AH 398 - Good Looking: Writing about Art and Visual Culture

Prerequisites, junior standing and ART 195 or consent of instructor and art history major or minor. This course introduces students to critical concepts, methods and debates in the study of art and visual culture. The course will cover some of the major theoretical texts and critical discourses on meaning and interpretation in the visual arts. Readings, discussions and writing assignments will raise questions central to the study of art and visual culture: What is an image? What is visual culture? What are the politics of representation? How is meaning generated in an image or object? How has the emergence of the Internet and digital technology changed our notions of the image and the ways we practice art history? Letter grade. (Offered spring semester.) 3 credits