AMST 251 - Introduction to American Art

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

(Same as ART 251) Americanist Art History Revisited. How did certain objects come to be recognized as “American art”? This course examines the visual and material cultures, artistic productions, and institutions that repeatedly grappled with this question from early contact & settler conquest through early 20th century transnational modernism. We examine the substance and limits of “American Art” through ideas of territory vs. Landscape, enfiguring race/gender/class and national belonging, museum and exposition practices, constructions of history and nostalgia, and the many impacts of global exchange. We study objects from our inherited American Art canon, and objects that challenge this inheritance. With special emphasis on local collections and resources, we develop familiarity with the methods and questions guiding Americanist art history today. Serena Qiu.

Prerequisite(s): ART 105 or ART 106 or a 100-level American Studies course, or permission of the instructor.

Two 75-minute periods.

Course Format: CLS