Modern Art

Catalog description

In this course, students will explore a diverse range of art works and issues, which were central to the practice of Modern Art in Europe and the United States from the mid-nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. The course focuses on the artists who challenged the institution of Western art, re-interpreted its norms, and used Modernism as both subject and context. Class revolutions, industrialization, urbanization, imperialism, and capitalism are addressed through a close study of various artists and artworks. The enormous impact of European Modern Art on the rest of the world is considered with the examination of orientalism, primitivism, and "colonial" modernisms. A variety of sources such as novels, philosophical and political texts, films, newspapers, and music are used to inform our understanding of these -isms and Modern Art.