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History of Art & Architecture

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  • CAS AH 365: Baroque Arts in Northern Europe
    Explores the rich artistic traditions of the northern (Dutch) and southern (Flemish) Netherlands from the late sixteenth through the seventeenth centuries. Emphasis on major artists such as Rubens, Van Dyck, Frans Hals, Rembrandt, and Vermeer. Visits to the MFA's new Center for Netherlandish Art, conditions permitting. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness.
    • Aesthetic Exploration
    • Historical Consciousness
  • CAS AH 367: Material Culture
    Introduction to the theory and practice of the interdisciplinary study of material culture, which includes everything we make and use, from food and clothing to art and buildings. Topic for Fall 2024: Thinking with American Pie. Sweet or savory, appetizer, entrée, or dessert, pie provides an exceptional opportunity to trace an American commonplace through its constitutive elements and contexts. The class organizes itself around pie as an idea, object, and pathway to see what material culture can teach us about the U.S. and its diverse cultures.
  • CAS AH 369: American Folk Art
    Explores the objects that collectors and museums identify as "American Folk Art." Examines how this label developed throughout the twentieth century; familiarizes students with major collections and genres including painting, sculpture, textiles, and other media. Also offered as CAS AM 369.
  • CAS AH 385: American Buildings and Landscapes
    An introductory analytic survey of American buildings and landscapes within their historical and cultural contexts. Students examine forces that have shaped the American built environment. Topics range from Indian mounds to commercial strips, Spanish missions to skyscrapers. Also offered as CAS AM 385.
  • CAS AH 386: Modern American Art
    This class explores the diverse and contested field of modern art in the United States, examining the broad range of artists and art practices that laid claim to aesthetic modernism in the years between 1890 and 1945. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness.
    • Aesthetic Exploration
    • Historical Consciousness
  • CAS AH 387: Boston Architecture and Urbanism
    This class presents a history of Boston from the seventeenth through twenty- first centuries, as seen through the region's architectural and urban history. Major buildings, architects, and urban planning schemes are examined in terms of economic, political, social, and institutional histories. Effective Spring 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Oral and/or Signed Communication, Teamwork/Collaboration.
    • Oral and/or Signed Communication
    • Social Inquiry I
    • Teamwork/Collaboration
  • CAS AH 391: Twentieth-Century Art to 1940
    A study of the key tendencies in European art between the 1880s and World War II. The work of van Gogh, Picasso, Matisse, Dali, and their contemporaries is examined in relation to major issues in European culture and politics. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Research and Information Literacy.
    • Aesthetic Exploration
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Research and Information Literacy
  • CAS AH 392: Twentieth Century Art from 1940 to 1980
    Explores major currents in art produced around the world during the tumultuous middle decades of the 20th century. The following topics, among others, are examined in relation to postwar culture and Cold War politics: realism vs. abstraction, global pop art and conceptual art, new materials and technologies, international artists' networks, and performative art practices. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness.
    • Aesthetic Exploration
    • Historical Consciousness
  • CAS AH 393: Contemporary Art: 1980 to Now
    Explores the terms of debate, key figures, and primary sites for the production and reception of contemporary art on a global scale since 1980. Painting, installation art, new media, performance, art criticism, and curatorial practice are discussed. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness.
    • Aesthetic Exploration
    • Historical Consciousness
  • CAS AH 395: History of Photography
    An introduction to the study of photographs. The history of the medium in Europe and America from its invention in 1839 to the present. After lectures on photographic theory and methodology, photographs are studied both as art objects and as historical artifacts. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking.
    • Aesthetic Exploration
    • Critical Thinking
    • Historical Consciousness
  • CAS AH 398: Twentieth-Century Architecture
    This course provides an introduction to the major developments in architecture and urban planning from ca. 1900 to the present. It traces the proliferation of modernist thought through key projects but also to everyday buildings and landscapes. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Historical Consciousness
  • CAS AH 399: History and Theory of Landscape Architecture
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120). - Explores man's relationship with nature by a study of selected built environments from antiquity to the present. Focus on both the private garden and the public park--here considered as works of art--and their changing forms, meaning, and interpretations. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing- Intensive Course, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Aesthetic Exploration.
    • Aesthetic Exploration
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • CAS AH 404: Seminar: Topics in Museum Exhibits
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor. - Topics seminar. May be repeated for credit as topics change. Topic for Spring 2024: “Museum Practice Today.” Art museums are at a point of inflection as they face multiple economic, social, and climate-related challenges. This course examines museums' unique obstacles and opportunities, inviting students to critically reimagine our cultural organizations.
  • CAS AH 444: Seminar: Medieval Art
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASAH111 & CASAH112) and two courses at the 200 level or higher, or consent of the instruct or. - In-depth examination of varying topics in the study of Medieval Art. Topic for Fall 2022: Cathedrals and Castles: the Art and Architecture of Medieval Europe. Castles and cathedrals with their splendid treasures from gold and gem-studded objects to vast stained-glass windows, precious textiles and illuminated manuscripts are explored as the backdrop for the social political, religious, and cultural conditions of the period.
  • CAS AH 486: Architecture Capstone
    This course guides senior and eligible junior architectural studies majors through a capstone experience, which may be an internship or a research project. Open only by application. Interested students contact Professor Martin by Nov. 1, 2023. Effective Spring 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Ethical Reasoning.
    • Ethical Reasoning
    • The Individual in Community
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  • CAS AH 507: Digital Curation: Towards National Parks: Art and Nature, Nature and Nation
    Before national parks, wild locations attracted artists, photographers and poets. Their works made these areas known to tourist-viewers. Prepare a digital exhibition and map artist- advocates as they explored mountains, forests and waterfalls. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Digital/Multimedia Expression, Creativity/Innovation.
    • Aesthetic Exploration
    • Creativity/Innovation
    • Digital/Multimedia Expression
  • CAS AH 520: The Museum and The Historical Agency
    History, present realities, and future possibilities of museums and historical agencies, using Boston's excellent examples. Issues and debates confronting museums today examined in the light of historical development and changing communities. Emphasis on collecting, display and interpretation.
  • CAS AH 521: Curatorship
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor. - Graduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor. - Topic for Spring 2023: This course examines the role of the curator today and considers practices and debates related to decentralizing and decolonizing paradigms of art, privileging, and foregrounding historically excluded narratives of art, and shaping new and inclusive approaches to exhibition-making. Students also learn practical and theoretical tools used by curators in these processes, including wall text and labels, display techniques, and educational programs supplemented by readings, class discussions, and case studies
  • CAS AH 525: American Cultural Landscape Studies
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior standing or consent of instructor. - This seminar provides an introduction to analyzing and interpreting American cultural landscapes and acquaints students with the historiography of interdisciplinary study of the built environment. Also offered as CAS AM 525.

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