Course Descriptions

Art

ART121E        Introduction to the Study of Art

This course is designed as a study of the formal elements and subject matter particular to the three major visual art forms of painting, sculpture and architecture. The student is introduced to method in art study, and is encouraged to develop his/her own capacity to look at and understand some of the great masterpieces of the world.

ART175E Digital Photography

This project-based studio course serves as an introduction to digital photography as it applies to the fine arts. Students explore technical and aesthetic foundations of photography through the latest digital technology. Digital cameras, scanning, and image manipulation software is covered as well as an examination of the history of photography and its role as a form or artistic expression. Students are required to supply their own digital cameras. Lab fee: $75.

ART223E        Renaissance Art

Painting, sculpture and architecture of the Italian 15th century from its beginnings in Giotto through its flowering in Raphael, Leonardo and Michelangelo. While our emphasis is on the specific beauty of the art works themselves, we also show their connection to the great intellectual revolutions of the times, the growth of cities, trade and science. Also studied are the two aesthetic currents of line and volume; the rise of anatomy and perspective; the impact of Savanarola, the Medici and neo-Platonism; and the frictions and resolutions between religious and secular aesthetic interests. We will worry, as they did, over the role of material realism, beauty, the nude and classicism in art.  

ART225E        Meaning of Modern Art

This study shows Modern Art to be a single unified cultural style evolving logically and relentlessly from the two central values of modern times: science and individualism. From its birth in 1860 to its death in 1960, each substyle (e.g., cubism, surrealism) and each personal style (e.g., Chagall, Kandinsky) is shown to be an inevitable step in the overall evolution of Modern Art through its "search," "flowering," and "extremist periods," the three traditional stages of any cultural style. Its extraordinary systems of meaning and beauty are shown to be unique in art history and shed light on modern attitudes and concern.