Course Offerings by term

Explores the adaptation of ancient art by the Christian religious establishment and the interaction of early medieval artists with the Graeco-Roman tradition. Follows the development of medieval art in the West to the Gothic period by analyzing its spiritual dimensions and diversity as well as the impact on artistic creation of the changing centers of power and influences. AH 1000 is strongly recommended as a prerequisite.

Introduces the principal arts and aesthetic issues of the 19th and 20th centuries from the French Revolution to World War II. Studies artists such as David, Turner, Monet, and Picasso, as well as movements such as Romanticism, Impressionism, and Surrealism, stressing continuities beneath apparent differences of approach. Regular museum sessions at the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay, and the Centre Pompidou. AH 1020 is strongly recommended as a prerequisite.

“Every act of creation,” said Pablo Picasso, “is first of all an act of destruction.” In the field of art, the early 20th century is undoubtedly a time of accelerated collapse for the artistic vocabulary, the values and the canon identified with the great Western tradition inherited from the Renaissance. What are the motivations of this breakdown and what kind of creation did it give rise to? This class examines the drastic transformations occurring in the field of visual arts (concentrating on painting and sculpture) from the late 19th century (impressionism, post-impressionism) to the radical passage to abstraction in the mid-1910s. This panorama of a rapidly changing art scene will end on the emergence of post–World War I avant-garde movements such as Dada and Surrealism. Major figures, such as Cézanne, Picasso or Kandinsky will be studied with particular attention, while major movements—including Cubism, Fauvism—will be given specific attention. Readings of related literature, including the critical reception of the art of the time and artists’ writings, will contribute to the understanding of this crucial period.