MWF 10–11
Instructor TBA

MW 10–11 + Discussion Section
Dr. Ann Johns

TTH 10–11 + Discussion Section
Mode of Instruction: Internet
Dr. Douglas Cushing

Art is a language: how do we decode its meaning and its extraordinary effect on us, the viewers? How does art reflect the era, location, and culture of both its maker and its patron? Through a blend of online lectures, quizzes, and tests, as well as TA-led visits to UT’s Blanton Museum of Art, students will learn that art is a prism—often beautiful, always challenging—through which we can view the human experience, both past and present. Throughout the semester, students will increase their visual literacy and critical thinking skills by looking at a global array of works from many eras and locations. The only prerequisites are open eyes and open minds! We will concentrate on the familiar media of painting, sculpture, and architecture, but we will also examine drawings, prints, photography, garden planning, ceramics, textiles, earthworks, installation art, and other forms of visual culture, both through live online lectures and through in-person visits to UT’s collections of art.

Fulfills → VAPA / Global Cultures flag

MW 11–12 + Discussion Section
Dr. Douglas Cushing

TTH 5–6:30
Instructor TBA

This course discusses art from the prehistoric period to the Early Renaissance (ca. 1300) in Europe, the Middle East and the ancient Americas, with emphasis on style and social and cultural context. The focus on arts-architecture and city planning, sculpture, painting, metalwork, and ceramics—is global with special attention lavished on ancient Near East, Egypt, Africa, Greece, Rome, Islam, Mesoamerica, India, and the European Middle Ages. The control of the viewer’s experience, the political and religious use of art, the meaning of style, the functions of art in public and private life, and the role of art in expressing cultural values will be among the major themes considered. This is also an introduction to the discipline of art history and archaeology, training students in basic vocabulary and techniques of close looking and analytical thinking about visual material.

Fulfills → VAPA / Global Cultures flag

MWF 11–12
Instructor TBA

TTH 8–9:30
Instructor TBA

As a class, we will explore an extraordinary array of art and architecture from across the globe, including art of Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific Cultures. Our course begins c. 1300, in the late Global Middle Ages, and concludes with international artistic trends of the early 21st century. While we will concentrate on the familiar media of painting, sculpture, and architecture, we will also be looking at drawings, prints, photography, the decorative arts, garden planning, ceramics, textiles, interior design, earthworks, installation art, and digital media.

Fulfills → VAPA / Global Cultures flag

TTH 2–3:30
Dr. John R. Clarke

This course aims to examine Visual Culture to gain a better understanding of how ancient Greeks and Romans thought about themselves with regard to love, sexuality, divine and human beauty, and protection from demonic forces. We will analyze specific works of Greek and Roman art between the sixth century B.C. and the fourth century A.D. to increase our understanding of what these concepts meant within social and cultural contexts that were very different from our own.

My hope is that you will leave the course with a greater understanding of the processes of acculturation or attitude-formation. You will be able to recognize how, in a given culture, the processes of acculturation lead to specific constructions of love, beauty, and security. Indeed, you may come to realize that all the practices of everyday life are cultural constructions: that each culture constructs the rules that regulate social behavior. I hope that your study of these ancient cultures will give you greater understanding of the phenomena of cultural diversity in the world. You should also gain a greater understanding of the major developments within the visual arts over this long period, from classical Greece to early Christianity.

You will improve your ability to read critically, and to recognize and scrutinize the arguments presented in the readings. The course will help you develop your ability to express your ideas in writing and speaking.

This is primarily a lecture course with three exams. The exams combine slide identifications and comparisons with prepared essays. These exams have the goal of getting you to engage with visual representations through the lens of class discussion and the readings. In particular, the prepared essay should develop your critical skills as well as your writing skills. Finally, the five assignments are designed to help you think about how different cultures mirror or contradict the Greek and Roman cultures we are studying.

Fulfills → VAPA / Global Cultures flag

Art History Majors  
Download this guide to view the qualifying Time Periods and Geographical Locations for this course.

TTH 3:30–5
Dr. Katherine Taronas

This course examines the art and architecture of the eastern Mediterranean from the end of Late Antiquity until the end of the Byzantine Empire in 1453. Having defined itself against its Classical past, Byzantium in the seventh century underwent fundamental changes that produced a medieval and Christian view of the world. This course will interpret different expressions of this worldview in art and architecture, through the upheavals of Iconoclasm in the eighth and ninth centuries and the so-called “renaissances” of the Macedonian, Komnenian, and Palaiologan periods. It will look at meanings Byzantium gave to materials and techniques in architecture, mosaic, relief carving, textiles, wall and panel painting, enamel and metalwork, coins and seals, and more. Finally, the course will examine art produced within the cultural orbit of Byzantium, exploring themes of artistic exchange with Islamic empires, the Caucasus, Christian Africa, and European kingdoms and Crusaders.

Fulfills → VAPA / Global Cultures flag

Cross-listings → R S 357I

Art History Majors  
Download this guide to view the qualifying Time Periods and Geographical Locations for this course.

MW 12–1:30
Dr. Ann Johns

Florence, Venice, Siena: the cultural landscape of Italy is dominated by cities so rich in artistic treasures that any one example is worthy of a whole course. We begin with the most famous Renaissance city-state, Florence. We will explore the development of art and architecture in civic, ecclesiastic, monastic, palatial, and private settings, from Brunelleschi’s dome to private, secular decoration in the city’s palazzi. We will then examine the cities of Venice and Siena; each of these cities is distinguished by its own unique style of art and architecture. We’ll study Italy’s “court” cities, including Ferrara, Mantua, and Urbino. We’ll observe the unique sense of “place” that distinguishes these communities, but we’ll also discover cultural, artistic, and urban commonalities throughout Renaissance Italy.

We’ll also examine issues such as the role of women and the family; the importance of race and international trade; the rise of specialized hospitals and quarantine islands in an era of plague; and the delicate balance between the growing urban centers and the control of the surrounding territory, so necessary for crops and other resources.

All readings will be posted on Canvas. Assignments include reading responses and other urbanistic analyses. All tests are non-cumulative.

Fulfills → VAPA / Global Cultures flag

Cross-listings → CTI 375.4 / EUS 347.33

Art History Majors  
Download this guide to view the qualifying Time Periods and Geographical Locations for this course.

TTH 11–12:30
Dr. John R. Clarke

This course surveys the major movements in American art from about 1958 to about 1985. We will look at the work of selected artists associated with the major trends, including pop art, minimalism, conceptual art, site-specific art, performance and body art, photorealism, patterning and decoration, and the varieties of figural art that emerged in the 1980s, including neo-expressionism, graffiti, and appropriation.

We will look at these trends from three principal points of view: their relationship to prior historical developments, their self-stated aims, and their treatment by contemporary critics.

This course should give you a good survey knowledge of the art—including much more than traditional painting and sculpture—between 1950 and 1985. You will gain an understanding the interactions between art movements, artists, critics, and dealers, and you should be able to walk into a museum or art gallery and recognize all of the styles and approaches mentioned above. More importantly, you will learn how visual representation reflects social change. “Art”—broadly defined—always reflects social change, but in this period there were many Counter-Cultural Movements. Most importantly, the Civil Rights Movement for racial equality. But also important were the development of Feminism, the Hippie Movement, and the Gay Liberation Movement—all with important visual components.

This is primarily a lecture course. To help you study the content of these lectures, I will post lecture outlines and the PowerPoints of each lecture on Canvas after I present them to you in class. I expect you to keep up with the assigned readings on canvas and to memorize a group of images.

There will be three one-hour examinations at the end of each of three modules, testing you on the content of that group of lectures and images. I also regularly set “plus” assignments that will give you the opportunity to raise your exam grades.

Fulfills → VAPA

Cross-listings → AMS 339M

Art History Majors  
Download this guide to view the qualifying Time Periods and Geographical Locations for this course.

MW 12–1:30
Mode of Instruction: Internet
Dr. Moyosore Okediji

This course is a comprehensive study of the visual arts of Africa, in the social and cultural contexts within which people make and use these images. Students will explore historical, contemporary, and diasporic aspects of African art, as part of a larger expressive complex that includes music, dance, literature, and cinematography. The course will present the works of major artists, art groups, ethnicities, and communities, as a lively dialog between the creative imaginations of those who make the objects, and the philosophical responses of those to whom the artists address the objects. This course is web-based.

Fulfills → VAPA / Global Cultures flag

Cross-listings → AFR 335E

Art History Majors  
Download this guide to view the qualifying Time Periods and Geographical Locations for this course.

TTH 3:30–5
Dr. Astrid Runggaldier

This course provides an overview of the cultures that occupied the Andean coast and highlands prior to and in contact with the Spaniards who occupied the area in the 16th century. Given the lack of written historical documentation prior to the Spanish arrival, investigations of the ancient Andean visual arts – the elaborate textiles, fine ceramic vessels, carved stone sculptures, and monumental architecture – have advanced through multidisciplinary approaches. Students examine various culture groups by engaging both the iconography and archaeology of the regional traditions, focusing primarily on the Nasca, Moche, and Chimu cultures, as these are featured prominently in the UT Art and Art History Collection (AAHC). In this course, we address pertinent environmental and ecological factors, evidence of ritual practices, such as human sacrifice and water management, techniques and materials of manufacture of art and architecture, and issues in looting and collecting antiquities, as well as preserving and presenting collections. Additionally, you will work with primary sources: the ceramic objects in the AAHC provide the basis for written assignments and digital humanities projects focused on these artworks. To that end, your coursework includes group-work and collaborative projects in digital curation to enhance online exhibits for a virtual museum project as well as a hands-on component to create a paired exhibit in the Fine Arts Library.

Fulfills → VAPA / Global Cultures flag

Cross-listings → LAS 327.6

Art History Majors  
Download this guide to view the qualifying Time Periods and Geographical Locations for this course.

TTH 2–3:30
Dr. Julia Guernsey

This course surveys the art, architecture, and material culture of a number of the ancient civilizations of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica that flourished in what are now the modern countries of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras.  The course spans the time of the Olmec through that of the Aztecs, or from the 2nd millennium BC through the arrival of the Spanish in 1519. The goal of this course is to provide students with a general knowledge of the history, ritual traditions, and belief systems of ancient Mesoamericans, as expressed through sculpture, painting, architecture, archaeological remains, and ancient writing systems.

Fulfills → VAPA / Global Cultures flag

Cross-listings → LAS 327.3

Art History Majors  
Download this guide to view the qualifying Time Periods and Geographical Locations for this course.

TTH 12:30–2
Dr. David Stuart

This class explores the art and visual culture of Aztec (Mexica) civilization, focusing on sculptures, paintings, and architectural monuments from the fourteenth century into the early colonial period of the sixteenth century. Students will learn how to look at art and architecture through the systems of iconography and hieroglyphic writing, interpreting their historical, linguistic, and mythological contexts. The art and the methods we use to interpret it provide important windows into larger issues of Aztec history, politics, ideology, and social structure.

Fulfills → VAPA / Global Cultures flag

Cross-listings → LAS 327.11

Art History Majors  
Download this guide to view the qualifying Time Periods and Geographical Locations for this course.

MW 3:30–5
Dr. Rosemary Candelario

This undergraduate course explores the dynamic landscape of Asian American art and performance from historical, cultural, and social perspectives. Students will examine how Asian American artists and performers navigate identity, representation, and community through various mediums, including visual art, theater, dance, and multimedia. Key themes will include the impact of immigration and diaspora on artistic expression, the role of cultural heritage in contemporary art practices, and the intersectionality of race, gender, and sexuality within Asian American narratives. Students will engage with a wide range of texts, performances, and artworks, critically analyzing the ways in which Asian American artists respond to societal issues and challenge dominant cultural narratives. The course will also feature guest speakers and artists, providing students with insights into the contemporary art scene and the processes behind artistic creation.

Fulfills → VAPA / Cultural Diversity flag / Global Cultures flag

Cross-listings → AAS 335 / T D 357T

Art History Majors  
Download this guide to view the qualifying Time Periods and Geographical Locations for this course.