305/MARC 323. The Themes
and Symbols of Western Art. (Excl).
Ancient and Medieval Ideologies of the Body. This course
will investigate representations of the body in the art and literature
of the Ancient Near East, Classical Antiquity, and the Western
Middle Ages. Through an exploration of such topics as nudity, virginity, celibacy, and eroticism, we will examine how the gendered
and sexualized body served as a site of changing political and religious ideologies. Our primary objects of study will be images
in a variety of media, including, whenever possible, objects from
local museums. Close readings of primary texts will supplement
our careful examination of the visual material. Throughout the
course, students will test contemporary notions of the body, gender, and sexuality against the visual and textual evidence of the pre-modern
world. Many of the images and ideas we will investigate have received
little scholarly attention, thus providing an excellent opportunity
for students to begin mapping this largely uncharted terrain.
Requirements include class participation and several short writing
assignments. (Giovino/Holcomb)
394. Special Topics. (Excl). May be elected
for credit more than once.
Taking Art to the Streets: Art as Political Action. This
course examines art that invite or encourage social awareness
and/or action. It includes a study of high art media and non-traditional
forms: performance pieces, public murals, "message"
art, and crafts. The goals of this course are to present a range
of art and art activities that have value beyond the museum or
gallery, to create a context in which gender, race and class are
essential to the study of art, and to historicize political art.
Thematically arranged around politicized issues such as race, rape and domestic violence, concepts of the body, sexual orientation, AIDS, pacifism and war, the course will rely primarily on class
discussion and slide presentations. Texts will include: Hilary
Robinson's Visibly Female, a course pack and reserve
books. Students' grades will be determined on class participation, weekly response papers and a final project or paper. Cost:2 WL:4
(Miller/Wickre)
450. Early Renaissance Art in Italy. Hist. of Art 101 or 250; or permission of instructor. (Excl).
At this offering the course will provide an introduction to Florentine painting of the fourteenth and fifteenth. Introductory lectures will treat the history and topography of Florence. Thereafter the course will explore the development of Florentine fresco and panel painting in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, beginning with Giotto's panel paintings and fresco cycles in Florence and Padua, and concluding with Leonardo da Vinci's early works. There will be a midterm examination and a final examination covering the materials treated by the lectures and in the readings. The text for the course is Frederick Hartt's History of Italian Renaissance Art. Cost:2 WL:4 (Smith)
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