ARTH 1700 - Women and Art

Goals: This interdisciplinary course focuses specifically on women, in their roles as makers of art and patrons of art as well as subjects of art. Geographically, the course will deal with American and European culture; chronologically, we will examine women’s artistic activity from antiquity to the present, with a concentration on the last 200+ years. The concepts of patriarchy and ideology as they influence art production in a given society will background investigations of women’s own activities as creators and patrons of art. We will examine works of art and architecture and visual culture images, along with complementary literary and theoretical writings from primary and secondary sources.

Content: Students will become familiar with the ways in which the writing of art history, the evolution of art professionalism, and the criteria for the evaluation of art have subjugated women and—alternately—how women have manipulated these developments to gain agency. As an example, we will explore traditional categories of feminine portrayal and archetypes like the “crone”, the “fatal woman”, and “vanitas” as they morph through time and social change to see how women artists have used or challenged these models in their quest to gain institutional and personal artistic freedom and power. The subject is always examined in the larger context of the society in which art is produced.

Taught: Alternate years

Credits: 4