ARTH 1100 Art Histories: An Introduction, F22

Discussions: 201: F 10:10-11am    202: F 11:20-12:10  203: M10:10-11        204: M 11:20-12:10

This lecture course introduces students to the History of Art as a global and interdisciplinary field. Team-taught by professors from the department, in collaboration with members of the staff and faculty of the Herbert Johnson Museum of Art, its primary aim is to familiarize students with the most significant geographical areas, epochs and works of art, as well as with methods employed in their study and analysis. The course will be organized around a changing selection of themes central to the history of art. The theme for fall 2022 is "Ornament." In addition to painting, sculpture, and architecture, we will consider a range of objects of material culture, from ceramics to metalwork to the human body itself. We will consider intersections of aesthetics and utility, and the attitudes of various cultures, from antiquity to the present, toward adornment and its interpretation.

Unidentified Artist
Iran, Natanz
Tile with inscription from the Qur’an, ca. 1308
Earthenware with lustre decoration and blue glaze
Collection of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University
Acquired through the George and Mary Rockwell Fund; 2011.086
Image courtesy of the Johnson Museum