Art History (ARTH)
ARTH 100. Introduction to Art History. 1 Credit.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
Why does art matter? This course will examine artworks from diverse cultures and consider just how interconnected the world has been, how definitions of art have changed through space and time, and how the past continues to inform (and impact) our present.
ARTH 202. Arts Leadership: Museums. 1 Credit.
Offered Spring Semester Only; Lecture hours:1,Other:2
Providing an introduction to Museum Studies and Curatorial Studies, this course covers the history and practices of museums. It reveals how museums perform social memory functions like collection and preservation in the broader field of cultural heritage institutions. It explores museum curating and cultural programming in comparative arts presenting organizations. Crosslisted as UNIV 201.
ARTH 203. Middle Eastern Art: Identity & Representation. 1 Credit.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
This course explores the aesthetics of presence and absence in visual culture of the Middle East and North Africa from aniconism, calligraphy and sacred geometry to Orientalism, diaspora, gender, sexualization and contemporary interpretations in film, photo and fashion.
ARTH 207. Birth of Modern Art: 1850-1915. 1 Credit.
Offered Fall Semester Only; Lecture hours:3
Examination of artists and movements from 1850-1915, including Realism, Impressionism, Post-impressionism, Symbolism, Expressionism, Fauvism, Cubism and Abstraction. Focus on innovations in French painting and urban experience.
ARTH 208. Surrealism to the Present. 1 Credit.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
Significant artists from twentieth century from WWI to the present. Movements: Futurism, Dadaism, Constructivism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism, Fluxus, Earth Art, Conceptual Art, Performance Art, Feminist Art, Pop Art, Institutional Critique, Social Practice Art. Readings from textbook, documents, art historians. Grades by weekly writing assignments; one exam and research paper.
ARTH 209. Art, Science, and Magic in the Medieval World. 1 Credit.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
What did “science” and “magic” look like in the medieval world? How did concepts of art, science, magic, and religion overlap, and how do modern definitions obscure premodern ideas about the natural world? Students will develop the conceptual tools necessary to confront these questions using visual evidence.
ARTH 212. Global Decorative Arts. 1 Credit.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
This course examines artworks often undermined as “craft” or “decorative art.” Chinese ceramics, Japanese glittering lacquered screen, and South Asian calico textiles were important financial generators and coveted luxury items. These global artworks sparked artistic innovations but also came at a terrible cost of colonial violence.
ARTH 217. Performance Art, Then and Now. 1 Credit.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
Hugo Ball reads nonsense poetry in a Zurich cafe; Marina Abramović breathes in air from a high-powered fan until she falls unconscious; William Pope L. crawls down Broadway dressed in a Superman costume. This course explores the provocative history of performance art from Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
ARTH 222. Philosophy of Art. 1 Credit.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
Analysis of the creative process, the work of art, natural beauty, aesthetic experience, and principles of criticism. Crosslisted as PHIL 212.
ARTH 230. Awakening: Arts of Buddhism. 1 Credit.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
Examines the centuries-long history of Buddhist image-making that took on many forms across a wide geographic reach: from the sublime imagery on monumental stupas of ancient India, polychrome cave paintings of western China, mesmerizing mandalas of the cosmos in Tibet, and the spontaneous Zen ink painting of Japan.
ARTH 231. Arts of East Asia. 1 Credit.
Offered Both Fall and Spring; Lecture hours:3
This course introduces you to the art of China, Korea and Japan from prehistory to the present. We examine a broad range of objects—ritual bronze vessels, Buddhist temple architecture, Neo-Confucian landscape painting and ukiyo-e woodblock prints—to emphasize how cross-cultural exchanges stimulated new interpretations across time and space. Crosslisted as EAST 231.
ARTH 241. Archaeology of Egypt. 1 Credit.
Offered Alternate Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
Survey of the material culture, with emphasis on major architectural and artistic developments and their legacy to modern Western civilization. Crosslisted as CLAS 241.
ARTH 242. Archaeology of Greece. 1 Credit.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
Survey of the material culture of the Greek world from the Bronze Age through the Hellenistic period. Crosslisted as CLAS 242.
ARTH 243. Archaeology of Rome. 1 Credit.
Offered Alternate Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
Survey of the material culture of the Roman world from the Etruscans through the late Empire. Crosslisted as CLAS 243.
ARTH 262. Life in Ancient Pompeii. 1 Credit.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
This course explores the history, literature and material culture of Pompeii with the goal of better understanding daily life for all levels of society in the early Roman Empire. Crosslisted as CLAS 262.
ARTH 265. Contemporary Philosophy of Art. 1 Credit.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
An investigation of and focused study of contemporary philosophical issues in the arts and aesthetics more generally. Crosslisted as PHIL 265.
ARTH 310. The Body in Premodern Art. 1 Credit.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
This course will investigate the representation and perception of the human body in ancient and medieval visual culture. Looking at objects, images and sites from across the premodern world, we will examine premodern art through lenses of gender and sexuality, race, health and illness, disability, pain, aging and death.
ARTH 322. Decolonizing Museums: The History & Ethics of Collecting. 1 Credit.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
This course explores the formation of art collections and the ethical challenges that museums face. Using wide ranging examples from cultural and historical perspectives, we evaluate arguments for and against encyclopedic museums, examine laws aiming to prevent antiquity trafficking, and analyze case studies of repatriation.
ARTH 323. Contemporary Art. 1 Credit.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
Study of key artists and concepts of the past 30 years. Focus on the transformation from modernism to postmodernism in painting, sculpture, photography, and performance art.
ARTH 326. Medieval Manuscripts. 1 Credit.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
This course focuses on developments and changes in the making of books – both print and manuscript – and the images they contain. We will explore how books have been made, read and seen from antiquity to today. This seminar includes extensive, first-hand study of materials at Bucknell’s Special Collections.
ARTH 330. Hokusai and the Global Art of Edo. 1 Credit.
Offered Both Fall and Spring; Lecture hours:3
From luminous golden folding screens to delicate lines in woodblock prints, the arts of Edo (1603-1868) Japan profoundly impacted artists worldwide. How is this art global when seclusion policies of the era forbade foreign travel? Such questions guide our discussion as we focus particularly on artworks in the Samek Museum. Crosslisted as EAST 330.
ARTH 390. Independent Study-Art History. .25-1 Credits.
Offered Either Fall or Spring,Topics course; Lecture hours:Varies,Other:Varies; Repeatable
Advanced problems in Art History. Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor.
ARTH 402. Culminating Experience. 1 Credit.
Offered Fall Semester Only,Topics course; Lecture hours:3
Required for all art history majors. Students will explore individual research projects independently and workshop them in class. The class will culminate in a departmental art history conference where students will present their work. Prerequisite: senior status. Juniors by permission only.
ARTH 410. Art History Honors Thesis Fall. 1 Credit.
Offered Fall Semester Only,Topics course; Lecture hours:3
Substantial independent work on a topic approved by the Department of Art and Art History and the Honors Council as satisfying the requirements for a senior honors thesis. Focus on research and drafting. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.
ARTH 411. Art History Honors Thesis Spring. 1 Credit.
Topics course,Offered Spring Semester Only; Lecture hours:3
Substantial independent work on a topic approved by the Department of Art and Art History and the Honors Council as satisfying the requirements for a senior honors thesis. Focus on writing and revising. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.