, its history and artistic culture.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture/Seminar

  

  • HART347 Renaissance Splendor: Art & Architecture of Venice and the Veneto 3 cr

    An on-site, comprehensive examination of the painting, sculpture and architecture produced during the Golden Age of Venice, the Veneto and southern Lombardy, 1200-1800. There will be a classroom component at MassArt, in which students will discuss relevant art historical texts and learn conversational Italian. Beginning with a week-long stay in the great city itself, we will study the evolution of Venetian culture from its origins as an outpost of the Byzantine Empire to its rise as the greatest and most enduring republic the world has ever known, as well as one of the richest and most magnetic artistic centers in Europe. After seven days in Venice, we will leave for Mantua, stopping first in the foothills of the Alps to view Palladio’s Villa Barbaro, and then at Padua to view the frescoes by Giotto in the Arena Chapel, which for many mark the beginning of the Renaissance. In Mantua we will study the architecture of Alberti, the frescoes by Mantegna in the Ducal Palace, and finally, the tour-de-force of Renaissance pleasure construction, Giulio Romano’s Palazzo Te. SEE TRAVEL COURSE SECTION FOR OFFICIAL REGISTRATION PROCEDURES. TRAVEL TO ITALY REQUIRED.

    Prerequisites: HART100

  

  • HART355 Survey of Chinese Art 3 cr.

    The long tradition of Chinese art is an important part of human aesthetic experience and a part of the cultural heritage of every modern woman and man in the global family. This class is a chronologically organized survey of the canon of Chinese art, including ceramic, jade, bronze, sculpture, architecture, garden, furniture, calligraphy, painting, and religious art. This survey is meant to provide a historical perspective on the works of art in their historical and social context over the centuries in China and to introduce the students to a repertoire of usable methods of approach to art. The concept of “China” itself is culturally constructed. Students in this class will be asked to think and examine critically how the works of art under the label “Chinese”. constitute a special tradition and how this tradition develops, changes, and interacts with other traditions of art through the ages.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture/Seminar

    All College Elective
  

  • HART373 Architecture of Boston 3 cr.

    This course explores Boston’s architectural landscape from pre-Colonial times to the twenty-first century. We identify the local geographical, industrial, cultural, social, and economic factors that uniquely shaped Boston’s development, and will situate the city’s growth within the context of larger national trends. Topics include individual neighborhoods, local styles and revivals, as well as individual architects that shaped the city, from Charles Bulfinch, H.H. Richardson, and Frederick Law
    Olmsted to Anne Spirn, Don Stull, and Meejin Yoon. Walking tours and on-site drawings sessions complement classroom learning.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture/Seminar

  

  • HART375 Landscape: Space and Place in Art 1600-2000 3 cr.

    Focusing on how artists have engaged with their environment from the eighteenth century through the twentieth, this class will subject the subject matter of landscape to close scrutiny. This class will look at parallel developments in Europe and America, and will consider how various stylistic movements in eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth century painting, as well as photography, graphic arts and even sculpture have reacted to the significance of space and place, and humankind’s impact on the land. Through regular reading assignments, student presentations and research projects, students will track their own relationship to the land, the city and the environment in which we live.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture/Seminar

    All College Elective
  

  • HART400 Directed Study in Art History 3 cr.

    Directed Study is designed to provide students with the opportunity to pursue an independent art area. Typically, the end result of this project would be a research paper of 30 plus pages, or the equivalent, as agreed upon by the faculty member supervising the project. A Directed Study is a 3-credit course. Because of their advanced nature, Directed Studies courses are open only to seniors, and are limited to one per semester. No more than two Directed Studies may be counted toward degree requirements. You must fill out and return a Directed Study form with a complete description of the project including a bibliography, and a description of the final project. You must also register for the Directed Study.

    Prerequisites: By Permission of Instructor

    Fall/Spring
  

  • HART403 Archaeological Theory and Practice 3 cr.

    An introduction to applied archaeology as a preparation for participation in an archeological excavation. Investigation of archeological theory including history, purposes, goals, and ethics of excavation.

    Prerequisites: HART100 and any 200 or 300 level HART course

    Lecture/Seminar

    All College Elective
  

  • HART404 Protection of Cultural Heritage 3 cr.

    Examination of the forces that threaten the world’s shared artistic, architectural, and archaeological heritage, and discussion of the practical and theoretical responses to deal with these threats. Class readings and discussion will focus on threats from looting, collecting, museums, and armed conflict. For Art History majors only.

    Prerequisites: HART100 and any 200 or 300 level HART course

    Departmental Elective
  

  • HART407 Curatorship and Art Historiography 3cr

    The expertise in the fields of art, history of

    art, archaeology, anthropology, science, and/or

    classics enable curators to perform their

    broad-ranging, multifaceted jobs as

    specialists/scholars, conservators & managers &

    archivists of material & digital museum

    collections, monitors of archeological work &

    contract, connoisseurs of artworks and cultural

    products, interpreters of cultural (& natural)

    heritage, producers and designers of actual &

    virtual exhibitions, organizers of symposia,

    authors / editors / publishers of scholarly and

    popular catalogs / books / websites, and

    ambassadors of cultures. Some even regard

    curating as a medium of artistic practice. Very

    often, curators’ work is interactively engaging

    and entangled with the important sociopolitical,

    and ethical & legal issues of our society,

    inviting experts and the public with different

    perspectives to participate the dynamic culture

    of curating and to scrutinize, debate, and

    reflect on our views, actions, and policies. The

    roles of curators evolve alongside the evolving

    scholarship, the changing technology, and the

    roles of museums. This seminar is to discuss the

    interrelationships between curatorship and art

    historiography.

    Prerequisites: HART 100 and any 200 or 300 level HART course.

    Seminar

    Instructor’s Discretion
  

  • HART409 Intro to Art Conservation 3cr

    This course will provide an introduction to the field of art conservation and the preservation of cultural heritage.  Students will gain an understanding of the principles and ethics of conservation as well as preventive conservation and the proper handling of artifacts.  Lecture topics will include materials and methods of manufacture, deterioration processes, treatments and the role of science and analytical techniques in conservation.  Case studies will be used to illustrate these topics where possible.  The instructor will draw upon the rich network of local colleagues and labs for guest speakers and site visits.  Students will produce an examination and condition report on an assigned object and present their work in an oral presentation at the end of the semester.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture

    Fall and Spring
  

  • HART440 Seminar: When Worlds Collide: Aztecs at the Conquest and Beyond 3 cr.

    The 1521 Spanish conquest of the Aztec of Mexico forged a new world from a monumental collision of religions, philosophies and visual cultures. Through critical reading, research and oral and written presentation of 10-12 page papers, students in this seminar explore the power and paradoxes of Aztec civilization before and in the wake of conquest through examination of Aztec art and documentary sources including pictorial manuscripts and codices, sculpture, painting and architecture. Students also analyze first-hand accounts, memoirs and philosophical treatises recording Spanish conquistadors’ and clergies’ ambivalent responses to Aztec culture, to its sophistication and to its seeming barbarity. The influence of Aztec art on modernism in Mexico, North America and Europe also will be a focus of student discussion and research.

    Prerequisites: HART100 and any 200 or 300 level HART course; Art of Mesoamerica and/or Maya Art &Architecture (recommended, not required)

    Lecture/Seminar

    All College Elective
  

  • HART490 The Methodologies of the History of Art 3 cr.

    This seminar explores the different ways of seeing, thinking, and writing about art and the history of art. Topics include: art historical narratives, history of form and style, iconology, psychology and art, biography and autobiography of artists, sociopolitical histories of art, gendered histories of art, semiotics— structuralism and deconstruction, post-colonialism, and museology. Students are exposed to the problems of why art changes over time, the hermeneutic challenge to interpret the meaning of arts of various cultures, and how art historians’ own perspectives shape the narratives of the history of art.

    Prerequisites: HART100 and any 200 or 300 level HART course

    Lecture/Seminar

    All College Elective