ARTHIST 69SI: Blockchain, NFTs, and the Art World (FILMEDIA 69SI)
The most expensive artwork sold in 2021 was an NFT (non-fungible token) created by Beeple, an artist previously unknown to the art world, but well respected by NFT collectors. NFTs, made possible by blockchain, are radically redefining the art world's commercial boundaries, social dynamics, and even what constitutes an artwork. How do NFTs work? What lends legitimacy to NFT artworks when digital materials can easily be copied via 'Right Click Save'? How does the blockchain alter and reinforce ideas of scarcity, authenticity, and authorship of artwork? How are artists engaging with and reacting to this new technology? How are museums, galleries, and market forces responding? Through guest lectures and discussions, this student-initiated course will provide a foundational understanding of technologies driving the NFT phenomenon and delve into its implications on contemporary artists and the art world.
Last offered: Spring 2022
| Units: 1
ARTHIST 80N: Looking into Portraits: Identities in Question
This seminar explores multiple aspects of this basically simple visual category - images of particular persons. We look at portraits from diverse eras and cultures, as many as possible in their original media of painting, sculpture, drawings, prints, photographs or videos from the Cantor or other local collections, and others in reproduction. We also read and discuss brief essays and articles by art historians and cultural critics as guides for approaching and understanding portraits. Our primary focus will be on the multiple purposes of portraiture, from commemoration, projection of authority, and self-fashioning to asserting social status, cultural role, and personal identity. Along with the history of art and visual culture studies we will benefit from the approaches and insights of fields such as political and social history, religious studies, anthropology, and neuroscience.
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II
ARTHIST 97: Curatorial Internship (ARCHLGY 97A, ARCHLGY 297A)
Opportunity for students to pursue an internship at the Stanford University Archaeology Collections (SUAC) and receive training and experience in museum curation. Curatorial interns conduct focused object research in preparation for upcoming exhibitions to go on view at the Stanford Archaeology Center.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr
| Units: 1-5
| Repeatable
6 times
(up to 15 units total)
Instructors:
Jacobs-Edmondson, V. (PI)
ARTHIST 100N: The Artist in Ancient Greek Society (CLASSICS 18N)
Given the importance of art to all aspects of their lives, the Greeks had reason to respect their artists. Yet potters, painters and even sculptors possessed little social standing. Why did the Greeks value the work of craftsmen but not the men themselves? Why did Herodotus dismiss those who worked with their hands as "mechanics?" What prompted Homer to claim that "there is no greater glory for a man than what he achieves with his own hands," provided that he was throwing a discus and not a vase on a wheel? Painted pottery was essential to the religious and secular lives of the Greeks. Libations to the gods and to the dead required vessels from which to pour them. Economic prosperity depended on the export of wine and oil in durable clay containers. At home, depictions of gods and heroes on vases reinforced Greek values and helped parents to educate their children. Vases depicting Dionysian excess were produced for elite symposia, from which those who potted and painted them were exclu
more »
Given the importance of art to all aspects of their lives, the Greeks had reason to respect their artists. Yet potters, painters and even sculptors possessed little social standing. Why did the Greeks value the work of craftsmen but not the men themselves? Why did Herodotus dismiss those who worked with their hands as "mechanics?" What prompted Homer to claim that "there is no greater glory for a man than what he achieves with his own hands," provided that he was throwing a discus and not a vase on a wheel? Painted pottery was essential to the religious and secular lives of the Greeks. Libations to the gods and to the dead required vessels from which to pour them. Economic prosperity depended on the export of wine and oil in durable clay containers. At home, depictions of gods and heroes on vases reinforced Greek values and helped parents to educate their children. Vases depicting Dionysian excess were produced for elite symposia, from which those who potted and painted them were excluded. Sculptors were less lowly but still regarded as "mechanics," with soft bodies and soft minds (Xenophon), "indifferent to higher things" (Plutarch). The seminar addresses such issues as we work to acknowledge our own privilege and biases. Students will read and discuss texts, write response papers and present slide lectures on aspects of the artist's profession.
Last offered: Spring 2024
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
ARTHIST 101: Introduction to Greek Art I: The Archaic Period (CLASSICS 161)
The class considers the development of Greek art from 1000-480 and poses the question, how Greek was Greek art? In the beginning, as Greece emerges from 200 years of Dark Ages, their art is cautious, conservative and more abstract than life-like, closer to Calder than Michelangelo. While Homer describes the rippling muscles (and egos) of Bronze Age heroes, his fellow painters and sculptors prefer abstraction. This changes in the 7th century, when travel to and trade with the Near East transform Greek culture. What had been an insular society becomes cosmopolitan, enriched by the sophisticated artistic traditions of lands beyond the Aegean "frog pond." Imported Near Eastern bronzes and ivories awaken Greek artists to a wider range of subjects, techniques and ambitions. Later in the century, Greeks in Egypt learn to quarry and carve hard stone from Egyptian masters. Throughout the 6th century, Greek artists absorb what they had borrowed, compete with one another, defy their teachers, tes
more »
The class considers the development of Greek art from 1000-480 and poses the question, how Greek was Greek art? In the beginning, as Greece emerges from 200 years of Dark Ages, their art is cautious, conservative and more abstract than life-like, closer to Calder than Michelangelo. While Homer describes the rippling muscles (and egos) of Bronze Age heroes, his fellow painters and sculptors prefer abstraction. This changes in the 7th century, when travel to and trade with the Near East transform Greek culture. What had been an insular society becomes cosmopolitan, enriched by the sophisticated artistic traditions of lands beyond the Aegean "frog pond." Imported Near Eastern bronzes and ivories awaken Greek artists to a wider range of subjects, techniques and ambitions. Later in the century, Greeks in Egypt learn to quarry and carve hard stone from Egyptian masters. Throughout the 6th century, Greek artists absorb what they had borrowed, compete with one another, defy their teachers, test the tolerance of the gods and eventually produce works of art that speak with a Greek accent. By the end of the archaic period, images of gods and mortals bear little trace of alien influence or imprint, yet without the contributions of Egypt and the Near East, Greek art as we know it would have been unthinkable.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
Instructors:
Maxmin, J. (PI)
ARTHIST 102: Introduction to Greek Art II: From the Parthenon to Scopas (CLASSICS 162)
The class begins with the art, architecture and political ideals of Periclean Athens, from the emergence of the city as the political and cultural center of Greece in 450 to its defeat in the Peloponnesian War in 404. It then considers how the Athenians (shell-shocked from war and three outbreaks of plague) and the rest of 4th century Greece rebuild their lives and the monuments that define them. Earlier 5th century traditions endure, with subtle changes, in the work of sculptors such as Kephisodotos. Less subtle are the outlook and output of his son Praxiteles. In collaboration with Phryne, his muse and mistress, Praxiteles challenged the canons and constraints of the past with the first female nude in the history of Greek sculpture. His gender-bending gods and men were equally audacious, their shiny surfaces reflecting Plato's discussion of Eros and androgyny. Scopas was also a man of his time, but pursued different interests. Drawn to the interior lives of men and woman, his torment
more »
The class begins with the art, architecture and political ideals of Periclean Athens, from the emergence of the city as the political and cultural center of Greece in 450 to its defeat in the Peloponnesian War in 404. It then considers how the Athenians (shell-shocked from war and three outbreaks of plague) and the rest of 4th century Greece rebuild their lives and the monuments that define them. Earlier 5th century traditions endure, with subtle changes, in the work of sculptors such as Kephisodotos. Less subtle are the outlook and output of his son Praxiteles. In collaboration with Phryne, his muse and mistress, Praxiteles challenged the canons and constraints of the past with the first female nude in the history of Greek sculpture. His gender-bending gods and men were equally audacious, their shiny surfaces reflecting Plato's discussion of Eros and androgyny. Scopas was also a man of his time, but pursued different interests. Drawn to the interior lives of men and woman, his tormented Trojan War heroes and victims are still scarred by memories of the Peloponnesian War, and a world away from the serene faces of the Parthenon. His Maenad, who has left this world for another, belongs to the same years as Euripides' Bacchae and, at the same time, anticipates the torsion and turbulence of Bernini and the Italian Baroque. The history and visual culture of these years remind us that we are not alone, that the Greeks grappled as we do with the inevitability and consequences of war, disease and inner daemons.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
Instructors:
Maxmin, J. (PI)
ARTHIST 102B: Coffee, Sugar, and Chocolate: Commodities and Consumption in World History, 1200-1800 (ARTHIST 302B, HISTORY 202B, HISTORY 302B, HISTORY 402B)
Many of the basic commodities that we consider staples of everyday life became part of an increasingly interconnected world of trade, goods, and consumption between 1200 and 1800. This seminar offers an introduction to the material culture of the late medieval and early modern world, with an emphasis on the role of European trade and empires in these developments. We will examine recent work on the circulation, use, and consumption of things, starting with the age of the medieval merchant, and followed by the era of the Columbian exchange in the Americas that was also the world of the Renaissance collector, the Ottoman patron, and the Ming connoisseur. This seminar will explore the material horizons of an increasingly interconnected world, with the rise of the Dutch East India Company and other trading societies, and the emergence of the Atlantic economy. It concludes by exploring classic debates about the "birth" of consumer society in the eighteenth century. How did the meaning of things and people's relationships to them change over these centuries? What can we learn about the past by studying things? This course requires a permission number to enroll. Please reach out to Professor Findlen at pfindlen@stanford.edu to request permission to enroll in the course.
Last offered: Autumn 2023
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
ARTHIST 104Q: Picturing Americans (AMSTUD 104Q)
What do pictures reveal about individuals and their social, cultural, and historical world? Who or what might they conceal? This seminar uses visual depictions of Americans (paintings, photographs, films, comics, and more) as the starting point for discussions of American history, art, popular culture, social movements, and national identity, as well as questions of who has been represented and who has been overlooked. Literary and historical texts support and complement the close study of pictures from the late 19th century through the present.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II
Instructors:
Kessler, E. (PI)
ARTHIST 106: Byzantine Art and Architecture, 300-1453 C.E. (ARTHIST 306, CLASSICS 171)
This course explores the art and architecture of the Eastern Mediterranean: Constantinople, Jerusalem, Alexandria, Antioch, Damascus, Thessaloniki, and Palermo, 4th-15th centuries. Applying an innovative approach, we will probe questions of phenomenology and aesthetics, focusing our discussion on the performance and appearance of spaces and objects in the changing diurnal light, in the glitter of mosaics and in the mirror reflection and translucency of marble.
Last offered: Spring 2021
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
ARTHIST 107: Beauty and the Beast: A History of West African Fashion and Sustainability (AFRICAAM 107, DLCL 101, FEMGEN 107)
The focus of this course is to examine the life cycle of African textiles and fashion industry and how these relate to fashion sustainability. We will explore the degree to which West African cultural practices and sartorial choices are inherently underpinned by sustainability principles, especially among women. The history of textiles in Africa also connects them to a transnational process dating from the pre-colonial and colonial periods from the 15th to the early 20th centuries, where Dutch, Danish, French and English merchants were responsible for introducing fabrics and styles from Indonesia, China, and India into the West African economy. The course will focus especially on the history of African print cloths popularized by Vlisco, a Dutch company first established in 1848 whose products have dominated the high-end textile economy since then but which is also being challenged by impressive knock-off versions of their patterns from China. African print cloth motifs have also appea
more »
The focus of this course is to examine the life cycle of African textiles and fashion industry and how these relate to fashion sustainability. We will explore the degree to which West African cultural practices and sartorial choices are inherently underpinned by sustainability principles, especially among women. The history of textiles in Africa also connects them to a transnational process dating from the pre-colonial and colonial periods from the 15th to the early 20th centuries, where Dutch, Danish, French and English merchants were responsible for introducing fabrics and styles from Indonesia, China, and India into the West African economy. The course will focus especially on the history of African print cloths popularized by Vlisco, a Dutch company first established in 1848 whose products have dominated the high-end textile economy since then but which is also being challenged by impressive knock-off versions of their patterns from China. African print cloth motifs have also appeared in the collections of some of the most upscale European fashion houses such as Dior, Balenciaga, Louis Vuitton, and Stella McCartney, among various others. The course will also focus on questions of sustainability, centering especially on the secondhand clothes markets in Accra, Lome, and Lagos. The global fashion industry is second only to the oil industry in terms of environmental pollution, and it is the secondhand clothes industry that shows the effects of this pollution most dramatically. We will follow the provenance of these clothes from Canada, the US, the UK, Australia, and China, how they are shipped to Accra and other places in West Africa, and the problems of waste disposal that they generate. This will then be tied to larger questions relating to global fashion sustainability in the Global North, where the rhetoric of environmental awareness increasingly demanded by customers and clients often conceals the long-held practice of dumping unused clothes in various locations in the Global South.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II
Instructors:
Toleque, G. (PI)