XII. Course Descriptions
Art History
School of Fine Art and Music
Students with a special interest in particular courses in Art History should consult the School concerning prerequisites.
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Some Art History lecture courses at the 2000- and 3000-level are offered on alternate years only and many Art History seminars
have variable content. For course offerings and course descriptions please see the home page for the School of Fine Arts &
Music www.uoguelph.ca/sofam/
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Many Art History lecture courses are reading-intensive while seminar courses are writing and presentation-intensive.
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Honours major students in Art History are required to take two 4000-level seminars (excluding ARTH*4620), preferably in their 7th and 8th semesters. Please see the individual course descriptions for pre-requisites and restrictions
for these courses.
| ARTH*1220 The Visual Arts Today F (3-0) [0.50] |
| An introduction to contemporary visual culture, its current controversies and its historical roots. The avant-grade movements
of the modern period and the impact of new technologies and media will be examined within a rich historical context. Topics
will include international exhibitions, selling art, art and popular culture, censorship, and the relation between words and
images.
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| ARTH*1510 Art Historical Studies I F (3-0) [0.50] |
| This course considers the visual arts in the Western tradition from prehistory through the Middle Ages. Emphasis will be placed
on historical and critical analysis of key monuments and on the prerequisite technologies, as well as on various ways of looking
at the visual past and present.
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| ARTH*1520 Art Historical Studies II W (3-0) [0.50] |
| A consideration of the visual arts in the Western tradition. Emphasis will be placed on historical and critical analysis of
key monuments and on the prerequisite technologies, as well as on various ways of looking at the visual past and present.
Focus will be on the visual arts from the Renaissance to today.
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| ARTH*2050 Modern Latin American Art F (3-0) [0.50] |
| This course is an exploration of Latin American art in the context of cultural, social and political experience, with emphasis
on the work of the painter Frida Kahlo, the Mexican muralists, performance artists Guillermo Gomez-Pena and Coco Fusco, and
other important contemporary artists who have represented identity, culture, and political experience as complex and multifaceted
because they have lived between nations and cultures. (Offered in odd-numbered years.)
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| ARTH*2060 Aboriginal Arts in the Americas F (3-0) [0.50] |
| An introduction to the aboriginal cultures of North, South, and Central America with special emphasis on the pre-contact period.
The interdisciplinary approach will take into account recent debates about methodology, ethnocentricity, and aboriginal viewpoints.
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| ARTH*2070 Art of the USA W (3-0) [0.50] |
| In art, the 20th century has been referred to as "The American Century." Artists in the USA have a tradition of creating new
visual languages, of using new ideas and technologies, and of representing the vanguard. Where did these ideas originate,
and how has the USA determined our notions of what art is? This survey course focuses on modern American artists, on the evolution
and growth of modern visual culture, and on how technologies and societies impact on artistic taste.
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| ARTH*2480 Introduction to Art Theory and Criticism F (3-0) [0.50] |
| This course provides an overview of some of the most significant methodological approaches and critical practices used by
art historians to write about visual culture. Traditional methods of art historical analysis include connoisseurship, iconography,
and formalism. With these we will be exploring newer interpretative models and multidisciplinary approaches such as structuralism,
semiotics, post-structuralism, and psychoanalytic theory as well as political theories such as feminism and socio-cultural
theory. (Offered in odd-numbered years.)
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| Prerequisite(s): |
(2 of ARTH*1220, ARTH*1510, ARTH*1520)
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| ARTH*2490 History of Canadian Art F (3-0) [0.50] |
| An overview of the visual arts in Canada from the earliest times to the present, with emphasis on the diverse contributions
made by the First Nations, by French and British colonization, and by subsequent settlers from a great variety of different
cultural origins.
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| ARTH*2540 Medieval Art F (3-0) [0.50] |
| This course considers visual arts during a period when the Christian church built a new synthesis out of the legacies of the
late Roman Empire and its "barbarian invaders".
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| ARTH*2550 The Italian Renaissance W (3-0) [0.50] |
| This course will investigate the myths and realities of the Renaissance in the visual arts. The artists to be studied will
include Giotto, Duccio, Ghiberti, Donatello, Alberti, the Bellini, Verrocchio and Michelangelo. Their careers will be placed
against the theoretical beginnings of art writing and the intricate relationships of the emerging city-states of Siena, Florence,
Milan, and the republic of Venice.
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| ARTH*3010 Contemporary Canadian Art W (3-0) [0.50] |
| The wide range of contemporary Canadian visual arts, from painting to new technological media, from 'high' culture to punk,
will be examined in the context of specifically Canadian social and historical conditions during the modern and post-modern
periods.
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| Prerequisite(s): |
10.00 credits including 2.00 credits in Art History. |
| ARTH*3050 Pre-Columbian Art W (3-0) [0.50] |
| This course investigates the history and artistic traditions of pre-contact America with special focus on selected cultural
areas. The course will bring together such perspectives as archaeology, art history and ethnography. (Offered in even-numbered
years)
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| Prerequisite(s): |
10.00 credits including 2.00 credits in Art History. |
| ARTH*3060 Public Art W (3-0) [0.50] |
| This course investigates what constitutes the "public" and the "private" domain in the arenas of art and visual culture. Provocative
iconography, matters of race, nationality, sexuality, language, and identity in artistic practice, issues of censorship, controversial
shows and exhibitions, the ethics of propriety and impropriety will be considered. Artists such as Linda Montano, Andres Serrano,
Keith Haring, Annie Sprinkle, Robert Mapplethorpe and others will be discussed. (Offered in odd-numbered years.)
|
| Prerequisite(s): |
10.00 credits including 2.00 credits in Art History. |
| ARTH*3150 Space: Roman Art and Urbanism W (3-0) [0.50] |
| Roman art and urbanism from the Early Republic to the end of the imperial period. The course will survey the developments
of Roman art with an emphasis in architecture, sculpture and painting. It will illuminate the development of the urban space
in the context of cultural, social and political life. (Also listed as CLAS*3150). (Offered in even-numbered years.)
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| Equate(s): |
CLAS*3150 |
| Restriction(s): |
ARTH*3530, ARTH*4500 |
| ARTH*3210 Critical Issues in Art History F (3-0) [0.50] |
| This course investigates art and its histories. Art writing, art history, and art historical methodology will be examined
through the work of key art historians, cultural critics, and philosophers such as Clement Greenberg, Rosalind Krauss, Griselda
Pollock, and Jacques Derrida for example. Critical issues such as intention and reception, authorship, creativity and originality
will be discussed. (Offered in odd-numbered years.)
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| Prerequisite(s): |
10.00 credits including 2.00 credits in Art History. |
| ARTH*3220 Nationalism & Identity in Art F (3-0) [0.50] |
| This course considers issues of identity formation and representation as they intersect with the agendas and interests of
the nation state. The course looks at questions of power and exclusion, theories of representation and notions of centre/periphery,
cultural hybridity and border-crossing in the age of globalization. It will examine the representation of identity in cultural
institutions (including museums, and international art events) in cultural policy, and in cultural forms (fine art and popular
culture, journals and periodicals). (Offered in even-numbered years.)
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| Prerequisite(s): |
10.00 credits including 2.00 credits in Art History. |
| ARTH*3310 Image: Pictures & Their Power W (3-0) [0.50] |
| This course examines the role that images play in conveying religious, political and aesthetic messages, and how these powerfully
reveal themselves in forms of iconophobia and iconophilia. (Offered in even-numbered years.)
|
| Prerequisite(s): |
10.00 credits including 2.00 credits in Art History. |
| Equate(s): |
ARTH*3540 |
| ARTH*3320 Lives: Aspects of Western Art W (3-0) [0.50] |
| This course examines how the theory and practice of art history has often been informed by biography and other constructions
of stereotypes and social practices concerning the ‘Artist’, the artist’s audiences, and the various contexts that inform
artists’ lives, real and imagined. (Offered in odd-numbered years.)
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| Prerequisite(s): |
10.00 credits including 2.00 credits in Art History. |
| Equate(s): |
ARTH*3550 |
| ARTH*3330 Display: Visual Culture in Western Europe W (3-0) [0.50] |
| This course examines the politics of visual representation in various contexts and how it shapes the meaning of artworks.
An interpretation of culture through liturgical display, museums, cabinets of curiosities, tourist art, World's Fairs and
shopping mall will be considered. (Offered in even-numbered years.)
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| Prerequisite(s): |
10.00 credits including 2.00 credits in Art History. |
| Equate(s): |
ARTH*3570 |
| ARTH*3340 The Art Object & Material Culture F (3-0) [0.50] |
| This course considers selected topics in the visual arts in Italy, Spain and France, with attention to questions of the political,
social, economic, gendered, and aesthetic meanings of works of art. (Offered in odd-numbered years.)
|
| Prerequisite(s): |
10.00 credits including 2.00 credits in Art History. |
| Equate(s): |
ARTH*3640 |
| ARTH*3460 English Art, 1750 to Present F (3-0) [0.50] |
| In conjunction with the London Semester, this course will survey the visual arts in England from the mid-18th century to the
present. Visits to galleries, museums, libraries, studios, and other cultural institutions will supplement lectures and stress
the experience of actual works of art.
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| Prerequisite(s): |
Admission to London Semester |
| ARTH*3520 Idea: Art Since 1950 F (3-0) [0.50] |
| An analysis of the visual arts of painting, sculpture, photographic media and non-traditional media World War II to the present.
Selected artists of North America and Western Europe will be considered, as well as the institutions of the art world.
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| Prerequisite(s): |
10.00 credits including 2.00 credits in Art History |
| ARTH*3780 Gender and Art W (3-0) [0.50] |
| This course considers how the practice and reception of the visual arts intersect with constructs of gender in contemporary
and historical contexts. (Offered in odd-numbered years.)
|
| Prerequisite(s): |
10.00 credits including 2.00 credits in Art History. |
| ARTH*4310 Topics in Art & Visual Culture I W (3-0) [1.00] |
| This seminar course is designed to explore one or more issues in Art and Visual Culture (the America’s) depending on the expertise
of the instructor. Students should consult the department for specific offerings.
|
| Prerequisite(s): |
A minimum of 14.00 credits including 2.50 credits in Art History. |
| Restriction(s): |
ARTH*4050 |
| ARTH*4320 Topics in Art & Visual Culture II F (3-0) [1.00] |
| This seminar course is designed to explore one or more issues in Art and Visual Culture (the America’s) depending on the expertise
of the instructor. Students should consult the department for specific offerings.
|
| Prerequisite(s): |
A minimum of 14.00 credits including 2.50 credits in Art History. |
| Restriction(s): |
ARTH*4060 |
| ARTH*4330 Topics in Art & Visual Culture III W (3-0) [1.00] |
| This seminar course is designed to explore one or more issues in Art and Visual Culture (Western Art) depending on the expertise
of the instructor. Students should consult the department for specific offerings.
|
| Prerequisite(s): |
A minimum of 14.00 credits including 2.50 credits in Art History. |
| Restriction(s): |
ARTH*4150 Registration is limited to students registered in the Art History or Studio Art specializations with an average of 70% in
all ARTH and SART course attempts.
|
| ARTH*4340 Topics in Art & Visual Culture IV F (3-0) [1.00] |
| This seminar course is designed to explore one or more issues in Art and Visual Culture (Western Art) depending on the expertise
of the instructor. Students should consult the department for specific offerings.
|
| Prerequisite(s): |
A minimum of 14.00 credits including 2.50 credits in Art History. |
| Restriction(s): |
ARTH*4160 Registration is limited to students registered in the Art History or Studio Art specializations with an average of 70% in
all ARTH and SART course attempts.
|
| ARTH*4350 Topics in Art & Visual Culture V F (3-0) [1.00] |
| This seminar course designed to explore one or more issues in Art and Visual Culture (Questions in Criticism) depending on
the expertise of the instructor. Students should consult the department for specific offerings.
|
| Prerequisite(s): |
A minimum of 14.00 credits including 2.50 credits in Art History. |
| Restriction(s): |
ARTH*4550 Registration is limited to students registered in the Art History or Studio Art specializations with an average of 70% in
all ARTH and SART course attempts.
|
| ARTH*4600 Individual Study - Art History S,F,W (3-0) [0.50] |
| Each student establishes, in consultation with the faculty member chosen, the content of this special study within the area
of expertise of that instructor.
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| Restriction(s): |
This course is available with the approval of the Director for students who have completed their 5th semester and for whom
there is no suitable course available.
|
| ARTH*4620 Museum Studies F (3-0) [0.50] |
| This seminar course will be offered in conjunction with the staff and facilities of the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre and will
deal with historical matters relating to the role of the art museum in western life and the critical day-to-day management
of a contemporary one. Students will participate, when possible, in the preparation of a current or forthcoming exhibition
in the Centre.
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| Prerequisite(s): |
A minimum of 14.00 credits including 2.50 credits in Art History. |
| Restriction(s): |
Registration is limited to students registered in the Art History or Studio Art specializations with an average of 70% in
all ARTH and SART course attempts.
|
| ARTH*4800 Experiential Learning F,W (3-0) [0.50] |
| This is course provides an opportunity for independent study based on Art History related voluntary or paid experience. Evaluation
will be based on the student’s performance on related work assignments at the host institution as well as any assignments
determined by the relevant instructor. Written proposals/rationales, signed by the appropriate instructor, must be submitted
to the Director of the School for approval by the last day of course selection in the Fall (for Winter) or Winter (for the
following Fall semester).
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| Prerequisite(s): |
A minimum of 14.00 credits including 2.50 credits in Art History. |
| Restriction(s): |
Registration is limited to students registered in BA:ARTH specializations with a minimum cumulative average of 70% in all
Art History course attempts. Instructor consent is required.
|
| ARTH*4850 Honours Thesis I S,F,W (0-9) [0.50] |
| Under the guidance of a faculty member over two semesters (ARTH*4850 in the first semester and ARTH*4860 in the second semester), the honours student will research and complete a major independent project in art history or criticism
for final approval by a faculty member. Recommended for all honours students.
|
| Restriction(s): |
Registration in semester 7 or 8 and a cumulative average of 70% in Studio and Art History courses. Instructor consent and
approval of the Director required.
|
| ARTH*4860 Honours Thesis II S,F,W (0-9) [0.50] |
| Under the guidance of a faculty member over two semesters (ARTH*4850 in the first semester and ARTH*4860 in the second semester), the honours student will research and complete a major independent project in art history or criticism
for final approval by a faculty member. Recommended for all honours students.
|
| Prerequisite(s): |
ARTH*4850 |
| Restriction(s): |
Instructor consent and approval of the Director required. |
