This seminar surveys modernism's long engagement with the totally designed domestic interior from the totally designed domestic interior from the 19th century gesamtkunstwerk to the remarkable 20th century interiors of Frank Lloyd Wright and Eileen Grey to the electronic, media saturated environments of the 1960s anticipated by critic Reyner Banham and beyond. The theoretical writings of Walter Benjamin, Henri Lefebrve, Tonino Griffero and others will inform discussions.

This course surveys the art of China's modern age, beginning in the mid-nineteenth century with the treaty port cultures following the second Opium War in 1860, and ending with the 2008 Olympics. Topics include urban print cultures, modern ink painting, Sino-Japanese exchanges, arts institutions, popular and mass culture, socialist state art, experimental art and exhibitions in the Reform era, and art of the diaspora.

The concept of landscape, or "mountains and waters" (shanshui), was a central preoccupation for Chinese artists, viewers, and collectors. Focusing primarily the ninth to the eighteenth centuries, this course surveys historical changes in representations of nature through paintings produced for tombs, the imperial court, scholars, and merchants, but also through the decorative arts, private gardens, and imperial grounds.

This lecture course examines the history of the modernist movement from 1914 to the present in relationship to the primary ideologies of the 20th and 21st centuries, socialism, capitalism, and globalism. It considers the work of the founding figures - Wright, Mies, Gropius and Le Corbusier - and significant themes such as the individual vs. the collective; European vs. American approaches; modernism beyond the West; and the impact of popular culture and new technologies.

This course is an introduction to the art produced in Latin America and by people of Latin American descent, from 1800 to the present. Organized chronologically, the course emphasizes the essential role that art and visual culture have played in the political, social, and religious spheres of Latin America since the wars of independence, as well as the way art is mobilized by Latinx people in the United States.

Addresses the history of contemporary art since 1980 from a western perspective, but in a global context. Introduces students to major issues in contemporary art and criticism such as conceptualism, new media, earth art, postmodernism, neo-expressionism, institutional critique, identity politics, political interventions, installation art, ecology, globalization, relational aesthetics, and the role of consumerism and the art market.

This course explores European art and visual culture in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with an emphasis on painting, sculpture, drawing, prints, and photography. We begin with the festive yet decadent Rococo, which leaves its place to Neoclassicism's utopian search for a new world in the second half of the eighteenth century. We then investigate the emergence of Romanticism from a deep disappointment with Enlightenment ideals as it transforms into a fascination with the dark recesses of the human psyche.

The development of the visual arts in the major artistic centers of Italy during the 16th century, including Florence, Rome, Venice, Mantua, Ferrara, Parma, and Bologna. The lives and works of specific artists, such as Leonardo, Raphael, Titian, and Michelangelo.

This course probes the construction of identity and its various expressions in the domestic architecture, wall painting and portraiture of the ancient Romans. We will examine the way the Roman house reflects notions of Romanness through its plan, orientation, and programs of the illusionistic frescoes; we will also study the rhetoric of Roman portraits, with particular attention to the representation of aristocrats and the imperial family. If time permits, we will also explore those of the Vestal Virgins, Rome's premier priestesses.

This practicum introduces students to the field of art museum studies. Topics may include the history of the art museum, collections management, exhibition and curatorial practices, museum and curatorial ethics, writing and digital technologies for museums, or museum education. The practicum emphasizes experiential learning at UMass or area museums.