COURSES

These classes were available for past semesters and are subject to change. To see classes that will be available for future semester, check the Home Page or Bannerweb:

ARTH 120- Topics: Global Video and Performance

This course surveys non-western video and performance art from the 1960s to the present. We will consider each mode's initial outgrowth from legacies of modernism before observing significant changes that occur in a time of globalization and postcolonialism.

2.000 Credit hours

ARTH 120- Topics: Islamic Art and Architecture

A survey of the art and architecture produced in Muslim lands from Central Asia to Spain between the seventh and nineteenth centuries, exploring painting, sculpture, architecture, ceramics, ivory, metalwork, and illuminated manuscripts.

2.000 Credit hours

ARTH 126- Buddhist Arts of Asia

This course is an exploration of Buddhist iconography and ritual revealed in art and monuments from South, Southeast, and East Asia. The focus is on the generation of meaning through sculpture, painting, and architecture. (C)
2.000 Credit hours

ARTH 127- Arts of Ancient India

This course examines the artistic and architectural highlights of India from Indus Valley Culture to the 16th Century CE. We view the architecture, sculpture, and monuments of Buddhism and Hinduism, two of India’s most ancient Religions. (C)
2.000 Credit hours

ARTH 128 - Introduction to Material Culture

An introduction to the study of material culture from prehistory to the present in global perspective. Themes include power and civilization; pleasure and leisure; trade and status; and exploration and modernity.
2.000 Credit hours

ARTH 130- Topics in Art History: Ancient to Baroque

Selected topics art history from ancient to baroque are covered. Topics vary from term to term. (C)
2.000 Credit hours

ARTH 133 - Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture: From the Classical Ideal to Theatrical Expression

This course surveys the developments in architecture, sculpture and painting from the European Renaissance to Baroque periods (late 14th through 17th centuries). Works of art are studied as individual monuments related to the historical culture that produced them. (C)
2.000 Credit hours

ARTH 136 - The Role of the Medieval Image

This course surveys the influences and development of Christian art from its beginnings in the early Christian period until the Gothic era by investigating the character and function of the image during the Middle Ages. Main themes include ritual, relics and veneration; pilgrimage; theology in art; and the age of cathedrals.
2.000 Credit hours

ARTH 137 - Ancient Art: History, Legend, and Legacy

This course provides a critical survey of ancient art. We focus on the great empires of antiquity--Babylonian and Egyptian, Greek and Roman--that emerged in the Near East and Mediterranean region. (C)
2.000 Credit hours

ARTH 140 Topics in Art History: Modern

Selected topics in modern art history are covered. Topics vary from term to term. (C)
2.000 Credit hours

ARTH 141- 20th Century Art

This class will provide a critical introduction to modern art. It will trace the contexts of modern art movements and explore key themes. We will look at a wide-range of art genres, including painting, sculpture, and photography. (C)
2.000 Credit hours

ARTH 143 - Art and Social Ideals

This course will introduce students to the development of the concept of modernism in art and will focus on discussing examples of related utopian visions of an idealized past or an anticipated future. (C)
2.000 Credit hours

ARTH 146- Modern Sculpture

2.000 Credit hours

ARTH 210- Global Perspectives: Paris

This course enables students to develop an understanding and appreciation of another culture, first in the classroom, and then two weeks in Paris. The focus is on history, art, and contemporary culture. Open to all students. Applicable as elective credit only toward the BFA and the B.S. in Art History and Theory; does not apply to art history requirements. (Cross-listed as FREN 210, GLBS 210) (GP)
2.000 Credit hours

ARTH 211- Issues and Debates in Contemporary Art

A topically structured, discussion-based thematic study of issues and debates relevant to major movements and developments in contemporary art. Students are introduced to vital, ongoing conversations within the School as well as a variety of coexisting and competing opinions about investments in art. The course encourages students to develop, strengthen, and present their own views about art. Should be taken Fall Semester sophomore year.
3.000 Credit hours

ARTH 300- Topics in Art History

Topics vary from semester to semester. May be repeated for credit.
4.000 Credit hours

ARTH 300- Topics: Global Contemporary Art Since 1989

This course offers a survey of the global turn in contemporary art since 1989. Why have "global" and "contemporary" emerged as key terms? What demands does this place on local/regional artistic practices as well as art audiences?

4.000 Credit hours (GP)

ARTH 300- Topics: Gender and Identity in Medieval and Renaissance Art

This course investigates questions of gender, identity, and sexuality in medieval and Renaissance art. Organized thematically, students will examine painting, sculpture, and literature produced in Italy and northern Europe between 1200-1650. Topics include the representation of female and male bodies in the visual arts, the construction of ideal beauty, the male and female gaze, portraiture, sartorial practices and prohibitions, patronage and gender, the nude, and issues facing female artists.

4.000 Credit hours

ARTH 300- Topics: History of Ceramics Late 19th Century to the Present

A survey of the history and theories of modern and contemporary ceramic art, craft, and design, with a particular focus on the Arts and Crafts movement, Modernism, and Postmodernism.

4.000 Credit hours

ARTH 300- Anime to Zen: Contemporary Japanese Visual and Material Culture

This course examines Japanese visual and material culture from the 1960s to the present using cultural contextualization to understand the function of images and objects. Genres of analysis range from animation and photography to fashion and craft.

4.00 Credit hours

ARTH 304- Global Arts: Contemporary Asia

This course examines contemporary arts of Japan, China, North/South Korea, India, Pakistan, Tibet, and Vietnam, with a focus on emerging theories of global arts and diverse art practices, such as curating, viewing, and the making of Asian art today.
4.000 Credit hours

ARTH 305 - South Asian Arts 15-20c: Mughals to Modern

This course examines the visual arts of the South Asian subcontinent from the Mughal period, in the 16th century, to modern art of the mid-20th century. In addition to religious and royal architecture, we view paintings, sculpture, courtly arts, prints and photography.
4.000 Credit hours
3.000 Lecture hours
2.000 Other hours

ARTH 321 - Greek and Roman Art and Architecture

This course introduces the architecture, painting, sculpture, pottery and other forms of material culture from Ancient Greece and Rome to further our understanding of the foundations of western civilization and western approaches to art, beauty and civic planning.
4.000 Credit hours

ARTH 322 - Medieval Art and Architecture

This course explores medieval art--architecture, painting, sculpture and the decorative arts--through the study of subject matter and the major stylistic developments from the religious and secular spheres of medieval society. Other topics include patronage; artistic production; and workshop practices.
4.000 Credit hours
3.000 Lecture hours
2.000 Other hours

ARTH 324 - Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts

This course surveys the role and development of illuminated manuscripts—hand-written, painted books—in Western Europe beginning with the seventh century and ending in the fifteenth century with the invention of the printing press.
4.000 Credit hours
3.000 Lecture hours
2.000 Other hours

ARTH 331 - Italian Renaissance Art and Architecture

This course is an in-depth study of the major stylistic forms, directions and iconography in Italian Renaissance art and architecture (14th through 16th centuries). We explore the systems of art-making and patronage in the major urban and court centers.
4.000 Credit hours
3.000 Lecture hours
2.000 Other hours

ARTH 332 - Northern Renaissance Art

This course is an examination of Northern Renaissance art (France, Germany, the Netherlands and England) from the 1400s until about 1600. The period is marked by an increase in the materialism of religious faith, most notably observed in the extravagant artistic patronage by the royal courts and the Church.
4.000 Credit hours

ARTH 333 - Baroque Art and Architecture

This class is a survey of European art and architecture during the 17th century within cultural, religious, political and intellectual frameworks. Main themes include: the impact of the Counter Reformation on the visual arts; urban planning; art as propaganda; specialization of the art market; rise of art academies and art theory.
4.000 Credit hours

ARTH 342 - Primitivism: A Western Perspective

This course will investigate the issue of primitivism, one of the major topics in modernism. We examine the problematic nature of primitivism, specifically artists' involvement in the broader discourse of colonialism. The class will critique a variety of art practices--including photographic mapping, "black deco" spectacle, ethnographic Surrealism--ranging from the mid 19th century to the present. Prerequisite: ARTH 211.
4.000 Credit hours

ARTH 343 - Modern Art

Encompassing the movements of Symbolism to Surrealism, this course covers the developments in modern art during the first half of the 20th Century. Students explore such themes as modernity, primitivism, and utopian theory as well as the stylistic developments and formal innovations of this period.
4.000 Credit hours

ARTH 351 - In, of, and around Contemporary Craft

This course investigates the nature and place of craft in modern culture. We traverse a century of craft-based practices--from the artisan guilds of the Arts and Crafts Movement to the virtual guilds of today--focusing on recent strategies and practices. Prerequisite: one 100-level art history course.
4.000 Credit hours

ARTH 352 - Contemporary Projects in Art

This interactive course focuses on and studies the projects of selected contemporary artists. These projects serve as platforms for investigating issues and problems related to various contemporary art forms and movements including, the embodiment of the viewer, play and reality, new technologies and consciousness, ironic modernism, and the critique of the post-medium condition. This course can be substituted for ARTH 211 in the BFA curriculum.
4.000 Credit hours
3.000 Lecture hours
2.000 Other hours

ARTH 354 - Recent Sculptural Practices

A series of recent projects exploring contemporary issues in sculpture will be the focus of this class. We will be looking an international array of artists, including: Matthew Barney (United States), Robert Irwin (United States), Juan Munoz (Spain), Doris Salcedo (Colombia), Thomas Schutte (Germany), and Rachel Whiteread (Britain). The work of these artists will be examined in the context of larger post-war debates. (GP)
4.000 Credit hours

ARTH 355 - Picasso in Context

This course offers an in-depth study of Picasso in relation to other modern artists and movements. Special attention is paid to the nature of style. Students conduct research on the development of abstraction in the early twentieth century.
4.000 Credit hours

ARTH 382 - Gender and Art History: Feminist Art in a Global Frame

This course examines 20th and 21st century art and media that engage with feminist and gender issues in a global context. The first few weeks are spent reviewing a concise history of first- and second-wave feminist thought, particularly its relation to art and visual culture. Thereafter, selected contemporary art from all regions of the globe are covered. (Cross-listed as WGST 382) (GP)
4.000 Credit hours

ARTH 392 - Art History Individual Projects

Project or media based independent study with a faculty in the art history division. This course can only be used for elective credit. It is not intended to replace sophomore, junior or senior studio requirements. Permission of the instructor is required.
2.000 TO 4.000 Credit hours

ARTH 400 - Topics in Art History

Topics vary from semester to semester. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: One 300-level art history course.
2.000 OR 4.000 Credit hours

ARTH 420 - Islamic Art in the Mediterranean World

This course traces the history of the art, architecture and culture of the Islamic world bordering the Mediterranean basin. Religious and secular works of art are examined in order to foster greater understanding and appreciation of Islamic visual culture and aesthetics.
4.000 Credit hours

ARTH 439 - History of Ceramic Art, Craft and Design: Global Flows

In this course we examine the history of ceramic art, craft and design according to its major global flows. Recent scholarship, primary texts, and the direct study of objects from the Alfred Ceramic Art Museum collection form the basis for discussion of the history of ceramics’ aesthetic values, praxis, patronage, and cultural identities.
4.000 Credit hours

ARTH 445 - Understanding Culture through the Lens of World Cinema

Through the lenses of various themes—youth, sexuality, class, religion, politics, revolution, time, and space—this course explores how different cultures throughout the world understand and communicate their cultural values through cinema. (GP)
4.000 Credit hours

ARTH 450 - Independent Study

Academic inquiry into an area not covered in any established course, and carried on outside the usual instructor/classroom setting. Approved Plan of Study required.
1.000 TO 4.000 Credit hours

ARTH 460 - Exploring Art History: Concepts, Methods and Practices

This writing-intensive seminar introduces students to research methods in art history and to a range of approaches of historical and current significance. Students identify art historical problems, formulate hypotheses, conduct research, read critically, build arguments, and present reports. Prerequisites: completion of one upper-division (300-400) Art History course and permission of instructor.
4.000 Credit hours

ARTH 461 - Viewing Sculpture: Figurative, Modernist, Minimalist, Performative

A close examination of the nature of sculptural viewing over the past 200 years. Sculptural theory is considered alongside contemporary artistic practice, ranging from Antonio Canova's neoclassical figures to Janet Cardiff's audio walks. Primary sources will be used for class discussion, along with Potts' "The Sculptural Imagination". In addition to thinking critically about the phenomenon of viewing, we will investigate the changing attitudes toward sculpture and the broadening definitions of three-dimensional work in the modern period. Prerequisite: One 300-level art history course.
4.000 Credit hours

ARTH 466 - Histories of Photography in the Non-Western World

This seminar focuses on how photography and its modern modes of vision were disseminated and adapted around the globe since its 1839 invention in Europe. The course is designed as a research lab: students develop both a short written report and related visual project. (GP)
4.000 Credit hours

ARTH 493 - Art in the Age of Digital Recursion

A round-table seminar based on extensive group discussions and in-depth research on recent innovations in technology and how that technology has impacted art production and theory. Prerequisite: One 300-level art history course.
4.000 Credit hours

ARTH 499 - B.S. Thesis in Art History and Theory

Capstone course open to graduating majors in Art History and Theory for the development of an article of publishable quality presented as a B.S. Thesis. Students write the thesis under the guidance of their primary advisor. Prerequisites: Completion of at least five upper-division Art History courses and permission of major advisor.
2.000 Credit hours

ARTH 500 - Topics in Art History

Topics vary from semester to semester.
2.000 OR 4.000 Credit hours

ARTH 504 - Global Arts: Contemporary Asia

ARTH 505 - South Asian Arts 15-20c: Mughals to Modern

ARTH 520 - Islamic Art in the Mediterranean World

ARTH 521 - Greek and Roman Art and Architecture

A study of art and architecture from ancient Greece and Rome. Among other issues, the course addresses changing attitudes of style, function, and patronage during this period and investigates the influence of social and religious belief. The study of Greek art emphasizes the development of stylistic periods. Roman art study focuses on individual historical periods of various emperors as reflected in the patronage.
4.000 Credit hours

ARTH 522 - Medieval Art and Architecture

ARTH 524 - Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts

ARTH 531 - Italian Renaissance Art and Architecture

ARTH 532 - Northern Renaissance Art

This course is an examination of Northern Renaissance art (France, Germany, the Netherlands and England) from the 1400s until about 1600. The period is marked by an increase in the materialism of religious faith, most notable observed in the extravagant artistic patronage by the royal courts and the Church.
4.000 Credit hours

ARTH 533 - Baroque Art and Architecture

ARTH 539 - History of Ceramic Art, Craft and Design: Global Flows

ARTH 542 - Primitivism: A Western Perspective

This course surveys the concept of the "primitive" in Western art from the Enlightenment to the present. Students explore the shifting nature of primitivism, examine the relationship between art and colonial expansion, and critique the formal and thematic appropriation of non-Western artifacts by European and American artists.
4.000 Credit hours

ARTH 543 - Modern Art

ARTH 545 - Understanding Culture through the Lens of World Cinema

ARTH 550 - Independent Study

Designed for graduate students to work with Art History faculty on an independent study basis. A written Plan of Study is required.
1.000 TO 4.000 Credit hours

ARTH 551 - In, of, and around Contemporary Craft

ARTH 552 - Contemporary Projects in Art

ARTH 554 - Recent Sculptural Practices

ARTH 555 - Picasso in Context

ARTH 560 - Exploring Art History: Concepts, Methods and Practices

ARTH 561 - Viewing Sculpture: Figurative, Modernist, Minimalist, Performative

ARTH 566 - Histories of Photography in the Non-Western World

ARTH 582 - Gender and Art History: Feminist Art in a Gobal Frame

ARTH 593 - Art in the Age of Digital Recursion

A round-table seminar based on extensive group discussions and in-depth research on recent innovations in technology and how that technology has impacted art production and theory.
4.000 Credit hours

ARTH 660 - First Year Graduate Seminar

Required for all first year MFA graduate students. This seminar brings together the students working in all three graduate programs to facilitate their participation in creating a framework for understanding the practice of art making in relation to the contemporary, global and cultural terrain.
2.000 TO 4.000 Credit hours

ALFRED

ART HISTORY

COURSES

These classes were available for past semesters and are subject to change. To see classes that will be available for future semester, check the Home Page or Bannerweb: