Lower Division Survey; western. An introduction to art and visual culture produced mainly in Europe and the United States between the fourteenth century and the present, this course will focus on broad themes explored in various artistic media and subjects. We will analyze the emergence of the modern individual in case studies ranging from the painted portraits of Renaissance donors to our own contemporary culture of photographic self-ies. Exploring the rise of modern society in urban spaces, we will examine the ways visual images and artists embraced difference, deviance and decadence, as well as the methods by which they helped maintain the social, political, and economic status quo. We will explore visual cultures of war and violence; the relationships of sexuality and power; and art’s link to realms and altered states beyond the everyday visible world.

No prior knowledge of the history of art is assumed or required. The course will teach skills of critical looking, as well as thinking, reading, and writing that are crucial to our own image-saturated age.