ART 356 American Art
This seminar offers an in-depth exploration of American art from the pre-colonial period to postmodernism within its broader material, intellectual, and cultural contexts. The course material is presented through the lenses of key themes in American history, such as the development of American pragmatic thought and republican values during the eighteenth century, the spiritualist influence in American art, religion, and literature; conflicts over slavery and national identity during the Civil War, and the legacy of those conflicts in contemporary African-American art; the impact of the Darwinian revolution in post-Civil War America; the complexity of the Gilded Age, as manifested in fine art, decorative art, and architecture; and the growing pluralism in America during the modern era. A significant portion of the course is devoted the artwork of the indigenous peoples of North and Central America, to the spiritual and cultural contexts in which artists produced those works, to the nature of the mediums explored (such as wood carving, pottery, and basket weaving), to the ethics of exhibiting those works, and to ongoing debates over the repatriation of indigenous art. Students will also gain insight into the making, conserving, and marketing of American art. Primary resources include the extraordinary collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New-York Historical Society, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, as well as the latest exhibitions and auctions of American art.