Courses & Programs of Study

Undergraduate Program Chair: Katherine Taylor, CWAC 255,

702-0255, k-taylor@uchicago.edu

Department Secretary: Hannah Robinson, CWAC 166, 702-0278, arthistory@uchicago.edu

Web: humanities.uchicago.edu/depts/art/

Program of Study

Art history is a branch of humanistic learning concerned with the study of the visual arts in their historical context. Individual works are analyzed for the styles, materials, and techniques of their design and manufacture; for their meanings; and for their makers, periods, and places of creation. An informed appreciation of each work is developed, and the proper historical position of each piece is examined. From the study of single works, the art historian moves to the analysis and interpretation of artistic careers, group movements and schools, currents of artistic theory, significant patrons, and cultural contexts. The study of our heritage in the visual arts thus provides a singular perspective for the study of social, cultural, and intellectual history; currently it represents an expanding frontier in humanistic inquiry.

Courses for Nonmajors. Introduction to Art (ARTH 10100) develops basic skills in the analysis and critical enjoyment of a wide range of visual materials. Issues and problems in the making, exhibition, and understanding of images and objects are explored through classroom discussion of key works, critical reading of fundamental texts, visits to local museums, and writing. Survey Courses (ARTH 14000 through 16999) discuss major monuments of world art and architecture in the context of broad chronological and geographic categories and in relation to broad questions concerning the role art plays in individual, societal, and institutional settings. ARTH 14000 through 14999 address Western art in Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance. ARTH 15000 through 15999 address Western art from the early modern period to the present day. ARTH 16000 through 16999 address the art of Asia and Pre-Columbian art. Art in Context courses (ARTH 17000 through 18999) introduce students to a well-defined issue, topic, or period of art in depth and, at the same time, explore issues of creativity, communication, and value in a series of concrete case studies. Any of these 10000-level courses is an appropriate choice to meet the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. None presupposes prior training in art.

Students who have taken at least one course in art history or studio art, or who have equivalent nonacademic experience, may elect to take an advanced lecture course, numbered from 20100 to 28999. The prerequisite is consent of instructor or any 10000-level course in art history or visual arts. The 20000-level art history courses investigate the arts of specific periods and places from a variety of perspectives. Some courses embrace large bodies of material defined by national culture; others follow developments in style, iconography, and patronage as they affect works in selected media.

The role of the individual artist in the creation and development of major movements is frequently examined, as is its complement, the growth of cultural systems and their expression in the visual arts.

Program Requirements

The B.A. in art history is intended to furnish students with a broad knowledge of Western and non-Western art and to provide an opportunity for the complementary, intensive study of an area of special interest. It is recommended for students who wish to develop their abilities of visual analysis and criticism; to acquire some sense of the major developments in the arts from ancient times to the present; and to understand the visual arts as aspects of social, cultural, and intellectual history. So conceived, the study of art is an element of a general, liberal arts education; the skills of analytical thinking, logical argument, and clear verbal expression necessary to the program are basic to most fields. Although the program in art history has no explicit preprofessional orientation, it prepares interested students for advanced study at the graduate level and, eventually, for work in academic, museum, and gallery settings.

General Requirements for Art History Majors

1. Students register for a total of four Survey Courses: one course at the 14000 level, one course at the 15000 level, one course at the 16000 level, and a fourth Survey Course of the student's choosing.

2. Art history majors take the department's two undergraduate seminars. In Winter Quarter of their third year, they register for the Junior Seminar (ARTH 29600). Students who wish to study abroad during that quarter meet with the Undergraduate Program Chair to work out an alternative program of study no later than the beginning of their third year. In Autumn Quarter of their fourth year, they register for the B.A. paper writing seminar (ARTH 29800) (see following section).

3. Students in art history write at least two research papers that are ten to fifteen pages in length before starting their fourth year, typically in conjunction with 20000-level courses in art history. Alternatives include 40000-level graduate seminars, reading courses, or, more rarely, art-in-context courses. It is the student's responsibility to make arrangements with an instructor and obtain his or her signature on an approval form when the paper is completed. Approval forms are available on the art history Web site (click on "Undergraduate Program").

A research paper should address a topic chosen by the student in consultation with the instructor. The student should include an analysis of his or her research of existing scholarship and other relevant source materials. The paper should also draw on that scholarship and evidence to shape and support a thesis or argument of the student's own devising. Formal analyses of works of art and analytic papers on materials assembled for a class by the instructor do not quality. However, students may ask the instructor to allow a substitution of a research paper or they may write a research paper in addition to basic course requirements.

4. Students develop a special field of interest (see below).

5. Within this field, students write a senior paper (see below).

6. Students register for an approved drama, music, or COVA course to meet the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts; art history majors may not use art history courses to meet general education requirements.

Recommendations for Art History Majors

1. Students are encouraged to take graduate seminars after first obtaining the permission of the instructor. (These seminars are also open to nonmajors with the same proviso.)

2. Students also are urged to pursue upper-level language courses. If a language course is relevant to a student's special field, the student may petition the Undergraduate Program Chair to count it toward electives.

3. Those planning to continue their study of art history at the graduate level are advised to achieve language competency equal to at least two years of college study in French or German, or in Italian for those with primary interest in the art of Italy.

Two Tracks. In structuring their programs, students may choose one of two orientations ("tracks"): one offering a broad coverage of the history of art, the other a close study of a specific area or topic.

Track I. In addition to the four Survey Courses, the Junior Seminar (ARTH 29600), and the B.A. paper writing seminar (Senior Seminar, ARTH 29800), Track I students take six upper-level courses within the department. Within the six departmental courses, students must develop a special field consisting of three courses whose relevance to one another must be clearly established. The field may be defined by chronological period, medium, national culture, genre, methodological concerns, or a suitable combination. Because they reflect the interests of individual students, such fields range widely in topic, approach, and scope. Reading courses with art history faculty may be used to pursue specific questions within a field. Students are encouraged to distribute the remaining three departmental courses widely throughout Western and non-Western art and are required to take at least one course in Western art before 1400, one course in Western art after 1400, and one course in non-Western art.

Track II. In addition to the four Survey Courses, the Junior Seminar, and the B.A. Seminar, Track II students take six courses: three upper-level courses inside and two courses outside the art history department that make up the special field, plus one additional upper-level course in art history, the subject of which is the student's choice. In order to encourage breadth of expertise, the elective course may not be in the student's special field.

The Special Field. The special field may take many different forms. It may be civilization defined by chronological period, nation-state, cultural institution, or a suitable combination. Extradepartmental courses in history and literature are particularly relevant to such a program. Another special field might be conceptual in character (e.g., art and the history of science, urban history, geography) and draw upon a variety of extradepartmental courses in the Humanities and Social Sciences Collegiate Divisions. A field could combine historical, critical, and theoretical perspectives (e.g., visual arts in the twentieth century) and include courses in art history, drama, music, film, and popular culture. Finally, art history and studio courses (e.g., COVA) may be combined in special fields exploring their interrelations (e.g., abstraction and conceptualism in modern art). The topic for the senior paper normally develops from the special field and allows for further study of the area through independent research and writing.

Whether a student is following Track I or Track II, the proposal for the special field, in the form of a written petition, must be received by the Undergraduate Program Chair and approved by a faculty committee no later than the end of a student's third year. Students should consult the Undergraduate Program Chair for guidelines on the organization and preparation of the proposal. It is strongly recommended that students complete at least two courses in their special field by the end of their third year.

Undergraduate Seminars and the Senior Paper. The Junior Seminar (ARTH 29600) is designed to introduce the methods of art historical research. It also requires students to develop a senior paper topic and identify potential faculty advisers. Students who wish to study abroad during Winter Quarter of third year must meet with the Undergraduate Program Chair no later than the beginning of their third year to work out an alternative program of study.

By the end of the third year, it is the student's responsibility to find a member of the faculty who agrees to act as the faculty research adviser for the senior paper. The research paper or project used to meet this requirement may not be used to meet the B.A. paper or project requirement in another major.

The Senior Seminar (ARTH 29800) is a workshop course designed to assist students in writing and researching their senior papers. Most commonly, students take the seminar in the Autumn Quarter before graduating in Spring Quarter; those graduating in the Autumn or Winter Quarters should take the course in the previous academic year. In the closing sessions of the seminar, students present their work-in-progress for the senior paper. They continue their research on the paper during the following quarters, meeting at intervals with their faculty research adviser. Students may elect to take Preparation for the Senior Paper (ARTH 29900) in Autumn or Winter Quarter to afford additional time for research or writing. A polished draft of the paper is due by Monday of second week of the quarter of graduation; the final version is due fourth week of that quarter. Both are to be submitted in duplicate: one copy to the research adviser and the second to the Undergraduate Program Chair. Because individual projects vary, no specific requirements for the senior paper have been set. Essays tend to range in length from twenty to forty pages, but there is no minimum or maximum.

Summary of Requirements

General introductory drama, music, or COVA course

Education

Track I 4 Survey Courses: one in each of the 14000s, 15000s, and 16000s series; and one of the student's choice

3 upper-level ARTH courses in special field

3 upper-level ARTH courses (one course each in Western art before 1400, Western art after 1400, and non-Western art)

1 ARTH 29600 (Junior Seminar)

1 ARTH 29800 (Senior Seminar)

_- senior paper

Track II 4 Survey Courses: one in each of the 14000s, 15000s, and 16000s series; and one of the student's choice

5 upper-level courses in special field (three departmental and two extradepartmental)

1 upper-level ARTH elective (not special field)

1 ARTH 29600 (Junior Seminar)

1 ARTH 29800 (Senior Seminar)

_- senior paper

Advising. Art history majors should see the Undergraduate Program Chair no less than once a year for consultation and guidance in planning a special field, in selecting courses, in choosing a topic for the senior paper, and for any academic problems within the major. When choosing courses, refer to the worksheet available on the art history Web site (click on "Undergraduate Program"); this form helps each student and the Undergraduate Program Chair keep track of the student's progress in the program.

Grading. Art history majors must receive quality grades in art history courses taken for the major, with one exception: for Preparation for the Senior Paper (ARTH 29900), they may receive a Pass grade. Art history courses elected beyond program requirements may be taken for Pass grades with consent of instructor. Students taking art history courses to meet the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts must receive quality grades. Nonmajors may receive a Pass grade with consent of instructor if they are taking an art history class that is not satisfying a general education requirement. A Pass grade is given only for work of C- quality or higher.

Honors. Students who complete their course work and their senior papers with great distinction are considered for graduation with special honors. Candidates must have a GPA of at least 3.0 overall and 3.3 in art history. Nominations for honors are made by the faculty in the program through the Undergraduate Program Chair to the master of the Humanities Collegiate Division.

Fellowships and Prizes. The department offers a limited number of Visiting Committee Travel Fellowships to fund travel related to research on the B.A. paper during the summer between third and fourth years. Applications are due to the Undergraduate Program Chair in the sixth week of the Spring Quarter. The department also awards a Feitler Prize for Outstanding Undergraduate Work to the best B.A. paper written in the department each year. The prize is awarded late in Spring Quarter.

Faculty

C. Cohen, J. Elsner, D. English, T. Gunning, N. Harris, R. Heller, E. Helsinger,
W. J. T. Mitchell, R. Neer, R. Nelson, J. Purtle, K. Rorschach, J. Snyder, B. Stafford,
K. Taylor, H. Thomsen, Y. Tsivian, M. Ward, H. Wu, R. Zorach

Courses: Art History (arth)

10100. Introduction to Art. For nonmajors, this course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Students must attend first class to confirm enrollment. This course seeks to develop skills in perception, comprehension, and appreciation when dealing with a variety of visual art forms. It encourages the close analysis of visual materials, explores the range of questions and methods appropriate to the explication of a given work of art, and examines the intellectual structures basic to the systematic study of art. Most important, the course encourages the understanding of art as a visual language and aims to foster in students the ability to translate this understanding into verbal expression, both oral and written. Examples draw on local collections. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

14000 through 16999. Art Surveys. For nonmajors, any ARTH 14000 through 16999 course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. May be taken in sequence or individually. Students must attend first class to confirm enrollment. The major monuments and masterpieces of world painting, sculpture, and architecture are studied as examples of humankind's achievements in the visual arts. Individual objects are analyzed in detail and interpreted in light of society's varied needs. While changes in form, style, and function are emphasized, an attempt is also made to understand the development of unique and continuous traditions of visual imagery throughout world civilization. Courses focus on broad regional and chronological categories.

14000. The Ancient World. For nonmajors, this course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. This course surveys sculpture, painting, and architecture from ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. In addition to close study of the major works, particular emphasis is paid to their cultural context and to key issues such as nudity in art and life, the origins and development of narrative, art and politics, the status and role of the creative artist, and fakes and forgeries. Wherever possible, newly discovered work is included and given special attention. R. Neer. Autumn.

14200. The Medieval World. For nonmajors, this course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. E. Gertzman. Spring.

14400. Renaissance Art. Not open to students who have taken ARTH 15100 for credit. For nonmajors, this course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. This course is a selective survey of the major monuments, personalities, and issues in the Western tradition from 1400 to 1600. We critically examine the origins and value of grouping by styles (e.g., Late Gothic, Early Renaissance, High Renaissance, Mannerism). Our focus is the changing social context for the practice of art and the evolving nature of artistic creativity. Biweekly discussion sections required. C. Cohen. Winter.

15500. Nineteenth Century Art: Revival and Invention. For nonmajors, this course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Since shortly before the French Revolution, the conviction of leading artists and critics in Europe and North America was that art and society were intertwined and that both needed reform and reinvention. This course tracks this reformatory impulse as it is manifested and contested from the 1760s to the 1890s through a review of selected works by artists (e.g., Jacques Louis David, Caspar David Friedrich, Claude Monet, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Edvard Munch); buildings (e.g., the British Museum in London, Marshall Field's department store in Chicago); and graphic materials (e.g., cartoons of the French Revolution, advertising posters of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec). Attendance at weekly discussion sections is required. R. Heller. Spring, 2006.

15600. Twentieth-Century Art: Modernity to Post-Modernity. For nonmajors, this course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. During the twentieth century, the visual arts underwent a series of revolutionary transformations. What conditions made for this unprecedented, dramatic, and exciting development? What and who make up a Cubist collage, an abstract image, a Dada photomontage, a Pop Art combine, a Minimalist object, or an art performance? We view a selection of works by artists ranging from Pablo Picasso and Wassily Kandisky to Andy Warhol and Cindy Sherman. M. Ward. Spring.

16100. Art of Asia: China. (=CHIN 16100, EALC 16100) For nonmajors, this course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. This course is an introduction to the arts of China focusing on the bronze vessels of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the Chinese appropriation of the Buddha image, and the evolution of landscape and figure painting traditions. We consider objects in contexts (from the archaeological sites from which they were unearthed to the material culture that surrounded them) to reconstruct the functions and the meanings of objects, and to better understand Chinese culture through the objects it produced. H. Wu. Winter.

16800. Arts of Japan. (=EALC 16806, JAPN 16806) For nonmajors, this course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. The purpose of the course is two-fold: (1) to introduce students to a select group of significant monuments in Japanese arts and to the unique aesthetic, cultural, and historical issues that frame them, and (2) to present the main issues in the study of art history and the various methods that art historians use in order to analyze and interpret objects of art. H. Thomsen. Spring.

17000 through 18999. Art in Context. For nonmajors, any ARTH 17000 through 18999 course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Students must attend first class to confirm enrollment. Courses in this series investigate basic methods of art historical analysis and apply them to significant works of art studied within definite contexts. Works of art are placed in their intellectual, historical, cultural, or more purely artistic settings in an effort to indicate the origins of their specific achievements. An informed appreciation of the particular solutions offered by single works and the careers of individual artists emerges from the detailed study of classic problems within Western and non-Western art.

17104. Chinoiserie and the Art of the China Trade. For nonmajors, this course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. This course is a chronological survey of the fine and the decorative arts produced in China for the European and American markets. We cover the time period from the establishment of the Portuguese trade with China in 1514 to the present. Visits to local collections, galleries, or museums may be required. J. Purtle. Spring.

17204. Japan and Its Ceramic Arts. For nonmajors, this course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. This course examines Japanese ceramics and aesthetic, cultural, and historical issues as seen through various art historical methods. The twentieth-century mingei ceramic collection of the Smart Museum of Art is a key focus of the course. H. Thomsen. Winter.

17304. Early Modern Prints and Print Culture. For nonmajors, this course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Conducted in conjunction with the Smart museum exhibition "Paper Museums," this course examines the cultural and artistic effects of the technological revolution of the printed image in the fifteenth through the eighteenth centuries (the "early modern" period) in Europe, with additional reference to the uses of prints in and of the Americas and Asia. We examine how the reproducibility of the image, and the specific qualities of the printed image, affected ways in which people experienced visual culture and culture in general. R. Zorach. Winter.

17604. Monuments and the Practice of Memorializing. For nonmajors, this course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. This course examines the role of war memorials in modern societies, with a focus on the politics and practices of memorializing, using case studies from not only Japan, but also Europe and the United States. We also investigate problems associated with creating memorials, particularly for wars that did not end with a victory, and for civilian victims of war. The course begins with an examination of the contemporary debates surrounding Yasukuni Shrine and the controversial proposals for an alternative monument that would memorialize all victims of the Asia-Pacific War. Students then present proposals for solving the so-called "Yasukuni problem" through their own synthesis of the issues and possibilities covered in class. A. Tanaka-O'Brian. Autumn.

17700. Nineteenth-Century Art in the Art Institute. For nonmajors, this course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. This course introduces students to the methods and issues of art history through detailed consideration of selected works at the Art Institute of Chicago. We concentrate on nineteenth-century French art, including painting, sculpture, prints, and drawings. These are areas particularly well represented in the museum's collections. Visits to local collections required. M. Ward. Spring, 2006.

17903. 1900 in the Smart Museum. For nonmajors, this course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Focusing on the modern collections of the Smart Museum, this course aims to introduce students to basic problems and issues in art history. We consider various media (i.e., painting, sculpture, prints) and issues associated with them in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Likely topics to be discussed include Cubism and the representation of time aand space in painting; changing notions of the public monument in the United States; the graphic arts and social commentary in twentieth- century Germany. Most classes are held in the Smart Museum and are devoted to discussions about specific works. M. Ward. Winter.

18000. Photography and Film. For nonmajors, this course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. This course serves as an introduction to the history of art by concentrating on some fundamental issues in the history of photography and film and covers both still photography and film. The central theme concerns the way in which photographs and films have been understood and valued during the past 164 years. We begin with some of the earliest views about what photographs are and then take a look at some attempts to make photographs worthy of being called works of art. We then review some early and recent theoretical statements about film as art in conjunction with viewing some motion pictures. The aim of the course is to familiarize students with the history of photography and film using some of the critical tools we have for understanding art. J. Snyder. Autumn.

18204. Film and Visual Analysis: Weimar Cinema. For nonmajors, this course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. During the Weimar period in Germany, film directors, set designers, and camera operators collaborated to create a series of film with the goal of expressinig narrative situations, emotions of characters emotions, and a brooding sense of atmosphere through visual cinematic means, especially composition and editing. The focus of this core course is on looking at and on analyzing these films in terms of visual meaning. Films include The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The Golem, Nosferatu, Destiny, Bibelungen, The Last Laugh, Pandora's Box, The Three Penny Opera, and M. T. Gunning. Spring.

The following courses do not meet the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts.

20000. Introduction to Film Analysis. (=CMST 10100, COVA 25400, ENGL 10800, ISHU 20000) For course description, see Cinema and Media Studies. J. Stewart. Autumn.

22004/32004. Medieval Chinese Visual Culture. (=EALC 23206, CHIN 23206/33206) This course is a survey of the visual culture of Medieval China, focused on the themes of alienation and assimilation. We investigate changing paradigms of urban planning and architecture, idealization of landscape in gardening and painting, canon formation in Chinese calligraphy, and the emergence of a distinctively Chinese Buddhist art. J. Purtle. Spring.

22304. Death and Agency: Funerary Arts of Africa. This course considers art and architecture that commemorate the dead. Students interrogate the idea of "ancestors" as a category inherited from anthropology and rehearsed in art historical narratives about rites of passage. The particular ways that distinct groups have sought to depict deceased relatives, culture heroes, and the royal dead are examined through such diverse funerary arts as altars, mummies, sculptures, textiles, stelae, graveposts, coffins, and reliquaries. How these works encourage or discourage acts of devotion, consecration, or secondary burial is of central concern. J. Levin. Spring

22404/32404. The Medieval. C. Hahn. Spring

22700/32700. High Renaissance Painting in Florence and Rome. PQ: Any 10000-level ARTH or COVA course, or consent of instructor. This course concentrates on Loeonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael, the outsized figures of what has been considered the culminating moment of the Renaissance in Florence and Rome. Special attention is given to the writings and drawings of the major artists as a means of interpreting their creative intentions. C. Cohen. Autumn.

22804. Utopias. (=BPRO 25301, COVA 25301, ENGL 25302, HUMA 25350, ISHU 25350) PQ: Any 10000-level ARTH course or COVA course, or consent of instructor. Third- or fourth-year standing. For course description, see Big Problems. L. Berlant, R. Zorach. Spring, 2005.

23004/33004. The Devotional Body in the Northern Renaissance. PQ: Any 10000-level ARTH or COVA course, or consent of instructor. This course examines religious art and visual culture of northern Europe during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Any introduction to the major works of art of this period necessarily centers on visual representation of the body, and we focus on Books of Hours, major panel paintings, tombs and other devotional ensembles, and popular prints. R. Zorach. Winter.

25104. Refiguring the Nation: Race, Culture, and Revolution in Mexico. This course explores the debates regarding indigenism, the revaluation and fostering of native values and culture in pre- and post-revolutionary Mexico. We examine the development of indigenism in response to social Darwinist theories of race promoted by the pre-revolutionary regime of Porfirio Diaz and to the needs of the revolutionary state; the key research and writings of archeologist and ethnographer Manuel Gamio and writer and politician José Vasconcelos; the visual shaping of this discourse through the incorporation of indigenous and mestizo subjects in visual art, from caste and academic painting to the Mexican mural movement; and the numerous literary works associated with indigenism. D. Miliotes. Autumn.

25600/35600. Ancients and Moderns. PQ: Any 10000-level ARTH or COVA course, or consent of instructor. This course explores major aspects of European art from the time of the wars of the Spanish succession to the terror. We emphasize the integration of key artistic issues (e.g., the disintegration of the hierarchy of the genres, the rise of primitivism, the evolution of the concept of genius, the development of an aesthetic of the sketch) with the intellectual background of the pre- and post-Englightenment periods. The growth of a sense of history, with its attendant debates concerning the virtues of antiquity and modernity, is of central importance. B. Stafford. Winter.

25900/35900. Theories of Media. (=CMST 27800/37800, COVA 25400, ENGL 12800/32800, ISHU 21800, MAPH 34300) PQ: Any 10000-level ARTH or COVA course, or consent of instructor. For course description, see English Language and Literature. W. J. T. Mitchell. Winter, 2006.

26400/36400. History of Photography, 1800 to 1950. (=COVA 26300, HIPS 25300) This course studies in detail the invention of the photographic system as a confluence of art practice and technology. The aesthetic history of photography is traced from 1839 through the present. Special emphasis is placed on the critical writing of P. H. Emerson, Erwin Panofsky, Alfred Stieglitz, Lewis Mumford, Susan Sontag, and Michael Fried. J. Snyder. Winter. Offered 2005-06; not offered 2004-05.

26700/36700. Manifestations of Modernism: The Year 1913. (=COVA 26800/36800) PQ: Any 10000-level ARTH or COVA course, or consent of instructor. Around 1913, classical Modernism reached its apogee in the visual arts. The tendencies that had emerged beginning in the late nineteenth century matured, and major innovations (ranging from the invocation of abstraction in painting and sculpture to the further subversion of traditional art concepts in the "ready-made") reached systematic formulations. Using several exhibitions as a focus, this course explores critically the varieties of Modernist work, reception, and theory. R. Heller. Autumn.

26900/36900. Perspectives on Imaging. (=BIOS 02927, BPRO 27000, CMST 27300/37300, HIPS 24801) For course description, see Biological Sciences. B. Stafford, L. Riviere. Autumn, 2005.

27104/37104. American Graphic Design and Commercial Culture, 1870 to 1960. (=HIST 27101/37101) For course description, see History. N. Harris. Autumn.

27304/37304. Photography, Modernism, Esthetics. PQ: Any 10000-level ARTH or COVA course, or consent of instructor. J. Snyder. Winter.

27904/37904. Philosophy and Film. (=COVA 27904/37904, PHIL 21801) For course description, see Philosophy. J. Conant, J. Snyder. Autumn.

28004/38004. Russian Modernism, Films, Art, and Books (=CMST 24501/34501, COVA 24501/34501) For course description, see Cinema and Media Studies. Y. Tsivian. Spring, 2005.

28104/38104. The Detective and Crime Film. (=CMST 25101/35101) For course description, see Cinema and Media Studies. T. Gunning. Spring, 2005.

28300/38300. Chinese Scroll Painting. (=CHIN 28306/38306, EALC 28306) This course has two interrelated purposes: first, it surveys the history of portable painting in traditional China from the third to the nineteenth centuries. Second, this survey has a strong focus on the relationship between a painting's format (i.e., material, form, viewing conventions) and painted images. Students are expected to become familiar with the general development of Chinese painting and also to develop abilities to analyze individual works closely. H. Wu. Winter.

28500/38500. History of International Cinema I: Silent Era. (=CMST 28500/48500, COVA 26500, ENGL 29300/47800, MAPH 33600) This is the first part of a two-quarter course. The two parts may be taken individually, but taking them in sequence is helpful. For course description, see Cinema and Media Studies. T. Gunning. Winter.

28600/38600. History of International Cinema II: Sound Era to 1960. (=CMST 28600/48600, COVA 26600, ENGL 29600/48900, MAPH 33700) PQ: ARTH 28500/38500 strongly recommended. For course description, see Cinema and Media Studies. R. Gregg. Spring.

28704/38704. Styles of Performance and Expression from Stage to Screen. (=CMST 28400/38400, ISHU 25250) For course description, see Cinema and Media Studies. Y. Tsivian. Winter, 2005.

28804. American Art Since 1960. (=COVA 28804) PQ: Any 10000-level ARTH or COVA course, or consent of instructor. This course charts activities along the major axes of visual arts production in the U.S. since 1960. It considers marginal practices to be essential to the mainstream story. As such, major attitude changes towards the role of art in culture are charted and attention is paid to activities in key U.S. art centers outside of New York City (e.g., Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco). D. English. Winter.

28904. Antonioni's Films: Reality and Ambiguity. (=BPRO 26600, CMST 26801, HUMA 26600) PQ: Third- or fourth-year standing. For course description, see Big Problems. Y. Tsivian, B. Winstein. Winter, 2005.

29004. 55th Street. (=HUMA 25504) For course description, see Humanities. A. Stephenson. Spring, 2005.

29600. Junior Seminar: Doing Art History. Required of third-year art history majors; open to nonmajors with consent of instructor. The aim of this seminar is to build an understanding of the way art history has developed as a discipline and the range of analytic strategies it affords to students beginning to plan their own B.A. papers. Students read essays that have shaped and represent the discipline, as well as test their wider applicability and limitations. Through this process, they begin to identify the kinds of problems that most interest them in the history and criticism of art and visual culture. Students develop a formal topic proposal in a brief essay and write a final paper on scholarship in that area. K. Taylor. Winter.

29700. Reading Course. PQ: Consent of instructor and Undergraduate Program Chair. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Form. Must be taken for a quality grade. With adviser's approval, art history majors may use this course to satisfy requirements for the major, a special field, or electives. This course is designed for students in art history or advanced nonmajors whose program requirements are best met by study under a faculty member's individual supervision. The subject, course of study, and requirements are arranged with the instructor. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

29704/39704. Objects of Japanese History. (=EALC 24806, HIST 24602/34602, JAPN 24806/34806) This class examines the Boone Collection in the Field Museum as a case study in museum and collection research. The Boone Collection of more than 3,500 Japanese objects was formed after World War II. It includes objects traditionally thought of as "art" (e.g., paintings, prints) and "material culture" (e.g., textiles and daily use articles). We examine these ideas and objects not only for aesthetic, cultural, and historical issues, but also for what they tell us of the Boone Collection and of museum and collections studies in general. Texts and methods are used from both disciplines of art history and history. J. Ketelaar, H. Thomsen. Spring.

29800. Senior Seminar: Writing Workshop. Required of fourth-year art history majors. This workshop is designed to assist students in researching and writing their senior papers, for which they have already developed a topic in the Junior Seminar. Weekly meetings target different aspects of the process; students benefit from the guidance of the workshop instructors but also are expected to consult with their individual faculty advisers. At the end of the course, students are expected to have completed a first draft of the senior paper and to make an oral presentation of the project for the seminar. Autumn.

29900. Preparation for the Senior Paper. PQ: Consent of instructor and Undergraduate Program Chair. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Form. May be taken for a Pass grade with consent of instructor. This course provides guided research on the topic of the senior paper. The program of study and schedule of meetings are to be arranged with the student's senior paper adviser. Autumn, Winter, Spring.