Course Description
Summary
What is art? This question proved central to the evolution of artistic practice in the West during the twentieth century. The push to define and redefine art was entangled with several other queries: What cannot be considered art? What does an artist do (or not do)? What (or who) is “modern”? What distinguishes art from life itself? Looking at the social histories from which these questions emerged, this course will delve into matters of race, gender, class, colonization, and nationhood implicated in modern and postmodern art practices. We will cover art movements led by Indigenous peoples, Black Americans, Latinx artists, and feminists, as well as Europeans and European Americans such as Cubism, Dada, Surrealism, and Pop Art. We will learn about how each movement pushed against the tastes of society at-large to radically challenge ideas about art itself. Students will learn how to look, read, write, and talk about art within its social and historical contexts. Students will write three short papers and create a collaborative presentation.
