ARTH 499: Advanced Studies in Art History

ARTH 499-DL1: Advanced Studies in Art Hist
(Spring 2027)

04:30 PM to 07:10 PM W

Online

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Section Information for Spring 2027

Do artists and writers infuse their work with sexual, gendered, racial, class, religious, cultural or ethnic positionalities? Are there ‘feminine’ and ‘masculine’ art practices? Delving into these and related questions, this interdisciplinary course explores the relationships between creative expression and sex, sexuality, gender, race, religion and cultural identity to locate interlinkages between art, politics and knowledge across the globe. Each week, we will employ a theme or conceptual lens as a way of exploring works of art from across the world, using examples from the visual and performing arts as well as creative writing. Key issues addressed in the course may include some or all of the following: the relation between gender and art; masculinity, femininity, and the gaze; the place of women artists and bodies in the art world; gender, form and content; feminine and feminist aesthetics; art and labor; self-portraiture; embodiment; queering art; sensory perceptions, feelings, and politics; trans bodies and performative art. The course draws upon a range of art forms including painting, sculpture, photography, film, prose, poetry, dance, multimedia and performance art to locate art’s shifting meanings in different cultural and political contexts. Through creatively designed research projects, students will have the opportunity to explore the question of ‘sexing’ the arts as a way of producing new knowledge in cross-cultural contexts. Students can also suggest the inclusion of a favorite work of art to any week of the syllabus! Prior knowledge of artistic forms and traditions is not required and students from all disciplines are welcome. The course is open to advanced Undergraduates and Graduates.

Course Information from the University Catalog