HISTORY OF WESTERN ART II: FROM RENAISSANCE TO CONTEMPORARY

4 credits.

Examine the arts and culture of Europe and North America from the Renaissance through the present. Explore important fine art, architecture, decorative arts, and photographic masterpieces by artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt van Rijn, Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, and Frank Lloyd Wright. Learn how works of art were valued from the moment of their making, fought over by different nations, bought, sold, stolen, or ignored for centuries and revived only recently for study through the political, historical, social and cultural contexts of their making. Critically examine the concept of artistic genius; the influence of colonialism and imperialism on artistic production and consumption; the role of the patron and the art market in art's production and circulation; the relationship of fine art and popular culture; and the idea of globalization as it relates to "western" artistic traditions. Develop skills in visual analysis to understand artistic production.