22WI_ARHE29906-The Real Thing

This course will help students learn about art and art history through an examination of “the real thing,” that is actual paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints rather than reproductions in a textbook or classroom.  Class periods will be held at the Birmingham Museum of Art, with day trips to the Montgomery Museum of Art and the High Museum in Atlanta.  Movements, periods, and geographical regions discussed will be of a wide range, with special attention to the art of Europe, the United States, Asia, and Africa.  In addition to studying the history of art, we will take a critical look at the aura historically attached to the real object versus the reproduction.  We will explore how exhibition practices affect the meaning of art and how scholars and artists recently have been challenging them.  Class meetings will be a mixture of lecture, discussion, and student presentations.  The aim of this course is to give you an overview of major artistic movements and tendencies, to familiarize you with the language and methods of interpreting visual art, and to get you thinking critically and intelligently about the viewing process.