Art History
Note: This page contains all of the regular courses taught by this department. Not all courses are offered every year. Check the searchable schedule to see which courses are being offered in the upcoming semester.
ARHS 110 Survey of Art, Part I
Credit: 0.5
This course surveys Western art and architecture from the Paleolithic to the end of the Middle Ages. Training in visual analysis is emphasized, as are the historical context, religious beliefs, and social conditions in which the artwork was produced. This is primarily a lecture class, though discussion is encouraged. Requirements include slide examinations and a short paper. The text for this class is Janson's History of Art. No prerequisite.
Instructor: Staff
ARHS 111 Survey of Art, Part II
Credit: 0.5
This course will survey art and architecture from the Renaissance to the present. Framing the study of art history within a social context, this course will provide students with the tools for understanding style and interpreting meaning in individual works of art. Requirements include quizzes, exams, and short papers. The text for this class is Jansons's History of Art. No prerequisite.
Instructor: Staff
ARHS 113 Survey of Architecture
Credit: 0.5
This introductory lecture course introduces the student to the study of the practical and theoretical principles governing architecture. Classical, Gothic, and modern styles are considered. Students study the text Architecture from Prehistory to Post-Modernism, by Trachtenberg and Hyman. Three one-hour examinations and one final examination are assigned. No prerequisites.
Instructor: Staff
ARHS 114 Introduction to Asian Art
Credit: 0.5
This course explores the highlights of Asian art, focusing on India, China, and Japan. The class will also briefly cover Central Asia, Bengal, Nepal, Tibet, Thailand, Cambodia, Java, and Korea. Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Taoism, and other Asian beliefs will be explained in the context of how they affect Asian art. Types of artwork examined will include painting, sculpture, decorative arts, and some architecture and gardens. The text for the class is Sherman E. Lee's A History of Far Eastern Art; other texts will be used to supplement it. Class requirements include four one-hour slide examinations. No prerequisite.
Instructor: Blick
ARHS 216 Image & Text: Writing about Art
Credit: 0.5
This course is designed to give students of art history an opportunity to expand their knowledge of the many ways of writing about art. Assignments will include description and analysis of individual works of art, art criticism, and catalogue entries, as well as more complex research. In order to provide examples of different types of writing about art, students will be assigned a wide variety of readings. This course is designed particularly for students in art history, but others interested in writing and art may find it useful as well. Prerequisite: ARHS 110 or 111 or equivalent. Enrollment limited to students with sophomore or junior standing.
ARHS 220 Greek Art
Credit: 0.5
This course will examine the art and architecture of Greece from Bronze Age Crete and Mycenean palaces of the mainland through the historical age of Greece and the extended Greek cultures of southern Italy and the Hellenistic world. Special attention will be given to the development of Greek standards of beauty and the role of beauty in Greek culture. The format is lecture and discussion. Prerequisite: ARHS 110 or ARHS 111 or equivalent.
Instructor: Dwyer
ARHS 221 Roman Art
Credit: 0.5
This course will examine the art and architecture of Rome from its Etruscan and Latin origins through the decline of the Roman Empire. As Rome grew from a city to a world empire, Romans employed the arts in a wide variety of contexts, ranging from the domestic and funereal to the political and imperial, with art and architecture often used in the service of ritual or propaganda. The format is lecture and discussion. Prerequisite: ARHS 110 or ARHS 111 or equivalent.
Instructor: Dwyer
ARHS 222 Northern Renaissance Art
Credit: 0.5
This intermediate-level course will examine Netherlandish, French, and German art of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, including artists such as the Limbourg Brothers, Jan Van Eyck, and Albrecht Dürer. Special emphasis will be placed on the relationship between artistic development and cultural conditions. Class members will discuss issues regarding medieval and Renaissance styles, the development of oil painting, the revolutionary expansion of the graphic arts, and the impact of the Reformation on the visual arts. Prerequisite: ARHS 110, 111, or equivalent.
Instructor: Van Ausdall
ARHS 223 Early Renaissance Art in Italy
Credit: 0.5
This course will investigate the beginnings of Italian Renaissance art from the profound changes of the late thirteenth century through the flowering of the arts in the fifteenth century. Artists and architects such as Giotto, Donatello, Alberti, and Botticelli will be viewed in the context of contemporary cultural and theoretical issues.
Instructor: Van Ausdall
ARHS 224 High Renaissance Art
Credit: 0.5
This intermediate-level course will focus on the art and architecture of the High Renaissance in Italy. The works of artists and architects such as Leonardo da Vinci, Bramante, Titian, Michelangelo, and Raphael will be explored in depth. In addition, the canonical High Renaissance will be compared to the growing "Mannerist" trend in the sixteenth century. Issues such as patronage, politics, gender, and artistic theory will be examined to shed light on the varied artistic production of this period.
Instructor: Van Ausdall
ARHS 225 Baroque Art
Credit: 0.5
This course will survey the art of the seventeenth century, starting in Rome and spreading outward to other parts of Europe. Lecture and discussion will focus on major artists including Caravaggio, Bernini, Rubens, Rembrandt, and Poussin. The formal characteristics and historical context of Baroque art will be explored, as well as the controversial relationship among art criticism, theory, and production. Prerequisite: ARHS 111.
ARHS 226 Modern Art I: Rococo-Impressionism
Credit: 0.5
This course will focus on European art and architecture of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Within a chronological structure, we shall commence our study in the late Baroque with focused attention to artistic production under the French monarchy. We shall then trace the political, social, and aesthetic dimensions of modern expression through a study of the Romantic, Realist, and Impressionist movements. Among the broad themes we shall consider are the visual politics of revolution, gender and visual culture, and the nineteenth-century colonialist vision.
Instructor: Dabakis
ARHS 227D American Art to 1876
Credit: 0.5
This course presents an overview of painting, sculpture, and architecture from colonial times to 1876. It frames the development of American art and architecture within a broad socio-historical context and addresses many of the issues pertinent to American studies. The following questions, among others, will be addressed in the course: Does American culture have a single, identifiable character? How have Americans reconciled their uneasy relationship with European culture? How have American political values, such as freedom, liberty, and democracy, informed the cultural expression of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries?
ARHS 228 History of Photography
Credit: 0.5
This course will survey the technical, aesthetic, and social history of nineteenth- and twentieth-century photography. Major periods, events, and movements will be covered, including the invention of photography; the daguerreotype, picture tourism, and the Grand Tour; the Civil War; Western landscape photography, the new urban vision, and Modernism. Prerequisite: ARHS 110 or 111 or equivalent.
Instructor: Staff
ARHS 230 Modern Art II: Symbolism and Surrealism
Credit: 0.5
This course will focus on the evolution of modernism as an artistic practice and the emergence of the avant-garde as a social and political formation in Europe between 1880 and 1945. Among the themes to be considered are the relationship between art and technology, the cultural implications of "primitivism", and the significance of abstract and nonrepresentational art to modern expression.
Instructor: Dabakis
ARHS 231 Modern Art III: Art in the Era of the Cold War
Credit: 0.5
Beginning with abstract expressionism, we will critically address the development of high modernism in New York after World War II, analyze its near hegemonic position in cultural expression in the 1950s, and trace the resistance to this artistic ideology with the emergence of pop art and other artistic movements, such as minimalism, conceptual art, and feminist art.Prerequisite: ARHS 110 or ARHS 111 or equivalent.
ARHS 232 Early Medieval Art
Credit: 0.5
This course concerns the arts of medieval Europe from the fourth to the tenth century. The class will learn about the major forms of architecture, sculpture, painting, and the decorative arts of the Middle Ages. Style and iconography will be considered within the cultural context of large societal movements, including monastic reform, pilgrimage, and chivalry. The class format consists of lecture, discussion, debate, and presentations. Prerequisite: ARHS 110 or equivalent.
Instructor: Blick
ARHS 234 Romanesque and Gothic Art
Credit: 0.5
This intermediate-level course will explore the arts of medieval Europe from the tenth through the fourteenth centuries. The class will learn about the rich traditions of architecture, sculpture, painting, and the decorative arts from the Romanesque and Gothic period. Style and iconography will be considered within the cultural context of large societal movements, including monastic reform, pilgrimage, and chivalry. This class format will consist of lecture, discussion, debate, and class presentations. Prerequisite: ARHS 110 or equivalent.
Instructor: Blick
ARHS 235 Art of China
Credit: 0.5
This intermediate-level course will examine the extraordinary arts of China from the Paleolithic period (4000 BCE) through the twentieth century. The class will learn about the rich traditions of jade, bronzes, lacquer, ceramics, textiles, painting, calligraphy, sculpture, and architecture within their cultural context. Various forms of Buddhism, Confucianism, daoism, legalism, and other beliefs will be explained in conjunction with how they affect Chinese art. This is primarily a lecture class, but discussion is encouraged.
Instructor: Blick
ARHS 237 Late Gothic Art in Europe
Credit: 0.5
This intermediate-level course will explore the arts of medieval northern Europe from the mid-thirteenth through the early sixteenth century. The class will learn about the rich traditions of architecture, sculpture, painting, and the decorative arts from the Late Gothic period. Style and iconography will be considered within the cultural context of large societal movements, including literacy, pilgrimage, and chivalry. The class format will consist of lecture, discussion, debate, and class presentations. The secondary focus will be on information literacy and how to develop and write a high-level research paper. Prerequisite: ARHS 110 or equivalent.
Instructor: Blick
ARHS 238 Modern Chinese Art
Credit: 0.5
At the same time that China has faced its largest challenge in history in terms of sovereignty, dignity, and culture, its art has been influenced by the importation of Western styles and aesthetics. The two artistic traditions clashed, coexisted, and were integrated. To understand the artistic impact of the West and China's reaction to it, we will, in this intermediate-level course, investigate the journey from its beginning, the Opium Wars, to the present, an era of urbanization in a global context. Prerequisite: ARHS 111 or ARHS 114 or permission of the instructor.
Instructor: Zhou
ARHS 239 Contemporary Chinese Art
Credit: 0.5
The year 1949 was a watershed in twentieth-century Chinese art, due to the foundation of People's Republic of China. Art has experienced dramatic change from the 1950s to the present. In this intermediate-level course, we will investigate the journey fromideologically-oriented art to the art of the Cultural Revolution, from the post-Mao period and the avant-garde movement to art in an era of urbanization in a global context. Prerequisite: ARHS 111 or ARHS 114 or permission of the instructor.
Instructor: Zhou
ARHS 242 Eternal Glories: Monuments, Museums, and Churches of Rome
Credit: 0.5
This course, offered only as part of the Kenyon in Rome program, provides an overview of the history, culture, and art of Rome from antiquity to the eighteenth century, with some forays into modern Rome as well. Classroom instruction will complement visits to different sites in the city of Rome and its environs, Florence, Naples, and Pompeii. Guest lectures by scholars in Rome will focus on specific issues in Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, and Modern art and architecture in Rome. Visits to the museums, churches, and galleries of Rome will be woven throughout the class. The formation of great art collections, like that of the Borghese Gallery, the Vatican Museums, and the Capitoline collections, will be examined. Students will be expected to write about art from all historical epochs. Prerequisite: permission of instructor.
Instructor: Staff
ARHS 279 Architectural Design from Egypt to the Renaissance
Credit: 0.5
This course will consider specific monuments of world architecture from the viewpoints of function, durability, and design. Individual monuments such as the Great Pyramid, the Parthenon, the Colosseum, the Pantheon, Hagia Sophia, the Alhambra, and the buildings of Palladio will be studied in detail. A creative design project will be assigned. The format is lecture and discussion. Prerequisite: ARHS 110 or ARHS 113 or equivalent.
Instructor: Dwyer
ARHS 350 Seminar in the History of Collecting
Credit: 0.5
The history of collecting and collections has long been an important area of art history and other disciplines in the sciences and humanities. This seminar will explore the historical creation and growth of public and private art collections and their relation to natural-history collections, halls of fame, and other shrines of collective memory. Particular attention will be given to the growth of collections in relation to an organic theory of collecting, namely, that collection progresses through four distinct but interactive phases: (1) discovery, (2) conservation, (3) illustration, and 4) dispersal. Prerequisite: 0.5 unit in ARHS or equivalent.
Instructor: Dwyer
ARHS 371 Museum Studies
Credit: 0.5
This seminar serves as an introduction to the field of museum studies. Consisting primarily of readings, discussions, assigned papers, and special projects, the course will historicize the role of the museum, theorize about the nature of the audience, and study the representation and display of different cultures. Prerequisite: 1.0 unit ARHS and permission of the instructor.
Instructor: Staff
ARHS 373 Pompeii & Herculaneum - Topics in Ancient Art
Credit: 0.5
This advanced seminar will explore topics and issues of the study of ancient art and archaeology. Topics covered may range from classical archaeology, to the archaeology of Pompeii and Herculaneum, to the art and archaeology of ancient Athens. Assignments will include seminar reports, class discussion, and a research paper. Prerequisite: 0.5 unit of art history (ARHS 110, 220, or 221) or classics, or equivalent.
Instructor: Dwyer
ARHS 374 Topics in Medieval Art
Credit: 0.5
This advanced seminar will explore topics and issues of the study of medieval art and architecture. Topics covered may range from sacred and secular art in the late Middle Ages to pilgrimage art and to the art in late medieval and Tudor England. Assignments will include seminar reports, class discussion, and a research paper. Prerequisite: 0.5 unit of art history (ARHS 110, 220, 221, or 234) or equivalent.
Instructor: Blick
ARHS 375 Topics in Renaissance and Baroque Art
Credit: 0.5
Various topics in the history of Renaissance and/or Baroque art will be explored in a seminar format. Each seminar provides a forum for the in-depth study of the methods of art historical research. Discussion of weekly readings, classroom presentations, and research papers will be required. Seminar topics offered under this course number in the past have included: Blood and Bread: Sacramental Art in Italy; Art in the Age of Caravaggio and Bernini; Tuscan Sculpture from Donatello to Michelangelo; and Women in Renaissance and Baroque Art. See the ARHS Web page for the title and description for a specific semester. Prerequisite: see specific course description.
Instructor: Van Ausdall
ARHS 377 Topics in Modern Art
Credit: 0.5
This seminar will probe specific problems in modern European and contemporary art. Focusing upon a theme, artist, or movement, the course will provide a forum for the in-depth study of the methods of art historical research. Discussion of weekly readings, classroom presentations, and research papers will be required. Topics taught under this course number in the past: Twentieth Century Women in the Visual Arts; Modern Sculpture Seminar; Modernism/Postmodernism; Women and Modernism; All the World's a Fair: The World's Columbian Exposition of 1893.
Instructor: Dabakis
ARHS 378 American Art During the Great Depression
Credit: 0.5
The 1929 economic crash resulted in an international crisis that continued for a decade until World War II. This seminar examines how American artists responded not only to Wall Street's financial collapse, but also to the rise of European fascism and the widespread drought that ravaged the Midwest during the 1930s. Students will examine a range of media, including easel painting and murals, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and film. Topics include government art patronage, modernism, documentary art, political art and activism, and advertising and popular culture. Prerequisite: ARHS 111, AMST 109, or permission of instructor.
Instructor:Dabakis
ARHS 378D Topics in American Art
Credit: 0.5
This advanced seminar will explore specific problems in American art and architecture. Topics include Rome in the American imagination, the Gilded Age, and monuments and memory. Assignments will include seminar reports, class discussion, and a research paper. Prerequisite: 0.5 unit of art history (ARHS 111, 227D) or American studies (AMST 108, 109) or equivalent. This course is the same as AMST 378D, in the American Studies Program.
ARHS 380 Rome and Its Culture: Rome in the American Imagination
Credit: 0.5
Rome served as a vibrant intellectual and cultural center during the nineteenth century. American artists and writers gravitated to the city in search of inspiration, camaraderie, and adventure. As an interdisciplinary enterprise, this course seeks to understand Rome as a mythic encounter with a "romantic arcadia" and as a practical and cosmopolitan home to an international coterie of artists and writers. The writings of Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mark Twain, and Henry James will serve as the focus of our literary study. The significance of Rome to visual artists-both male and female-will also be a central component of our study. This course is open only to students in the Kenyon in Rome program.
Instructor: Dabakis
ARHS 480 Senior Seminar
Credit: 0.5
Required of all senior majors and recommended for all minors, this course will serve as a capstone to their study of art history. Students will study the foundations of the discipline, explore the variety of methodological approaches employed by art historians, and assess current theoretical issues that have dramatically redefined the field.
Instructor: Van Ausdall
ARHS 493 Individual Study
Credit: 0.5
The following guidelines apply to individual study in art history:
1. Students must seek the permission of the instructor before enrolling. Individual study is undertaken at the discretion of the instructor. All individual study proposals must be approved by the department.
2. Normally, students may enroll in an individual study only if they have taken all the courses offered by the department in that particular area of the curriculum. Exceptions to this rule are at the discretion of the instructor with the support of the department.
3. Individual study is considered an advanced course, and, as such, the work produced should be the equivalent of a seminar or high-level intermediate class. A grade point average of 3.0 minimum in art history courses is required. Exceptions to this rule are at the discretion of the instructor with the consent of the department.
4. The professor and the student should establish and agree on the extent and nature of the work required for the individual study. This may take several forms: several short papers, one long paper, one in-depth project (small exhibition or assisting in doing research for an exhibition), a large (and lengthy) generalized outline and annotated bibliography, public presentations, etc. Individual studies may be taken for either .5 or .25 credits. This decision must be made in conjunction with the professor.
5. The student and the professor should meet on a regular basis. The frequency is to be determined by the professor in consultation with the student.