The Invention of the Image: From Classical Art History to Modern Visual Studies

3 units

The scholarly field of Image or Visual Studies has developed in response to the widespread proliferation of images, both still and moving, in contemporary life. It distinguishes itself from traditional art history by examining visual representations of all types, not only works of high art, and by concentrating on the role those representations play in the formation of culture. Though most of the scholarship produced in this field focuses on the modern world, it depends upon ideas first developed in Mediterranean antiquity. This course has two primary goals. We will conduct an historical examination of practices and theories of image making from Near Eastern antiquity to modernity. In so doing, we will also carry out an historiographical survey of the major works in Image/Visual Studies, thereby gaining an appreciation for the wide range of methods of inquiry employed in this important field of research.