No previous study is required for admission to the following courses. These courses are the prerequisites for many of the advanced-level courses. Students may not receive credit for Western Art I (V43.0001) and Ancient Art (V43.0003) or Medieval Art (V43.0004); or Western Art II (V43.0002) and Renaissance Art (V43.0005) or Modern Art (V43.0006), as their contents overlap.
History of Western Art I V43.0001 Identical to V65.0001. Students who have taken V43.0003 or V43.0004 will not receive credit for this course. Offered every semester. 4 points. Introduction to the history of painting, sculpture, and architecture from ancient times to the dawn of the Renaissance, emphasizing the place of the visual arts in the history of civilization. Includes the study of significant works in New York museums, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Cloisters, and the Brooklyn Museum.
History of Western Art II V43.0002 Students who have taken V43.0005 or V43.0006 will not receive credit for this course. Offered every semester. 4 points. Introduction to the history of painting, sculpture, and architecture from the early Renaissance to the present day. Includes the study of significant works in New York museums, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Frick Collec-tion, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art.
Ancient Art V43.0003 Formerly V43.0100. Students who have taken V43.0001 will not receive credit for this course. Offered periodically. 4 points. History of art in the Western tradition from 20,000 B.C.E. to the fourth century C.E, from the emergence of human beings in the Paleolithic Age to the developments of civilization in the Near East, Egypt, and the Aegean; the flowering of the Classical Age in Greece; and the rise of the Roman Empire to the beginnings of Christian domination under the Emperor Constantine in the fourth century C.E. Study of the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum is essential.
Medieval Art V43.0004 Formerly V43.0200. Identical to V65.0200. Students who have taken V43.0001 will not receive credit for this course. Offered periodically. 4 points. Art of Western civilization between Constantine and the Renaissance (300 to 1500 in northern Europe, 1400 in Italy). Topics include Christian beliefs underlying medieval art, acceptance and rejection of classical tradition and the roles of nonclassical traditions in medieval art, stylistic transformations in medieval art in the context of medieval society, development of abbey and cathedral, monumental sculpture and painting, mosaics, stained glass, and fresco, as well as manuscript illumination, ivories, metalwork, and panel painting.
Renaissance Art V43.0005 Formerly V43.0300. Identical to V65.0333. Students who have taken V43.0002 will not receive credit for this course. Offered every other year. 4 points. The Renaissance, like classical antiquity and the Middle Ages, is a major era of Western civilization embracing a multitude of styles. It is, however, held together by basic concepts that distinguish it from other periods. The course covers the main developments of Renaissance art in Italy and north of the Alps, relation to the lingering Gothic tradition, the early and high Renaissance, and mannerism. Emphasis is placed on the great masters of each phase. The survival of Renaissance traditions in baroque and rococo art is examined in art and architecture.
Modern Art V43.0006 Formerly V43.0400. Students who have taken V43.0002 will not receive credit for this course. Offered every year. 4 points. Art in the Western world from the late 18th century to the present. Content includes the neoclassicism and romanticism of David, Goya, Ingres, Turner, Delacroix; the realism of Courbet; the impressionists; parallel developments in architecture; the new sculptural tradition of Rodin; post-impressionism to fauvism, expressionism, futurism, cubism, geometric abstraction in sculpture and painting, and modernism in architecture in the 20th century; after the First World War, Dadaism and surrealism. Developments since 1945, such as action painting, pop art, minimal art, and numerous strands of postmodernism.
European and American Decorative Arts: Renaissance to Modern V43.0010 Formerly V43.0317. Prerequisites: V43.0002, V43.0005, and V43.0006, or permission of the instructor. Offered periodically. 4 points. History of the design of objects used in daily life. Studies works of art in social and historical context. Beginning with the Italian, French, and northern Renaissance, surveys the Louis styles in France, international neoclassicism, and the Victorian style. The course concludes with the modern period. Stresses the history of furniture, although the course also covers glass, silverware, tapestries, ceramics, wallpaper, carpets, and small bronzes.
ART HISTORY INTRODUCTORY COURSES
New York is one of the most important centers of art in the world; the following courses take advantage of the opportunities offered here. Lectures are illustrated. No previous study is required for admission to the following courses unless a prerequisite is stated in the description.
Ancient Egyptian Art V43.0110 Formerly V43.0099. Offered periodically. 4 points. Traces developments in the sculpture, painting, and architecture of ancient Egypt from pre-dynastic beginnings through the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms (3100-1080 B.C.E.). Special emphasis on Egyptian art in the context of history, religion, and cultural patterns. Includes study of Egyptian collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum.
East Asian Art I: China, Korea, Japan V43.0510 Formerly V43.0091. Identical to V33.0091. Offered periodically. 4 points. An introduction to the art and culture of the Far East. The materials are presented in a chronological and thematic approach corresponding to the major dynastic and cultural changes of China, Korea, and Japan. Teaches how to "read" works of art in order to interpret a culture or a historical period; it aims at a better understanding of the similarities and differences among the cultures of the Far East.
Introduction to Chinese Painting V43.0513 Formerly V43.0084. Identical to V33.0084. Offered periodically. 4 points. Chinese painting represents one of the world's great pictorial traditions. This chronological survey of major schools and genres traces its long history from the earliest vestiges revealed by archaeology to the present day. Examines such topics as Chinese concepts of space, form, and color; the functions of painting in Chinese society; and individual works' social and personal meanings.
Asian Art II: Art of South and Southeast Asia from Indus to Angkor Wat V43.0530 Formerly V43.0092. Offered periodically. 4 points. As in V43.0513, students examine artistic centers from two vast adjoining regions, in this case South and Southeast Asia, both of which include a wide variety of cultures. Includes monuments of Pakistan, India, Cambodia, and Indonesia. Although the two courses use the same approach and are designed to be complementary, either one may be taken without the other.
Art in the Islamic World: From the Prophet to the Mongols V43.0540 Formerly V43.0085. Offered every year. 4 points. Provides an outline of Islamic material in its early and classical periods, from 650 to 1200. The period saw the initial formation of an Arab empire stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean, a decline in centralized authority, and the rise to political prominence of various North African, Iranian, and Central Asian dynasties from the 10th century onward. These political developments are reflected in the increasingly heterogeneous nature of Islamic material culture over this time span.
Art in the Islamic World: From the Mongols to Modernism V43.0541 Formerly V43.0086. Offered every year. 4 points. An introduction to the arts of Islam during a period of dynamic cultural and political change in the Islamic world. Beginning with the Mongol invasions of the 13th century, traces the development of Islamic art and architecture through the eras of Timur, the "gunpowder empires" (the Mughals, Ottomans, Safavids) and European colonialism, to the art of the nation-state in the 20th century.
Art and Architecture in Sub-Saharan Africa and the South Pacific V43.0560 Formerly V43.0080. Identical to V18.0787. Offered periodically. 4 points. Survey of art of West and Central Africa and the South Pacific. Although art from these areas is popularly thought of in terms of its impact on the West, the art is primarily studied in relation to its meaning and function in its own society, where art socializes and reinforces religious beliefs, reflects male and female roles, and validates leadership. Films and field trips to a museum and gallery supplement classroom lectures.
Native Art of the Americas V43.0570 Formerly V43.0081. Offered periodically. 4 points. Major traditions in painting, sculpture, and architecture of the native peoples of North America, Mexico, Central America, and Andean South America. Material from pre-contact times through the 20th century. Deals with questions of theory and differences between indigenous and Western world views; the relationship of the arts to shamanism, priesthoods, guardian spirits, deities, and beliefs regarding fauna and flora; and the impact of European contact on indigenous arts and civilization.
History of Architecture from Antiquity to the Present V43.0601 Formerly V43.0019. Offered in the spring. 4 points. See description under this department's subheading, "Urban Design and Architecture Studies Required Courses."
Shaping the Urban Environment V43.0661 Formerly V43.0021. Identical to V18.0762. Offered in the fall. 4 points. See description under this department's subheading, "Urban Design and Architecture Studies Required Courses."
ART HISTORY ADVANCED-LEVEL COURSES
Archaic and Classical Art: Greek and Etruscan V43.0102 Identical to V27.0312. Prerequisite: V43.0001, V43.0003, or permission of the instructor. Offered every other year. 4 points. Greek and Etruscan art from the seventh century through the fourth century B.C.E., including the orientalizing and archaic styles, the emergence of the classical style, changes in art and life in the fourth century, and the impact of Macedonian court art under the conquests of Alexander the Great. Studies architecture, sculpture, and vase painting within their historical and cultural contexts. Includes study of the Metropolitan Museum of Art collections.
Hellenistic and Roman Art V43.0103 Identical to V27.0313. Prerequisite: V43.0001, V43.0003, or permission of the instructor. Offered every other year. 4 points. Traces developments in art from the conquests of Alexander the Great to the beginnings of Christian domination under Constantine in the fourth century C.E. Includes Macedonian court art; the spread of Hellenistic culture from Greece to the Indus Valley; the art of the Ptolemaic, Attalid, and Seleucid kingdoms; the expansion of Rome in the western Mediterranean; and the art of the Roman Empire. Special emphasis on problems of chronology, choice of styles, and copies. Study of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Brooklyn Museum collections is essential.
Greek Architecture V43.0104 Identical to V27.0353. Prerequisite: V43.0001, V43.0003, V43.0601, or permission of the instructor. Offered periodically. 4 points. History of Greek architecture from the archaic through the Hellenistic periods (eighth to first centuries B.C.E.). Provides a chronological survey of the Greek architectural tradition from its Iron Age origins, marked by the construction of the first all-stone temples, to its radical transformation in the late Hellenistic period, most distinctively embodied in the baroque palace architecture reflected in contemporary theatre stage-buildings. The lectures, accompanying images, and readings present the major monuments and building types, as well as such related subjects as city planning and urbanism, building methods, and traditions of architectural patronage.
Roman Architecture V43.0105 Identical to V27.0354. Prerequisite: V43.0001, V43.0003, V43.0601, or permission of the instructor. Offered periodically. 4 points. History of Roman architecture from the Hellenistic to the early Christian periods (first century B.C.E. to sixth century C.E.). Provides a chronological survey of Roman architecture from its early development against the background of the Greek and Etruscan traditions to the dramatic melding of the divergent trends of late antiquity in the great Justinian churches of Constantinople and Ravenna. The lectures, accompanying images, and readings present the major monuments and building types, as well as such related subjects as city planning and urbanism, Roman engineering, and the interaction between Rome and the provinces.
Art of the Early Middle Ages V43.0201 Identical to V65.0201. Prerequisite: V43.0001, V43.0004, or permission of the instructor. Offered every other year. 4 points. The art of Christian Europe and Asia Minor from the emergence of Christian representation through the Carolingian period (ca. 200-950). Considers early medieval art, east and west, including developments of the early Christian, early Byzantine, Merovingian, and Carolingian periods. Topics include sources of medieval art in the late classical world; acceptance, rejection, and revival of the classical tradition; the development of a Christian image language and architectural forms; funerary arts and the development of the cult of saints; relations between word and image; and iconoclasm and debates about the role of art in Christianity.
Romanesque Art V43.0202 Identical to V65.0202. Prerequisite: V43.0001, V43.0004, or permission of the instructor. Offered every other year. 4 points. The art of Europe from about 950 to 1200. Considers the development of regional styles, including Ottonian, Mozarabic, and Anglo-Saxon during the central Middle Ages, and the mingling of classical, Byzantine, Near Eastern, and migrations elements to create a new style around the year 1000. Topics include the revival of large-scale architecture; the development of monumental sculpture; classicism and abstraction in Romanesque painting, sculpture, manuscript illumination, and minor arts; Romanesque symbolism and fantasy; Romanesque controversies about art; the spread of Romanesque style and regional developments; the roles of monastic orders, the cult of saints, pilgrimages, and the Crusades; the influence of Islam; clerical, royal, and noble patronage; the Romanesque artist; and the transition from Romanesque to Gothic in the 12th century.
Gothic Art in Northern Europe V43.0203 Identical to V65.0203. Prerequisite: V43.0001, V43.0004, or permission of the instructor. Offered every other year. 4 points. Art of northern Europe from the 12th to the 15th century. Development of the Gothic style in the Ile-de-France during the 12th century, its spread, and regional developments, including Gothic in England, Germany, and Bohemia. Topics include the cathedral, Gothic art and religion, the cult of the Virgin; the image and late medieval mysticism; courtly love, chivalry, and secular themes; Gothic naturalism, including developments in portraiture; effects of the growth of cities, universities, the mendicant orders, and lay literacy; marginalia and humor in Gothic art; clerical and lay patronage, including female patronage; and the Gothic artist.
Art and Architecture in the Age of Giotto: Italian Art, 1200-1420 V43.0204 Identical to V65.0204. Prerequisite: V43.0001, V43.0004, or permission of the instructor. Offered every other year. 4 points. Art of Italy between 1200 and 1420, intersecting with the Gothic in northern Europe. Topics include applicability of the term "Gothic" in relation to Italian art from antiquity and the Italian contacts with northern Europe; development of sculpture, painting, and the emergence of artistic personalities, such as the Pisani, Giotto, Duccio, Simone Martini, and the Lorenzetti; the communal projects of Italian cities; religious and civic architecture; the art and architecture of the mendicant orders; the development of the altarpiece; Italian art in the late 14th century, including the effects of black death; the international style; art and politics; gender and social class in relation to patronage and representation; and the artist and his workshop.
Medieval Architecture V43.0205 Prerequisite: V43.0001 or V43.0004. Offered
every other year. 4 points. This
course surveys the architecture of the Middle Ages in Western Europe
from ca. A.D. 1000 to A.D. 1500, from the emergence of the Romanesque to the
late Gothic period. It examines monumental religious and secular projects, such
as the soaring cathedral of Amiens
and the civic palaces of communal Italy,
from stylistic, technical, functional, iconographic, and ideological
perspectives. Topics include regionalism, patronage, the status of the
“architect,” and the concept of the multimedia ensemble. This course also
situates buildings within their social, religious, and political contexts, and
explores the advantages and shortcomings of different approaches to medieval
architecture.
European Architecture of the Renaissance V43.0301 Identical to V65.0301. Prerequisite: V43.0002, V43.0601, V43.0005, or permission of the instructor. Offered every other year. 4 points. The new style in architecture sparked by the buildings of Brunelleschi and the designs and writings of L. B. Alberti, developed in 15th-century Florence against the background of a vigorously evolving humanist culture. A study of the new movement through the great quattrocentro masters and the work of the giants of the 16th century (such as Bramante, Michelangelo, Palladio) and the spread of Renaissance style into other countries.
Architecture in Europe in the Age of Grandeur (The Baroque) V43.0302 Identical to V65.0302. Prerequisite: V43.0002, V43.0601, V43.0005, or permission of the instructor. Offered every other year. 4 points. Beginning with the transformation of Renaissance architecture in counter-Reformation Rome, examines the succeeding European baroque styles. Includes high Roman baroque of Bernini and Borromini; Piedmont; the richly pictorial late baroque of Germany and Austria; and the baroque classicism of France and England in the work of such architects as J. H. Mansart and Sir Christopher Wren. Metamorphosis of the various baroque styles into rococo, concluding with the mid-18th century and the roots of neoclassicism.
The Century of Jan van Eyck V43.0303 Identical to V65.0303. Prerequisite: V43.0002, V43.0005, or permission of the instructor. Offered every other year. 4 points. Addresses painting north of the Alps, ca. 1380-1530, partly late medieval, partly Renaissance. Examines the connection of breathtaking technique and deeply religious aspects of the art to function, symbolic thought, issues of patronage, and changes in the society to which painting was related. Also explains ways in which we write history when most of the vital written documents are missing or destroyed. Artists discussed include Jan van Eyck, the Master of Flemalle, Rogier van der Weyden, Jean Fouquet, Hugo van der Goes, Enguerrand Quarton, Jerome Bosch, Albrecht Dürer, Matthias Grünewald, and Hans Holbein.
Italian Renaissance Sculpture V43.0305 Identical to V65.0305. Prerequisite: V43.0002, V43.0005, or permission of the instructor. Offered in the fall. 4 points. The role of sculpture in the visual arts in Italy from ca. 1400 to 1600, primarily in central Italy, is studied through intensive examination of major commissions and of the sculptors who carried them out. Earlier meetings focus on Donatello and his contemporaries, including Ghiberti, Quercia, Verrocchio, and Pollaiuolo. Thereafter, students examine Michelangelo's sculpture and compare his works with those of contemporaries and followers, ending with Giambologna.
Early Masters of Italian Renaissance Painting V43.0306 Identical to V65.0306. Prerequisite: V43.0002, V43.0005, or permission of the instructor. Offered every other year. 4 points. Achievements of the chief painters of the 15th century studied through their major artistic commissions. Special attention is given to the Tuscan tradition. A brief introduction to Giotto and his time provides background for the paintings of Masaccio and his artistic heirs (Fra Angelico, Filippo Lippi, Piero della Francesca, and others). Topics include the role of pictorial narrative, perspective, and mimesis; the major techniques of Renaissance painting; and the relationship of painting to the other visual arts. In the later 15th century, social and cultural changes generated by power shifts from Medici Florence to papal Rome also affected art patronage, creating new tensions and challenges for artists and fostering the emergence of new modes of visualization.
The Age of Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo V43.0307 Identical to V65.0307. Prerequisite: V43.0002, V43.0005, or permission of the instructor. Offered in the spring. 4 points. Painting in Florence and Rome from about 1490 to later decades of the 16th century. From a study of selected commissions by Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, Fra Bartolommeo, and Andrea del Sarto, we go on to investigate new pictorial modes emerging before 1520 in Pontormo, Rosso, Parmigianino, Giulio Romano, and other members of Raphael's school; we consider their younger contemporaries and successors, including Bronzino and Vasari. The course emphasizes the patronage, symbolic tasks, and functions of Renaissance painting and critically examines historical concepts such as high Renaissance, mannerism, and maniera.
The Golden Age of Venetian Painting V43.0308 Identical to V65.0308. Prerequisite: V43.0002, V43.0005, or permission of the instructor. Offered periodically. 4 points. The art of Venice and its surroundings, Emilia and Lombardy. Covers Giorgione, the young Titian, Sebastiano del Piombo, and their profound impact in Venice and related centers; and Correggio's artistic experiments, their origins, and their implications. Examines the achievements of the mature Titian and their significance for his contemporaries. Veronese, Tintoretto, Bassano, and, in the 18th century, Tiepolo, bring Venice's golden age to a close. Stresses artistic reciprocity between northern and central Italy.
Italian Art in the Age of the Baroque V43.0309 Identical to V65.0309. Prerequisite: V43.0002, V43.0005, or permission of the instructor. Offered every other year. 4 points. Topics include the new realism and eclecticism of the three Carracci and Caravaggio in Bologna and Rome shortly after 1580; other members of the Bolognese school after 1600; the peak of the baroque style associated with Pope Urban VIII in the sculpture of G. L. Bernini; Rome as the art capital of baroque Europe and the diversity of its international community; neoclassical trends; and the art of Poussin and Claude Lorrain.
Dutch and Flemish Painting, 1600-1700 V43.0311 Identical to V65.0311. Prerequisite: V43.0002, V43.0005, or permission of the instructor. Offered every other year. 4 points. In Antwerp, Rubens overturned all previous concepts of painting. The first to deserve the term "baroque," he dominated Flanders. Van Dyck, his pupil, took Rubens's style to England. Dutch painters, including Hals, Rembrandt, and Vermeer, moved in a different direction, addressing every aspect of their country and society: the peasant, the quiet life of the well-ordered household, the sea and landscape, views of the cities, and church interiors.
French Art: Renaissance to Rococo, 1520-1770 V43.0313 Identical to V65.0313. Prerequisite: V43.0002, V43.0005, or permission of the instructor. Offered periodically. 4 points. Topics include arrival of the Italian Renaissance in France during the reign of Francis I and the completion of the palace at Fontainebleau; the revival of art around 1600 after the religious wars of the Refor-mation; the impact of Caravaggio in France; Poussin and Claude Lorrain in Rome, and other painters in Paris (for example, Vouet, Champagne, and Le Nain); artistic splendors of the court of Louis XIV at Versailles; and the rococo of Watteau, Chardin, Boucher, and Fragonard.
Art in Spain from El Greco to Goya V43.0315 Prerequisite: V43.0002, V43.0005, or permission of the instructor. Offered periodically. 4 points. Begins with El Greco (1541-1614) in Italy and Toledo. Discussion of 17th-century Spanish art focuses on painters in the major centers of Seville (Zurbarán, Murillo, Valdés Leal); Madrid (Velázquez); and Naples (Ribera). Attention then focuses on Goya, who emerged from a style influenced by Italian art (e.g., Tiepolo) to dominate later 18th- and early 19th-century painting.
Topics in Latin American Art: Colonial to Modern V43.0316 Prerequisites: V43.0002, V43.0005, and V43.0006, or permission of the instructor. Offered periodically. 4 points. Focuses on trends, movements, and individuals in the art of Latin America from the 16th to the 20th century. This course is not a survey; it attempts to situate works of art within their social, historical, and theoretical contexts. Chrono-logical focus of this course may vary from term to term.
Neoclassicism and Romanticism V43.0401 Prerequisite: V43.0002, V43.0006, or permission of the instructor. Offered every other year. 4 points. Anti-rococo developments in terms of neoclassic reform, new moralizing tendencies, and the dissolution of earlier traditions. Special attention to Goya, David, and the romantic aspects of neoclassicism as seen in Canova and Ingres. Covers romanticism in the art of England, Germany, and France, with attempts to distinguish national characteristics in masters such as Blake, Friedrich, and Delacroix. The development of romantic landscape painting from its 18th-century origins through the works of Constable, Turner, and Corot, among others.
Realism and Impressionism V43.0403 Prerequisite: V43.0002, V43.0006, or permission of the instructor. Offered every other year. 4 points. Survey of the romantic background to the programmatic realism of the 1840s; leaders of the realist reform such as Courbet, Daumier, and the pre-Raphaelites; realist manifestations in Germany and Italy; and the development of Manet, a pivotal figure. Emergence of the impressionist aesthetic in the 1860s. The unity and diversity of the impressionist movement are considered in the works of Monet, Degas, Pissarro, and Renoir.
American Art V43.0404 Prerequisite: V43.0002, V43.0006, or permission of the instructor. Offered every year. 4 points. Examines the art that developed in what is now the United States, from the beginnings of European colonization until the First World War and the internationalizing of American art. Includes painting, sculpture, and architecture, concentrating on the work of Copley, Cole, Winslow Homer, Mary Cassatt, and others. New York City provides major collections of painting and sculpture, as well as outstanding examples of architecture.
Post-Impressionism to Expressionism V43.0405 Prerequisite: V43.0002, V43.0006, or permission of the instructor. Offered every other year. 4 points. Brief discussion of the nature of impressionism and reactions to it in the 1880s, including the art of Seurat and his neo-impressionist followers, Cézanne, Gauguin and the Symbolists, and Van Gogh. Later 19th-century French artists, such as Toulouse-Lautrec, Vuillard, and Bonnard, are contrasted with such non-French artists as Hodler, Munch, Ensor, and Klimt. Art nouveau and sculptural trends around 1900; the rise of expressionism in Germany and France, with special attention to the fauves, Matisse, and the artists of the Brücke.
Cubism to Surrealism V43.0406 Prerequisite: V43.0002, V43.0006, or permission of the instructor. Offered every other year. 4 points. Begins with a study of the creation of cubism by Picasso and Braque and considers the international consequences of this style in painting and sculpture, including Italian futurism. Also traces the evolution of abstract art, with emphasis on Kandinsky and Mondrian. Anti-rational currents, from Dada to surrealism are analyzed, with special attention paid to Duchamp and to Picasso's art of the 1920s and 1930s. Also surveys the conservative trends of neoclassicism, Neue Sachlichkeit, and magic realism.
Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art V43.0407 Prerequisite: V43.0002, V43.0006, or permission of the instructor. Offered every other year. 4 points. Begins with European and American art of the post-World War II era, paying special attention to Dubuffet, Pollock, De Kooning, and the emergence of abstract expressionism. Continues by examining the diverse American reactions to abstract expressionism, culminating in the emergence of pop and minimalism in the 1960s; special attention is paid to Rauschenberg, Johns, and Warhol. European, Latin American, and Japanese developments of the 1960s and early 1970s are also surveyed.
Early Modern Architecture: 1776-1914 V43.0408 Prerequisite: V43.0002, V43.0006, V43.0601, V43.0661, V55.0722, or permission of the instructor. Offered every year. 4 points. Focusing on the creation of modern building types such as the bank, state capitol, museum, railroad station, and skyscraper, the course begins in the later 18th century with the idealistic designs of Ledoux and Boullée. After considering the forms and meanings associated with neoclassicism, the course examines the Gothic revival and subsequent 19th-century movements (e.g., high Victorian Gothic, Second Empire, Beaux-Arts classicism) as efforts to find appropriate expressions for diverse building forms. Studies changes resulting from the Industrial Revolution, including developments in technology, and the reforms of art nouveau and secession architecture. Works of Adam, Soane, Jefferson, Schinkel, Pugin, Richardson, and Sullivan; McKim, Mead, and White; Mackintosh, early Frank Lloyd Wright, and others.
Modern Architecture: 1914 to the Present V43.0409 Prerequisite: V43.0002, V43.0006, V43.0601, V43.0661, V43.0408, V55.0722, or permission of the instructor. Offered every year. 4 points. Chronological account of architecture and ideas since 1914. Considers such subjects as currents on the eve of the First World War, new technology, and the impact of the war; architecture and politics between the wars; the rise of expressionist design; the international style and the concurrent adaptation of traditional styles; art deco design; mid-century glass curtain-wall architecture; brutalism; and reactions to modernism. Includes ideological and political considerations and works by Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Louis Kahn, Alvar Aalto, Philip Johnson, James Stirling, Frank Gehry, and Santiago Calatrava, among others.
Contemporary Art V43.0410 Prerequisite: V43.0002, V43.0006, or permission of the instructor. Offered every year. 4 points. The headlong evolution of modern art toward an irreducible minimum comes to an end some time around 1972 with the virtual disappearance of traditional painting or sculpture. The defining feature of contemporary art, therefore, is that it is art made after "the end of art." This course begins with a brief review of the 1950s and 1960s and then focuses on the feminist art of the 1970s, which introduces new themes of craft, community, decoration, identity, and "the gaze"; examines such postmodernist developments as institutional critique, appropriation, commodification, graffiti, abjection, and "the informe." The rebirth of painting in the 1980s sets the stage for revivalist movements such as neo-expressionism and neo-geo. The 1990s witness the overthrow of the modernist ban on narrative and allegory. We conclude by examining the role after 2000 of installation as a new international style, bringing the real world into the art gallery.
Impressionism to Expressionism V43.0412 Prerequisite: V43.0002 or V43.0006. Offered every year. 4 points. Beginning with a
consideration of how Impressionism refined and redirected the artistic aims of
19th-century Realism, this course follows the development of progressive art to
the brink of Cubism and pure abstraction in the first years of the 20th
century. Along with Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, close attention is
paid to Symbolism, Aestheticism, Art Nouveau, the Arts and Crafts Movement, Fauvism,
and Expressionism. The aesthetic aims of these movements are analyzed in tandem
with the social and cultural conditions that generated them.
Cubism to Abstract Expressionism V43.0413 Prerequisite: V43.0002 or V43.0006. Offered in the fall. 4 points. After analyzing the invention of
Cubism by Picasso and Braque, this course examines its international
reverberations, including Italian Futurism, the later phases of German
Expressionism, the De Stijl movement in Holland, and Suprematism and
Constructivism in revolutionary Russia. The Dada movements of the World
War I era are examined as a reaction to the apparent bankruptcy, cultural and
artistic, of Western civilization. However, this nihilistic impulse is followed
by the “return to order” of the early 1920s. The course then explores the
tensions among the multiple currents of Surrealism: metamorphic, academic, and
abject. Painting after World War II, from Pollock to Dubuffet, is analyzed as
an extension and transformation of prewar trends.
Postmodern Art and Contemporary Art V43.0414
Prerequisite: V43.0002
or V43.0006. Offered every year. 4 points. This survey covers art in the
Postmodern era, circa 1955 to the present. After examining the innovations of
the neo-avant-garde generation (1955-75), our focus shifts from the radical
innovations in mediums, materials and techniques to the expanded field of
critical engagement that contemporary art encompasses. Discrete “early”
developments such as Neo-Dada, Op, Pop, Fluxus, arte povera, earth art, and
various conceptualisms here are seen to diversify the look of art and to enable
the dissolution of stylistic and formal categorization in favor of a
classification based upon a particular question or critique. “Later”
developments in our chronology thus emphasize issues such as gender, race,
technology, and globalism as they complicate our conception of art since 1955.
The History of Photography V43.0430 Formerly V43.0009. Offered in the spring. 4 points. Studies art photography from the 1830s to the present day, emphasizing style and subject matter (rather than technical processes) in the work of the major photographers. Considers how photography has enlarged and affected our vision and knowledge of the world and how photography and modern art have influenced each other. Examines the fluid definitions of art and popular culture, and their role in shaping the medium.
Asian Art in New York Museums and Galleries V43.0507 Identical to V33.0507. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor. Due to space restrictions, enrollment is strictly limited to 12 students. Offered periodically. 4 points. A hands-on fieldwork course that meets at museum storerooms and exhibitions, private collections, and commercial galleries. The material studied varies according to the museum exhibitions available at the time the course is offered. Emphasizes visual analysis and requires active discussion of the works of art. Particularly suitable for students interested in a museum or gallery career.
Arts of China V43.0512 Formerly V43.0506. Identical to V33.0506. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor. Offered periodically. 4 points. Examines the diversity of artistic expression in China, including architecture and gardens, painting and sculpture, and ceramics and textiles. Concentrates on the function of artworks, their physical and sociological context, and the meanings they convey. To give the course a solid historical grounding, the period covered is limited to around five hundred years. (The period covered varies from semester to semester.)
Arts of Japan V43.0520 Formerly V43.0509. Identical to V33.0509. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor. Offered periodically. 4 points. An introduction to the arts of Japan. The lectures concentrate on a number of buildings, sculptures, paintings, and decorative objects in the development of Japanese art and society from ca. 10,000 B.C.E. into the modern era. Proceeds chronologically and investigates such themes as the relation between past and present, artists and patrons, imported and indigenous, and "high and low." The chronological focus of the course is subject to change depending upon the semester.
Museums and the Art Market V43.0701 Prerequisite: V43.0002 or
V43.0006. Offered every year. 4 points. This course provides an overview of
the history and theory of museums and the art market. It presents a series of
lectures and case studies exploring such issues as the birth of the museum, the
role played by world’s fairs and biennials, the impact of collectors, the art
market, and gallery system. Throughout, the class makes use of museums,
galleries, and auction houses in New York.
Senior Seminar V43.0800 Formerly V43.0600. Permission of the director of undergraduate studies required. Open to departmental majors who have completed five 4-point art history courses. Offered in the fall and spring. 4 points. Exposure in small group discussion format to historical/critical problem(s) of particular present concern to the faculty member offering the seminar. Requires oral report(s) and/or a substantial paper.
Senior Honors Thesis V43.0801,0802 Formerly V43.0700,0702. Open to departmental majors who have been accepted as candidates for honors in art history in the first term of their senior year and who have the permission of the director of undergraduate studies. See this department's subheading, "Graduation with Honors," for eligibility requirements. Students are expected to work on their theses over a period of two semesters. Applicants must have a GPA of 3.65 in art history courses and an overall GPA of 3.65 as stipulated by the College's honors program regulations. 4 points.
Independent Study V43.0803,0804 Formerly V43.0997,0998. Prerequisites: permission of the department and of an adviser. 2 or 4 points per term. Independent study consists of the investigation, under the guidance and supervision of a designated instructor, of a research topic agreed on by the student and instructor and approved by the chair. Requires a substantial report written by the end of the term. Internships receive a maximum of two credits, and written work is required, just as it is for any other independent study. Prior approval by a faculty member is required for internship credit.
Proseminar: Developing Visual Literacy (Critical Methods) V43.0810 Formerly V43.0599. Prerequisite: varies according to topic and instructor. Offered periodically, focusing on research in various periods and areas. This course is required for honors in art history. 4 points. Examines various approaches to the study of a particular period or area. At the instructor's discretion, may present diverse formal, sociological, anthropological, philosophical, religious, literary, and linguistic concepts useful in the description and analysis of works of art. These concepts are examined via the analysis of works from a specific period or area within the history of art, but the course does not constitute a survey of that period or area. Students are expected to handle a heavy reading load and to fulfill regular writing assignments in order to master the intellectual framework necessary for advanced work in art history.
Special Topics in the History of Art V43.0850 Formerly V43.0650. Prerequisites: vary according to the material chosen for the course. 4 points. Subjects change from semester to semester and are outside of the usual classification areas.
GRADUATE COURSES OPEN TO UNDERGRADUATES
In exceptional cases, juniors and seniors who are credited with a 3.0 average in five art history courses may take, for undergraduate credit, the 1000- and 2000-level courses offered in the Graduate School of Arts and Science at the Institute of Fine Arts, 1 East 78th Street. For more information, please consult the Graduate School of Arts and Science Bulletin or the announcement of courses of the Institute of Fine Arts. Before registering for these courses, students must obtain the permission of the director of undergraduate studies, as well as that of the instructor of the course.
URBAN DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE STUDIES REQUIRED COURSES
History of Architecture from Antiquity to the Present V43.0601 Formerly V43.0019. Offered every semester. 4 points. Introduction to the history of Western architecture emphasizing the formal, structural, programmatic, and contextual aspects of selected major monuments from ancient times to the present. Monuments discussed include the Parthenon, the Roman Pantheon, Hagia Sophia, the cathedral at Chartres, Alberti's S. Andrea in Mantua, St. Peter's, Palladio's Villa Rotonda, St. Paul's Cathedral, Versailles, the London Crystal Palace, Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye, Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion, and others. Lectures analyze monuments within their contexts of time and place. Also considers aspects of city planning in relation to certain monuments and to the culture and events of their time.
Shaping the Urban Environment V43.0661 Formerly V43.0021. Identical to V18.0762. Offered in the fall. 4 points. Students investigate the city in terms of architectural history, engineering, and urban planning. Topics include historical types and shapes of cities; factors influencing our current urban scene; architectural form as expression of political systems; discussions of urban design and architecture problems in the contemporary world; and the role of technological factors such as construction and transportation systems. Students are assigned projects in conjunction with class.
URBAN DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE STUDIES CORE COURSES
Greek Architecture V43.0104 Identical to V27.0353. Prerequisite: V43.0001, V43.0003, V43.0601, or permission of the instructor. Offered periodically. 4 points. See this department's subheading, "Art History Advanced-Level Courses."
Roman Architecture V43.0105 Identical to V27.0354. Prerequisite: V43.0001, V43.0003, V43.0601, or permission of the instructor. Offered periodically. 4 points. See this department's subheading, "Art History Advanced-Level Courses."
European Architecture of the Renaissance V43.0301 Prerequisite: V43.0002, V43.0005, V43.0601, or permission of the instructor. Offered every other year. 4 points. See this department's subheading, "Art History Advanced-Level Courses."
Architecture in Europe in the Age of Grandeur V43.0302 Prerequisite: V43.0002, V43.0005, V43.0601, or permission of the instructor. Offered every other year. 4 points. See this department's subheading, "Art History Advanced-Level Courses."
Early Modern Architecture: 1776-1914 V43.0408 Prerequisite: V43.0002, V43.0006, V43.0601, V43.0661, V55.0722, or permission of the instructor. Offered every year. 4 points. See this department's subheading, "Art History Advanced-Level Courses."
Modern Architecture: 1914 to the Present V43.0409 Prerequisite: V43.0002, V43.0006, V43.0408, V43.0601, V43.0661, V55.0722, or permission of the instructor. Offered every year. 4 points. See this department's subheading, "Art History Advanced-Level Courses."
Cities in History V43.0662 Formerly V43.0033. Identical to V18.0765. Prerequisite: V43.0661 or permission of the program director or instructor. Offered every other year. 4 points. Historical survey of city types, plans, and symbolic meanings from classical Greece to the present. Subjects include ancient towns and planned cities, especially those of the Roman Empire; medieval commercial centers and cathedral towns; Renaissance plazas and baroque street systems; and 19th-century industrial, colonial, and resort cities. Emphasis on European and American cities. Discusses London, Paris, and Rome throughout.
History of City Planning: 19th and 20th Centuries V43.0663 Formerly V43.0861. Identical to V18.0769. Prerequisite: V43.0661 or permission of the program director. Offered periodically. 4 points. Examines the history of cities and urban design in Europe and the United States since 1800. Students can expect both a survey of city planning history and detailed consideration of specific issues. Examines social, political, and economic factors affecting modern cities, including industrialization, housing, hygiene, transportation, social reform, recreation, and infrastructure. Students will also learn about cultural and aesthetic debates about style, monumentality, and diversity in cities. Field trips to notably planned sites in and near New York City. Readings include primary sources and recent interpretations.
Decision-Making and Urban Design V43.0670 Formerly V43.0032. Identical to V18.0763. Prerequisite: V43.0661 or permission of the program director. Offered every year. 4 points. The impact and limitations of private and public decision-making power on urban design and architecture. City architecture in light of the values and priorities set by a society. Recognition of citizens' groups as increasingly important factors in city planning and related changes. Critically evaluates the complexity of decision-making and historical circumstances as related to the built urban environment on the basis of historical and modern American and European examples.
Architecture in Context V43.0671 Formerly V43.0039. Prerequisites: V43.0661 and permission of the program director. 4 points. Addresses issues arising from new structures and interventions to existing structures, which must relate to existing well-defined contexts of the sort found throughout New York City. Students are encouraged to think about, discuss, create, and present designs that recognize and suit their contexts. The focus is on typical New York City building types. Includes townhouses, additions to existing structures, adaptive reuse of residential structures for institutional use, streetscape improvements, and urban parks.
Environmental Design: Issues and Methods V43.0672 Formerly V43.0034. Identical to V18.0764. Prerequisite: V43.0661 or permission of the program director. Offered every year. 4 points. On the basis of selected topics, examines the manifold technological considerations that affect urban building and urban environmental quality in the city of today. Topics include the specifics of power supply, heating, lighting, ventilation, internal traffic (vertical and horizontal), pollution control, and other topics of immediate significance. Focuses on the potentials of technology to resolve urban environmental problems.
Urban Design: Infrastructure V43.0673 Formerly V43.0036. Identical to V18.0768. Prerequisites: V43.0661 and permission of the program director. Offered every year. 4 points. Serves as a laboratory for the investigation of New York City's infrastructure, using the definition of the word as a point of departure. In what ways can the city be perceived as a collective undertaking, with intricate components interwoven in continuous strands? What systems and forces give the city and its neighborhoods their current form, and what influences their future shape? Can these systems be dissected? What do these analyses tell us about the relationship of the city to its inhabitants and to the wider environment? Through lectures, reading assignments, discussions, and field trips, we investigate some of the major components of the city's infrastructure, such as the street grid, water supply, waste disposal, and subway system.
Urban Design and the Law V43.0674 Formerly V43.0037. Identical to V18.0766. Prerequisite: V43.0661 or permission of the program director. Offered every year. 4 points. Relationship between physical surroundings and the basis of society in law. Examines the effects of zoning regulations and building codes; urban renewal legislation; condemnation procedures; real estate law; law concerning tenants; taxation; special bodies such as the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; preservation and landmarks; licensing procedures for architects, engineers, and planners; and pollution control measures. Special attention to laws of New York City and nearby communities.
Seminar in Urban Options for the Future V43.0675 Formerly V43.0622. Identical to V18.0767. Prerequisite: V43.0661 or permission of the program director. Offered every year. 4 points. Focuses on alternative futures for the city of tomorrow that may be effected through the development of new forms of technology and the utilization and exploitation of the state of the art in urban structural designs. Topics include redesign of the business district; recovery of city resources; and social, political, and economic implications of new city forms considered in projections for a new urban face.
Drawing for Architects and Others V43.0676 Formerly V43.0040. Prerequisite: permission of the director of the Urban Design Studies program. 2 points. A basic drawing course intended to teach students to perceive: to record phenomenon manually without relying on formulaic methods of drawing perspective, volumetrics, and the like. Students are encouraged to examine proportion, scale, light, shade, and texture, as well as means of expression, the nature and essence of objects, various media, and graphic composition. The course assists students in creating a comprehensive series of drawings and in building a portfolio.
Reading the City V43.0677Prerequisites: V43.0601 and V43.0661 and permission of the director of
the program. Offered every year. 4 points. The course focuses on observation and
documentation of a historical section of New York City
from its foundation to the present. Students participate in field walks and
attend in-class lectures and discussions. A principal objective of the
course is to have students learn to read the historical stratigraphy of the
city by using primary and secondary sources such as maps, prints, and
panoramas, as well as City Council minutes and other printed documents. The
goal is to have them deepen their understanding of phenomena that they have
observed at first hand.
Architecture Criticism V43.0678 Prerequisite: permission of the director of the program. Offered every year. 4 points. This
course combines the reading and writing of architecture criticism. Students
read the work of a number of pre- and postwar architecture critics, focusing on
those who live(d) and work(ed) in New York City,
and those who write and wrote for the popular press. Six class sessions are
devoted to thematic groupings of reviews—on the skyscraper, the museum, urban
planning, etc.—in order to better compare critical language, approach, and
taste, while also tracking changes in architectural style from 1900 to the
present. These pieces are supplemented with readings in architectural theory
that attempt to define the styles of the past and present century. Students also
write three reviews themselves, including one on a building, shop, or urban
plan of their choice. The course should offer both an alternative history of
20th-century New York City and an
opportunity to think and write about architecture in a new and opinionated way.
Parks, Plants, and People V43.0679 Prerequisites: V43.0601 and V43.0661 and permission of the director of
the program. Offered periodically. 2 points. This course studies the components of
successful urban green public spaces designed for and about people. There will
be a number of site visits to important NYC parks and gardens to study the way
people actually use these places. Students will also be expected to visit
others and report on them to the class. We will study the research and
observations of William H. Whyte and the role that good planting and a
connection with nature play in improving the quality of life in the city.
Case Studies in Urban Preservation V43.0681 Prerequisite: permission of the director of the program. Offered in the spring. 4 points. This course is a survey of the history, philosophy, and practice of historic preservation on the national and local levels. Through case studies we will learn about the field as a civic responsibility and public activity. It is, therefore, very much a course in civics, as it aims to equip and energize students to be involved in the quality of the built environment in general and historic preservation in particular wherever they may live, and wherever their professional paths may take them.
Senior Honors Thesis: Urban Design and Architecture Studies V43.0690,0691 Formerly V43.0700, V43.0702. Open to departmental majors who have been accepted as candidates for honors in urban design in the first term of their senior year and who have the permission of the director of undergraduate studies. See this department's subheading, "Graduation with Honors," for eligibility requirements. Students are expected to work on their theses over a period of two semesters. A GPA of 3.65 in urban design courses and an overall GPA of 3.65 as stipulated by the College's honors program regulations are necessary. 4 points.
Senior Seminar V43.0800 Formerly V43.0600. Prerequisite: written permission of the director of the Urban Design and Architecture Studies program. Open to art history majors and urban design and architecture studies majors who have completed five 4-point courses in appropriate areas. Offered in the fall and spring. 4 points.
Independent Study in Urban Design and Architecture Studies V43.0803,0804 Formerly V43.0997,0998. Prerequisites: written permission of the director of the program and of an adviser. 2 or 4 points per term. See this department's subheading, "Art History Advanced-Level Courses."
URBAN DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE STUDIES CROSS-REFERENCED COURSES
Urban Society V14.0044 Prerequisite: V14.0001 or permission of the instructor. 4 points. See description under Anthropology (14).
Cities in a Global Context V18.0602 4 points. See description under Metropolitan Studies (18).
Urban Economics V31.0227 Identical to C31.0227, V18.0751. Prerequisite: V31.0002 or V31.0005. 4 points. See description under Economics (31).
Cities, Communities, and Urban Life V93.0460 Identical to V18.0760. 4 points. See description under Sociology (93). With departmental approval other courses may be substituted.
GRADUATE COURSES OPEN TO UNDERGRADUATES
Under special circumstances, students are allowed to enroll for courses in the Graduate School of Arts and Science and in the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. If these courses are credited toward the undergraduate degree, no advanced credit is allowed toward a graduate degree. The Wagner program offers undergraduate courses in management of nonprofit organizations, and in the role of government in art production and consumption.
