Coursework
NYU: Institute of Fine Arts M.A.
FINH-GA 2042: History and Meaning of Museums
The lectures survey selected issues in the prehistory of the museum, such as collecting in classical antiquity through the Renaissance; the studio; the Kunstkammer; the birth of the 'modern' museum in the age of Enlightenment; the history of European and American museums in the 19th century as they emerged alongside the disciplines of archaeology and art history; museums in the 20th century and their expanding definition largely as a consequence of increased attention to modern and contemporary art and its rupture with tradition. The course will conclude with an examination of how museums adapt to a rapidly changing world and more diverse audiences; how museums are affected by and harnessing technology such as virtual reality and artificial intelligence; how these and other developments are shaping the museum of the future.
FINH-GA 2046: Foundations I
Artworks have often generated multiple –and conflicting – interpretations and a large and varied body of criticism. This course presents topics in historical interpretation, critical theory, art historical method, and historiography through an innovative combination of lecture and seminar experiences. Through this course, students will be provided with the essential materials they need to further their process of discovery and intellectual development.
FINH-GA 3036: How We Write the History of the Body
This course explores approaches to writing and thinking about the human body and bodily motion. We see this as a way of opening and mapping an area of study at the intersection of art and dance. Guest scholars will join the seminar to discuss with participants their approaches to writing about the body and its history across a range of disciplines, from art history and the history of dance to philosophy, anthropology, and material culture. The course will also consider the work of cri1cism and cura1on, focusing closely on two current exhibitions in New York art museums featuring dance -- Orphism at the Guggenheim, and Edges of Ailey at the Whitney. We will also attend a live dance performance at the American Ballet Theater.
FINH-GA 2043: Multiple lives of works
Between the two world wars, in the wake of the 1918 victory, and at the apex of the country’s colonial expansion, Paris became a laboratory of modern culture. New visual and spatial strategies emerged, responding to the challenge of industry and using the resources of the luxury crafts. Architecture, interior design and urban planning went through major changes during these two decades, entertaining intense relationships with a conflict-ridden political scene, while Taylorism and Fordism reshaped the metropole’s factories. Cinema and fashion responded to the aspirations of the urban bourgeoisie, setting up the stage for modern dreams. At the same time, the mysteries and the myths of Paris were explored by photographers, and filmmakers, and discussed in the writings of Roger Caillois and Walter Benjamin. The course considers all these dimensions, assuming that the two world wars were intense periods of creativity, rather than parentheses - major artistic movements were born in response to the Union sacrée, and the Occupation of Paris during WWII left space for research and innovation
FINH-GA 2045: Lecture in Conservation for Art Historians
This course will examine the development of art conservation in both theory and practice from its earliest manifestations to the current moment. An historical overview of the field will serve as background for a more detailed exploration of core issues in preservation and restoration. How does conservation change the appearance - and by extension, the meaning - of a work of art? How have the theoretical underpinnings of the discipline evolved, and what role do they play in practice today? And how has conservation responded to the enormous social, historical and intellectual changes of the last few years? Topics to be discussed include the roles of artist-restorer and architect-restorer in the rise of a discipline; the impact of science and scientific inquiry; cleaning controversies and the lure of positivist thinking; the development of ethical standards; decision-making in conservation; the challenges of modern and contemporary art; sustainability; and the expanding roles of the conservator. Readings will range from theoretical treatises to case studies of treatments, but no pre- requisite of scientific knowledge is required. The course is open to all art history, archaeology and conservation students, and it fulfills the conservation requirement for art history and archaeology students.
FINH-GA 3007: Black conceptualism
This seminar draws together recent black art histories with literature in critical black studies and continental philosophy to examine black conceptualism. While our work for the semester center black conceptualism and abstraction as the ground of our study, the course focuses on the interplay of two questions: How have black artists innovated, responded to and complicated the strategies commonly associated with conceptual art? And what does art look like in light of the concept of blackness? In navigating the relay between these questions, our conversations will consider whether some of the “assumptive logics” that guide our interpretation and historicization of art need to be put under closer scrutiny. Specifically, we’ll concern ourselves with the baggage that the term “conceptualism” drags along with it: a mind/body dualism that elevates the supposedly free play of thought; as a corollary, the implicit freedom associated with the flight from representationalism into the realm of conceptuality; and the way these trains of thought are haunted by racialization and slavery.
UCLA: Art History B.A.
Art History 124: Northern Renaissance
Painting and sculpture in the Northern Renaissance
Art History C131C: Contemporary Art
. Study of major artistic and cultural trends following World War II in the U.S. and Europe, covering abstract expressionism to pop art.
Art History 130: Topics in Modern Art
Changing topics in modern art (post-1780) that reflect the interests of individual regular and visiting faculty members
Art History 25: Museum Studies
General introduction to the study of museums in their social and historical contexts. Examination of debates about museum's role in society through case studies and analysis of exhibitions in a range of museums including art, history, and ethnographic museums
Art History 143: Latin American Art
Variable topics in Latin American art that reflect the interests of individual regular and/or visiting faculty members.
Art History 144: Caribbean Art
Cultural History of the Caribbean
Art History 132: Contemporary Protest Art
Changing topics in contemporary art (post-1945) that reflect the interests of individual regular and/or visiting faculty members
Art History C148A: Art and Material Culture, Neolithic to 210 BC
Genesis of Chinese civilization in light of new archaeological finds, including sites and works of art (e.g., ceramics, bronzes, jades).
Art History 154D: Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art
Topics in modern and contemporary South Asian art from 1900 to present.
Art History C136A: Select Topics in African American Art
Variable topics in African American art that reflect the interests of individual regular and/or visiting faculty members
Art History C128C: History of Photography
Variable topics in the history of photography that reflect the interests of individual regular and/or visiting faculty members
African American 112B: Afrofuturism
Anchored by Ryan Coogler's historic Afrofuturistic film Black Panther, the use of speculative fiction of Octavia E. Butler, Samuel R. Delany, Tananarive Due, Nnedi Okorafor, Steven Barnes, and other writers--as well as short films by Kenyan filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu and British/African filmmaker Kibwe Tavares and others--to examine scope and impact of Afrofuturism, growing international cultural movement binding elements of history, sociology, technology, magical realism, politics, and futurism to create alternate reality for children of African diaspora. Exploration of the influence of the music of George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic (Mothership Connection), Sun-Ra, Janelle Monáe, and others