Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

An introduction to the visual arts of the nineteenth century. Formal and thematic approaches to the arts will be introduced, with attention to the social, institutional, national, and international contexts of art. Breadth-Humanities.

COURSE DETAILS:

This course provides an introduction to the complex ways in which social and political change, and ideologies of gender, class, race and ethnicity, worked to shape aspects of 19th century visual culture in Europe and North America. Emphasis will be placed on the roles played by industrialization, political revolution, rapid urban growth, global commerce, and the new media technologies of an expanding consumer culture in defining a wide range of visual culture. Throughout the term we will also examine different representations and debates around the idea of modernity and the “modern.” Since the time period under investigation has often been called “The First Modern Century”, we will pay particular attention to shifting ideas related to labour and leisure, urban social space and spectacle, and issues bearing on Euro-American expansion of empires in relation to indigenous populations, throughout the 19th century to turn of the twentieth century up to WWI. 

Importantly, this class is not intended to be all-inclusive in which each and every monument contributing to the “canon” of Western art is studied. Therefore, we will also consider the constructed nature of the discipline of art history in order to trouble assumptions, both historical and contemporary, regarding the nature of art, its relation to different social and political institutions, and issues of patronage and viewing publics. Furthermore, through an introduction to critical and historical methods, students will develop the basic tools and terminology for analyzing visual culture, a skill set of crucial importance in understanding the barrage of images and technological stimulus at play in our postmodern world.

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING: