IAHIS 5800Art Across Borders

Catalog

This is a theme-based survey course that explores art and artifacts from around the world. The class focuses on diverse themes -- such as "Authority & Resistance", "Landscape & Nature", "Death & Afterlife", etc. - to examine a broad range of images, objects and monuments from across time periods, geographic locations, and cultures. Each theme, covered over two or three weeks, is represented by a selection of images, objects and monuments. In addition to exploring each theme in the contexts of methods, materials, styles, ideas and purposes, the course demonstrates how the selections for one theme can also be relevant to some of the other themes. The primary objectives of the course are to introduce diverse worldviews and approaches to art, and to demonstrate that classifications and categories used to understand images are always fluid and open-ended.