American Art & Architecture

Catalog description

This course offers a survey of the history of American art and architecture. Organized around important episodes in American history, including the Civil War, the Harlem Renaissance, and the Civil Rights Movement, this course considers such topics as the role of gender and racial identity in the content, authorship, and reception of artworks. The class examines major movements in the history of American art, with an emphasis on works that historically have been overlooked because of the race, gender, religion, nationality, and/or ethnicity of the artist or architect. In an effort to show the currency and relevance of these issues, and to scrutinize how art institutions treat (or ignore) issues of diversity, the course requires students to visit area museums and galleries.