College Seminar (101-7-20)

Topic

Artists in Dialogue

Instructors

Christopher Bush
847/491-5493
1860 S. Campus Drive, Crowe Hall #2-135

Meeting Info

Locy Hall 213: Mon, Wed 11:00AM - 12:20PM

Overview of class

In 1909, a group of Italian poets and artists calling themselves futurists published a manifesto announcing a violent attack on not just the current standards for art, but on seemingly every aspect of their society. The following decades saw a tidal wave of —isms that similarly sought to transform the world through radically new forms of art: Orphism, stridentism, expressionism, suprematism, surrealism . . . dozens and dozens of movements sprang up not only in Europe, but around the world.

In this course you will be introduced to the art and the politics of some of the most influential of these early twentieth-century movements, including Italian futurism (which eventually became allied with Italian fascism), négritude (a Black anti-colonial movement that originated in the French-speaking world), anthrophagy (a Brazilian movement that tried to revalue negative stereotypes about its country), and surrealism.

Beyond considering these movements as literary and art history, we will focus on the ongoing relevance of the questions they raised: can art and politics work together? Could they be separated even if we wanted them to be? Does radical change call for radical art? How do we distinguish art from other kinds of objects, or literature from other kinds of texts? How should we think about the ethics of cultural appropriation and reappropriation? How do we deal with good art by bad people—or bad art by people we think are good? In addition to the historical material (from mostly the 1910s-1930s), we will discuss additional examples up to the present.

No prior knowledge of the topic is required or assumed. Assessment will be based primarily on participation and regular short assignments. All readings and other course materials will be provided via Canvas.

Class Materials (Required)

Class materials will be provided on Canvas.

Class Attributes

WCAS College Seminar

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: REASON: Pre-registration is not allowed for this class. Please try again during regular registration. Weinberg First Year Seminars are only available to first-year students.
Add Consent: Department Consent Required
Drop Consent: Department Consent Required