ARTH 389 Modern and Contemporary Art

This course will explore the diverse forms of visual culture - painting, sculpture, photography, installation, performance, and video - produced after 1945. Through clusters of thematic and monographic lectures, we will investigate questions about artistic identity, the status and function of art in the post-World War II period, and the changing nature of avant-garde (and neo avant-garde) practices in the wake of the social cultural and economic changes of the 1960's and 1970's. Post-industrial society new movements advocating civil rights, feminism, and environmentalism will form the cultural backdrop of our work, as will more focused investigations of postmodernism critical theory's increasingly central role in artistic culture and a burgeoning global network of artistic and cultural exchange and contestation. In addition to presenting a selective history of visual culture after 1945, this course will explore how changing ideas about race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and cultural identity have impacted the art and criticism of the period under consideration. At least one field trip to a gallery or museum will be required.