ARTH 300 Art Historical Methods

• Instructor: Dr. John Potvin

This course will explore the history of art history as an intellectual and academic discipline as it has been shaped since the eighteenth century. It will consider how modern art history, as a project of the Enlightenment, established definitions, contexts, demands and parameters for art and its language. It will investigate theories and methods which have come to dominate the field in more recent decades. Feminism, sexuality and queer theory, critical race theory and post-colonialism, phenomenology and theories of material culture and design history are among some those issues central to art history’s ever-expanding field.  The texts studied include works by some of the principal theoreticians, historians and critics from the eighteenth century to the present.  The goal of the course is to hone critical, visual and communication skills through an investigation of the ways in which art, its methods, evaluations, theories and histories form intersecting and even opposing discourses and approaches. While we will not be able to cover all art historical methods and theories, the objective is to acquaint the student with a wide and divergent range of relevant theories, texts and figures which have helped to shape the trajectory of the discipline. Each week will be determined by a unique and specific theoretical framework.