This class, required for painting majors in spring semester of sophomore year, describes five defining features of modernity, providing the broad historical backdrop for their invention: the individual, globalization, nature, industrialization, and abstraction. The first half of the class will be devoted to the visual art of varied geographic and cultural settings prior to and during the rise of these paradigms. The second half of the class slows to focus in greater detail on the high modernist manifestations of each of those themes (interiority, capital, environment, technology, and narrative), and uses them to contextualize the art and culture of the 20th century. Periods, places, and subjects will be introduced through secondary sources, providing a critical lens through which to connect the material to present day art, culture, politics, and experience (for instance, the rise of global trade will be seen through the lens of postcolonial theory). The material for the course ends at approximately 1989, setting the stage for a more in-depth look at contemporary art, culture, and criticism in their junior year course.

Enrollment is limited to Sophomore Painting Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Painting