Art History (ARTH)

Subject-area course lists indicate courses currently active for offering at the University of Louisville. Not all courses are scheduled in any given academic term. For class offerings in a specific semester, refer to the Schedule of Classes.

500-level courses generally are included in both the undergraduate- and graduate-level course listings; however, specific course/section offerings may vary between semesters. Students are responsible for ensuring that they enroll in courses that are applicable to their particular academic programs.

Course Fees

Some courses may carry fees beyond the standard tuition costs to cover additional support or materials. Program-, subject- and course-specific fee information can be found on the Office of the Bursar website.


ARTH 501. Advanced History of Graphic Design3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only

Prerequisite(s): BFA Graphic Design Candidacy or faculty consent.

Description: Seminar course covering the development of graphic design from 1800 to present. Topics include key movements, technologies, ethics, and general issues relating to design theory and criticism.Cross-listed with DES 501.

Note: Formerly taught as Advanced History and Issues of Graphic Design.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 521. Studies in Modern Art3 Units

Prerequisite(s): One 300-level course in Modern Art or consent of instructor.

Description: Reconstruction and interpretations of modern artistic aspirations through study of sources and documents by artists, critics and historians.

Note: May be used to satisfy the Period/Area 2 - after-1750 requirement.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 523. History of Performance Art3 Units

Prerequisite(s): ARTH 270 and ARTH 325; or permission of instructor; or graduate standing.

Description: History of Performance Art is designed as an advanced upper-level seminar that investigates the international, historical developments in Performance Art after World War II. It considers the experimental strategies and ideological aims of visual artists who used their bodies as the primary vehicle of expression, information, communication, and social change. Performance Art has had the dubious distinction of being the most censored art medium, and since the 1960s artists have been continually arrested and fined for their work. This is a highly significant social fact, one that draws attention to Performance Art's particularly disruptive aesthetic codes and materials-emphasizing presentation over representation; intersubjective, human bodies over inanimate objects; and temporarily over spatiality.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 524. Installation Art3 Units

Prerequisite(s): ARTH 270 and ARTH 325; or permission of instructor; or graduate standing.

Description: An advanced exploratory seminar that investigates a contemporary art form as well as a thorny art-historical problem: the term "installation" now functions both as a loose descriptor for a myriad of contemporary artworks (having supplanted terms such as Assemblage and Environment) independent of medium and context, as well as a general and comprehensive art-historical genre, a circumstance that has its own compelling historical development. The course is designed so that students can grapple with a central issue for contemporary art-the definition of a burgeoning critical term for art history.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 525. Representations of Trauma in the Visual Arts3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered

Prerequisite(s): ARTH 270 and ARTH 325; or permission of instructor.

Description: This seminar examines the changing relationships between trauma and its representation in the twentieth century. Beginning with the Holocaust, the course charts a trajectory from this most profound of collective traumas, to the refinement of clinical definitions of trauma (e.g., PTSD) in the wake of the Vietnam War, to the development of trauma studies in the humanities in the 1990s, to the recent "pictorial turn" within scholarship on trauma. This historical framework will be brought to bear upon the dynamics of how trauma and visuality have been approached by scientists, scholars, and artists.

Note: Cross-listed with WGST 525.
Note: May be used to satisfy the Period/Area 2 - after-1750 requirement.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 526. Studies in Contemporary Art3 Units

Prerequisite(s): ARTH 320, or ARTH 321, or ARTH 325 or ARTH 326, or permission of the instructor.

Description: An advanced-level seminar on special topics in contemporary art.

Note: May be used to satisfy the Period 2/Area - after-1750 requirement.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 531. Studies in Asian Art3 Units

Prerequisite(s): One 300-level course in Asian Art, or consent of instructor.

Description: Selected topics that examine the development of art and architecture in the context of the social and cultural history of China and Japan.

Note: Cross-listed with AST 531.
Note: May be used to satisfy the Period/Area 3 - Non-Western requirement.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 541. Theories & Methods in the Visual Arts3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only

Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.

Description: An introduction to various art historical and interdisciplinary theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches that have shaped the understanding, interpretation, and production of visual art and culture in the nineteenth century to the present. The course will explore these theories and methods as specific fields of inquiry through the study of primary texts, secondary or applied texts, artists' writings and artworks.

Note: This course is required for completion of the BA in Art History.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 542. Special Topics3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.

Description: An examination of one or more specific areas of Art History not covered in the regular course offerings. Content to be indicated in schedule of courses.

Note: May be taken with four different subtitles to a maximum of 12 hours.
Note: Satisfaction of curricular requirement determined by individual course content.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 543. Independent Study1-3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Minimum grade point average of 3.0 overall, and minimum grade point average of 3.5 in the department, and at least 18 semester hours credit in the department, or consent of instructor.

Description: Topic and content to be determined in consultation with instructor.

Note: Satisfaction of curricular requirement determined by individual course content.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 544. Pan-African Art: Form and Content3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.

Description: Similarities and differences in African-American folk art, Caribbean folk art, and traditional African art.

Note: Cross-listed with PAS 581.
Note: May be used to satisfy the Period/Area 3 - Non-Western requirement.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 547. Introduction to Critical and Curatorial Studies I3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor.

Description: An introduction to curatorial practice of the last 30 years. Focusing on the curator's increasingly prominent role in the reception and synthesis of contemporary art, the course explores developments in exhibition design in terms of art production, international exchange, globalization, and critical theory.

Note: Cross-listed with CCS 547.
Note: A student may only receive credit for only one of the courses: ARTH 547, CCS 547, ARTH 647, CCS 647.
Note: Formerly Museum Methods I.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 548. Critical and Curatorial Studies II3 Units

Prerequisite(s): ARTH 547, or CCS 547, or ARTH 647, or CCS 647, or consent of instructor.

Description: This seminar is structured as a curatorial practicum. Students work with the professor to develop and produce an exhibition from the university's print collection. Throughout the semester, weekly readings and presentations focus on contemporary exhibition practice as well as on the theoretical and critical concerns undergirding the student's developing exhibition.

Note: Cross-listed with CCS 548.
Note: A student may receive credit for only one of the following courses: ARTH 548, ARTH 648, CCS 548 and CCS 648.
Note: Formerly taught as Museum Methods II.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 549. Contemporary Trends in African-American Art3 Units

Prerequisite(s): One 300-level art history course or faculty consent.

Description: Survey of contemporary African American art since the 1960s into current trends today. Examination of contemporary paintings, sculpture, fabric art, folk art, public art, and installation art.

Note: Cross-listed with PAS 509.
Note: Undergraduate credit may not be earned for this course and ARTH 349 and ARTH 329.
Note: May be used to satisfy the Period 3/Area - Non-Western requirement.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 550. Art History Undergraduate Capstone Seminar - CUE3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall, Spring

Prerequisite(s): Senior standing and BA candidacy; or faculty consent.

Description: The Art History Program's undergraduate capstone seminar evaluates the ability of our majors to conduct original art historical research, frame their investigations in the form of a scholarly abstract, and present their ideas in a "conference paper" following the conventions appropriate to the discipline.

Course Attribute(s): CUE - This course fulfills the Culminating Undergraduate Experience (CUE) requirement for certain degree programs. CUE courses are advanced-level courses intended for majors with at least 90 earned credits/senior-level status.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 551. Studies in Ancient Art3 Units

Prerequisite(s): ARTH 351, or ARTH 353, or consent of instructor.

Description: Selected topics in ancient art and architecture.

Note: May be used to satisfy the Period/Area 1 - Pre-1750 requirement.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 552. Ancient Painting3 Units

Prerequisite(s): ARTH 351, or ARTH 353, or consent of instructor.

Description: A study of mural painting from the ancient cultures of Egypt, the Aegean, Greece and Italy.

Note: May be used to satisfy the Period/Area 1 - Pre-1750 requirement.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 553. Ancient Cities3 Units

Prerequisite(s): ARTH 351, or ARTH 353, or consent of instructor.

Description: A study of the development of the city in the Mediterranean region from prehistoric times to the late Roman Empire.

Note: May be used to satisfy the Period/Area 1 - Pre-1750 requirement.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 561. Studies in Medieval Art3 Units

Prerequisite(s): One 300-level course in Medieval art or architecture, or consent of instructor.

Description: Studies in the art and architecture of the Middle Ages emphasizing a synthesis of the arts in a particular period or place.

Note: May be used to satisfy the Period/Area 1 - Pre-1750 requirement.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 571. Studies in Renaissance Art3 Units

Prerequisite(s): One 300-level course in Renaissance art, or consent of instructor.

Description: Study of a major phase of painting or sculpture, fifteenth or sixteenth century, in Italy or Northern Europe, with emphasis on sources and development of style.

Note: May be used to satisfy the Period/Area 1 - Pre-1750 requirement.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 574. History of Drawing and Prints3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered

Prerequisite(s): One 300-level course in Art History, or faculty consent.

Description: Origin and development of woodcut, engraving, etching, aquatint, lithography, and serigraphy; major artists using these techniques.

Note: May be used to satisfy the Period/Area 1 - Pre-1750 requirement.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 581. Studies in Baroque Art3 Units

Prerequisite(s): ARTH 381 or consent of instructor.

Description: Study of one of the leading artists of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, such as Bernini, Borromini, Tiepolo, Velazquez, Rembrandt, Rubens, or Watteau.

Note: May be used to satisfy the Period/Area 1 - Pre-1750 requirement.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 593. Studies in Modern Architecture3 Units

Prerequisite(s): One 300-level course in Modern architecture, or consent of instructor.

Description: Principal forms and theories of urban and building design in relation to social forces in modern Europe and America.

Note: May be used to satisfy the Period/Area 2 - after-1750 requirement.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 595. Studies in American Art3 Units

Prerequisite(s): One 300-level course in American art or architecture, or consent of instructor.

Description: Studies in American architecture, city planning, decorative arts, painting, or sculpture, from colonial times to present.

Note: May be used to satisfy the Period/Area 2 - after-1750 requirement.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 597. Studies in Photographic History3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor.

Description: The aesthetic development of photography, with emphasis on U.S. photographers and contemporary issues relevant to the medium.

Note: May be used to satisfy the Period/Area 2 - after-1750 requirement.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 600. Graduate Seminar1 Unit

Grading Basis: Pass/Fail

Prerequisite(s): Graduate standing.

Fee: An additional $75.00 is charged for this course.

Description: Reports, critiques, presentations and discussions on personal research and current topics in visual arts.

Note: Cross-listed with ART 600 and CCS 600.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 621. Topics in Modern Art3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 623. History of Performance Art3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Graduate standing.

Description: Consideration of investigation of experimental strategies and ideological aims of visual artists who used their bodies as the primary vehicle of expression, information, communication, and social change. Performance Art has had the dubious distinction of being the most censored art medium, and since the 1960s artists have been continually arrested and fined for their work. This is a highly significant social fact, one that draws attention to Performance Art's particularly disruptive aesthetic codes and materials, emphasizing presentation over representation; intersubjective, human bodies over inanimate objects; and temporality over spatiality.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 624. Installation Art3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Graduate standing.

Description: An advanced exploratory seminar that investigates a contemporary art form as well as a thorny art-historical problem: the term "installation" now functions both as a loose descriptor for a myriad of contemporary artworks (having supplanted terms such as Assemblage and Environment) independent of medium and context, as well as a general and comprehensive art-historical genre-a circumstance that has its own compelling historical development. The course is designed so that students can grapple with a central issue for contemporary art-the definition of a burgeoning critical term for art history.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 625. Representations of Trauma in the Visual Arts3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Graduate standing.

Description: This seminar examines the changing relationships between trauma and its representation in the twentieth century. Beginning with the Holocaust, the course charts a trajectory from this most profound of collective traumas, to the refinement of clinical definitions of trauma (e.g., PTSD) in the wake of the Vietnam War, to the development of trauma studies in the humanities in the 1990s, to the recent "pictorial turn" within scholarship on trauma. This historical framework will be brought to bear upon the dynamics of how trauma and visuality have been approached by scientists, scholars, and artists.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 626. Topics in Contemporary Art3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor.

Description: An advanced-level seminar on special topics in contemporary art.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 631. Topics in Asian Art3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Restricted to graduate students or consent of instructor.

Description: Advanced study on selected topics in Asian art and architecture.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 641. Seminar in Art History3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor.

Description: Exploration of core problems in iconography, formal analysis, criticism, or historiography.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 642. Theories & Methods in the Visual Arts3 Units

Term Typically Offered: Fall Only

Prerequisite(s): Graduate standing, or permission of the instructor.

Description: Introduces students to various art historical and interdisciplinary theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches that have shaped the understanding, interpretation, and production of visual art and culture from the nineteenth century to the present. The course will explore these theories and methods as specific fields of inquiry through the study of primary texts, secondary or applied texts, artists' writings and artworks.

Note: This course is required for completion of all graduate degrees in the Department of Fine Arts.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 643. Independent Study1-12 Units

Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor.

Description: Credit according to achievement.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 644. Independent Study1-12 Units

Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor.

Description: Credit according to achievement.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 645. Thesis Guidance3 Units

Grading Basis: Pass/Fail

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 646. Thesis Guidance3 Units

Grading Basis: Pass/Fail

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 647. Introduction to Critical and Curatorial Studies I3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor.

Description: An introduction to curatorial practice of the last 30 years. Focusing on the curator's increasingly prominent role in the reception and synthesis of contemporary art, the course explores developments in exhibition design in terms of art production, international exchange, globalization, and critical theory.

Note: Cross-listed with CCS 647.
Note: A student may only receive credit for only one of the following courses: ARTH 547, CCS 547, ARTH 647, CCS 647.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 648. Critical and Curatorial Studies II3 Units

Prerequisite(s): ARTH 547, or CCS 547, or ARTH 647, or CCS 647, or consent of instructor.

Description: This seminar is structured as a curatorial practicum. Students work with the professor to develop and produce an exhibition from the university's print collection. Throughout the semester, weekly readings and presentations focus on contemporary exhibition practice as well as on the theoretical and critical concerns undergirding the student's developing exhibition.

Note: Cross-listed with CCS 648.
Note: A student may receive credit for only one of the following courses: ARTH 548, ARTH 648, CCS 548 and CCS 648.
Note: Formerly taught as Museum Methods II.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 651. Topics in Ancient Art3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor.

Description: Advanced study on selected topics in ancient art and architecture.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 661. Topics in Medieval Art3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor.

Description: Advanced study on selected topics in medieval art and architecture.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 671. Topics in Renaissance Art3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor.

Description: Advanced study on selected topics in art and architecture of the Renaissance.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 681. Topics in Baroque Art3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor.

Description: Advanced study on selected topics in art and architecture of the 17th and 18th centuries.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 693. Topics in Modern Architecture3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor.

Description: Advanced study on selected topics in modern architecture.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 695. Topics in American Art3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor.

Description: Advanced study on selected topics in American art and architecture.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 699. Topics in Urban History3 Units

Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor.

Description: Advanced research in urban history from an architectural standpoint.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 743. Directed Reading for Comprehensive Exams (Major)2-12 Units

Grading Basis: Pass/Fail

Prerequisite(s): Completion of coursework for the PhD. To be taken by doctoral students who have completed all coursework and are preparing for the major comprehensive exam.

Description:

Note: May be repeated up to 12 hours but only 2 hours count towards degree requirements.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 744. Directed Readings for Comprehensive Exams (Minor)1-9 Units

Grading Basis: Pass/Fail

Prerequisite(s): Completion of all coursework for the PhD. To be taken by doctoral students who have completed all coursework and are preparing for the minor comprehensive exam.

Description:

Note: May be repeated up to 9 hours but only 1 hour counts toward degree requirements.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes

ARTH 745. Dissertation Research1-12 Units

Grading Basis: Pass/Fail

Prerequisite(s): Permission of dissertation director.

For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes