ARTH 301-303
Modern Art & Theory
Instructor: Professor Poggi
T 1:30-4:30

Course Description

This seminar will focus on the intersection of art and theory during the volatile period of the sixties and seventies. A substantial portion of the course will be devoted to class discussion of criticism written by theorists, art historians, and artists alike, as well as more recent criticism that seeks to define the issues of this period. Among the movements we will discuss are: Pop and Assemblage art, Minimalism, Performance art, Earthworks, and Site Specific art. We will consider the ideas and legacy of formalist modernism (in the writing of Greenberg and Fried), and the challenge to this model by social art historians, marxists, feminists, and post-structuralists. We'll examine the rise of a theory of postmodernism, and changing definitions of originality, the relation of art to popular and commercial culture, and the relation of art to its physical and social environment. Students will be asked to write two papers: a short one on an artist of the period for presentation in class (4-5 pages) and a longer research paper (10-12 pages), also for presentation in class. A revised version of the research paper will be turned in at the end of the semester. Students in this course will be expected to do all the reading for this class each week, and to participate actively in class discussion.