Courses

The adjudged authenticity of a work of art is fundamental in determining its value as a commodity on the art market or, for example, in property claim disputes or in issues of cultural property restitution. Using case studies some straightforward and others extremely vexing--this course examines the many ways in which authenticity is measured through the use of provenance and art historical research, connoisseurship, and forensic resources. From within the broader topics, finer issues will also be explored, among them, the hierarchy of attribution, condition and conservation, copies and reproductions, the period eye and the style of the marketplace.

This course will utilize New York City collections to show how the movement of luxury materials, made possible by nomads, was essential to the production of the canonical art works we now admire in museums. We will begin by studying nomadic cultures in the classroom and at the AMNH to better understand why tents are one of the oldest forms of architectural expression throughout the world. We then move to address how recent exhibitions have highlighted an interconnected globe in the premodern period, and what revelations these shows have brought to changing our perspective on how we make art into history and consider future directions in visualizing heretofore silent journeys. Students will get to know NYC collections, meet curators and conservators, and spend the entire semester with one object, which they will research in depth throughout the semester.

This course explores the functions and meanings of Greek painted ceramics made in the sixth century BCE, taking the collections of the Metropolitan Museum as its focus. Today these vessels are enshrined in display cases and elevated as art objects. But what roles did they play for the ancient people who used them? Who made them, and how? What substances did they hold? What did their decorations mean? Why were they acquired by people living thousands of miles away from where they were made? We will examine the overlapping roles of Archaic Greek vessels as functional containers, artistic creations, ancient commodities, and modern collectors’ items. Rather than foregrounding Athenian vases, we will consider them alongside Boeotian, Corinthian, Chalcidian, East Greek, and Laconian vessels to better understand the many roles ceramics played across the Greek world. The relationship between Greek ceramics and those created by neighboring cultures including the Etruscans and Egyptians will be discussed. Emphasis will be placed on understanding Greek vessels as objects that connected different cultures as they moved through the Mediterranean.

This course examines three masters of European Baroque art—Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), Diego Velázquez (1599-1660), and Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669)—artists who are all well represented in the permanent collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Through classroom discussions and museum visits, we will examine Baroque art as part of a continuing and developing accumulation of forms and ideas throughout the 17th century, and consider the impact these artists had on their contemporaries and in ensuing centuries. Roughly half of the class sessions take place at The Metropolitan Museum, a luxury that allows for close, firsthand analysis of art, but it is not an art appreciation course. It is a history course concerned with the study of ideas, artists, and visual facts and their application to emerging art forms within their cultural-historical context. In addition to developing a critical eye, the class is intended to cultivate analytical thinking and communication skills as well as knowledge of the subject matter.

No background in art history is necessary to do well in this course, but students are expected to read and listen closely and to write thoughtfully. Attendance is crucial. Students who attend class, take notes, and read everything will have no difficulty earning a satisfactory grade. Above all, never hesitate to ask questions and see me during office hours.

Coming on the heels of the MoMA's blockbuster exhibit, this seminar will trace the rise and fall of Abstract Expressionism, from its pre-World War II precipitates in Europe (Surrealism) and in America (Regionalism), to the crucial moment when, as scholar Serge Guilbaut has argued, New York 'stole' the idea of modern art, and finally, through the decade when Pop Art rendered Abstract Expressionism obsolete. Although special emphasis will be given to Jackson Pollock, whose persona and work reside at the literal and figurative center of the movement, we will also look closely at works by Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still, Willem DeKooning, Lee Krasner, Louise Bourgeois, Helen Frankenthaler, Eva Hesse, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns and Cy Twombly. Class lectures and presentations will be supplemented with trips to New York's world-renowned museums.

Through an examination of painting, sculpture, decorative arts, photography. fashion and visual culture of the United States from 1750 to 1914, the course will explore how American artists responded to and operated within the wider world, while grappling with issues of identity at home. Addressing themes shared in common across national boundaries, the class will consider how American art participated in the revolutions and reforms of the "long" nineteenth century, and how events of the period continue to impact our country today. The period witnessed the emergence of new technologies for creating, using and circulating images and objects, the expansion and transformation of exhibition and viewing practices, and the rise of new artistic institutions, as well as the metamorphosis of the United States from its colonial origins to that of a world power, including the radical changes that occurred during the Civil War.  With many sessions taking place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the class will investigate how American art engaged with international movements while constructing national identity during a period of radical transformation both at home and abroad.

Readings in translation and discussion of texts of Middle Eastern and Indian origin. Readings may include the Quran, Islamic philosophy, Sufi poetry, the Upanishads, Buddhist sutras, the Bhagavad Gita, Indian epics and drama, and Gandhis Autobiography.

A topical introduction to the architecture and arts of the Islamic cultures of North Africa, Spain, Arabia, Turkey, Iran and Central Asia, from their origins in late antiquity to 1400 CE. A wide variety of media will be explored as we look at artistic accomplishments in both the religious and secular realms. We will study architectural monuments from palaces to mosques as well as small-scale luxury items like textiles, metalwork, ceramics, and illuminated manuscripts.  There will be at least one mandatory class trip to the Metropolitan Museum.

A topical introduction to the architecture and arts of the Islamic cultures of North Africa, Spain, Arabia, Turkey, Iran and Central Asia, from their origins in late antiquity to 1400 CE. A wide variety of media will be explored as we look at artistic accomplishments in both the religious and secular realms. We will study architectural monuments from palaces to mosques as well as small-scale luxury items like textiles, metalwork, ceramics, and illuminated manuscripts.  There will be at least one mandatory class trip to the Metropolitan Museum.

This course centers on the constantly changing ambivalent everyday lived realities, experiences, interpretations as well as the multiple meanings of Islam and focuses less on the study of Islam as a discursive tradition. Furthermore, the course challenges stereotypes of Islam, and of people who one way or another can be called Muslims; most often perceived as a homogenous category through which all Muslim societies are imagined. The course is divided into six parts. The first part introduces the idea of “anthropology of Islam” through different readings in anthropology and various, experiences, practices, dimensions of Islam as a relationship between humans and God. In the second part, the focus is to listen to Islam and connect the different sonic bodies of Islam to power and politics. The third part interrogates preconceived ideas about Islam, gender, feminism, and agency. The fourth part studies Islam, body, sexuality and eroticism. The fifth part is concerned with Islam, youth culture, identity, belonging and rebellion. The last part critically analyzes Islam, modernity, orientalism, post-colonialism and not least today’s fear and notion of imagined enemies.