This course is an introduction to the history of visual arts and design from the earliest evidence to the fourteenth century. The concentration will be on the history of art in the Near East and Europe: Western Art. Since there has been contact between these areas and the Indian sub-continent and the Far East, and since these have been influences on the later history of Western Art, the art of Asian cultures during this period will also be briefly considered.
In this contemporary age, we are inclined take visual images for granted, especially with the increase of images in mass advertising and television. In the age of the Internet and of electronic media, the influence of the visual is increasingly important. Yet of all the arts, the visual arts are perhaps the most dependant on the continuum of evolution, development, tradition, and experimentation founded on earlier models and aesthetics.
This course will therefore introduce students to the wealth that is contained in that continuum. Students will learn the skills necessary to consider visual art in a fulfilling way. Students will acquire some the vocabulary and terminology as well as some of the more common methodology. Students will develop skills to analyse and discuss works of art, to articulate the cultural context of a piece of art, and to identify the ways in which art reflects cultural concerns and imperatives. This course constitutes the first half of the basic foundation for all art history courses offered at the university level.
Perhaps most significantly, students will explore some of the greatest human creations, works, constructions, and artifacts that exist, that influence, and that continue to have power over our imaginations and our intellects.