This course takes a new and interactive look at 20th Century art, from the move toward total abstraction around 1913 to the development of Postmodernism in the 1980s. We examine the impact on art of social and political events such as World War I, the Russian Revolution, the rise of Fascism, the Mexican Revolution, the New Woman in the 1920s, World War II, the Cold War, and the rise of consumer culture. We will investigate the origins and complex meanings of movements such as Fauvism, Cubism, Dada, Surrealism, Mexican Muralism, Abstract Expressionism, and Pop Art.

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.

Designed as an introduction for undergraduate and graduate students, the aim of this course is to provide a comprehensive survey of the most important monuments of high and late medieval art and architecture from the 11th through the 15th centuries. We will also examine objects and images that are less often included in surveys, such as medieval jewelry and illustrated treatises on death. In addition, readings from sources contemporary with the objects observed in lecture will add a more textured historical background to our observations.

This seminar explores the intersection of Biology and Art from an art-historical perspective, focusing on the ways modern and contemporary art of the 20th and 21st centuries relate to the history of biology as well as current social and ecological developments. It examines how works of art model biological structures and processes, and reimagine and respond to issues such as evolution, the human genome, environmental degradation, the AIDS crisis, GMOs, and global pandemics like COVID-19.

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A unique city, seemingly floating on water, Venice has gone from being the capital of a world emporium of trade to the center of Disneyworld-like tourism. This course traces the history of the city and its empire from the time of its founding after the fall of the Roman Empire to the present day.

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Not available at this time