Mar 29, 2024  
Academic Catalog 2019-2020 
    
Academic Catalog 2019-2020 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

HART217 Printmaking Empires: Print Culture in The United States, the Americas, and the Caribbean 3cr


“Printmaking Empires: Print Culture in the United
States, the Americas, and the Caribbean
In the nineteenth century, an explosion of images
swept the Americas. Facilitated by advancements in
printmaking technologies, these images “conquered”
the hemisphere, often functioning to disseminate
colonial and imperialist ideologies that advanced
the ambitions of various political entities over
the course of the century. This class will
consider the various ways these images produced
meanings in the Americas, looking primarily to the
United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

 The nineteenth century was a volatile and
formative period, producing standards, tropes, and
ideas that continue to manifest in our own times.
In particular, the rise of powerful artistic
institutions combined with the emergence of mass
consumer culture produced a plethora of visual
imagery that documented every aspect of modern
life. A close consideration of these images can
potentially illuminate negative modes of
representation that persist in contemporary
discourses. By investigating common symbols,
icons, devices, and tropes of this period, I hope
that students will leave this class with improved
“visual literacy,” the ability to “read” images,
both historical and contemporary, in a critical
fashion. Additionally, working closely with the
Printmaking Department at the Massachusetts
College of Art and Design, students will become
conversant in the history of printmaking and
printmaking techniques. “

Prerequisites: HART100

Lecture

Fall