HISTORY OF ART COURSE LISTINGS

For the days and times that the following classes meet, please refer to the Schedule of Courses at: https://webapp.mis.vanderbilt.edu/more/SearchClasses!input.action

For more detailed information as to how these courses apply towards requirements for the History of Art major or minor, please refer to our departmental website:
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/historyart/ugrad_1.html

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SUMMER 2012--HISTORY OF ART COURSE OFFERINGS

FIRST SUMMER SESSION:

HART 111: History of Western Art, Renaissance to Modern Art (taught on campus).
This course is designed as an introductory survey of Western art history from the Renaissance to the Modern period, considering primarily painting, sculpture, and architecture. Please note that the chronological and thematic range of material covered will vary somewhat depending on the instructor. HART 111 is intended to provide a historical understanding of the major artistic movements within the Western visual tradition, and to encourage students to develop a literate and critical eye. Attention is given to works of specific artists, as well as cultural factors that affect the visual arts from production to reception. Please note that there are no prerequisites for this course. [3] Mode. (AXLE: HCA)

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FALL 2012 HISTORY OF ART COURSE OFFERINGS

HART 110: History of Western Art I, Ancient to Medieval Art.
History of Art 110 is designed as an introduction, through lectures and readings, to the extraordinary range of works of art produced in the first 30,000 years of Western civilization up to about 1400--from the Prehistoric through Ancient Near Eastern, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Medieval cultures. The first goal of this course is to enable students to apply the methods and vocabulary of art history in their thinking and writing, so that they will be able to analyze and compare the formal qualities of works of art; making comparisons and dealing with unknown works will help sharpen these analytical skills. The second will be to deepen our understanding of the works we study by reading selected primary sources contemporary with the works of art, to learn something of their social, religious, and cultural circumstances; exams and essays will offer a chance to discuss the works of art in context. Counts toward HART Major, Minor, and ARCH Minor. [3] Lee. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 111: History of Western Art II, Renaissance to Modern Art.
This course is designed as an introductory survey of Western art history from the Renaissance to the Modern period, considering primarily painting, sculpture, and architecture. Please note that the chronological and thematic range of material covered will vary somewhat depending on the instructor. HART 111 is intended to provide a historical understanding of the major artistic movements within the Western visual tradition, and to encourage students to develop a literate and critical eye. Attention is given to works of specific artists, as well as cultural factors that affect the visual arts from production to reception. Counts toward HART Major, Minor, and ARCH Minor. [3] Martin, Mode, Shaneyfelt. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 115F-06: Social Values of Art.
The public is interested in the monetary value of art, yet concern for "market" value often obscures more important factors that determine the social value of art. This seminar will explore how different societies value art at different points in time. How, for instance, do works that challenge the establishment (satiric prints, Impressionist paintings, Pop Art parodies) reflect a social purpose and reveal a political agenda? To answer this we shall study examples that help us understand how different audiences perceive different creative statements. We will consider questions of social context for private commissions as well as in public works, such as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Students will consider a number of related issues that are ultimately tied to society's expectations of and reactions to art. Does not count toward HART Major or Minor. [3] Mode. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 122: History of Asian Architecture: Tradition and Transformation.
This course is an exploration of the cultural traditions of Asia from the 1st millennium BCE to the 19th century through their architecture. Cities, temples, and domestic architecture of China, Japan, Korea, South Asia (India and Pakistan), and Southeast Asia will all be discussed. Questions considered during the course are: Does the architecture of Asia embody unique qualities? How did building materials, climatic conditions, ideology and religious beliefs affect the form and development of these structures?
What impact did increased commercial exchange with the West have on the architecture of Asia during the 18th and 19th centuries? We will also be learning a basic vocabulary of architectural terminology by which to discuss the building traditions of Asia as they relate to architecture across the globe. Counts toward HART Major, Minor, and ARCH Minor. [3] Miller. (AXLE: INT).

HART 217: Early Renaissance Florence.
This course will focus on the major masters and works from Early Renaissance Florence during the Quattrocento, i.e., the Fifteenth Century, ca. 1400-1500. We will primarily consider works of painting and sculpture that are part of larger decorative programmes, with the inclusion of architectural principles and monuments when appropriate to our discussion. Key masters to be considered include Giotto di Bondone, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Donatello, Filippo Brunelleschi, Leonbattista Alberti, Masaccio, Fra Angelico, Paolo Uccello, Andrea del Castagno, Benozzo Gozzoli, Andrea del Verrocchio, Sandro Botticelli and Domenico del Ghirlandaio, time permitting. In class discussion, there will be particular emphasis upon stylistic progression, iconographic interpretation and meaning, the role of patronage and audience, original physical and cultural context, and the Italian Renaissance workshop tradition. This is primarily a lecture course, but, it will involve a significant amount of discussion of assigned readings outside of the textbook and thus a prior course in Art History is recommended. This course will count toward the "Renaissance and Baroque" area requirement for the HART Major; HART Minor. No credit for both 217 and 217W, or 217 and 218, due to some overlap in content. [3] Shaneyfelt. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 222: British Art: Tudor to Victorian.
This is a course on the arts of England and the greater cultural sphere that is considered "British," with its wider connections to Europe and beyond. Major emphasis is given to historical developments, as well as the unique political and class consciousness of British society. From the age of Elizabeth I to Queen Victoria there are changes in the patronage of private and public art which reflect changing taste, all of which will be presented against the backdrop of literary England (Defoe/Austen/Dickens) visualized with film treatments. Among the major artists that will be covered are Van Dyck and Hogarth, Blake and the Pre-Raphaelites. In addition to a mid-term and final, there will be a research paper on a topic selected from a wide range of artists and themes up to the modern era. Largely a lecture class, there will be discussions on subjects like the Grand Tour, or art collecting and display. This course will count toward the "Renaissance and Baroque" area requirement for the HART major; HART Minor. [3] Mode. (AXLE: HCA)

HART 224: Eighteenth-Century Art.
The history of European painting, sculpture, and printmaking from the Late Baroque era to the rise of Neoclassicism, ca. 1675–1775. Geographical focus on Italy and France. Artists include Maratti, Rusconi, Carriera, Tiepolo, Watteau, Chardin, Fragonard, and others. This course will count toward the "Modern" area requirement for the HART Major; HART Minor. [3] Johns. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 230: Nineteenth-Century European Art.
The artistic production of major European painters and sculptors from ca. 1785-1885. The nineteenth century was a period of tremendous social, political and cultural transformation, and we shall examine its art in the context of these profound developments. The course focuses on the careers of major artists, including David, Goya, Canova, Ingres, Géricault, Delacroix, Turner, Friedrich, Corot, Courbet, Manet, Monet and Seurat. We shall also consider broader artistic developments such as academic art and its challengers, Barbizon landscape painting, Victorian genre painting and Pre-Raphaelitism, exploring their contributions to cultural and political nationalism. This course will count toward the "Modern" area requirement for the HART Major; HART Minor. [3] Johns. (AXLE: INT).

HART 231: Twentieth-Century European Art.
A survey of major movements and artists, with examples from painting, architecture, prints, sculpture, performance, conceptual, music, and cinema. Emphasis is placed on a close examination of the stylistic elements of the artworks, with that analysis contextualized within the social, political, and economic dynamics of the time in which they were made. Instruction places a heavy emphasis on the ideological nature of art and on its role as a major indicator of its time and place. This course will count toward the "Modern" area requirement for the HART Major; HART Minor. [3] Folgarait. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 234: 20th-Century Sculpture.
Writing in 1937, sculptor Naum Gabo posed the question, "What are the characteristics which make a work of art a sculpture?" Gabo's question resonates with the significant debates about sculpture in the twentieth century. In this survey of twentieth-century sculpture, we will examine the medium through its definitions, material (metal, paper, plastic, stone, wood, etc.), methods (carving, casting, modeling, welding, etc.), practitioners, movements, theories and related practices, like architecture. Major examples of sculpture will be considered in the context of their making and in comparison with other objects created at the same time. The course will rely on primary documents — film, texts and letters — from sculptors and important exhibitions of sculpture. The course will be supplemented by visits to the Fine Arts Gallery, public sculpture on campus, Chris Drury's Star Chamber (2006) at the Dyer Observatory and Alice Aycock's Ghost Ballet for the East Bank Machineworks (2007) at Riverfront Park. This course will count toward the "Modern" area requirement for the HART Major; HART Minor. [3] Martin. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 264: Greek Sculpture.
This course provides an overview of the development of Greek sculpture ca. 900-31 B.C., including its origins and influences from the Ancient Near East and Egypt, techniques of bronze- and stone-working, the identification of sculptors, organization of workshops, and patronage. Emphasis will be placed on the contexts of Greek sculpture: sacred (votive dedications, cult statues, architectural sculpture); civic (honorific statues, historical reliefs); funerary (grave stelae, funerary portraits, sarcophagi, monumental tomb sculpture); and private (domestic spaces, gardens); as well as the special problems of Roman copies of Greek originals. We will also consider the influence of Greek sculpture on later Western art. This course will count toward the "Ancient" area requirement for the HART Major; HART Minor. [3] Lee. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 270: History of Western Urbanism.
This class will approach the city "as a work of art," across ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, papal Rome, modern Europe, and the US, including Nashville. While urban planning was developed in antiquity partly to foster equality, realities were often different. Behind impressive facades, increasingly grim conditions developed in early modern cities, inspiring progressive beautification and renewal movements. Twentieth-century planners devised, and sometimes built, schemes to glorify regimes and control subjects. Just as any city's significance is greater than the sum of its parts, a city's destruction carries symbolic meanings beyond practical purposes. Urban form reflects important societal values. How are cities ordered? By whom? To what extent does architecture present a unified "facade"? How do resources and technology shape cities? How are places experienced by residents of different means, and by visitors, friend or foe? What do "new cities" reveal in colonial and postcolonial contexts? Finally, how does urban history inform current policies and future plans? Lectures and discussions, research papers and presentations; two hour-long exams. This course will count as an Elective for the HART Major; HART Minor, ARCH Minor. [3] Robinson. (AXLE: P).

HART 295. Advanced Seminar in History of Art.
An undergraduate seminar involving advanced reading, research, and writing in a particular area of art history. May usually be taken no more than two times (depending on enrollment numbers), and not twice from the same instructor. Enrollment priority given to History of Art Senior and Junior majors; will also count toward HART Minor (if seats are available). [3] (AXLE: HCA). Topics and professors are detailed below.

HART 295-01: Architecture and Power in the Roman World.
What is the most pervasive quality—the common denominator—of Roman architecture? One could argue that it is the expression of power—social, political, economic, technical, and spiritual. From emperors to family fathers, urban dwellers to villa owners, Romans used architecture to articulate identity and power. "Prestige building projects" announced the rise of imperial dynasties and local leaders. Physically powerful structures celebrated the reach of empire, brought health and recreation to the masses, and stretched imaginations. Through monumental engineering projects and landscaping, Roman designers further shaped surroundings and expressed their world-views. This seminar will examine civic, religious, and private architecture, focusing on architectural form, the objectives of rulers and architects, and subjects' reception, emulation, and—sometimes—resistance. We will begin by reviewing the history of Roman architecture and covering fundamental case studies in group discussions. Thereafter, seminar members will lead the way through critical readings and class presentations. Students will also pursue advanced research, each presenting the results of his/her research in a formal presentation and a substantial research paper. [3] Robinson. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 295-03: Surrealism.
A close examination of the major themes, images, and artists of Surrealism, from its origins in France to its international proliferation. A wide range of media will be considered, from painting to cinema. Instruction will stress seminar-style discussion, with emphasis on analysis of the formal qualities of the artworks and on their ability to articulate the ideological dimension of the place and time of their making. Students will pursue advanced research, each presenting the results of his/her research in a formal presentation and a substantial research paper. [3] Folgarait. (AXLE: HCA).

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SPRING 2013 (Projected) HISTORY OF ART COURSE OFFERINGS

HART 111: History of Western Art II, Renaissance to Modern Art.
This course is designed as an introductory survey of Western art history from the Renaissance to the Modern period, considering primarily painting, sculpture, and architecture. Please note that the chronological and thematic range of material covered will vary somewhat depending on the instructor. HART 111 is intended to provide a historical understanding of the major artistic movements within the Western visual tradition, and to encourage students to develop a literate and critical eye. Attention is given to works of specific artists, as well as cultural factors that affect the visual arts from production to reception. Counts toward HART Major, Minor, and ARCH Minor. [3] Mode, Shaneyfelt. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 112: History of Western Architecture.
A survey of architecture from the early first millennium BCE into the nineteenth century in Europe, western Asia, and North America. Analysis of form and function; historical, social and spatial contexts; architects and patrons. Lectures will offer a balanced account of the history of western architecture through a study of selected sites, monuments, and designers, ranging from ancient Greece into the modern period. Together we will develop an understanding of major movements and styles, historical contexts of creation, and continued interpretation. Students will learn to recognize and identify key monuments as well as lesser-known buildings around us in Nashville; classes, readings, and exercises will teach students to analyze a building or site (or image thereof), to read parts and whole, to contextualize it (in terms of place, time, conditions of history, politics, religion and ceremony), and to communicate such understandings clearly. Counts toward HART Major, Minor, and ARCH Minor. [3] Robinson. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 115F-07: The Meaning of Modern Art.
This course will present art of the modern period, the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and ask of that art what it means, and how and why that meaning was produced. Why is modern art so difficult to understand? Why does it look so unrealistic, and why is its meaning so hidden? Why is it so often thought to be made by unskilled and unbalanced people? This course will approach these questions seriously and attempt to answer them for the general student interested in art and in modern times. To understand modern art, we must study modern history and society. We have to examine what sort of world the artists lived in that caused their art to look as it does. Examples of the art to be studied range from Impressionist paintings of the nineteenth century to Pokémon and music videos of today. The style of these images will be studied as a result of the kind of world in which they were made. Does not count toward HART Major or Minor. [3] Folgarait. (AXLE: HCA).

CLAS 211: The Greek City.
The example of ancient Athens. The stoa, the theatre, the house, and fortifications. Institutions such as the courts, the public assembly, and the family. Literary, historical, archaeological, and philosophical sources. This course will count toward the "Ancient" area requirement for the HART Major; HART Minor, ARCH Minor. [3] Tsakirgis. (AXLE: SBS).

HART 219: Italian Renaissance Art after 1500.
This course explores the developments in Italian art from the High Renaissance through Mannerism, with special attention to the leading centers of Florence, Venice, and Rome. The primary focus is on major masters (Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and their Venetian counterparts, Giorgione and Titian) who explore the classical, humanistic values of the High Renaissance. Their successors from the Mannerist generation include Pontormo and Cellini, Tintoretto and Veronese, as more individualistic agents of change. The course deals with shifting patterns of patronage and artists' professional status, with attention to stylistic and critical perspectives on painting, sculpture, and architecture. This course will count toward the "Renaissance and Baroque" area requirement for the HART Major; HART Minor. [3] Mode. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 221: Seventeenth-Century Art.
This lecture course provides a survey of the major developments in Western Art, including painting, sculpture, and architecture, from the later sixteenth through the seventeenth century, circa 1570-1700. Our focus this semester will be seventeenth-century or "Baroque" painting and sculpture, with the inclusion of several key architectural monuments. Our study will be organized geographically by artistic school and will begin in Italy, followed by Spain, France, Flanders, and Holland. The goal of this course is to introduce each student to key seventeenth-century movements and masters, and to enable him or her to analyse and understand a variety of works and monuments, considering their subject and meaning, style, patronage and audience, as well as relate works of art to their respective cultural and historical contexts, including their connection with certain religious, social, and political issues. This course will count toward the "Renaissance and Baroque" area requirement for the HART Major; HART Minor. [3] Shaneyfelt. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 223: British Art: Edwardian to Contemporary.
This survey of British art in the twentieth century will examine the nation's art, artists, and art movements alongside its current events. The course will begin with Art Nouveau in the Edwardian era (1901-1910) viewed in relation to Britain's colonial control, foreign wars (particularly the second Boer War, 1899-1902), and growing domestic socialism. We will continue to the decades after the Second World War with discussions of the Independent Group, the School of London, the New Generation, kinetic art, and Pop and Op art. The latter part of the course will be concerned with the emergence of installation and performance art, advances in film and video production, the black arts movement, punk as a form of social activism, and the development of the field of Visual Culture in Britain. Readings will be drawn from periodicals, primary documents (artists letters and manifestos), as well as secondary texts (Lawrence Alloway, Stuart Hall, Herbert Reed, and others). Architecture, literature (Martin Amis, Joseph Conrad, Lynton Kwesi Johnson, and others), and music will be considered throughout the course. This course will count toward the "Modern" area requirement for the HART Major; HART Minor. [3] Martin. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 232: Modern Architecture.
This course is an in-depth study of important developments in the history of architecture from the early 19th century to the present. Works of architecture will be considered as objects of intellectual and physical labor that can be studied for information about the historical period of their production. In addition to buildings, we will take architecture to include theory, drawings, unbuilt architecture, city planning, and ways in which architectural ideas are used in non-architectural media. Formal analysis and a social historical approach will address questions such as: Why was this building constructed? Whose purpose did it serve? How was it received in its own time? How does a consideration of its style help to answer the previous questions? Emphasis will be placed on relationships between style and content, and in turn to general historical conditions. The course intends to demonstrate that architectural production, as other forms of human behavior, can yield meaningful information about the historical process. This course will count toward the "Modern" area requirement for the HART Major; HART Minor, ARCH Minor. [3] Folgarait. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 251: East Asian Architecture and Gardens.
This course is an overview of the major architectural traditions of East Asia including China, Korea, and Japan. In order to gain an understanding of the major issues in this field, we will examine the form and cultural context of religious, vernacular, and garden architecture from the 2nd century BCE to the present. We will explore the ways in which the built environment has been used to serve spiritual and political ends, not only through the initial construction of monumental buildings and complexes but also through modern interpretations of their pre-modern significance. This course will count toward the "Non-Western" area requirement for the HART Major; HART Minor, ARCH Minor. [3] Miller. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 255: Greek Art and Architecture.
This course surveys the development of Greek art and culture from the Bronze Age (Minoans and Myceneans) through the Hellenistic period. Special emphasis will be placed on the social and cultural contexts of Greek material and visual culture, including vase-painting, sculpture, and architecture. Topics to be considered include: the origins of Greek culture, including influences of the Ancient Near East and Egypt; problems of reconciling textual and material sources; the ritual functions of Greek art; the role of art and material culture in the transformation of ancient Athens from aristocracy to democracy; the concepts of "growth" and "decline" in the interpretation of Greek art; constructions of gender in Greek visual culture; the rise of Macedonia, Alexander the Great and of Hellenism through artistic media. This course will count toward the "Ancient" area requirement for the HART Major; HART Minor, ARCH Minor. [3] Lee. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 260W: Ancient Landscapes.
Greco-Roman attitudes toward nature. Exploitation and stewardship of resources. Country-house and garden design. Representations of mythological and sacred landscapes in painting and poetry. This course will count toward the "Ancient" area requirement for the HART Major; HART Minor, ARCH Minor. [3] Robinson. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 295. Advanced Seminar in History of Art.
An undergraduate seminar involving advanced reading, research, and writing in a particular area of art history. May usually be taken no more than two times (depending on enrollment numbers), and not twice from the same instructor. Enrollment priority given to History of Art Senior and Junior majors; will also count toward HART Minor (if seats are available). [3] (AXLE: HCA). Topics and professors are detailed below.

HART 295: Art and Politics in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Era.
This seminar will examine the relationship between art and politics in one of the most parlous periods in modern European history. How did the French Revolution deconstruct and reconstruct the patronage system of the European ancien régime? How were traditional iconographies redeployed for immediate political purposes, and what new visualities were invented? When Napoleon took over the French state as dictator in 1799, how did his cultural programs redirect Revolutionary initiatives, and how did he "re-imperialize" patronage after the declaration of the French Empire in 1804? Finally, what was the impact of the French art policies on the conquered and annexed states, above all in terms of national patrimony, the looting and confiscation of works of art and the centralization represented by the Musée Napoléon established at the Louvre. Students will also pursue advanced research, each presenting the results of his/her research in a formal presentation and a substantial research paper. [3] Johns. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 295: Revealing Aphrodite.
The Knidian Aphrodite by Praxiteles, arguably the most famous statue in antiquity, was certainly the most scandalous: for the first time in Western art, the goddess was depicted nude. Multiple ancient authors describe the erotic power of the statue, inciting the lust of her male viewers; on the response of her female devotees, the written sources are frustratingly silent. How might ancient Greek women have construed this monumental nude, a divine body that looked like their own? This course will explore the visual, textual, and archaeological evidence for the cult of Aphrodite in order to recover the meanings of the goddess for ancient Greek women. Students will then analyze the gendered reception of Aphrodite in later Western art in individual research projects, culminating in a formal presentation and submission of a substantial paper. [3] Lee. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 295: Temporary Worlds: Spectacle and the Contemporary Art Exhibition.
In 2001, the most well-known 20th century curator, Harald Szeemann declared his ambition for an exhibition to be "not just a group show, but a temporary world." While grand, this statement summarizes much of curatorial thought since 1968. As a way to understand the seemingly overwhelming circulation of contemporary art through Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe, this course will examine significant exhibitions, art fairs, and spontaneous art events over the last 50 years. We will start with the question: How does an exhibition create a liminal space? We will look for possible answers in the manner that artists engage with the spectacle of these events, the ways in which exhibitions have influenced the art market, and the international socio-economic consequences of the display of art. Students will pursue advanced research in this seminar, each presenting the results of his/her research in a formal presentation and a substantial research paper. [3] Martin. (AXLE: HCA).