ARTH362W

This course seeks to provide an overview of the history of art history. Its main subject will be art history as a specific field of research in the attempt to understand its epistemological boundaries as well as its ramified network of connections with other disciplines, such as Literary Criticism, Anthropology, Semiotics, Social History, Philosophy, Gender Studies, and Film Studies. The course will thereby survey the various methodological approaches to art history in an interdisciplinary way, starting with a close examination of traditional art historical tools and concepts of analysis: style, form, iconography. It will explore art history as a literary genre since the sixteenth century and as an academic discipline from the nineteenth century until the so-called linguistic turn in the 1960s. Particular focus will also be dedicated to theoretical questions that arise in the interpretation of contemporary art and culture. Case studies will provide a set of concrete examples of practical applications of each method, in order to introduce specialized terminologies and to explore critical ways of thinking.

All Years

Fall Semester