Western Art: 1400-2000 (ARTH-100)

Instructor: Paul Staiti

This course offers a chronological introduction to Europe and America from the Renaissance to the present. Classes are organized around five focused topics: Renaissance Florence, the artist in the 17th century, art and revolution, 19th-century realism, and abstraction.

At the same time that Western art is being explored, students are also introduced to the materials and methods that artists use: wood, marble, bronze, oil paint, tempera, fresco, stone construction and steel. Categories of art are then presented: portraiture, history painting, still life, landscape and genre.

Finally, questions are raised regarding controversial interpretation of artworks.