English 215 - U.S. MID-CENT EXPR ART & LIT

The 1950s saw a proliferation of experiment in the visual and verbal arts in the U.S. This course focuses on two locations – Black Mountain College and New York – to explore both the range of experiments in literature (especially poetry) and art, and the interactions of writing and visual arts. Key concepts include improvisation, collaboration, abstraction, kitsch, erasure, the avant-garde, and co-optation. Key figures include Pollock, deKooning, Motherwell, Rothko, Rauschenberg, Hartigan, Frankenthaler, Cage, Olson, Creeley, Ashbery, O’Hara, Schuyler, Koch, and Guest. This course is part of a Learning Community at HCC, and will include HCC students with Smith students. Enrollment limit of 16 (8 from each institution). (E)

Instructor Permission.