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Arts of the Islamic World (200 level lecture)
This lecture course studies the history of art and architecture in the Islamic world, from the rise of the early Islamic caliphates in the seventh century, to contemporary religious and secular art and architecture in the Islamic world. Islam spread quickly after its emergence in what is now Saudi Arabia, covering lands that had been home to the great civilizations of antiquity. As the Islamic dynasties grew, they absorbed the cultural influences of pre-existing and neighboring civilizations. Through comparative perspectives, we will look at cultural transfer between various Islamic dynasties and other world civilizations. The Muslim world is still home to a tremendous diversity of ethnic and religious identity and cultural practice. The monuments that have been built in these regions serve as a testament to centuries of cross cultural encounter. Our objects of study will demonstrate how visual form communicates the tenets of the Islamic faith, and how it has been used to express power and cultural identity. |
Mona Hatoum, Performance Still (1985-95)
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Modern and Contemporary Art of the Greater Middle East and South Asia (400/500 level seminar)
This combined graduate/undergraduate seminar examines how artistic practices from the Islamic world have come into contact with the European and colonial worlds to influence the work of modern and contemporary artists from the greater Middle East and South Asia. The first half of the semester is devoted to a study of Western colonialism and the rise of the post-colonial nation state. We will look at how artists merged European modernist trends with indigenous traditions and Islamic visual motifs to forge new national cultural identities and regional modernisms. One of the most significant developments of this era was the rise of Arab nationalism, and the modernist output of artists in newly emergent Arab nations became intertwined with independence struggles and revolutionary politics. Arts and culture carried symbolic significance, helping articulate a sense of Arab self-determination as well as attempting to locate a shared cultural heritage. The second portion of the semester focuses on the globalized perspectives of contemporary artists with cultural ties to the Islamic world who shed light on current zones of conflict. Claiming more than one national and cultural identity, many of these artists examine local histories and geopolitical concerns through transnational, comparative perspectives. |
Martine Gutierrez, Demons, Xochipilli "The Flower Prince," from the series Indigenous Woman, 2018, C-print mounted on Sintra.
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Image and Gender (300 level lecture)
This course looks at how visual culture represents, perpetuates and deconstructs gendered subject positions. Students study works by modern and contemporary artists that comment upon and appropriate aspects of popular culture and the media to intervene within patriarchal, white and heteronormative constructs of gender and sexuality. Issues surrounding race, class and sexuality are also taken into account as we think about how images shape representation and how artists have used photography, performance, dance, video and other time-based media to negotiate differential subject positions. |
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Aims and Methods in Art History (400 level seminar)
This upper level seminar provides an overview of the methodologies and theoretical frameworks used by art historians to study art and visual culture from the Renaissance study of linear perspective to the present. Through the close study of texts and objects, we will identify major art historical approaches and their associated theorists, including iconography, the social histories of art, semiotics, structuralism, post-structuralism, psychoanalytic theory, post-colonial studies, race, gender and sexuality studies. The main aims of the course are for art history majors:
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