Art & Magazines

Catalog description

Artists have been involved with magazines since they first appeared - designing covers, illustrating stories, designing pages, and even making their own. With an emphasis on the 19th through the 21st century, this course explores artists' involvement in periodicals, including artists' journals, contributions to mass circulation magazines, and underground "zines." It explores how serials have helped artists disseminate their ideas, shaped their artistic beliefs, and informed what kind of images they made. It also considers why artists have accepted commissions from commercial periodicals like Fortune and The New Yorker. The course examines a wide range of artists, including not only photographers and "fine" artists, but also graphic designers and those hired as illustrators. It will delve into the material nature of magazines, from paper to digital, and analyze how magazines interrogate entrenched divisions between "high" and "low." As part of the class, students will have the option to experiment with making their own magazines.