Topics in Medieval Art: Surveying Byzantium

Catalog description

This is a topics course. Course content varies. Prerequisite: one course in History of Art at the 100- or 200-level or permission of the instructor. Enrollment preference given to majors and minors in History of Art. Current topic description: This course casts a critical eye on the question of how Byzantine art and architecture have been represented in surveys of art history, medieval art, and Byzantine art. In addition to reading survey texts themselves, students will consider scholarship that analyzes and critiques the representation of Byzantine art in these books and in the fields of art history and archaeology more broadly. The course provides a historiographic overview of Byzantine art history and addresses questions of canon formation, the relationship of textbooks to current scholarship, and the role of museums and exhibitions in the interpretation and public presentation of Byzantine art.