Art History 721 - 19th Century Paintng & Sculptr

In this course we will explore imitation, repetition, and appropriation in nineteenth-century art. The doctrine of imitation - the desire to imitate and surpass classical art - guided generations of European artists from the Renaissance until the end of the eighteenth century. Our seminar will focus on a radical transformation in definition of artistic originality that was at the heart of ambitious French art in the nineteenth century, one which produced complex blends of academic models of imitation with modernist forms of repetition (such as the notion of a series). The course will explore repetition and imitation as strategies of originality through a close study of works in a variety of media by some of the major figures of French art from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth century, including David, Ingres, Delacroix, Gerome, Manet, Monet, Pissarro, Cezanne, Rodin, and Picasso. The variety of styles covered by these artists - including orientalism, romanticism, neo-classicism, academic art, and modernism - will enable us to discover the commonalities, rather than differences, among them. Our study will culminate at a brief look at contemporary forms of repetition, parody, and appropriation in order to highlight the enduring influence of nineteenth-century artistic practices on the present.

Ecocritical Perspectives on the Art and Visual Culture of the Long 19th Century: This graduate seminar examines how modern empires in Europe and the Middle East reimagined and reshaped the natural world under the logic of extractive ecologies and capitalist practices during the long 19th century. Looking at painting, prints, and photography, cartography and natural history illustrations, we will trace the broader colonial project of transforming nature into an economic asset, and examine artistic and visual cultural responses to the pressures of capitalist extraction, industrialization, and colonial domination.