REGULARLY OFFERED COURSES
 
600 Series:
 
603 Prints and Printmakers. Silver
Graphic art in Europe and America from its origins about A.D. 1400 through Durer, Rembrandt, and the modern world.
 
611 Arts in India. Meister
A survey of sculpture, painting and architecture in the Indian sub-continent from 2300 B.C. to the nineteenth century. An attempt to explore the role of tradition in the broader history of art in India.
 
612 Symbols and Sites of the Islamic Tradition. Holod
 
613 Arts of Japan. Davis or Steinhardt
This course will introduce the major artistic traditions of Japan, from the Neolitic period to the present, and teach the fundamental methods of the discipline of art history.  Our approaches will be chronological, considering how the arts developed in and through history, and thematic, discussing how art and architecture were used for philosophical, religious and material ends. Special attention will be given to the places of Shinto, the impact of Buddhism, and their related architectures and sculptures; the principles of narrative illustration; the changing roles of aristocratic, monastic, shogunal and merchant patronage; the formation of the concept of the 'artist' overtime; and the transformation of tradition in the modern age.
 
614 Arts of China. Davis or Steinhardt
The goals of this course are to introduce the major artistic traditions of China, from the Neolithic period to the present and to teach the fundamental methods of the discipline of art history.  Our approaches will be chronological, considering how the arts developed in and through history, and thematic, discussing how art and architecture were used for philosophical, religious and material ends.  Topics of study will include; Shang bronzes; Han concepts of the afterlife; the impact of Buddhism; patronage and painting; the landscape tradition; the concept of the literatus; architecture and garden design; the "modern" and 20th-century artistic practices; among others.  By the end of the course you should have developed your ability to think critically, express ideas in logical, concise manner, and to interpret Chinese art in an informed manner.
 
615 Japanese Painting. Davis
An investigation of Japanese painting and practice from the earliest pictorial representations through the late twentieth century.  Painting style and connoisseurship will form the basis of analysis, and themes such as landscape, narrative, and the expression of cultural identities in painting, will be considered in the context of larger social and cultural issues.  Topics include: tomb painting, Heian development of "yamato-e," ink painting and the adaptation of Chinese styles, the expansion of patronage in the 18th century, and the turn toward internationalism in the late 19th and 20th centuries.  May include visits to the PMA or other local collections, as available.
 
616 Chinese Painting. Davis or Steinhardt
Study of Chinese painting and practice from the earliest pictorial representation through the late twentieth century.  Painting style and form the basis of analysis, and themes such as landscape and narrative will be considered with regard to larger social and cultural issues.  The classwill pay particular attention to the construction of the concepts of the "artist" and "art criticism" and their impact on the field into the present.  Visits to look at paintings at the University of Pennsylvania Museum, PMA and/or local collections will be offered when possible.
 
617 Introduction to the Visual Culture of the Islamic World. Holod
The course is a one-semester introduction to visual culture of the Islamic world, beginning with contemporary material.  Its graduate component is designed to provide student with an intensive and in-depth  with an additional tutorial and requirements. The course will examine how visual culture has functioned and continues to operate within Islamic civilization. Visual culture encompasses but is not limited to specific histories of art and architecture; aspects of crafts and popular art will be discussed also. Material in the course will be drawn from the seventh to the twentieth centuries, and will be presented thematically as well as chronologically. Attention will be given to relationships between visual culture, history and literature, using specific case studies, sites or objects that may be related to various branches of Islamic literature, including historical, didactic, philosophical writings, poetry, and religious texts.
 
618 Early Modern Japanese Arts and the City of Edo. Davis.
Study of the major art forms and architecture of Tokugawa (or Edo) period (1603-1868).  In this course, we will consider how the arts of thisera occur within an increasingly urban and modern culture, particularly with regard to the city of Edo.  Issues include the articulation of authority in the built environment, the reinvention of classical styles, and the emergence of new sources for patronage, among others. May include visits to the PMA, University Museum, or other local collections, as available.

619 Modern Japanese Arts. Davis
 
620 Greek Art and Architecture. Haselberger or Kuttner
An intensive survey of the art and architecture of the Greek world from Geometric to Hellenistic times. Variable emphasis on topics ranging from stylistic innovation and persistence, commemorative genres, narrative, program, and patronage to tectonic structure, concepts of order, proportion, and urbanism.
 
621 Roman Art and Architecture. Haselberger or Kuttner
An intensive survey of the art and architecture of Rome and her empire from Republican and later Hellenistic to Constantinian times. Variable emphasis on topics ranging from the major genres, styles and programs of commemorative and decorative art, historical narrative, and political iconography to building types and techniques and the specific Etrusco-Roman notion of space, land division, and city planning.
 
623 Egyptian Art. Pittman
Survey of the art of Ancient Egypt form the Pre-dynastic period through the end of the New Kingdom. Emphasis on major monuments of architecture, sculpture, relief and painting; questions of stylistic change and historical context.
 
624 The Art of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Iran. Pittman
 
640 Medieval Art. Maxwell
Investigates painting, sculpture, and the "minor arts" of the Middle Ages (Late Antique, Carolingian, Romanesque, and Gothic periods).  Analysis of works emphasizes the cultural context, the thematic content, and the function of objects. Discussions focus especially on several key themes: the aesthetic status of art and the theological role of images; the revival of classical models and visual modes; social rituals such as pilgrimage and crusading; the cult of the Virgin and the status of women in art; the "beautiful" and the "ugly"; and, more generally, the ideology of visual culture across the political and urban landscapes.
 
641 Byzantine Art and Architecture. Maxwell
Surveys the arts of Byzantium from the fall of Rome to the fall of Constantinople in 1453.  Study of major monuments, including icons, mosaics, architecture, and ivories. Special focus on selected major issues, such as the relationship of art to the Holy, the uses and abuses of Iconoclasm, and imperial patronage.  Consideration also of the Empireís relation to other cultures through the Crusades and Moslem invasions, and Byzantium's crucial impact on European art (e.g., in Sicily, Spain).
 
642  Medieval Architecture. Maxwell
Introduction to the built environment of the Middle Ages, surveying a range of architectural styles--Early Christian, Carolingian, Romanesque, and Gothic.  Integrates the study of architecture with the study of medieval culture, exploring the role of pilgrimage, courts and civil authority, religious reform and radicalism, crusading and social violence, and rising urbanism. 
 
652 Art in the Time of Michelangelo. Cole
An introductory survey of the art of the Late Renaissance, with an emphasis on drawing, painting, sculpture, and architecture in central Italy. The course will cover works by Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Raphael, among others.
 
655 Italian Renaissance Art. Cole
Survey of the visual arts in Italy in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, with emphasis on painting, sculpture and architecture in the major cultural centers.  
 
656 Italian Renaissance and Baroque Architecture. Cole
An introductory survey of architecture on the Italian peninsula, ca. 1300-1750. The course will cover both standard types (palaces, churches, squares) and distinctive individual monuments. Topics may include urban planning, garden and fountain design, and the relation of practice to theory.
 
660 Northern Renaissance Art. Silver
 
671 European Baroque Art. Cole or Silver
European art and architecture of the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
 
675 Roman Baroque Art and Architecture. Cole
An introduction to the city of Rome from the late-sixteenth to the mid-eighteenth century, The course will look at works by such artists as Caravaggio, Bernini, Poussin, and Borromini, considering them in relation to the conditions in which they were originally produced and viewed.
 
681 Early Modern Architecture. Brownlee
The history of Western architecture from about 1700 until the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Topics to be considered include Palladianism, neo-classicism, the picturesque, historicism, and the search for a new style.
 
682 Modern Architecture. Brownlee
The history of Western architecture from the late nineteenth century until the present. Topics to be considered include the Arts and Crafts Movement, Art Nouveau, expressionism, the International Style, and "Post-modernism."
 
683 The Modern City. Brownlee
A study of the European and American city in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. Emphasis will be placed on the history of architecture and urban design, but political, sociological, and economic factors will also receive attention. The class will consider the development of London, St. Petersburg, Washington, Boston, Paris, Vienna, and Philadelphia.
 
684 From Revolution to Realism: European Painting, 1760-1848. Staff
The death of the revolutionary hero, the search for spiritual meaning, the "rape" of the countryside by industrialization, the anxious masculinity of romanticism, abolition and its aftermath, the quest for national identity; these are only some of the themes that will be addressed through the art of this early modern period, as they emerged from painters working in France, England, and Germany. Among other things, we will analyze Jacques-Louis David's "martyr portraits" of the French Revolution; the fantastic visions of J. M. W. Turner and William Blake; Gericault's representations of madness; and the politicized "realism" of Gustave Courbet, the painter who would so profoundly influence the later generation of Impressionists.
 
685 Impressionism: Art, Leisure, Society: European Art, 1848-1906. Staff
French Impressionism is the centerpiece of this course, which will explore paintings, and some sculpture, produced between 1848 and 1906. We consider French, Dutch, and Scandinavian artists who painted and exhibited in Paris during these years, exploring not only their historical stature and reputation, but their contemporary relevance. We will reflect on such myths of modernism as the "misogyny": of Degas; the "obsessiveness" of Cezanne; the "primitivism" of Gauguin; and, of course, the "madness" of Van Gogh. All art is considered within the context of the social, economic and political changes that were taking place in Paris--the capital of the nineteenth century.
 
686 Twentieth Century Art, 1900-1945. Poggi
Major artists and movements of the 20th Century, from 1900 to 1945, and their relation to other modern cultural and historical developments.
 
687 Twentieth Century Art, 1945-present. Poggi
Major artists and movements of the 20th Century, since 1945, and their relation to other modern cultural and historical developments.
 
689 American Art, 1750-1945. Staff
This course studies the production of American painting and sculpture from the early Colonial period to the end of the Second World War. The works will be studied in several frameworks, beginning with those of style and iconography. Important themes of interpretation include the social and economic circumstances that determined artistic production, the relationship of painting and sculpture to national politics, a comparison with European artistic production of the same period, and the relationship of American painting and sculpture to such other cultural productions as literature.
 
691 The Road Movie. Beckman
 
692 Women and Film. Beckman
 
693 History of Photography. Staff
A history of world photography from 1839 to the present and its relations to cultural contexts as well as to various theories of the functions of images.