Art History 202
Renaissance to Modern Art

The course will survey major artistic traditions from the Renaissance through the present in western Europe and America. The course will introduce you to the richness and diversity of these traditions and will repeatedly return to consider how and why these traditions have attained such a central position within modern western culture. It will investigate some of the meanings that society has conferred upon art -- as well as some of the meanings that art has conferred upon society -- in various periods and contexts. It will also examine how such factors as historical background, patronage, nationality, religion, personality, and gender influence artistic output. Throughout the semester you will be asked to consider the place of art in history and society. Numerous examples of art in contemporary situations will be used to stimulate understanding the different ways in which art existed and worked in the past.

The course is designed to teach you to look thoughtfully and sensitively at works of art, and to consider the role of art within the time and place in which it was produced. It will instruct you in some of the basic art historical methods of stylistic and iconographic analysis, and help you learn to verbalize and write about your visual perceptions.

The course focuses primarily on painting and sculpture, but will consider selected examples of architecture to introduce key principles and centers of each period.