ART 152-01, Survey of Contemporary Art, Spring 2013

Abstract

The objectives of the course are as follows: (1) to enhance student knowledge of the major works, artists, and movements of art since 1940; (2) to integrate these works of art within the broader social and intellectual history of the period; and (3) to help students develop the skills of visual acuity. Among the issues we will cover are the following: the development of modernism in the United States after World War II; the effect of the Cold War on Western art; the incorporation of mass culture into modern art; the revival of political art in the late 1960s; the differences between modernism and postmodernism; the emergence of feminist strategies in representation; the rejection of the art object, and of the culture industry; the return of history painting in the early 1980s; the emergence of different voices in the art world in the past generation; the return of beauty as a concern of art; and the development of global perspectives and relational aesthetics in recent years. Art 152 is a foundation course required of all majors and minors pursuing either art or art history. There are no pre-requisites for this course. It satisfies the F3 and F5 requirements.