This course introduces students to the foundations of Art History and Visual Studies.The class familiarizes students with key terms and debates, and methods from formal analysis to theoretical and interdisciplinary approaches, which are employed in the analysis and interpretation of art works and visual culture.Through close analysis of select works of art and culture in dialogue with readings from a wide range of texts of theory or history, students will gain insight into the work of interpretation, emphasizing the importance of techniques of critical thinking and reading. In addition, the class demonstrates how the study of Art History entails the very question of what is considered “art” or “culture,” focusing attention on how concepts of form, content, medium, practice, technology, discourse, and media all possess histories. Furthermore, the course follows the recent expansion of the historicization and theorization of art and visual culture under the aegis of Visual Studies, Cultural Studies, and Media Studies.

This course introduces students to the foundations of Art History and Visual Studies.The class familiarizes students with key terms and debates, and methods from formal analysis to theoretical and interdisciplinary approaches, which are employed in the analysis and interpretation of art works and visual culture.Through close analysis of select works of art and culture in dialogue with readings from a wide range of texts of theory or history, students will gain insight into the work of interpretation, emphasizing the importance of techniques of critical thinking and reading. In addition, the class demonstrates how the study of Art History entails the very question of what is considered “art” or “culture,” focusing attention on how concepts of form, content, medium, practice, technology, discourse, and media all possess histories. Furthermore, the course follows the recent expansion of the historicization and theorization of art and visual culture under the aegis of Visual Studies, Cultural Studies, and Media Studies.