Robert Slifkin
ART 355
Tues – Thurs 2:40-4:00 PM
Eliot 314
Spring 2008
The concepts of representation and democracy have been fundamental to the political and cultural identity of the United State since the country’s inception. This course will explore the history of visual art in the United States from its formation through the birth of the industrialized and modernized nation in the late nineteenth century using these two concepts as guiding principles and foundational themes. Throughout the semester lectures will examine in particular how the political and social anxieties and ideals of the nation were negotiated and represented by artists, using specific works of art as in depth case studies.
Course requirements:
Attendance and participation (three or more unexcused absences will result in the student receiving no credit for the course).
Completion of all assignments. NO EXTENSIONS. All late work (barring documented emergencies) will be docked a letter grade each day past deadline.
Suggested texts:
Frances Pohl, Framing America: A Social History of American Art (New York: Thames and Hudson, 2002)*
David C. Miller, ed. American Encounters: New Approaches to American Art and Literature (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993).*
Angela Miller, et. al. American Encounters: Art History and Cultural Identity (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2008).
*Available for purchase at Reed College Bookstore