First-Year Seminar in Art History

Catalog description

An introduction to the field of art history, through an examination of a selected issue in a seminar setting. ARTH 1S First-Year Seminar (3) (GA)(BA) This course meets the Bachelor of Arts degree requirements. This First-Year Seminar is open to all majors and to those who have yet to decide upon a major. It is also a 3-credit General Education in the Arts course (GA). The course will introduce entering university students to the field of art history through a case study on a selected topic. Each semester the topic will be different, potentially covering such diverse subjects as the purpose and function of Ancient Egyptian architecture to the role of sculpture in Renaissance Florence to the development of abstract painting in the early 20th century. Some semesters, the seminar may also focus upon a single exhibition at the Palmer Museum of Art. Such a focus upon a single topic will allow the class to look at a particular issue in the field from many different perspectives. The course will not be a broad survey of the history of art, but it will introduce students to the breadth of methods and approaches of art history. The seminar approach of the course will emphasize how to tackle an issue in art history, how to critically read selected texts, how to discuss in a small group the various dimensions of a problem, how to do art historical research in the library and on the internet, and how to present your own research and perspectives through public speaking and writing.