Studies in Early Modern Art (430-0-1)

Topic

The World’s Europe, 1500 to 1700

Instructors

Jesús Escobar
847/467-0854
Kresge 4321
Office Hours: W 3-4pm; R 3:30-4:30pm

Meeting Info

Kresge 4354 Art Hist. Sem. Rm.: Wed 2:00PM - 4:50PM

Overview of class

This seminar will explore scholarship on European and European colonial objects and buildings across the globe, assessing the state of early modern art history in the three decades since the publication of a groundbreaking volume edited by Claire Farago, Reframing the Renaissance of 1995. The book was an early effort to de-center Europe in what was then overwhelming called Renaissance and Baroque art history via a consideration of cultural exchange. The scholarly project of decentering continues today with renewed political urgency as well as new terminology. Seminar readings will include studies about Europe's place in the early modern world that are sometimes traditional and other times radically imaginative in tackling the topic of people, ideas, and things on the move across space and time.

Readings will draw from art history and history, engaging with postcolonial, global, and interconnected methods. Although focused on the early modern period, the seminar will be of interest to students of art and empire or transnational and transcultural exchange during any historical era. In addition to contributing actively to seminar discussions, participants will write a 1,500-word book review and a 6,000-word research paper or research prospectus.

Class Materials (Required)

Russo, Alessandra. A New Antiquity: Art and Humanity as Universal, 1400-1600. University Park: Penn State University Press, 2024. ISBN: 9780271095691

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: Art History MA and PhD Graduate Students Only