ARTH 4165/6165 Visual Encounters in the Early Modern World (Also LATA 4165/6165, VISST 4165)
SPRING 2019
A. Cohen-Aponte, C. Lazzaro
W 10:10-12:05
This course will look at visual representations of cross-cultural encounters throughout the early modern period with a special emphasis on exchanges between Europe and the Americas (15th-18th centuries). The visual encounters are considered within the context of an increasingly interconnected global system. This course will be organized around a set of case studies that explore a diverse array of artworks, including prints, manuscripts, cartographic illustrations, portraits, and the decorative arts. Topics to be covered include European images of Amerindian peoples and lands, botanical illustrations, the impact of European prints on Latin American art, and collections of New World artifacts in European cabinets of curiosity. This course will explore issues of visual translation and dissemination in the creation of New World artistic traditions. In turn, it also examines the reception of New World objects by European patrons. Readings will be drawn from the disciplines of art history, the history of science, and literary theory, linked by a common framework of visuality and cross-cultural exchange.
