Money & Materials in Global Art History

Catalog description

This course examines the intertwined histories of art, money, and materials across global contexts from antiquity to the present. Focusing on materials such as gold, ivory, textiles, pigments, plastic, and digital code, students explore how artworks are shaped by economies, labor, and extraction. Through global case studies, the course analyzes how artistic value is produced, contested, and tied to systems of wealth, meaning, and commodification.