Summer Sessions | Courses | Art History and Archaeology

Equivalent to HUMA C1121 and F1121. Not a historical survey but an analytical study of masterpieces, including originals available in the metropolitan area. The chief purpose is to acquaint students with the experience of a work of art. A series of topics in the development of Western art, selected to afford a sense of the range of expressive possibilities in painting, sculpture, and architecture, such as the Parthenon, the Gothic cathedral, and works of Michelangelo, Bruegel, Picasso, and others. Space is limited. Columbia University undergraduates who need this course for graduation are encouraged to register during early registration.

Equivalent to HUMA C1121 and F1121. Not a historical survey but an analytical study of masterpieces, including originals available in the metropolitan area. The chief purpose is to acquaint students with the experience of a work of art. A series of topics in the development of Western art, selected to afford a sense of the range of expressive possibilities in painting, sculpture, and architecture, such as the Parthenon, the Gothic cathedral, and works of Michelangelo, Bruegel, Picasso, and others. Space is limited. Columbia University undergraduates who need this course for graduation are encouraged to register during early registration.

Equivalent to HUMA C1121 and F1121. Not a historical survey but an analytical study of masterpieces, including originals available in the metropolitan area. The chief purpose is to acquaint students with the experience of a work of art. A series of topics in the development of Western art, selected to afford a sense of the range of expressive possibilities in painting, sculpture, and architecture, such as the Parthenon, the Gothic cathedral, and works of Michelangelo, Bruegel, Picasso, and others. Space is limited. Columbia University undergraduates who need this course for graduation are encouraged to register during early registration.

Equivalent to HUMA C1121 and F1121. Not a historical survey but an analytical study of masterpieces, including originals available in the metropolitan area. The chief purpose is to acquaint students with the experience of a work of art. A series of topics in the development of Western art, selected to afford a sense of the range of expressive possibilities in painting, sculpture, and architecture, such as the Parthenon, the Gothic cathedral, and works of Michelangelo, Bruegel, Picasso, and others. Space is limited. Columbia University undergraduates who need this course for graduation are encouraged to register during early registration.

Equivalent to HUMA C1121 and F1121. Not a historical survey but an analytical study of masterpieces, including originals available in the metropolitan area. The chief purpose is to acquaint students with the experience of a work of art. A series of topics in the development of Western art, selected to afford a sense of the range of expressive possibilities in painting, sculpture, and architecture, such as the Parthenon, the Gothic cathedral, and works of Michelangelo, Bruegel, Picasso, and others. Space is limited. Columbia University undergraduates who need this course for graduation are encouraged to register during early registration.

Equivalent to HUMA C1121 and F1121. Not a historical survey but an analytical study of masterpieces, including originals available in the metropolitan area. The chief purpose is to acquaint students with the experience of a work of art. A series of topics in the development of Western art, selected to afford a sense of the range of expressive possibilities in painting, sculpture, and architecture, such as the Parthenon, the Gothic cathedral, and works of Michelangelo, Bruegel, Picasso, and others. Space is limited. Columbia University undergraduates who need this course for graduation are encouraged to register during early registration.

Equivalent to HUMA C1121 and F1121. Not a historical survey but an analytical study of masterpieces, including originals available in the metropolitan area. The chief purpose is to acquaint students with the experience of a work of art. A series of topics in the development of Western art, selected to afford a sense of the range of expressive possibilities in painting, sculpture, and architecture, such as the Parthenon, the Gothic cathedral, and works of Michelangelo, Bruegel, Picasso, and others. Space is limited. Columbia University undergraduates who need this course for graduation are encouraged to register during early registration.

Equivalent to HUMA C1121 and F1121. Not a historical survey but an analytical study of masterpieces, including originals available in the metropolitan area. The chief purpose is to acquaint students with the experience of a work of art. A series of topics in the development of Western art, selected to afford a sense of the range of expressive possibilities in painting, sculpture, and architecture, such as the Parthenon, the Gothic cathedral, and works of Michelangelo, Bruegel, Picasso, and others. Space is limited. Columbia University undergraduates who need this course for graduation are encouraged to register during early registration.

Equivalent to HUMA C1121 and F1121. Not a historical survey but an analytical study of masterpieces, including originals available in the metropolitan area. The chief purpose is to acquaint students with the experience of a work of art. A series of topics in the development of Western art, selected to afford a sense of the range of expressive possibilities in painting, sculpture, and architecture, such as the Parthenon, the Gothic cathedral, and works of Michelangelo, Bruegel, Picasso, and others. Space is limited. Columbia University undergraduates who need this course for graduation are encouraged to register during early registration.

Equivalent to HUMA C1121 and F1121. Not a historical survey but an analytical study of masterpieces, including originals available in the metropolitan area. The chief purpose is to acquaint students with the experience of a work of art. A series of topics in the development of Western art, selected to afford a sense of the range of expressive possibilities in painting, sculpture, and architecture, such as the Parthenon, the Gothic cathedral, and works of Michelangelo, Bruegel, Picasso, and others. Space is limited. Columbia University undergraduates who need this course for graduation are encouraged to register during early registration.

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.

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 a 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 develop analytical thinking and communication skills as well as knowledge of the subject matter.

Equivalent to HUMA C1121 and F1121. Not a historical survey but an analytical study of masterpieces, including originals available in the metropolitan area. The chief purpose is to acquaint students with the experience of a work of art. A series of topics in the development of Western art, selected to afford a sense of the range of expressive possibilities in painting, sculpture, and architecture, such as the Parthenon, the Gothic cathedral, and works of Michelangelo, Bruegel, Picasso, and others. Space is limited. Columbia University undergraduates who need this course for graduation are encouraged to register during early registration.

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.

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.

Equivalent to HUMA C1121 and F1121. Not a historical survey but an analytical study of masterpieces, including originals available in the metropolitan area. The chief purpose is to acquaint students with the experience of a work of art. A series of topics in the development of Western art, selected to afford a sense of the range of expressive possibilities in painting, sculpture, and architecture, such as the Parthenon, the Gothic cathedral, and works of Michelangelo, Bruegel, Picasso, and others. Space is limited. Columbia University undergraduates who need this course for graduation are encouraged to register during early registration.

Equivalent to HUMA C1121 and F1121. Not a historical survey but an analytical study of masterpieces, including originals available in the metropolitan area. The chief purpose is to acquaint students with the experience of a work of art. A series of topics in the development of Western art, selected to afford a sense of the range of expressive possibilities in painting, sculpture, and architecture, such as the Parthenon, the Gothic cathedral, and works of Michelangelo, Bruegel, Picasso, and others. Space is limited. Columbia University undergraduates who need this course for graduation are encouraged to register during early registration.

Equivalent to HUMA C1121 and F1121. Not a historical survey but an analytical study of masterpieces, including originals available in the metropolitan area. The chief purpose is to acquaint students with the experience of a work of art. A series of topics in the development of Western art, selected to afford a sense of the range of expressive possibilities in painting, sculpture, and architecture, such as the Parthenon, the Gothic cathedral, and works of Michelangelo, Bruegel, Picasso, and others. Space is limited. Columbia University undergraduates who need this course for graduation are encouraged to register during early registration.

Equivalent to HUMA C1121 and F1121. Not a historical survey but an analytical study of masterpieces, including originals available in the metropolitan area. The chief purpose is to acquaint students with the experience of a work of art. A series of topics in the development of Western art, selected to afford a sense of the range of expressive possibilities in painting, sculpture, and architecture, such as the Parthenon, the Gothic cathedral, and works of Michelangelo, Bruegel, Picasso, and others. Space is limited. Columbia University undergraduates who need this course for graduation are encouraged to register during early registration.

Equivalent to HUMA C1121 and F1121. Not a historical survey but an analytical study of masterpieces, including originals available in the metropolitan area. The chief purpose is to acquaint students with the experience of a work of art. A series of topics in the development of Western art, selected to afford a sense of the range of expressive possibilities in painting, sculpture, and architecture, such as the Parthenon, the Gothic cathedral, and works of Michelangelo, Bruegel, Picasso, and others. Space is limited. Columbia University undergraduates who need this course for graduation are encouraged to register during early registration.

Through an examination of painting, sculpture, decorative arts, photography and the 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. 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, ranging from Romanticism to Modernism. 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 profound changes that occurred during the Civil War. 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. In addition to lectures/discussions in the classroom, field trips to the Metropolitan Museum (the American Wing, Nineteenth Century Wing, Galleries of Modem and Contemporary Art, and the Photography Study Collection), the Museum of Modem Art and the Whitney Museum of Art, represent a vital aspect of the course. One of the important questions raised in the class is the recent reinterpretation of American art's interaction with international movements in museum installations and scholarship, moving away from an isolationist approach to one that engages with global influence and awareness. Readings will draw not only from primarily sources, but also from many of the publications of the Terra Foundation, whose exhibitions and research programs work to encourage an understanding and exploration of American Art from a global context.

This course will introduce students to the history of museums and display practices through New York collections. The birth of the museum as a constitutive element of modernity coincides with the establishment of European nation states. Throughout the course of the nineteenth century, museums were founded in major European and American cities to classify objects, natural and manmade, from plants and fossils to sculpture and clothing. This course presents the alternate art history that can be charted through an examination of the foundation and development of museums from cabinets of curiosity to the collection-less new museums currently being built in the Middle East and beyond. We will consider broad thematic issues such as nationalism, colonialism, canon formation, the overlapping methods of anthropology and art history, and the notion of 'framing' from the architectural superstructure to exhibition design. We will visit a wide variety of museums from the American Museum of Natural History to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum as in-depth case studies of more general concepts. Students will have the opportunity to meet museum educators, conservators and curators through on site teaching in a variety of institutions.

Equivalent to HUMA C1121 and F1121. Not a historical survey but an analytical study of masterpieces, including originals available in the metropolitan area. The chief purpose is to acquaint students with the experience of a work of art. A series of topics in the development of Western art, selected to afford a sense of the range of expressive possibilities in painting, sculpture, and architecture, such as the Parthenon, the Gothic cathedral, and works of Michelangelo, Bruegel, Picasso, and others. Space is limited. Columbia University undergraduates who need this course for graduation are encouraged to register during early registration.

Equivalent to HUMA C1121 and F1121. Not a historical survey but an analytical study of masterpieces, including originals available in the metropolitan area. The chief purpose is to acquaint students with the experience of a work of art. A series of topics in the development of Western art, selected to afford a sense of the range of expressive possibilities in painting, sculpture, and architecture, such as the Parthenon, the Gothic cathedral, and works of Michelangelo, Bruegel, Picasso, and others. Space is limited. Columbia University undergraduates who need this course for graduation are encouraged to register during early registration.

Equivalent to HUMA C1121 and F1121. Not a historical survey but an analytical study of masterpieces, including originals available in the metropolitan area. The chief purpose is to acquaint students with the experience of a work of art. A series of topics in the development of Western art, selected to afford a sense of the range of expressive possibilities in painting, sculpture, and architecture, such as the Parthenon, the Gothic cathedral, and works of Michelangelo, Bruegel, Picasso, and others. Space is limited. Columbia University undergraduates who need this course for graduation are encouraged to register during early registration.

This course will introduce students to the avant-garde movement of Impressionism by making extensive use of New York collections, particularly those of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We will study Impressionist art and artists in relation to the aesthetic, social and political backdrop of late nineteenth-century France, with attention to the artistic climate in America and Great Britain. Central to the discussion will be the position of women artists, models and collectors during this transformative period. Topics will include: artistic institutions, training and practice; new attitudes toward urban and rural spaces and toward leisure and labor; gender, fashion and social identity; relationships among artists, dealers, critics and patrons; and exhibiting Impressionism in new contexts.

Introduction to 2000 years of art on the Indian subcontinent. The course covers the early art of Buddhism, rock-cut architecture of the Buddhists and Hindus, the development of the Hindu temple, Mughal and Rajput painting and architecture, art of the colonial period, and the emergence of the Modern.

Introduction to 2000 years of art on the Indian subcontinent. The course covers the early art of Buddhism, rock-cut architecture of the Buddhists and Hindus, the development of the Hindu temple, Mughal and Rajput painting and architecture, art of the colonial period, and the emergence of the Modern.

Introduction to 2000 years of art on the Indian subcontinent. The course covers the early art of Buddhism, rock-cut architecture of the Buddhists and Hindus, the development of the Hindu temple, Mughal and Rajput painting and architecture, art of the colonial period, and the emergence of the Modern.

Equivalent to HUMA C1121 and F1121. Not a historical survey but an analytical study of masterpieces, including originals available in the metropolitan area. The chief purpose is to acquaint students with the experience of a work of art. A series of topics in the development of Western art, selected to afford a sense of the range of expressive possibilities in painting, sculpture, and architecture, such as the Parthenon, the Gothic cathedral, and works of Michelangelo, Bruegel, Picasso, and others. Space is limited. Columbia University undergraduates who need this course for graduation are encouraged to register during early registration.

Introduces distinctive aesthetic traditions of China, Japan, and Korea--their similarities and differences--through an examination of the visual significance of selected works of painting, sculpture, architecture, and other arts in relation to the history, culture, and religions of East Asia.

Introduces distinctive aesthetic traditions of China, Japan, and Korea--their similarities and differences--through an examination of the visual significance of selected works of painting, sculpture, architecture, and other arts in relation to the history, culture, and religions of East Asia.

During the mid-twentieth century painting rose to a hegemonic position among the fine arts, and then quickly descended, at least in the eyes of critics, if not the market. New technologies would enable a host of “new media” that often supplanted and always transformed traditional ones. By the 1960s the dominant narratives that had given abstract painting a logic had lost favor, and new challenges were posed to artists who wanted to work in a medium that was increasingly seen as artistically regressive. As well, institutions that had often tamed radical art in the name of aesthetic sublimation were coming under increasing fire for suppressing—by the choice to show only paintings of a certain, largely “formalist” kind—alternative voices. This course will examine the ways painters negotiated these challenges and gave rise to the proliferation of types of painting that flourished later.

This summer intensive investigates histories and theories of performance art through creative assignments, experiential exercises, and research projects inside and outside of the classroom. The interdisciplinary course is grounded in the rich history of performance art in New York City. Beginning with local antecedents in nineteenth century vaudeville and Dada and Harlem Renaissance following WWI, we will chart how performance art flourished in the experimental downtown milieu of the 1960s and 70s to become a crucial platform for contemporary explorations of identity, body politics, and social relations. Along the way, we will draw on the city’s museums and archives and the urban environment itself as sites of living history and collaborative learning.

Equivalent to HUMA C1121 and F1121. Not a historical survey but an analytical study of masterpieces, including originals available in the metropolitan area. The chief purpose is to acquaint students with the experience of a work of art. A series of topics in the development of Western art, selected to afford a sense of the range of expressive possibilities in painting, sculpture, and architecture, such as the Parthenon, the Gothic cathedral, and works of Michelangelo, Bruegel, Picasso, and others. Space is limited. Columbia University undergraduates who need this course for graduation are encouraged to register during early registration.

Equivalent to HUMA C1121 and F1121. Not a historical survey but an analytical study of masterpieces, including originals available in the metropolitan area. The chief purpose is to acquaint students with the experience of a work of art. A series of topics in the development of Western art, selected to afford a sense of the range of expressive possibilities in painting, sculpture, and architecture, such as the Parthenon, the Gothic cathedral, and works of Michelangelo, Bruegel, Picasso, and others. Space is limited. Columbia University undergraduates who need this course for graduation are encouraged to register during early registration.

Equivalent to HUMA C1121 and F1121. Not a historical survey but an analytical study of masterpieces, including originals available in the metropolitan area. The chief purpose is to acquaint students with the experience of a work of art. A series of topics in the development of Western art, selected to afford a sense of the range of expressive possibilities in painting, sculpture, and architecture, such as the Parthenon, the Gothic cathedral, and works of Michelangelo, Bruegel, Picasso, and others. Space is limited. Columbia University undergraduates who need this course for graduation are encouraged to register during early registration.

Equivalent to HUMA C1121 and F1121. Not a historical survey but an analytical study of masterpieces, including originals available in the metropolitan area. The chief purpose is to acquaint students with the experience of a work of art. A series of topics in the development of Western art, selected to afford a sense of the range of expressive possibilities in painting, sculpture, and architecture, such as the Parthenon, the Gothic cathedral, and works of Michelangelo, Bruegel, Picasso, and others. Space is limited. Columbia University undergraduates who need this course for graduation are encouraged to register during early registration.

quivalent to HUMA C1121 and F1121. Not a historical survey but an analytical study of masterpieces, including originals available in the metropolitan area. The chief purpose is to acquaint students with the experience of a work of art. A series of topics in the development of Western art, selected to afford a sense of the range of expressive possibilities in painting, sculpture, and architecture, such as the Parthenon, the Gothic cathedral, and works of Michelangelo, Bruegel, Picasso, and others. Space is limited. Columbia University undergraduates who need this course for graduation are encouraged to register during early registration.

quivalent to HUMA C1121 and F1121. Not a historical survey but an analytical study of masterpieces, including originals available in the metropolitan area. The chief purpose is to acquaint students with the experience of a work of art. A series of topics in the development of Western art, selected to afford a sense of the range of expressive possibilities in painting, sculpture, and architecture, such as the Parthenon, the Gothic cathedral, and works of Michelangelo, Bruegel, Picasso, and others. Space is limited. Columbia University undergraduates who need this course for graduation are encouraged to register during early registration.

This course introduces major forms of Chinese art from the Neolithic period to the present. It stresses the materials and processes of bronze casting, the development of representational art, principles of text illustration, calligraphy, landscape painting, imperial patronage, and the role of the visual arts in elite culture. Works of Chinese art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art will receive special attention, as you will be able to study these closely online and see the real things at the museum. Throughout the course we will attempt to study not only the history of Chinese art but also how that history has been written, both in China and in the West.

Major theorists and designs of architecture, primarily European, from the Age of Enlightenment to the dawn of the art nouveau critique of historicism. Particular attention to changing conditions of architectural practice, professionalization, and the rise of new building types, with focus on major figures, including Soufflot, Adam, Boullee, Ledoux, Schinkel, Pugin, and Garnier.