Areas of Inquiry
Art, Politics, and Activism
Many of our courses analyze how artists’ works are bound to urgent political and social questions. Courses that focus particularly on the question of political engagement and social change include:
ARTH 122: Introduction to Modern Art
ARTH 132: Introduction to Contemporary Art and Design
ARTH 142: Introduction to Photography
ARTH 212: African Art and Design
ARTH 240: Art of the Avant-Gardes, 1900-1945: France, Germany, Italy and Russia
ARTH 263: African-American Art
ARTH 312: Contemporary African Art
ARTH 330: Picturing New York
ARTH 350: Ruling Families of the Renaissance
ARTH 3–: Fields of Knowledge in the Early Modern Period
Gender and Sexuality
We are committed to exploring the role that gender and sexuality play in the production and interpretation of art and visual culture. This examination forms a significant part of all the courses we teach, and receives particularly sustained focus in this group of courses.
ARTH 243: Early Modern Spaces
ARTH 250: Modernism and Mass Culture in France 1848-1914
ARTH 261: Anatomies 1400-1650: Forbidden, Sexual, and Monstrous
ARTH 370: Women at Work: Art History and Feminism
Design History and Theory
The central question these courses pose is how to understand societies through their built environment, including buildings, urban spaces, artifacts, ruins, and landscapes. We examine the works’ original contexts, makers, and users and consider the ways in which design shapes knowledge and experience.
ARTH 198: Introduction to American Art and Design
ARTH 121: Introduction to Modern Architecture and Design
ARTH 132: Introduction to Contemporary Art and Design
ARTH 243: Early Modern Spaces
ARTH 255: Art and Ritual of the Ancient Americas
ARTH 330: Picturing New York: Art and Design
Critical Theory and Methods
This group of courses is especially focused on the concepts, theories, and ideologies that serve as the intellectual foundations for interpreting visual expression. We explore questions surrounding the production of historical knowledge and critically assess the ways meanings are constructed. Given the interdisciplinary nature of art history, our course readings may also come from the related fields of philosophy, anthropology, literary theory, history of science, or semiotics.
ARTH 298: Photography as Knowledge in the 19th Century
ARTH 300: French Art and Its Others
ARTH 312: Contemporary African Arts
ARTH 370: Women at Work: Art History and Feminism
ARTH 398: Matisse and Methods
ARTH 3–: Fields of Knowledge in the Early Modern Period
Africa and the Diaspora
The courses offered in this group focus on works made in Africa or by artists of African descent. We examine how the visual culture of these makers is understood by local and international audiences, considering such issues as colonialism and identity.
ARTH 212: African Art and Design
ARTH 263: African-American Art and Design
ARTH 300: French Art and Its Others
ARTH 312: Contemporary African Arts
ARTH 334: Exhibiting Africa: Past & Present
Museum Studies
In museum studies, we consider the intellectual assumptions and cultural values which inform the formation of collections and exhibitions. Through first-hand study of objects and curatorial experience, students learn practical approaches to design and interpretative strategies.
ARTH 230: Introduction to Museum Studies
ARTH 243: Early Modern Spaces
ARTH 261: Anatomies 1450-1600: Forbidden, Sexual, and Monstrous
ARTH 335: Exhibition Design
ARTH 3–: Museum Controversies
