Art and Archaeology

Introduction to the histories of art and the practice of art history. You will encounter a range of arts (including painting, sculpture, architecture, photography, prints) and artistic practices from diverse historical periods, regions, and cultures. Faculty members of the Department of Art and Archaeology lecture in their fields of expertise; precepts balance hands-on work, readings, and student projects.

A survey of architectural history in the West, from ancient Egypt to 20th-century America, stressing a critical approach to architectural form through the analysis of context, expressive content, function, structure, style, and theory. Discussion will focus on key monuments and readings that have shaped the history of architecture. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

This course examines how environmental factors (acid, rain, ice, salts, biota) damage sculpture and monuments made of stone and masonry, paintings on wood, and sculptures in bronze. It examines campus buildings that illustrate each type of damage and uses a visit to the Cloisters Museum to learn how those medieval buildings are protected. Lectures on structure and properties of materials and mechanisms of attack. Labs include quantifying water movement through stone, damage from freezing and salts, strength of mortars, protective effects of sealants and consolidants, effect of moisture on wood. Two lectures and one three-hour laboratory.

The art and archaeology of the ancient Near East and Egypt from the end of the prehistoric period, ca. 3000 B.C., to the beginning of the Iron Age, ca. 650 B.C. Focus on the rise of complex societies and the attendant development of architectural and artistic forms that express the needs and aspirations of these societies. Occasional readings in original texts in translation will supplement the study of art and architecture. For department majors, this course satisfies the Group 1 distribution requirement. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

This course will examine the architecture of the Romans, from its mythic beginnings (as recounted, for example, by Vitruvius) to the era of the high empire. Topics will include: city planning; the transformation of the building trades; civic infrastructure; and the full breadth of Roman structures, both public and private. For department majors, this course satisfies the Group 1 distribution requirement.

Roman painting, sculpture, architecture, and other arts from the early Republic to the late Empire, focusing upon the official monuments of Rome itself and the civic and private art of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Emphasis on historical representation, imperial propaganda, portraiture, narrative technique, and classical art theory. For department majors, this course satisfies the Group 1 distribution requirement. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

The art of Europe from the fall of Rome to the Renaissance. Emphasis on the effects of cultural, religious, and political change on artistic production. Works treated include the Lindisfarne Gospels, the Bayeux Tapestry, Chartres Cathedral, and the Ste. Chapelle. For department majors, this course satisfies the Group 2 distribution requirement. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

Art and architecture of the Eastern Mediterranean and Eastern Europe ca. 600-1500. The course will focus on the art of the Byzantine Empire and its capital, Constantinople, and on its broad sphere of cultural influence (Russia, Armenia, Georgia, Sicily, Venice, Serbia, Bulgaria, Rumania). An examination of principal factors that shaped the artistic legacy of eastern Christendom during the Middle Ages. Offered in alternate years. For department majors, this course satisfies the Group 2 distribution requirement. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

This course surveys major changes in European Art from the end of the Renaissance until the Age of Revolution c. 1800. Paintings, sculpture, prints, drawings, and architecture by such artists as Caravaggio, Rubens, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Velazquez, and Bernini will be considered in their political, religious, social and intellectual context. Extensive study of works of art at first hand in the Princeton University Art Museum, and in New York.

A selective survey, 1260-1600, allowing discussion of themes such as patronage; functions; materials and techniques; emulation as motivation; social, political, and economic issues; aesthetics; and the professions of the artist and of the art historian. Artists treated include Giotto, Masaccio, Donatello, Bellini, Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Titian. For department majors, this course satisfies the Group 2 distribution requirement. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

A selective overview of key figures from the 18th to the 20th century, with each lecture devoted to a single painter, architect, or sculptor as representative of significant themes in the history of American art. Among the artists considered are Copley, Jefferson, Cole, Homer, Eakins, Richardson, Saint-Gaudens, Olmsted, and O'Keeffe. Two lectures, one preceptorial. For department majors, this course satisfies the Group 3 distribution requirement.

A broad study of European painting and sculpture from the French Revolution to 1900 with special attention to art's relationship to social and cultural changes. Lectures will explore a range of themes including art and revolution, the rise of landscape, shifting conceptions of realism, and the birth of "modernism" and the avant-garde. Emphasis on major figures including David, Canova, Goya, Ingres, Turner, Courbet, Manet, Monet, Degas, Rodin, Van Gogh, and Cézanne. For department majors, this course satisfies the Group 3 distribution requirement. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

A critical study of the major movements, paradigms, and documents of modernist art from fauvism to art brut. Among the topics covered are primitivism, abstraction, collage, the readymade, machine aesthetics, photographic reproduction, the art of the insane, artists in political revolution, anti-modernism. For department majors, this course satisfies the Group 3 distribution requirement. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

A critical study of the major movements, paradigms, and documents of postwar art--abstract-expressionist, pop, minimalist, conceptual, process and performance, site-specific, etc. Special attention to crucial figures (e.g., Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Robert Smithson) and problems (e.g., "the neo-avant-garde," popular culture, feminist theory, political controversies, "postmodernism"). For department majors, this course satisfies the Group 3 distribution requirement. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

Thematic introduction to the role of painting in Chinese cultural history, with attention to the interaction of stylistic standards, materials, and techniques; the impact of regional geographies on landscape painting; the influence of class, gender, and social behavior on figure painting; the engagement of art with traditional philosophies and 20th-century socialism; and the shape of time in art-historical development. For department majors, this course satisfies the Group 2 distribution requirement. Three lectures.

Surveys arts of Japan from the pre-historic period through the present day. Painting, sculpture, and architecture form the core of study. Examines critical role of other forms, including calligraphy, lacquer, and ceramics. Takes close account of the broader cultural and historical contexts in which art was made. Topics include ongoing tension in Japanese art between foreign and indigenous, role of ritual in Japan's visual arts, re-uses of the past, changing loci of patronage, and formats and materials of Japanese art. For department majors, this course satisfies the Group 1, 2, or 3 distribution requirement. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

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.

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.

In twelve weeks this course will examine major art works from the twelve centuries (300-1500 CE) that encompass the European Middle Ages. Presenting works from Europe and the Middle East, the course will introduce students to the art of Catholicism and Orthodoxy, Judaism and Islam; the great courts of the Eastern- and Holy Roman Empires, and the roving Vikings, Celts and Visigoths. Students will not only be invited to consider how art can represent and shape notions of sacred and secular power, but will also come to understand how the work of 'art' in this period is itself powerful and, sometimes, dangerous.

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.

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.

This surveys history of African American art during the long 20th-century, from the individual striving of late 19th century to the unprecedented efflorescence of art and culture in 1920s Harlem; from the retrenchment in Black artistic production during the era of Great Depression, to the rise of racially conscious art inspired by the Civil Rights Movement; from the Black feminist art in the 1970s, to the age of American multiculturalism in the 1980s and 1990s; and finally to the turn of the present century when ambitious "postblack" artists challenge received notions of Black art and racial subjectivity. AAS Subfield: AACL, GRE

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.