Art History 102 - Art in the Premodern World

If creativity is what makes us human, then art has special power to connect us to people of the distant past. This course traces key instances of creative expression from antiquity through the Middle Ages, when art as such was not yet a distinct concept and museums did not exist. Instructors choose case studies from different cultures and periods that touch on fundamental themes of human experience such as ritual, belief, and death. Students learn to analyze objects, images, and built environments in light of their visual and material properties, social contexts, and place in the larger history of human creativity.