printer friendly pageARTHIST 1A: Decolonizing the Western Canon: Introduction to Art and Architecture from Prehistory to Medieval (CLASSICS 56)
Traditional Art History viewed the Renaissance as its pinnacle; it privileged linear perspective and lifelikeness and measured other traditions against this standard, neglecting art from the Near East, Egypt, the Middle Ages, or Islam. This course will disrupt this colonizing vision by conceptualizing artworks as "methexis" (participation, liveliness, or enactment) as opposed to mimesis (imitation or lifelikeness). We will study the development of the Western canon and its systematic eradication of difference through a renewed understanding of what an artwork is.
Last offered: Winter 2023
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-GlobalCom, WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP
ARTHIST 1B: How to Look at Art and Why: An Introduction to the History of Western Painting
This course explores the relation of art to life - how and why works of art, even from hundreds of years ago, matter in a person's life. It trains students to find the words to share their thoughts about art with their peers, friends, and family. Some fundamental questions the course considers: How do we get beyond the idea that the study and making of art are elite, 'privileged' activities apart from the real world? How do we develop a sense of discernment - of deciding for ourselves which artists matter, and which don't - without being a snob? How can works of art teach us to feel the wonder of being alive and our deep debt to the past, to the dead? Focusing on painters such as Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Goya, Manet, Morisot, and Charlotte Salomon, this course will pursue these questions with the aim of challenging and encouraging students to develop their own ways of thinking and feeling - generously and ethically - about the past and the present. Sections will focus on original works of art at the Cantor Arts Center. No prerequisites required.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
Instructors:
Chun, E. (PI)
;
Nemerov, A. (PI)
;
Chun, E. (TA)
;
Gonzalez Ho, C. (TA)
;
Hobbs, C. (TA)
;
Nguyen-Hoang, Q. (TA)
;
Silva, S. (TA)
ARTHIST 2: Asian Arts and Cultures (JAPAN 60)
An exploration of the visual arts of East and South Asia from ancient to modern times, in their social, religious, literary and political contexts. Analysis of major monuments of painting, sculpture and architecture will be organized around themes that include ritual and funerary arts, Buddhist art and architecture across Asia, landscape and narrative painting, culture and authority in court arts, and urban arts in the early modern world.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, GER:EC-GlobalCom, GER:DB-Hum
Instructors:
Vinograd, R. (PI)
;
Walls, J. (PI)
ARTHIST 3: Introduction to World Architecture (CLASSICS 54)
This course offers an expansive and wide-ranging introduction to architecture and urban design from the earliest human constructions to the mid-20th century. The examples range from the Americas to Europe, the Middle East, South and East Asia. The diverse technologies and materialities of building are addressed throughout and an overriding concern is to understand architecture as a sensible manifestation of particular cultures, whether societies or individuals. To the same ends, student writing assignments will involve the analysis of local space, whether a room or a building, and then the built environment at large
Last offered: Spring 2021
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
ARTHIST 5: Art and Power
Art and Power explores a wide range of artworks from the premodern to the contemporary world to reflect on how art has been shaped by structures of inequality and, conversely, how power relations are represented and reinforced by art. Co-taught by two professors to foster a multi-focal perspective, this course asks questions about the relationship of beauty and violence, and the place of art history in capitalism, colonialism, and elitism.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 5
Instructors:
Kwon, M. (PI)
ARTHIST 10AX: Los Angeles Arts Immersion (ARTSINST 12AX)
In this Arts Intensive, students will learn about the dynamic art histories of Mexican American/Chicanx and Black American artists in Los Angeles. Students will visit museums, galleries, and community centers dedicated to nurturing, showcasing, and archiving the art of people of color, including Black- and Latinx-founded art institutions. Students will meet curators, artists and other art professionals, be given private tours to view historical sites and modern and contemporary art, and will participate in at least one artist-led art-making workshop. Once back at Stanford, students will continue to explore the art histories of Black and Brown peoples through class discussions of primary texts, films, and artist interviews.
Terms: Sum
| Units: 2
Instructors:
Salseda, R. (PI)
ARTHIST 36: Dangerous Ideas (COMPLIT 36A, EALC 36, ENGLISH 71, ETHICSOC 36X, FRENCH 36, HISTORY 3D, MUSIC 36H, PHIL 36, POLISCI 70, RELIGST 36X, SLAVIC 36, TAPS 36)
Ideas matter. Concepts such as equality, tradition, and Hell have inspired social movements, shaped political systems, and dramatically influenced the lives of individuals. Others, like race and urban renewal, play an important role in contemporary debates in the United States. All of these ideas are contested, and they have a real power to change lives, for better and for worse. In this one-unit class we will examine these "dangerous" ideas. Each week, a faculty member from a different department in the humanities and arts will explore a concept that has shaped human experience across time and space.
Last offered: Spring 2023
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
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.
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II
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
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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.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
Instructors:
Maxmin, J. (PI)
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