HISTORIES AND THEORIES OF MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ART

Catalog description

This course examines both the visual and textual. As such we travel through contemporary moments such as Abstract Expressionism, Post-Painterly Abstraction, Nouveau Réalisme, Pop, Minimalism, Conceptual art and participatory art—to name a few. So too, this course entails a broad overview of critical and theoretical approaches often engaged by contemporary artists such as existentialism, psychoanalysis, structuralism, semiotics, feminist and queer theories, theories of modern sculpture, and theories of photography. When art and theory are taken together, modern and contemporary art underscores the cultural, sociopolitical and economic developments characteristic of the last half of the twentieth century. While time constraints restrict a consideration of every artist, a selection of practitioners will be addressed. That said, this course affirms the importance of questions rather than finite answers, celebrates ambiguity and neglects any attempt at surveying and summarizing the field of modern and contemporary art.