History of Art
13 courses found
Throughout history, artists, philosophers, & scientists have consistently sought to situate themselves within the cosmos & comprehend its heavenly machinery. This course traces the development of scientific, political, spiritual, magical, & intellectual technologies of power that have tied individuals to their views & uses for astronomy. Topics include: stars & rule, astrology, Ptolemy, alchemy, magic, medicine, Galileo, Chesley Bonestell, Remedios Varo, Kambui Olujimi, Star Trek, & Star Wars.
This course will train students to understand and critically evaluate comparative, modern global cultures.
Art in the 20th Century surveys visual art from 1900 to 2000 with an international perspective. Major questions and themes will be tracked across a range of media (sculpture, painting, printmaking, video art, performance art, etc), attending to the social, theoretical, and practical concerns structuring the making and reception of modern and contemporary art.
Subject varies with the instructor, who may decide to focus attention on museological studies, writing-intensive art historical research, experimental engagement with diverse art historical materials, and/or hands-on aspects of collaborative art historical and studio practice. Instructors announce their subjects prior to each registration period.
Introduces the artistic traditions of China, Korea, and Japan, from prehistoric times to the modern era. Surveys major monuments and the fundamental concepts behind their creation, and examines artistic form in relation to society, individuals, technology, and ideas.
This course offers an introduction to the arts of African civilizations from the first millennium to modern times, including Nok, Ife, Djenne, the Kingdom of Kongo, the Dogon and Yoruba peoples.
Explores the life, art, architecture, urban development, religion, economy, and daily life of the famous Roman city destroyed in the cataclysmic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in a.d. 79.
An analysis of Leonardo da Vinci's paintings, drawings, and notes, giving special attention to his writings and drawings on human anatomy, the theory of light and shade, color theory, and pictorial composition. His work is considered in relation to the works of fellow artists such as Bramante, Raphael, and Michelangelo as well as within the context of Renaissance investigation of the natural world. Prerequisite: One course in the humanities.
The Art History Colloquium combines lecture and discussion. Subject varies with the instructor, who may decide to focus attention either on a particular period, artist, or theme, or on the broader question of the aims and methods of art history. Subject is announced prior to each registration period. This course fulfills the second writing requirement, involving at least two writing assignments totaling at a minimum 4,000 words (20 pages).
This course introduces art history majors to the basic tools and methods of art historical research, and to the theoretical and historical questions of art historical interpretation. The course will survey a number of current approaches to the explanation and interpretation of works of art, and briefly address the history of art history.
Subject varies with the instructor, who may decide to focus attention either on a particular period, artist, or theme, or on the broader question of the aims and methods of art history. Subject is announced prior to each registration period. Representative subjects include the life and art of Pompeii, Roman painting and mosaics, history and connoisseurship of baroque prints, art and politics in revolutionary Europe, Picasso and painting, and problems in American art and culture.
This is the second semester of the internship at either the Fralin Museum of Art or Kluge Ruhe. Students will work approximately 100 hours per semester in the museum, and will participate in three training sessions and three academic seminars. Prequisite: ARTH/GDS 4951 and instructor permission, by application. Please see information at www.virginia.edu/art/arthistory/courses and www.artsandsciences.virginia.edu/globaldevelopment
Research for a thesis of approximately 50 written pages undertaken in the fall semester of the fourth year by art history majors who have been accepted into the department's Distinguished Majors Program.