Art History Courses

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  • ARTHST 4 / Western Art I: Ancient and Medieval (4) - view
    This course explores the art and architecture of the ancient and medieval eras, including study of the cultures of the Mediterranean, Near East, and northern Europe. Students will master a chronological history of representation and investigate the relationship between works of art and the cultures in which they were produced. Offered fall semester. Fulfills: BA BH
  • ARTHST 5 / Western Art II: Pre-Modern and Modern (4) - view
    This course is a chronological survey of western art and architecture from the fourteenth century through the early twentieth century. It explores various geographic regions and diverse contexts, religious, social, political and economic, in which the works were made. Key art historical periods such as the Renaissance, the Baroque, and subsequent movements such as Romanticism, Impressionism, and Modernism are discussed. Students will master a chronological history of art and architecture in relation to the cultures in which they were produced. Offered spring semester.
  • ARTHST 30 / Native Arts and Archaeology of Latin America (4) - view
    This course focuses on the development and character of indigenous cultures of Latin America before the arrival of Europeans. Themes of power, economy, religion, ritual, and symbolism that uniquely characterize Latin American native societies are examined primarily through art, architecture and material culture. The course follows a topical and comparative approach drawing on data from archaeology, art history, ethnography and ethnohistory. Prerequisite: ANTH 3, 4 or permission of the instructor. Check ANTH listings for up-to-date offering times. Same as: ANTH 30. Same as: ANTH 30.
  • ARTHST 42 / Aesthetics (4) - view
    A study of a variety of questions centered upon philosophical aspects of art. Of primary concern are the notions of beauty, formalism, emotivism, criticism, expression, creation, and evaluation. Focuses on specific works of art as they serve to illuminate philosophical concerns. Check PHIL listings for up-to-date offering times. Same as: PHIL 134.
  • ARTHST 43 / History of Photography (4) - view
    This course provides a loosely chronological overview of diverse photographic production beginning with early optical devices such as the camera obscura and continuing to contemporary digital practices. Students will become familiar with various photographic processes and techniques (daguerreotypes, albumen prints, platinum prints, pinhole photography, color, and others); styles and movements (f64, street photography, post-modernism, and others); individual practitioners; and theories of photography proposed by Walter Benjamin, Roland Barthes, susan sontag, and others. We will also explore how and why the history of photography has been, only recently, integrated into the larger history of art by studying the broad, societal, and technological roles of photography. Offering to be determined.
  • ARTHST 51 / Arts of Africa and The Diaspora (4) - view
    A survey of the arts and cultures of Africa and Afro-American peoples. Focuses on the interrelationships of artistic expression and other aspects of culture. Prerequisite: ANTH 4 or permission of instructor. Check ANTH listings for up-to-date offering times. Same as: ANTH 51.
  • ARTHST 101 / Greek and Roman Art (4) - view
    This course studies the art and architecture of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, from the Bronze Age Aegean through the late imperial Roman era. The study will be chronological, with focus on topics that may include the "Greek revolution," Roman architectural innovations, social constructs and the human body, urban planning, and art and political ideology. The classical ideal and its revival may be explored, including study of the Romans as early collectors of Greek art. Offered fall semester in odd numbered years.
  • ARTHST 102 / Medieval Art (4) - view
    This course examines the art produced from the fourth through the fourteenth centuries, from late antiquity through the end of the Gothic era. Painting, architecture, and sculpture will be the main concern, with some attention also to ivories, metalwork, and textiles. Works of art will be studied in their religious, political, social, and stylistic contexts, and topics may include the adaptation of late Roman art for Christian patrons, iconoclasm, monastic art, pilgrimage, manuscript painting and ideology, and the dissemination of architectural style. Offered spring semester in odd-numbered years.
  • ARTHST 103 / Italian Renaissance Art (4) - view
    The art of the Italian Renaissance from the fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries is examined in this course. Painting, sculpture and architecture of major artistic centers such as Florence, Rome and Venice and the diverse social structure of these autonomous city-states will be the main focus. Major figures such as Brunelleschi, Masaccio, Michelangelo, Cellini, and Titian are examined in a variety of political, social, and religious contexts. Issues concerning the paragone, the changing status of the artist, artist's biographies and the construction of identity, wealth, patronage both private and public, women, and the process by which art is made and changing philosophies of conservation are some of the topics discussed. Offered spring semester in even-numbered years.
  • ARTHST 104 / Baroque and Rococo Art (4) - view
    This class concentrates on the work of the major painters, sculptors and architects of the 17th century, including Bernini, Caravaggio, Rubens, and Velazquez. French, Italian, Flemish, Netherlandish, and Spanish art is discussed in the context of historical events such as the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation. Attention is given to the growth of the city as artistic center with particular focus on: Rome, Paris, Amsterdam and Madrid. Related issues pertaining to the growth of the art market, the patron/artist relationship, the emergence of the female artist, and the "international" exchange of ideas are just some of the issues addressed in this course. Offered spring semesters in odd-numbered years.
  • ARTHST 105 / 19th-Century Art (4) - view
    This course surveys art from the late eighteenth century to the turn of the twentieth, with a focus on the social and political contexts in which works were produced, exhibited, sold and interpreted. The changing definitions of modernity and modernism in the visual arts; ideal images of masculinity and femininity; the hierarchy of artistic genres and the rise of landscape painting are among the many themes discussed. Offered spring semesters in odd-numbered years.
  • ARTHST 106 / Early 20th-Century Art (4) - view
    This course focuses on painting and sculpture in the first half of the 20th century, exploring the revolutionary styles developed during this period. Subjects discussed include artists' preoccupation with the "primitive" and the unconscious, the concept of an "avant-garde" and the rise of the artistic manifesto, and the development of abstract visual languages. Offered spring semester in odd-numbered years.
  • ARTHST 107 / American Art (4) - view
    This course provides a chronological survey of American painting and sculpture produced between the colonial period and World War I and the diverse art historical methodologies (feminism, social history and psychoanalysis, for example) that have been employed to interpret it and write its histories. Some Native American material is also included. Works of art will be situated within their broad social historical contexts and considered in light of such topics as the "Americanness" of American art and the usefulness of studying art within individual national "schools"; the place of African-American and women artists in US art history; transnational exchange with Europe; the development and role of art institutions; the connections between American art and literature; and the relationship between art and national identity. Offered every third year in spring semester.
  • ARTHST 108 / Islamic Art (4) - view
    This course examines the history of ten centuries of Islamic art and architecture both chronologically and thematically. It begins with a study of medieval Islamic art of the Near East and Mediterranean, examining major themes and regional variations. Study will then shift to select monuments of Islamic art from the fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries. The focus may include architecture and manuscript painting, with some attention also to metalwork, pottery, and textiles. Issues considered may include: Islamic aesthetic attitudes, definitions of Islamic art, adaptations of a late antique artistic vocabulary, cross-cultural influence, architecture and ritual, and ideology and style in manuscript painting Offered spring semester in even numbered years.
  • ARTHST 112 / Arts of Asia (4) - view
    This course focuses on a special theme or period in Asian art, such as Chinese traditions and their modern expressions, the East Asian nature traditions, and arts of India. Course may be repeated. Offered spring semester in even-numbered years.
  • ARTHST 118 / Seminar in Art History: (3) - view
    Examination of an artist, period, or special art historical problem, sometimes involving preparation of an exhibition for the Korn Gallery. Topics such as Art and REligion, Secular Arts of the Middle Ages, Symbolism and the 1890's, Abstract and Sign in Twentieth Centlury Art, and Sex, Gender, and Power in Japanese Art. For advanced students. Research paper required. Signature of instructor required for registration. Prerequisite: Arthst 4 or 5 and permission of the instructor.
  • ARTHST 119 / Special Topics in Art History (4) - view
    A topic or period of art history not covered by regular offerings. May be repeated for credit as topic changes. Course may be repeated. Offering to be determined.
  • ARTHST 142 / Museum Study (1) - view
    May be taken in conjunction with any upper-level art history course for additional systematic study of originals in area museums. Papers, projects, and/or augmentation of the regular term paper are expected as a result of this study. Signature of instructor required for registration. Offered every semester.
  • ARTHST 143 / Museums and Society (4) - view
    This course explores the intersection of the museum and its public with a focus on the rise of the museum in the late eighteenth century and its development up to the present day. Why were museums created, and what purposes do these institutions serve? What values do they project? Such questions are addressed through selected case studies and readings of key theoretical texts in the field. Analysis of current museum and gallery exhibitions, discussion of such issues as the role of government, the interdependence of museums and the art market, and debates over repatriation, restitution and looting or theft will also be addressed. Corequisite: Must register for Arthst 143L. Offered spring semester in even-numbered years. Same as: ANTH 143.
  • ARTHST 143L / MUSEUMS AND SOCIETY LAB () - view
    No description is available for this course. Corequisite: Must register for Arthst 143. Same as: ANTH 143L.
  • ARTHST 144 / Colloquium in Art History (4) - view
    A course primarily based on student discussion, reading, argumentation, and presentation. Topics will vary and might include: Rivalry in the Renaissance: Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo; Bernini and the Visual Arts; Symbolism and the 1890s; Figurative Art of the 1940s-1980s. The colloquium will introduce students to various research methods, the scholarship related to the particular topic of the course. Students will become familiar with the variety of sources available and learn to access, assess and utilize them in a critical fashion. Course may be repeated. Signature of instructor required for registration. Offered every year.
  • ARTHST 147 / Art History Research Seminar (4) - view
    Topics vary. Reading and discussion of primary texts and scholarship pertinent to a special topic, such as Michelangelo, decorative ensembles of the 16th and 17th centuries, Symbolism and the 1890s, and Abstract Art. When possible, seminar topics are linked to a special exhibition on view in New York City. Seminars involve an in-depth study of the historiography and the scholarship related to a particular topic resulting in the ability to recognize and employ a variety of art historical methodologies and theories and contribute original research to the field through a final research paper or project. Course may be repeated. Offered every year.
  • ARTHST 150 / Independent Study in Art (1-4) - view
    Under special circumstances, an advanced student majoring in Art History may plan, in conference with the instructor and with approval of the department, a closely supervised independent project in art criticism, museology, or art history, not otherwise provided in the courses of instruction. Written proposal and paper required. Amount of credit established at time of registration. Course may be repeated. Signature of instructor required for registration. Offered annually.

DREW OFF-CAMPUS PROGRAMS

  • ARTHST 116 / History of African Art and Architecture: Mali (4) - view
    The visual traditions and cultural practices of the Bamana, Dogon and Tuareg are examined. Students view exceptional traditional architecture in the towns, especially ancient mosques, and visit artists' workshops to view the arts and observe the techniques of craftsmanship in the areas of sculpture, metalwork, fabric arts, and pottery. Arrangements are made for students to view traditional dance ceremonies in which masks and other forms of art are used. Check ANTH listings for up-to-date offering times.
  • ARTHST 145 / New York Semester on Contemporary Art (4-8) - view
    The New York Semester on Contemporary Art offers students the unique and exciting opportunity to learn about the ongoing history of art since 1945 through the combination of reading, class presentation and discussion, and visits to artists' studios, museum and gallery exhibitions and public art projects. By pursuing each of these paths of discovery students learn about the major movements associated with the postwar period (Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Minimalism, Feminist Art, and others) as well as overarching themes of expression (identity, for example), changing processes and modes of making, interpretive methodologies, expanding definitions of art, relationships between art theory and practice, and the roles of art institutions and cultural workers (critics, curators, historians) in mediating our experience of contemporary art. Amount of credit established at the time of registration. Amount of credit established at time of registration. Prerequisite: ARTHST 106. Offered fall semester.