ARTH 390 Seminar in Art History

A research intensive course on a topic within the history of art; coursework will include the process of researching and writing a scholarly essay and a focus on the methodologies of art historical scholarship. Required for Art History majors to fulfill third-year writing requirement. 

Colonial Urbanism: 

In this course we will examine the spatial legacy of colonial cities. The focus is on colonial urban spaces and architectural projects that were manifestations of the political economic and social relationships between the colonizers and the colonized. In relation imperialism's role - as it transpired in both the colonies and colonizing societies of Europe and the United States - will reveal the ways in which the imperial imagination was visible in physical form. Through a range of case studies including sites in former European and American colonies of Asia and the Pacific as well as former imperial centers such as London and Washington D.C. students will develop a theoretical toolkit for the critical study of urban colonial environments. 

Race Gender and Sexuality in American Art: 

This seminar will explore 19th and 20th century American art and its histories by focusing on how issues of race gender sexuality and ethnicity have shaped the practices of visual artists working in the United States. We will also consider how these issues have impacted the field of art history itself including close attention to current scholarly debates and exhibition practices. 

Giotto di Bondone (1266/7-1337)

He is arguably the most influential painter of the fourteenth century. A true revolutionary, his art changed the direction of European painting and is the fulcrum between the late middle ages and the Renaissance. This course is an intensive study of his career, both as a panel painter and as a muralist (Florence, Padua, and possibly Assisi). Students will be responsible for in-class presentations of individual works and will research a term paper engaging a scholarly controversy regarding one aspect of Giotto's art.