Global Arc

The course surveys painting, prints, and sculpture in the Netherlands, Germany, and France from about 1350-1550. With emphasis on the work of major figures such as Van Eyck, Bosch, Dürer, and Bruegel, the course will consider changing circumstances of artistic production, function, iconography, and patronage. For department majors, this course satisfies the Group 2 distribution requirement. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

This course focuses on key issues of 20th and 21st c. Latin American art. A thematic survey and general methodological introduction, we will treat emblematic works and movements, from Mexican muralism and Indigenism to experiments with abstraction, pop, conceptualism, and performance. Questions discussed include: What is Latin American art? What is modernism in Latin America? What is the legacy of colonialism? How do Latin American artists engage transnational networks of solidarity under conditions of repression? How can postcolonial, decolonial, and feminist theory illuminate the art and criticism produced in and about Latin America?

Painting, sculpture, and architecture in the Spanish-speaking world from 1492 to 1810. The great flowering of Spanish art, as represented by such figures as El Greco, Velázquez, and Goya, in its cultural and historical context, including developments in Latin America. Some attention to the art of Portugal. For department majors, this course satisfies the Group 2 distribution requirement. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

A survey of art in the Islamic world from 600 through 1200. The course examines the formation of Islamic art and its roots in the art of late antiquity. Emphasis will be on the development of various types of religious and secular architecture and their decoration (wall-painting, carved stucco and wood, mosaic and epigraphy) in the central regions of the early Islamic world. Topics such as textiles, metalwork, and ceramics will be considered. For department majors, this course satisfies either the Group 1 or 2 distribution requirement. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

A survey of the architecture and the arts of various Islamic cultures between northern Africa and the Indian subcontinent from the seventh to the 20th century. Emphasis will be on major monuments of religious and secular architecture, architectural decoration, calligraphy, and painting. Background in Islam or Middle Eastern languages is not a prerequisite. For department majors, this course satisfies the Group 1, 2, or 3 distribution requirement. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

What was the Renaissance? This class explores the major artistic currents that swept northern and southern Europe from the fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries in an attempt to answer that question. In addition to considering key themes such as the revival of antiquity, imitation and license, religious devotion, artistic style, and the art market, we will survey significant works by artists and architects including Donatello, Raphael, Leonardo, Jan van Eyck, Dürer, and Michelangelo. Precepts will focus on direct study of original objects, with visits to Princeton's collections of paintings, sculpture, prints, drawings, books and maps.

This course examines the range of work by African artists from the colonial period to the era of post-independence. It seeks to familiarize students with modern and contemporary art from Africa by studying forms, ideas, and subject matter that have preoccupied African artists since the mid-20th century. It is also interested in the critical practices that have helped set these artists on the global stage, as well as theoretical structures that might help our understanding of these processes.

An analysis of the emergence of modern architecture from the late 19th century to World War II, in light of new methodologies. The course will focus not only on major monuments but also on issues of gender, class, and ethnicity to provide a more pluralistic perspective on the experience of modernity. For department majors, this course satisfies the Group 3 distribution requirement. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

A survey of photography from its multiple inventions in the early 19th century to its omnipresence (and possible obsolescence) in the 21st. Themes will include photography's power to define the "real"; its emulation and eventual transformation of the traditional fine arts; and its role in the construction of personal and collective memories. For department majors, this course satisfies the Group 3 distribution requirement. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

Listed by Forbes magazine as one of the World's Most Beautiful Campuses, Princeton has long been an architectural paragon, much-admired and copied. Its astonishingly varied buildings can help tell the story of American architectural history from the 1750s on. This course will examine Princeton's fascinating relationship to ever-changing architectural trends in America and Britain. Controversies will be emphasized, from nineteenth-century fights about Gothic Revival to current debates about Neo-modernist designs by world-famous architects. Walking tours and a field trip will enhance your understanding of America's fourth-oldest campus.