Course Schedule and Catalog

Long Title: ART IN THE VANGUARD: VISUAL CULTURE AND RADICAL POLITICS, 1800-2005

Department: Art History

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This seminar will consider the relationship between visual culture, history and radical politics, looking closely at art as a means of political and ideological resistance and persuasion. Ranging from the 19th to the 21st century, we will consider various strategies of creating politically radical art, looking at the work of Daumier, Courbet, John Heartfield and others. We will also look at the impact of Marxism on art historians, critics and philosophers, including Benjamin, Adorno and Althusser. Finally, we will examine divergent governmental views of art, including the Nazi conception of "Degenerate Art", the fate of modern art in the Soviet Union and the influence of anti-communism on the visual culture of the United States.