ARTH 103     Survey of Western Art I  (4)

A survey of the architecture, sculpture, painting, and decorative arts of the West from prehistory to the end of the Middle Ages.

ARTH 104     Survey of Western Art II  (4)

A continuation of ARTH 103, beginning with the art of the Italian Renaissance and concluding with the major artistic developments of the 20th century.

ARTH 107     The Films of Alfred Hitchcock  (4)

Rear Window will serve as a model for Hitchcock's persistent interest in climactic chases, claustrophobic locations, sexual voyeurism, ironic humor, and a sense of the inevitability of fate. Analysis of other Hitchcock films from the late twenties to the mid sixties will emphasize the director's treatment of editing, framing, sound, and mis en scene. Students will become familiar with a variety of critical approaches and with cultural and historical influences on Hitchcock's work.

ARTH 202     History of Photography  (4)

This course introduces students to the history of photography, from the invention of the medium in the 1830s to recent practices of photographers and artists working with a wide variety of photographic technologies. Emphasis is given to key artist, artistic movements, and theories of photography, as well as to visual literacy and familiarity with the multiple genres and social functions of photographic image production.

ARTH 206     History of Architecture  (4)

A critical and historical survey of architecture from antiquity to the present day. This course focuses on major developments in the West, with consideration of Islamic influences. Representative monuments are used to introduce the student to construction techniques, architectural theory, and interpretation of the built environment. Prerequisite: ARTH 103.

ARTH 207     The Arts of Asia  (4)

A survey of the visual arts of India, China, Japan, and neighboring countries from prehistory to the present. The major monuments consisting of architecture, sculpture, and painting are discussed. Both indigenous and cross-cultural aspects of each art work are examined in the light of style, iconography, and historical context.

ARTH 210     Islamic Art and Architecture  (4)

A survey of the origins, characteristics, and development of Islamic art, approached by considering productions ranging from architecture to sumptuary arts. This course covers the early formation and definition of Islamic art during the Ummayad and Abbasid periods and later phases of splendor in late Medieval and Modern eras. It includes the art and architecture of Fatimids, Mamluks, Saljuks, Ottomans, Ilkhanids, Timurids, and Safavids, in areas stretching from the Iberian Peninsula and northern Africa to India.

ARTH 212     American Animation, 1910-1960  (4)

A chronological examination of the most significant and influential short and full-length animated features made in the United States between 1910 and 1960. This course begins with the experiments of Winsor McCay ("Little Nemo," 1911) and ends with the rise of made-for-television cartoon in early 1960s. Emphasis is placed both on major studios in New York, Kansas City, and Los Angeles and on pioneering directors and animators working in those studios. The course also situates the work of those studios, directors, and animators within the larger contexts of twentieth century American history and popular culture.

ARTH 252     Imagining the City in the Age of Dante  (4)

This course explores the ways medieval Italian city-dwellers imagined and shaped their communities and civic identities in art, architecture, literature, and legislation, with a focus on vibrant thirteenth and fourteenth century urban centers like Siena, Florence, and Padua. Medieval Italian urbanites deployed complex strategies to imagine and realize their civic ideals. Art, architecture, and urban planning had essential roles to play, as communities, institutions, and religious orders sought to define themselves in an accessible visual language, and as organizations, families, and private citizens imagined and represented their own roles in relation to their communities.

ARTH 307     Japanese Art  (4)

A survey of the visual arts of Japan from prehistory to the present, including a discussion of the stylistic, historical and social significance of major art works in a variety of media including architecture, sculpture, painting, prints, ceramics, and gardens. Japanese ways of thinking, as well as the cross-cultural issues reflected in each art work, will also be discussed.

ARTH 310     Far East in American Visual Culture  (4)

An examination of the American fascination with and assimilation of art and culture of the "Far East" as demonstrated by japonisme in Victorian America, Zen in contemporary art, as well as Orientalism in popular culture. While emphasis is on painting, a variety of media (including architecture, sculpture, decorative arts, prints, photography, and film) are discussed. The ideological, religious, and social issues are addressed along with the stylistic and aesthetic ones. Prerequisite: One course in art history, Asian studies or American studies.

ARTH 312     Greek and Roman Art and Architecture  (4)

A chronological survey of the painting, sculpture, and architecture of the Greek, and Hellenistic worlds and Roman Empire from the eighth century B.C.E. to the fourth century C.E. While emphasizing stylistic developments, political and cultural contexts will also be examined. Prerequisite: ARTH 103 or HUMN 101 or HUMN 102 or HUMN 103.

ARTH 317     Approaches to Art History  (4)

This writing-intensive seminar addresses the history and methods of art history by exploring its philosophical development. The current state of the discipline as it negotiates the theoretical challenges of poststructuralism and postmodernism will also be explored. Written and oral assignments develop the students' research and communication skills. Open only to students pursuing programs in art history. Prerequisite: ARTH 103 and ARTH 104.

ARTH 318     Spanish Medieval Art  (4)

A survey of Spanish art from the Visigothic period through the fifteenth century. Topics to include pre-Romanesque, Romanesque, Gothic, and Mudejar art in the Christian realms as well as the Spanish-Muslim art of Al Andalus. Special attention will be given to medieval Iberia as the crucible of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish cultures.

ARTH 320     Medieval Art and Architecture  (4)

The art and architecture of Western Europe from the late Roman Empire to the dawn of the Renaissance. Emphasis will be placed on the development of monumental architecture and the regional peculiarities of sculpture, painting, and the minor arts over the course of this thousand-year period. Prerequisite: ARTH 103 or HUMN 102.

ARTH 322     Art and Devotion in Late Medieval and Early Modern Northern Europe  (4)

This seminar explores the devotional art, literature, and thought of northern Europe in the late thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. Manuscript illumination and female piety will be especially emphasized. Prerequisite: ARTH 103 or ARTH 104 or HUMN 102.

ARTH 325     Italian Renaissance Art and Architecture  (4)

A survey of painting, sculpture, and architecture in Italy from the late 13th to the close of the 16th century. While the artists and monuments of Florence, Rome, and Venice will be the principal foci, important developments in other centers will also be considered. Prerequisite: ARTH 103 or ARTH 104 or HUMN 102 or HUMN 104.

ARTH 326     Northern Renaissance Art  (4)

A study of northern European art from the early 14th to the late 16th centuries. While the course will concentrate on Flemish and German panel painting, attention will also be paid to French and Flemish manuscript illumination as well as to Netherlandish sculpture. Prerequisite: ARTH 103 or ARTH 104 or HUMN 102.

ARTH 332     Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Art  (4)

This course will address painting, sculpture, and architecture of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe within a variety of social, historical, stylistic, and theoretical contexts in order better to understand the role and meaning of the visual arts in this period. Prerequisite: ARTH 104 or HUMN 202.

ARTH 333     French Art  (4)

A survey of French painting, sculpture, and architecture from the early seventeenth century to the end of the eighteenth century. Emphasis is placed on the founding of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, the artistic program of Louis XIV, the development of the rococo style, and the emergence of sensibilité and a new moralizing art in the years leading to the French Revolution. Prerequisite: ARTH 104 or HUMN 104 or HUMN 201.

ARTH 335     Nineteenth-Century Art  (4)

A survey of European painting and sculpture from the 1780s to 1900, with an emphasis on the social and political contexts in which the works were created. While the focus is on the art of France, that of Germany, Spain, and England is also discussed. Prerequisite: ARTH 104 or HUMN 202.

ARTH 338     British Art  (4)

A survey of British art from the late 17th to the close of the 19th century. Emphasis will be on painting; sculpture, architecture, and landscape design will be considered as well. Prerequisite: ARTH 104.

ARTH 340     American Art  (4)

A survey of painting, sculpture, and architecture in the United States from the Colonial period to 1913, with an emphasis on the relationship between American and European art and artists. Other topics considered include the development of art institutions in this country, in particular art museums and academies. Prerequisite: ARTH 104 or HUMN 202.

ARTH 345     Modern Art  (4)

This course examines various trends in Western art from the 1860s through the 1950s. The role of the visual arts and the means of their production and reception underwent tremendous change during this period. Critics and historians have long referred to this century as the era of modernism. Understood variously as a stylistic, philosophic, social, political, or economic category, the notion of modernism and the significance of this concept for the visual arts provides a guiding theme for lectures and in-class discussions.

ARTH 346     Contemporary Art  (4)

An examination of the critical and thematic issues raised by visual artists working during the second half of the twentieth century. The changing definition of modernism and its relationship to contemporary artistic practice will be analyzed. Toward this end, the class will seek to define modernism and postmodernism as well as some of the myriad other isms that have emerged in art and critical theory over the past fifty years.

ARTH 348     Reframing Architecture and the Decorative Arts: Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, and Art Deco  (4)

A survey of three major modern art movements in Europe and the United States, in which architecture and the decorative arts became inseparable: Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, and Art Deco. This course explores the concept of decoration through stylistic, aesthetic, technological, and sociocultural readings of the works associated with those movements. Related art and architectural movements such as Victorian Gothic, American Renaissance, Aestheticism, De Stijl, Purism, and Bauhaus are discussed for contextualization of art works in question. Prerequisite: ARTH 104 or HUMN 202.

ARTH 350     Spanish Painting  (4)

A critical and historical survey of Spanish painting from the sixteenth through twentieth century, this course focuses on major artists against the backdrop of Spain's unique cultural traditions.

ARTH 351     Conceptual Art  (4)

A critical and historical approach to Conceptual art from its origins in the mid-1960s to the present. Lectures and discussions explore aesthetic, social, and political issues raised by Conceptualism as well as strategies these artists have in common including the use of readymade imagery, documentary photography, language, and performance. Artist writings and critical reception to the works of art are emphasized. Prerequisite: ARTH 104 or HUMN 202.

ARTH 360     Pop Art  (4)

This seminar charts the development of Pop Art in North America and Europe between 1960 and 1973, investigating why art made by a diverse group of artists, using a variety of aesthetic techniques, is labeled “pop.” Lectures and discussions explore stylistic, social, and political issues raised by Pop as well as features that diverse Pop practices show in common—including the use of readymade imagery, photography, text, and performance. The seminar concludes by tracing Pop art’s influence on work from the late 1970s to the present. Prerequisite: ARTH 104 or HUMN 202.

ARTH 365     Modern and Postmodern Architecture  (4)

This survey of architecture and urban planning begins with the revivalist architecture of the nineteenth century and concludes with global contemporary practice, exploring along the way efforts to formulate a “modern” architecture and subsequent postmodern critiques. Students are introduced to significant figures like Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Jane Jacobs, Frank Gehry, Michael Graves, and Zaha Hadid, and to significant themes in modern and postmodern architectural practice, like the archetype of architect as hero, architecture as social engineering, and architecture as spectacle. Students thus learn of essential reference points for understanding our built environment and its discourse.

ARTH 370     Art in Germany: 1919-1933  (4)

This course examines artistic production in Germany within the social and political context of the Weimar Republic between 1919 and 1933. The course investigates Expressionism, the “anti-art” theories espoused by Dada artists, and the formal characteristics of New Objectivity painting under the influence of photography. The art and politics of the Bauhaus are explored in detail, including the practices of painting, architecture, and industrial design. The course concludes with consideration of the rapid change in leadership and direction at the Bauhaus and its closing at the hands of the Nazis.

ARTH 402     Senior Seminar  (4)

A seminar designed to introduce students to the research methods and interpretive approaches of art history. Written as well as oral assignments develop students' research and communication skills. Each year the seminar focuses on a specific historical, cultural, or thematic topic chosen by the instructor. Open only to seniors pursuing majors in art history. Prerequisite: ARTH 103 and ARTH 104.

ARTH 440     Independent Study  (2 or 4)

Permission of the instructor required. Prerequisite: Professor consent and prerequisite override required.

ARTH 490     Artistic Centers of Western Europe: Their Art and Architecture, Museums and Monuments  (4)

The travel-study portion of Track Two of European Studies includes a month-long exploration of the Continent including, in France, Paris, Chartres and Beaune; in Italy, Rome, Siena, Florence, Padua, Venice and Ravenna; in Germany, Nurnberg, Bamberg and Munich; in Belgium, Bruges and Ghent; and concludes with a week in London, including a study visit to the National Gallery. Each student produces a daily academic journal and should acquire the ability to look at a building, a painting, or a sculpture and understand its period, its function, the materials and techniques used in its production, as well as the artist's intentions. This course is only available through the European Studies Program.

ARTH 492     Western Europe: Middle Ages and the Renaissance  (4)

This course provides a broad-based, chronological survey of the art and architecture of Western Europe, from the emergence of Christian art in the early fourth century to the development of Mannerism at the end of the Renaissance. Many of the themes and works of art that are explored further on the Continental tour are introduced. Slide lectures trace the general developments of style throughout the period, set within their historical contexts, and focus on individual buildings, manuscripts, pieces of sculpture, metal work or paintings as case studies of technique or patronage. Visits to the Bodleian Library and Ashmolean Museum in Oxford enable students to view examples of the objects studied in the course. This course is only available through the European Studies Program.

ARTH 494     Greece, the Eastern Aegean, and Italy: the Monuments and Centers of Classical Civilization  (4)

The travel-study portion of Track One of European Studies includes a month-long exploration of the Continent including, in Greece, Athens, Delphi, Olympia and the islands of Crete, Santorini (Thera) and Delos; in Turkey, Istanbul, Troy, Aspendos and Didyma; in Italy, Naples, Rome, the Vatican City; and concludes with a week in London, including a study visit to the British Museum. Each student produces a daily academic journal and should acquire the ability to look at a building or a sculpture and understand its period, its function, the materials and techniques used in its production as well as the artist's intentions. This course is only available through the European Studies Program.

ARTH 495     Spanish Art, Western Art, and the Road to Santiago  (4)

An approach to Western Art, particularly Spanish, in connection with the development of the pilgrimage road to Santiago, starting from its origins in early Christianity, focusing on medieval art, and discussing its persistence in the Modern Era. Special emphasis will be given to the importance of multidisciplinary studies concerning the subject. This course is only available through the Sewanee Summer in Spain program. Prerequisite: Approval of the Sewanee Summer in Spain program director.

ARTH 496     Islamic Spain and Spanish Art  (4)

A survey of Spanish Muslim art from the Emirate to the Nasrid period (8th to 15th centuries), including extensive discussion of the main monuments such as the mosque at Cordoba and the Alhambra palace of Granada. The course examines the presence and persistence of Islamic influence on Spanish Christian art of the late Middle Ages and the modern era. Special attention is given to Mudejar art.

ARTH 497     Europe: A Community in the Arts  (4)

This art history course emphasizes the relationships and interactions between Spain and the other Western European countries as well as Spain as a cultural and artistic bridge between Europe and North Africa and between Europe and the New World. It includes visits to museums, monuments and cultural institutions in Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Morocco with special attention to art collections, collecting and their origins. Selected moments and artworks connected with the fundamental topics of the course are discussed, including examples from Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque times. This course is only available through the Sewanee Semester in Spain program.