Course Description
The transition in American art from Victorianism to early Modernism in an age of science, progress and decay, tradition and ethnicity, motherhood and the "new woman." A key cultural referent will be the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will be expected to produce an extensive
research paper on specific works or issues related to the field
and the methodologies appropriate to the topic under
consideration in the course. This paper will be a detailed,
in-depth consideration of the student's chosen theme requiring
not only a demonstration of advanced research skills (including
the ability to read and use material presented in foreign
languages), but also an articulation of the student's ability to
understand and manipulate the critical apparatus of art history.
Athena Title
Amer Fin de Sie`cle
Prerequisite
Two ARHI 3000-level courses and permission of major
Semester Course Offered
Not offered on a regular basis.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
This course examines with a thematic organization the period of transition in American art from Victorianism to early Modernism. Looking at the various contradictions and oppositions that made up American life and culture from the Centennial to the eve of World War I, this course seeks to investigate the complex artistic expressions of America's most significant artists of this period as part of a broad era of such sweeping polarities as individualism and incorporation, expatriatism and nationalism, the modern and the primitive. With research projects requiring examination of the period's illustrated periodicals, the course aims to explore individual artistic production within the broader framework of cultural artifacts such as photographs, decorative objects, advertisements, exhibition displays, illustrations, cartoons, and period writings.
Topical Outline
I. The Promise of 1893: The World's Columbian Exposition As Mirror To The American Soul II. Memory & Nostalgia For A Utopian American Past III. The Heroic Present: Science, Professionalism & Individual Achievement IV. The American West Conquered V. Being Big: Fighting Neurasthenia & The Crisis of Masculinity VI. Aestheticism & the Pursuit of Cosmopolitan Beauty VII. Orientalism, The Sacred Goddess & The New Woman VIII. Mind Cure: The Spirit Seekers IX. Illusion and Authenticity in The Age of Urban Spectacle
Syllabus