THE CONCEPT OF CONTEMPORARY ART

ARTHIST 409

Topics offered concern the rigorous study of the history and theory of contemporary art.

ARTHIST 202

Examine the arts and culture of Europe and North America from the Renaissance through the present. Explore important fine art, architecture, decorative arts, and photographic masterpieces by artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt van Rijn, Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, and Frank Lloyd Wright. Learn how works of art were valued from the moment of their making, fought over by different nations, bought, sold, stolen, or ignored for centuries and revived only recently for study through the political, historical, social and cultural contexts of their making. Critically examine the concept of artistic genius; the influence of colonialism and imperialism on artistic production and consumption; the role of the patron and the art market in art's production and circulation; the relationship of fine art and popular culture; and the idea of globalization as it relates to "western" artistic traditions. Develop skills in visual analysis to understand artistic production.

ARTHIST 856

Rotating topics in 20th Century European Art.

ARTHIST 481

Outline of major developments in global visual art from the 1960s to the present, with an emphasis on influential recent theorizations of contemporary art that have been developed by critics, art historians, and artists themselves. Topics include: the globalization of the art world, re-definitions of art after modernism, politics of contemporary art, issues of identity (race, gender, sexuality), technology and new media, the art market, and theoretical approaches to contemporary art.

ARTHIST 227

Overview of the emergence and development of modernism in the visual arts between approximately 1880 and 1970, begining with the origins of modernist visual art in the late 19th century, then moving on to the proliferation of avant-garde movements in the first half of the 20th century before concluding with the crisis and collapse of modernism in the post-World War II period. Movements covered include Cubism, Futurism, Dadaism, Surrealism, and Abstract Expressionism. Major topics: the breakdown of traditional pre-modernist artistic styles and genres; invention of radical new techniques such as abstraction and collage; impacts of the political, social, and technological upheavals of the modern era; relations between modernist art, racialization, and colonialism; the transition between modernism and contemporary (or post-modernist) art.