The Art of Democracy: Museums and Monuments in Washington, D.C.

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Washington, D.C., is not only the seat of U.S. politics but also an extraordinary city for art, and this course will explore the relationship between the two. Through site visits to selected artworks, exhibitions, and monuments, we will examine the interplay of art and democracy, considering how artists have represented and challenged concepts such as citizenship, the nation, and social equality. Our objects of focus will range from presidential portraits and official memorials to contemporary video and installation art, and will touch on topics from westward expansion in the 19th century to recent social and political movements such as Black Lives Matter. The course will consider key questions: What makes a work of art, a monument, or an exhibition effective? How do artworks and monuments shape our understanding of history, and how do they influence our perspective on the present? Which stories and whose stories have been included in narratives of the nation? How do artists and works of art represent and put pressure on concepts of race, class, gender, religion, sexuality, and ethnicity? What is the role of a national museum or a national monument? And what role should a government play in relation to the arts? We will make regular class and independent visits to a range of museums, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Gallery of Art, the Hirshhorn Museum, the National Museum of the American Indian, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.