Art matters. Because images, buildings, and environments shape our ways of understanding our world and ourselves, learning how to look closely and analyze what you see is a fundamental life skill. Within a global frame, this course provides an introduction to art and its histories through a series of case studies from the ancient world to the present day. Through the case studies, we will explore concepts of gender and race, cultural appropriation, political propaganda, materials and media, questions of cultural ownership and repatriation, and other historical issues relevant to our current art world.  Site visits and assignments will engage with the rich art and architectural resources of Wellesley's campus.

Art matters. Because images, buildings, and environments shape our ways of understanding our world and ourselves, learning how to look closely and analyze what you see is a fundamental life skill. Within a global frame, this course provides an introduction to art and its histories through a series of case studies from the ancient world to the present day. Through the case studies, we will explore concepts of gender and race, cultural appropriation, political propaganda, materials and media, questions of cultural ownership and repatriation, and other historical issues relevant to our current art world.  Site visits and assignments will engage with the rich art and architectural resources of Wellesley's campus.

This course introduces students to the visual cultures of the Mediterranean in the centuries of the Crusades. It approaches the distinct local, religious, and imperial visual cultures of the Mediterranean as interlocking units within a larger regional system. Focusing on the mobile networks of patrons, merchants, objects, and artisans that connected centers of artistic and architectural production, it covers a geographical territory that includes Spain, North Africa, the Middle East, Anatolia, and the Italian Peninsula. Readings emphasize the theoretical frameworks of hybridity, appropriation, hegemony, and exoticism through which Medieval Mediterranean art and architecture have been understood. Discussions will highlight the significant connections that existed among the Western Medieval, Byzantine, and Islamic worlds.

This course examines Chinese painting from early times to the turn of the twentieth century. It serves as an introduction to theories, masters, and principles in the practice of Chinese painting. Issues of investigation include major themes, techniques, connoisseurship, and functions of Chinese painting. Special attention is given to (1) imperial patronage, (2) the triangle relationship between painting, calligraphy, and poetry, (3) the tension between representation and expression, (4) between professional and literati, (5) between tradition and creativity, and (6) the impact of the West. Trips to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and other museums. 

Exploring the relationship between art and the environment, this course will focus on the land of the United States as it has been shaped into forms ranging from landscape paintings to suburban lawns, national parks, and our own Wellesley College campus. Among the questions we will consider are: What is “nature”? What do we value in a landscape and why? How are artists, architects, and landscape designers responding to environmentalist concerns?

This course considers a history of performance art, a genre that features time-based media, technologies, and the archive. The curriculum covers performance art through a global lens and emphasizes queer artists and artists of African, Latinx, Asian, and Indigenous descent. This seminar prepares students to answer critical questions necessary for defining the field: What are the ethical, physical, and psychological quandaries that artists face from theory to practice in performance art? How does using the body as a medium challenge the “object-ness” of performance, and how does that impact its reception? What roles do artists, museums, cultural institutions, and their audiences play? What are the institutions' responsibilities for fundraising, staff support, and conservation of performance art? Students explore these questions along with key topics on ephemerality, experimentation, documentation, and audience reception to develop performance projects of their own.

This seminar will analyze the role of food in the art and life of early modern Italy. We will examine the historic and economic context of food as the basis of our investigation of its representation in paintings, sculptures, and works on paper from circa 1300 to 1800. This will entail a close look at food as subject and symbol, as well as the material culture surrounding its production and consumption. The seminar will investigate illustrated herbals and cookbooks in Special Collections, dining habits and etiquette, and food as sexual metaphor through a wide range of interdisciplinary sources; Wellesley's Botanic Gardens will grow Italian fruits, vegetables, and herbs for us to incorporate in Renaissance-era recipes.

Art matters. Because images, buildings, and environments shape our ways of understanding our world and ourselves, learning how to look closely and analyze what you see is a fundamental life skill. Within a global frame, this course provides an introduction to art and its histories through a series of case studies from the ancient world to the present day. Through the case studies, we will explore concepts of gender and race, cultural appropriation, political propaganda, materials and media, questions of cultural ownership and repatriation, and other historical issues relevant to our current art world.  Site visits and assignments will engage with the rich art and architectural resources of Wellesley's campus.

Art matters. Because images, buildings, and environments shape our ways of understanding our world and ourselves, learning how to look closely and analyze what you see is a fundamental life skill. Within a global frame, this course provides an introduction to art and its histories through a series of case studies from the ancient world to the present day. Through the case studies, we will explore concepts of gender and race, cultural appropriation, political propaganda, materials and media, questions of cultural ownership and repatriation, and other historical issues relevant to our current art world.  Site visits and assignments will engage with the rich art and architectural resources of Wellesley's campus.

This course introduces students to the central role that the book has played (and continues to play) in the Islamic world. We will study the history of the Islamic book, from manuscripts of the Qur’an, which often feature refined calligraphy but almost never include illustrations, to historical, astrological, and poetic works – like the famous Shahnama (Book of Kings) – that contain images of various types and sizes. Students will learn about the production, collection, and circulation of these books, and ask how and according to which criteria they were conceived, used, and evaluated. In addition to traditional art-historical methods of close-looking and socio-historical analysis, students will learn to use digital approaches to produce new knowledge about the field. Visits to view manuscripts and related materials in local collections will supplement classroom discussion and assigned readings.

This course examines Chinese art in the socially and politically tumultuous twentieth century,which witnessed the end of imperial China, the founding of the Republic, the rise of the People's Republic, the calamity of Mao's cultural revolution, the impact of the West, and the ongoing social and economic reforms. Critical issues of examination include the encounters of East and West, the tensions of tradition and revolution, the burdens of cultural memory and historical trauma, the interpretations of modernity and modernism, the flowering of avant-garde and experimental art, and the problems of globalization and art markets. The course is designed to develop an understanding of the diverse threads of art and society in twentieth-century China.

Frozen in time by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 C.E., Pompeii's grand public baths, theatres, and amphitheater, its seedy bars and businesses, its temples for Roman and foreign gods, and its lavishly decorated townhomes and villas preserve extremely rich evidence for daily life in the Roman Empire. Lecture topics include urbanism in ancient Italy; the structure and rituals of the Roman home; the styles and themes of Pompeian wall paintings and mosaics; and the expression of non-elite identities. We conclude by analyzing Pompeii's rediscovery in the eighteenth century and the city's current popularity in novels, television episodes, and traveling exhibits.

Using the campus of Wellesley College as a case study, this course will explore the theory and practice of historic preservation. Beginning with a focus on the history of preservation in the United States, we will trace the development of legal, economic, public policy, and cultural frameworks that have shaped attitudes and approaches toward the preservation of our built environment. To ground these theoretical discussions, we will use the Wellesley College campus as a laboratory for understanding the benefits and challenges of historic preservation. Students will engage in both individual and group projects that will emphasize field study of buildings and landscapes, archival research, planning, and advocacy. The course is designed for Architecture and Art History majors, but could also be of interest to students in History, American Studies, Environmental Studies and Political Science.

In less than two centuries, the British presence in India transformed from a small company of merchants into a vast, extractive empire ruled by the Crown. This course will critically examine visual culture relating to British colonialism in India from the mid-eighteenth century to Independence. We will consider the role of art in British diplomacy with rival kingdoms and independent territories, photography’s use in colonial surveillance, the impact of industrialization on Indian crafts, colonial patronage and institutions of art education, and architecture and monuments designed to naturalize British presence on the subcontinent. We will equally consider South Asian perspectives such as the role of photography and reproductive prints in the rise of nationalism, the swadeshi movement, and Indian artists’ engagement with or rejection of modernism.