Department of Art HistoryCourse OfferingsFall / 2015

106 Jefferson Hall929 W. Harrison MC 201

AH 100

Introduction to Art and Art HistoryVisiting Instructor | TBAMondays / Wednesdays / Fridays 9-9:50amRoom BH 317or Assistant Professor | Elise ArchiasProfessor | Blake StimsonTuesdays/Thursdays11-12:15pm or 2-3:15pmRoom BH 317

This course will investigate various forms, meanings, and purposes of art. Tech-niques, styles, media, and content will be addressed in different cultural, historical and social contexts. These questions will be considered through four distinct ways of seeing that we will call the “believing eye,” the “analytic eye,” the “alienated eye,” and the “market eye.” Readings will be drawn from the work of renowned art historians, philosophers, artists, and critics writing about major monuments and artistic movements. Students will learn how to make sense of artworks and their place in history. More importantly, they will develop and enhance their visual liter-acy to better prepare them for the increasingly complex, cross-cultural world we find ourselves in today, a world that, more and more, relies on images rather than written or spoken words as its primary medium of communication.

Art History IWorld History of Art andthe Built Environment IAssociate Professor | Ömür HarmanşahMondays / Wednesdays / Fridays12-12:50pmPlease see the UIC schedule for discussion days/times.Room HH 107

Comprehensive overview of world art, architecture, and visual culture of ancient and medieval societies from prehistory to 1400 BCE. Introduces students basic analytical tools of art history in studying pre-modern art and architecture in theircultural, political and historical context.Creative Arts Course

AH 110

Photography in HistoryVisiting Instructor | TBAMondays / Wednesdays / Fridays2-2:50pmRoom SH 319

Developments in the history of photography including cultural, social, commercial, scientific, political and artistic applications, and its transformation of the related social meanings of art and subjectivity. Field trips required at a nominal fee. Recommended background: Any art history course; any photography studio course. Past course.

AH 130

Trends in InternationalContemporary Art Since 1960Assistant Professor | Elise ArchiasMondays 2-5pmRoom JH 209

This course is an introduction to contemporary art. In it we explore some themes, questions, and formal strategies that have occupied different people in different zones of the global contemporary art world since 1960. The course groups artists according to different types of strategy for responding critically to contemporary conditions with the aim of transforming them through art’s limited but extraordinary means. What have people thought art should do and be during the last 50 years? We will look at some of the concrete arguments artists have put forward for why art should be political or autonomous, critical or spectacular, aggressive or nurturing, and then some, keeping it always in mind that we are trying to figure out what we want art to do and be today.

AH 160

Introduction to Museum and Exhibition StudiesVisiting Instructor | TBAWednesdays 3-6pmRoom HH 303

This course engages students with museum and exhibition histories, frameworks and experiences through key readings, films, visits to campus and area museums and exhibits, and guest lectures by cultural sector professionals and faculty in affiliated areas including anthropology, art, and history. This course is open to all undergraduate students. It is a core course for the new Museum and Exhibition Studies Minor.

AH 180

Greek Art and ArchaeologyAssociate Professor | Jennifer TobinTuesdays / Thursdays 9:30-10:45amRoom LCA A003

From the mysterious palaces of the Minoans to the architectural triumph of the Parthenon, the ancient Greeks created monuments that were to form the corner stone for the art and architecture of Western Europe. Come learn about the rise and fall of this vibrant society, as it colonized the Mediterranean and Black Seas, defended against Persian invasion,conquered the East under Alexander the Great, and fell to Rome with the defeat of Cleopatra. See how throughout these turbulent times, the Greeks continued to create statues and buildings that celebrated their specific society but also honored humanity as a whole.Creative Arts and Past Course

AH 204

The Art and Archaeology of Ancient Egypt Associate Professor | Jennifer TobinTuesdays/Thursdays8-9:15amRoom SH 319

Ancient Egypt from 6000 BC-400 AD. Architecture, sculpture and painting in their social and historical contexts. Same as AAST 210, and ARST 210. Prerequisite(s): Sophomore standing.Creative Arts, and Past course.

AH 210

History of Film I: 1890 to World War II Lecturer | Martin Rubin Teaching Assistant | Aaron HammesMondays/Wednesdays 3-4:50pmRoom BH B6

History of film from its beginnings in the 1890s up to World War II. Same as ENGL 232 and MOVI 232.

AH 232

AH 235

History of Design I: 1760-1925Assistant Professor | Jonathan MekindaTuesdays / Thursdays 11-12:15pmRoom - Please see the UIC schedule for location

This lecture course surveys the history of design in Europe and the United States from about 1760 to 1925 from various historical, methodological, and theoretical perspectives. Covering a range of fields, including industrial design, graphic design, architecture, interior architecture, and fashion, this course will explore the evolution of the role of the designer in modern society and examine a wide range of objects as both products and agents of social, cultural, and political transformation. Ultimately, this course aims to introduce students to the myriad ways in which design interacts with culture and society. Same as DES 235

African American ArtVisiting Instructor | TBATuesdays/Thursdays 2-3:15pmRoom HH 107

Interdisciplinary survey of the artistic production of African American artists from the nineteenth century to the present. Same as AAST 264. Creative Arts, and World Cultures course.

AH 264

AH 271

Native American ArtVisiting Instructor | TBAMondays / Wednesdays / Fridays 11-11:50amRoom SH 319

Survey of the arts of the indigenous peoples of the United States and Canada. Same as NAST 271. Prerequisite(s): 3 hours of art history at the 100 level or consent of the instructor. World Cultures course.

AH 301

Theories and Methods in Art HistoryVisiting Instructor | TBAWednesday 9-11:45amRoom JH 209

The methodologies and theories of the discipline and their application to selected problems. Previously listed as AH 200. Required for majors in art history. Prerequisite(s): Junior standing and major in art history, or consent of the instructor.

Topics in the Literatureof ArchitectureProfessor | Martha PollakTuesdays 2-4:50pmRoom HH 303

This seminar will take up selected readings in the theory and criticism of architecture. The readings will focus on works authored by architects,and will range from Vitruvius to Louis Sullivan, and beyond.

AH 422

Topics in Modern and Contemporary Art Eros and EnlightenmentAssociate Professor | Nina DubinMondays 3-5:50pmRoom HH 303

What would it mean to consider eighteenthcentury art through the lens of the period’s evolving discourse on love? The explosion of a novel-reading public; the Enlightenment’s often nervous inquiry into the sentiment of love and its status in relation to the equally unstable category of friendship; the expansion of epistolary culture and the attendant vogue for love letter pictures; the ubiquitous presence of Cupid, even in such unexpected contexts as financial literature: these and other phenomena suggest that eros played a central yet complicated role in eighteenth-century self-imaginings.

Moreover, love was considered indissociable from such equally fraught domains as trust and risk. Examining a broad range of cultural objects, this seminar seeks to expand, challenge and enliven our understanding of art and eros in the eighteenth century.

AH 460

AH 510

Historiography of the Visual Arts: 1750-1960Professor | Martha PollakThursdays 10-12:45pm Room HH 303

In this seminar we will examine the intellectual underpinnings of art history as a discipline, theories of art, and art criticism. The readings will range from the early modern to c.1960. The purpose of the seminar is also to explore research and interpretive methods internal to art history.

AH 532

Cultural CollectionsAssistant Professor: Lori B. BatistaThursdays 2-5pmRoom JH 209

What makes a collection? How are collections cared for, preserved, catalogued and conserved? What circulates from a collection? How do organizations and institutions define areas for collecting? In this course, we will examine the theories, practices, and interpretations that inform how objects, images and ephemera make their way into the collections of libraries, cultural centers and museums. Students will become more knowledgeable about collections processes through field trips, lecture-demonstrations, tours, discussions, and collections-related projects coordinated with local arts organizations and cultural institutions.

Writing for ExhibitionsVisiting Clinical Assistant Professor | Claudine IséMondays 5:30-8:30pmRoom JH 209

This course is a practicum on writing for a variety of art-related contexts, with a particular emphasis on museums and art galleries. Most class meetings are divided as follows: first half, discussion of reading assignments and/or group discussion with guest speakers; second half, group critiques of our weekly writing assignments.

The course covers the following areas: museum wall labels and didactic panels (traditional and experimental forms); press releases; art reviews (short and long format); short and long brochure and catalogue essays; and grant narratives for fundraising and grant applications.

In addition, we’ll explore emerging writing forms as they occur in a variety of social media contexts(Twitter, museum blogs and the social media landscape in general) and will critically examine how social media can be used not only as exhibition marketing and public relations tools, but as a way to extend the reach of an art exhibition. This class will also feature numerous guest speakers

AH 543

Museum Genres, Practices, and InstitutionsAssociate Professor | Therese QuinnWednesdays 6-9pmRoom HH 303

This seminar examines the history and evolving frameworks of museums throughcritical inquiry and close readings of literary, theoretical, and other kinds of media and “texts” produced about and by museums. Students will gain perspectives on the institutional contexts, social practices and political potentials of museums in dialog with a diversity of museum workers and other practitioners at Chicago’s cultural institutions.

AH 545

Seminar in Contemporary Architecture and Art: ADORNO: Now and ForeverAssociate Professor | Lisa LeeProfessor | Blake StimsonWednesdays 9-12pmRoom HH 303

This seminar will take up the work, the reception and continuing relevance of Theodor Adorno, one of the most important critical theorists of the past century. Spanning questions of aesthetics, philosophy, literary and cultural criticism, readings will be drawn from all of Adorno’s works and from selected examples of his reception in more recent theory and criticism (e.g. Lisa Lee, Dialectics of the Body, Fredric Jameson, Late Marxism, and Jean-Francois Lyotard, “Adorno as the Devil”) and artistic practice (e.g. Allan Sekula, Andrea Fraser, and Doug Ischar).For more information: lisalee@uic.edu or stimson@uic.edu.

AH 561