Undergraduate Seminar (390-0-2)

Topic

Art & the French Revolution

Instructors

Thadeus Dowad

Meeting Info

Kresge Centennial Hall 2-331: Tues, Thurs 2:00PM - 3:20PM

Overview of class

The French Revolution is often described as an origin point of modern liberal democracy, epitomized by its famous motto: "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity." Yet its realities were far more complex—and far less idealistic. The French Republic confronted crisis after crisis as it struggled to integrate the working classes, women, immigrants, and racial and religious minorities into the new nation. At the same time, France's Caribbean colonies and their hundreds of thousands of enslaved people posed fundamental challenges to the Revolution's universalist claims, ultimately paving the way for the expansion of French imperial power under Napoleon. Amid these upheavals, France's revolutionaries turned to the arts as indispensable tools for building political community, producing citizens, and visualizing Revolutionary values.

This undergraduate seminar examines how art and architecture both responded to and actively shaped the political and social transformations of the French Revolution. In addition to canonical artists and architects, such as Jacques-Louis David, Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, and Étienne-Louis Boullée, the course examines popular visual and material culture, including political cartoons, festivals, and costumes. While centered on Paris, the seminar also explores revolutionary art-making in colonial contexts, including the Caribbean and Egypt. Students will develop skills in close visual and material analysis, alongside the historical and theoretical knowledge needed to understand how artworks functioned as sites of revolutionary struggle and political experimentation.

Class Attributes

Advanced Expression

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: Pre-registration -- Reserved for Art History majors and minors, & Art Theory majors and minors.