Mar 29, 2024  
Academic Catalog 2017-2018 
    
Academic Catalog 2017-2018 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Courses


 

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significant monuments of creative endeavor which constitute the canon of Western art; to contextualize succinctly, with historical references and coetaneous examples in other media (especially literature), those monuments; and, finally, to engage students in the ongoing discourse which determines and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
    Culturally Diverse Content
    All College Required
    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
    Culturally Diverse Content
    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
    Culturally Diverse Content
  
  • 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
    Culturally Diverse Content
  
  • 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
    Culturally Diverse Content
    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
    Culturally Diverse Content
    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
    Culturally Diverse Content
    All College Elective
  
  • HART223 Artistic Personality in the Renaissance II: High Renaissance 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.)

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture/Seminar
    Culturally Diverse Content
    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
    Culturally Diverse Content
    All College Elective
  
  • HART231 American Art and Visual Culture, 1600 to the present 3 cr.


    A survey of American painting, architecture, sculpture, prints and photography from 1600 to the present, covering a wide range of movements including Early American Art, Native American Art, Civil War era photography, Gilded Age painting and architecture, the Ashcan School, Early American Modernism, Regionalism, Surrealism, and Abstract Expressionism. The course will include visits to local museums and institutions that house some of the finest collections of American art in the country, including the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Fogg Museum. We will examine style, technique, and iconography in their historical and cultural contexts, considering the political, social, and intellectual climates articulated in the arts, including systems of patronage and public reception.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture/Seminar
    All College Elective
  
  • 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
    Culturally Diverse Content
    All College Elective
  
  • 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
    Culturally Diverse Content
    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
    Culturally Diverse Content
    All College Elective
  
  • HART273 American Architecture: From Thomas Jefferson to Frank Gehry 3 cr.


    This course will trace the evolution of American architecture from the country’s earliest days to recent years. It will explore how national identity, landscape, and history have factored into the creation of a uniquely American architectural dialogue. The course will engage primary source texts and local sites to illustrate the nuances of important themes.

    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.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture/Seminar
    Culturally Diverse Content
    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
    Culturally Diverse Content
    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
    Culturally Diverse Content
    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
    Culturally Diverse Content
    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
    Culturally Diverse Content
    All College Elective
  
  • HART287 Survey of Video Art, 1968-Present 3 cr.


    In this course we trace the new answers and new questions formulated by selected video artists over the last forty years. Throughout the semester, we study these two trajectories thematically. Artists’ investigations of video-imaging tools, signal processing, recorders, magnetic tape, and cathode-ray tube screens may continue in surprising ways the modernist tradition of a medium’s self-reflexivity (and so offer new answers to existing questions). Alternatively, experimentation with audience behavior, criticism of broadcast television, and women’s use of video as a medium untainted by patriarchy amount to fresh areas of exploration (so, new questions). Students watch two hours of video each week in preparation for classroom discussion. In addition to viewing the works themselves, students analyze several kinds of written accounts-by artists, by art critics, and by art historians-surrounding video art practices from 1968 to the present.

    Lecture/Seminar
    Culturally Diverse Content
    All College Elective
  
  • HART295 Design History 3 cr.


    This course will provide an overview of one hundred and sixty years of American and European decorative arts and design theory, beginning with the English Aesthetic Reform movement, covering Le Corbusier’s modernist coat of whitewash and the international style, and ending with contemporary designers and thinkers. The class will analyze furniture, ceramics, silver, architecture, clothing, and textiles using the design theories of such seminal figures as John Ruskin, William Morris, Owen Jones, Henri Van de Velde, Walter Gropius, Adolf Loos, and Le Corbusier. The time frame will encompass the nineteenth century historicist revivals, the Arts and Crafts movement, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, “purist” functionality, and the “modern.” Other themes that will be addressed are the art/craft divide, the origins of the unified interior, the dissemination of design theory to the broader public via the world’s fairs and the department store, and the attempt to develop “national” styles.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture/Seminar
    Culturally Diverse Content
    All College Elective
  
  • HART297 Roots of Design History, 1650-1920 3 cr.


    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)

     

    Prerequisites: HART100

    All College Elective
    Spring
  
  • 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

    Sustainabilty Content
    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
    Culturally Diverse and Sustainabilty Content
    All College Elective
  
  • HART305 The Body Politic in American Art to 1876 3cr


    This course examines how representations in art
    and visual culture were tools with which
    individuals learned to think of themselves as
    American, from the Colonial era to the late 19th
    century.Considering how class, race, gender, and
    models of physical health and fitness were
    rendered visible to widely-dispersed viewers, we
    attend to the ‘body’ in the body politic. We
    examine how the self, both externalized and
    internalized,  was understood as essential to
    American identity, and mapped onto emerging
    concepts of a democratic society. Throughout the
    class, we will question what it means to be
    ‘American,’ and consider the ways in which issues
    important in the development of 19thcentury art
    remain significant to artists today.

    Prerequisites: HART-100

    Lecture
    Spring
  
  • HART307 The Banjo As American Material Culture 3cr


    Might an understanding of this musical instrument
    expose the American psyche more fully than a
    gallery of paintings or book of laws? The
    Americanized African instrument remains a potent
    icon today and we will explore its varieties of
    mythic and material reincarnations,
    contextualizing it in historical studies of
    labor, race, class, gender, technology and
    musicology.

    Taken with Sculpture 3DS “The Banjo Project”
    -they are co-requisites

    Prerequisites: HART-100 Co-requisites: 3DTD-The Banjo Project

    Seminar
    Fall

  
  • 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
    Culturally Diverse Content
  
  • HART320 Villas and Gardens of the Italian Renaissance 3 cr.


    An investigation of the architecture of leisure in Renaissance Italy, from the early Humanist villas of the powerful Medici family to the farm-villa complexes designed by Palladio in the sixteenth century. Gardens and villas are considered in their role as purveyors of the economic, social and political power of the elite, and in relation to ancient literary and archeological sources and Renaissance design theory.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Lecture/Seminar
    Culturally Diverse Content
    All College Elective
  
  • 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

    Culturally Diverse
    Undergraduate Elective
    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
    Culturally Diverse Content
    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
    Culturally Diverse Content
  
  • 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
    Culturally Diverse Content
    All College Elective
  
  • HART373 Architecture of Boston 3 cr.


    This course will explore the evolution of Boston’s architectural landscape from colonial times to the mid-twentieth century. Challenging the common adage that “Boston’s streets were laid out by cows,” the course will identify the local geographical, industrial, and social factors that uniquely shaped Boston’s development, and will situate the city’s growth within the context of larger national trends. Topics will include individual neighborhoods, as well as celebrated architects like Charles Bulfinch, H.H. Richardson, and Ralph Adams Cram. Primary-source texts and local site visits will supplement in-class mastery of material.

    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
    Culturally Diverse and Sustainabilty Content
    All College Elective
  
  • HART376 American Landscape 3 cr


    In 19th and 20th century America, concepts of ‘nature’ and ‘culture’ were intimately bound
    together, an integral part of how national, social, and cultural identities were forged.
    Landscape was governed by a host of parallel discourses: images of American spaces evoked
    commercial, political, religious, personal, social and scientific meanings. This course
    tracks the origins and development of fundamental relationships between people, space, resources,
    and the organic world.  We seek evidence of how poets, writers, and philosophers have also
    approached American space, and look at how artists have demonstrated concerns with
    sustainability and ecology in the Anthropocene.

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Sustainabilty Content
    Fall Only
  
  • HART376 American Landscape 3cr.


    In 19th and 20th century America, concepts of ‘nature’ and ‘culture’ were intimately bound
    together, an integral part of how national, social, and cultural identities were forged.
    Landscape was governed by a host of parallel discourses: images of American spaces evoked
    commercial, political, religious, personal, social and scientific meanings. This course
    tracks the origins and development of fundamental relationships between people, space, resources,
    and the organic world.  We seek evidence of how poets, writers, and philosophers have also
    approached American space, and look at how artists have demonstrated concerns with
    sustainability and ecology in the Anthropocene.

    Prerequisites: HART-100

    Sustainabilty Content
    Fall Only
  
  • HART381 History of Experimental Film 3 cr.


    In this course we trace the physical, physiological, and psychological investigations
    of experimental filmmakers over the last seventy years. Studying these three trajectories-matter,
    body, and mind-reveals “film” to be a complex interplay between what Paul Sharits described in
    1969 as “celluloid, two-dimensional strips; individual rectangular frames; the nature of
    sprockets and emulsion; projector operations; the three-dimensional light beam; environmental
    illumination; the two-dimensional reflective screen surface; the retinal screen; optic nerve
    and individual psycho-physical subjectivities and consciousness.” Students watch at least two hours
    of experimental film each week in preparation for classroom discussion. In addition to viewing the
    films themselves, students analyze several kinds of written accounts-by artists, by critics, and
    by historians-surrounding experimental film practices from 1945 to the present

    Prerequisites: HART100

    Spring Only
  
  • HART390 Feminism and Art History 3cr


    The feminist movement of the 1960s and ‘70s
    raised questions for both artists and art
    historians about the absence of women in the
    canon of art history. Scholars and artists first
    set out to retrieve the stories of unsung
    heroines of the past, and to probe the nature of
    female creativity and artistic identity. These
    early efforts led to a deeper understanding of
    the effect of socially accepted gender roles on
    art production as well as reception. The
    development of feminist critical theory has
    changed the way we look at art history, not only
    from the perspective of gender identity, but also
    with an awareness of the ways that art reflects
    attitudes toward race, religion, and social
    status. This course will follow the trajectory of
    feminist art history and criticism as it has
    expanded from the first inquiries of the 1970s
    and enriched the stories we tell about art in the
    past and the present.

    Prerequisites: HART-100

    Lecture
    Fall
  
  • 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
    Culturally Diverse and Sustainabilty Content
    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
  
  • HART406 Tutankhamun Senior Seminar 3cr


    For many, the tomb of the 18th Dynasty pharaoh
    Tutankhamun is the most spectacular
    archaeological discovery of modern times.  With
    its inner coffin and burial mask of solid gold,
    and rich gold jewelry, it exemplifies for the
    public the rewards of archaeology, and new
    publications on Tut regularly feature the word
    “treasures” in their titles.  The significance of
    the tomb reaches far beyond the scrap value of
    its precious metals, however.  As the only
    Egyptian royal burial that has survived
    reasonably intact, it is a unique cultural
    document that will yield its “treasures” most
    completely if all of its contents are studied
    together.  Though the publication of the tomb is
    still far from complete, enough is available to
    enable us to reconstruct a general view of its
    contents.  The focus of the course will be on the
    documentary value of the tomb for our
    understanding of royal mortuary practice, the
    Egyptian perception of kingship, luxury craft
    production, regional interconnections, and the
    modern construction of ancient Egyptian culture.

    Prerequisites: HART-100

    Seminar
    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
    Culturally Diverse Content
    All College Elective
  
  • HART455 Cultural Crossings: China and Japan after 1840 3 cr.


    This seminar is a critical examination of the visual cultures created in China and Japan after the events of the Opium War and Matthew Perry encounters. The visual cultural crossing between the West and East and between China and Japan is an important part of the developing inter-civilizations in the global age.

    Prerequisites: HART100 and any 200 or 300 level HART course

    Lecture/Seminar
    Culturally Diverse Content
    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
    Culturally Diverse Content
    All College Elective