Course Listings

Course Listings, Summer 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024

For the days and times that the following classes meet, please refer to the Schedule of Classes on YES.

See how these courses apply to the requirements toward the HART Major or Minor , or, toward the ARCH Major or Minor

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HISTORY OF ART and ARCHITECTURE COURSE OFFERINGS: SUMMER 2023

SUMMER SESSION 2

HART 2325: Great Masters of the Italian Renaissance.
A roughly chronological introductory survey of the major developments in Italian Art from the late Gothic to the High Renaissance, ca. 1300-1520. Landmarks in painting, sculpture, and architecture in central Italy, focusing on Siena, Florence, and Rome. Trecento Sienese masters Duccio and the Lorenzetti; Giotto, Masaccio, Donatello, Botticelli, and Leonardo in Florence; and Michelangelo and Raphael in Rome. Tempera and fresco technique; civic, ecclesiastic, and domestic buildings; stylistic progression, context and meaning. This course will count toward the "Renaissance and Baroque" area requirement for the HART Major; counts toward HART Minor, ARCH Major, ARCH Minor as an elective. [3] Sheri Shaneyfelt (AXLE: INT).

FALL 2023

Note that courses are arranged by Subject Area: Introductory survey courses, First-Year Seminars, 1000W courses, then courses in Global, Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque, and Modern Art, followed by Elective courses and Advanced Seminars.

HART 1100: History of Western Art: Ancient to Medieval Art.
An introduction, through lectures and readings, to the extraordinary range of works of art and architecture produced in the first 30,000 years of Western civilization up to about 1400--from the Prehistoric through Ancient Near Eastern, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Medieval cultures. The first goal of this course is to enable students to apply the methods and vocabulary of art history in their thinking and writing, so that they will be able to analyze and compare the formal qualities of works of art. The second will be to deepen our understanding of the works we study by reading selected primary sources contemporary with the works of art, to learn something of their social, religious, and cultural circumstances. Counts toward HART Major, Minor, and ARCH Major, Minor as a 1000-level course. [3] Elizabeth Moodey. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 1105: History of Western Art: Renaissance to Modern Art.
An introductory survey of Western art history from the Renaissance to the Modern period, considering primarily painting, sculpture, and architecture. Please note that the chronological and thematic range of material covered will vary somewhat depending on the instructor. HART 1105 is intended to provide a historical understanding of the major artistic movements within the Western visual tradition, and to encourage students to develop a literate and critical eye. Attention is given to works of specific artists, as well as cultural factors that affect the visual arts from production to reception. Counts toward HART Major, Minor, and ARCH Major, Minor as a 1000-level course. [3] Jack Crawford. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 1200: Arts of East Asia.
An exploration of the cultural traditions of East Asia--China, Japan, and Korea--including sculpture, painting, and architecture with a focus on historical, religious, philosophical, and cultural background. Early funerary and Buddhist art in East Asia; the early modern – Ming/Qing (China), Choson (Korea), and Edo (Japan) – from the 14^th century onward; modern and contemporary eras from the mid-19^th to the 21st century. Counts toward HART Major, Minor, and ARCH Major, Minor as a 1000-level course. [3] Boyoung Chang. (AXLE: INT).

HART 1111-14: Art and Controversy in 20th-Century America. First-Year Writing Seminar.
Art often mirrors culture, but what happens when art does not reflect the views of the society or culture that produces it? We will study recent and historical controversies concerning the visual arts that address questions of government funding, the role of public art, censorship, decency, morality, and issues of diversity and inclusion. Will count toward the HART Major or Minor as an elective with departmental permission. [3] Jack Crawford. (AXLE: US).

HART 1111-20: Art, Race, and Urban Space. First-Year Writing Seminar.
How do images communicate ideas about race and urban space? Taking the rise of New York as a metropolis as our primary case study (circa 1880–1940), and with consideration of other urban settings such as Chicago, Washington, and Nashville, this course examines how artists inscribed and/or challenged constructions of space as racialized in US cities. This is not a survey, but rather, we will thematically and chronologically chart movements including parks, zoning, redlining, migration, immigration, and public health reform alongside the rise of the city as subject in American modernism. As an art history course, we will learn how to read an image: whose experiences does it reflect? Does it reinforce the status quo or call for change—to whom, and for whom? How might the study of and writing about such images prompt us to imagine the possibility of a more just urban future for all? Encounters with art objects and urban spaces will be prioritized, including visits to Vanderbilt’s Fine Arts Gallery and the Fisk University Galleries. Will count toward the HART Major or Minor or ARCH Major or Minor as an elective with departmental permission. [3] Lee Ann Custer. (AXLE: US).

HART 1210W: Art and Ritual in Asia.
This course explores the arts of Asia through the lens of their ritual function across time. We will ask the questions: How has art-making developed in response to social and religious rituals over the course of centuries? In what ways have diverse social formations and religious traditions shaped rituals to suit their needs, and what are the different roles that the arts have played in them? What characteristics unite, as well as distinguish, the arts of the different Asian sub-regions? Finally, in the age of globalization, how have various cultures preserved their artistic traditions and rituals? Class time will be divided between lecture and discussions of both Asian art—in China, Japan, Korea, India, and elsewhere—and the craft of writing itself. The collections of the Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery will provide prompts for some writing activities. Will count toward the HART Major or Minor as an elective with departmental permission. (Note: the “Global” requirement for the HART major requires a 2000-level course or above, see below in course listings). [3] Susan Dine. (AXLE: INT).

HART 1285W: Introduction to Medieval Art.
The period we call the Middle Ages was once considered the murky space between antiquity and modernity, but it includes a variety of distinctive cultures and their achievements in works as diverse as tiny illuminated manuscripts, massive stone cathedrals, tapestries woven with gold, fine metalwork for devotion and adornment, and sculpture for the dead. This course looks primarily at the art of Western Europe, with attention to Byzantine and Islamic art, from about the third to the fifteenth century. The visual arts are our primary focus, but we will also consider the religious, political, and social forces that shaped them, and the people who created and used them. Although we will be using works of art and art-historical articles as subjects, students will become familiar with forms and conventions that will be useful for academic writing in general, especially in the humanities. Will count toward the HART Major or Minor as an elective with departmental permission. (Note: the “Medieval” requirement for the HART major requires a 2000-level course or above, see below in course listings). [3] Elizabeth Moodey. (AXLE: INT).

HART 2120: The Arts of Korea.
History of Korean art and visual culture from ancient times to the present. Intersections of art, literature, religion, and politics, and cultural interactions with China and Japan. This course will count toward the “Global” area requirement for the HART Major, HART Minor; and toward the ARCH Major, ARCH Minor. [3] Boyoung Chang. (AXLE: INT).

HART 2815: Digital Heritage, Methods and Practice: The Chinese Temple.
This class will focus on digital approaches to artwork, architecture and built assemblages (monasteries and temple complexes) and spiritual landscapes of premodern China. Class time will be divided between substance and practice: 1) We will study the architecture, setting, and decoration of temple buildings in China; and 2) We will learn about the underlying theory of heritage studies, international translation practices for technical terminology, and gain practical experience in data curation for cultural heritage sites. Students will gain experience in research methods relating to the technical terminology used to describe individual buildings and temple sites, including structural and stylistic concepts and their translation and interpretation for different cultural environments--highly desirable skills in current art and architectural history, museum work, and heritage studies. Final projects will focus on studies of form, subject, iconography, and the cultural and religious contexts of timber frame architecture, architectural ceramics, and the materiality of temples in the Chinese context. Pre-requisite: 1 year of Chinese language (or the equivalent). This course will count toward the “Global” area requirement for the HART Major; HART Minor; ARCH Major, ARCH Minor. [3] Tracy Miller. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 3140: Healing and Art in East Asia.
Because the physical environment(s) of healing, as well as the appearance of healing specialists, medicines, and the tools to consume them, all impact the effectiveness of healing outcomes, much about a society’s conception of health and beauty can be explored through examining objects for curing and healing. In this course we will look at the influence of early healing practices on the development of the arts of East Asia. Topics to be examined include magical healing texts, talismans, and tattoos; diagraming the body and the landscape; the art of the Buddha of Medicine, gardens and growing transformative herbs, and tea as medicine and art. This course will count toward the “Global” area requirement for the HART Major; HART Minor; and toward the ARCH Major, ARCH Minor. [3] Tracy Miller. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 2250/CLAS 2250: Roman Art and Architecture.
Sculpture, architecture, and painting from the tenth century B.C.E. to the early fourth century C.E. Daily life of the Romans as seen in excavations of the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum. This course will count toward the “Ancient” area requirement for the HART Major, HART Minor; and toward the ARCH Major, ARCH Minor. [3] Betsey Robinson. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 2320W: The Italian Renaissance Workshop.
A consideration of Italian Renaissance artists' workshops and the collaborative artistic process, covering material from the 14th into the 16th century, but with a focus on the fifteenth century in Florence. We will study the organization, structure, and production of shops, painting and sculpture techniques, and the role of artists in society. Case studies will include artists such as Lorenzo Ghiberti, Donatello, Fra Angelico, Andrea del Verrocchio and the young Leonardo da Vinci, and Sandro Botticelli. This course will count toward the "Renaissance and Baroque" area requirement for the HART Major; HART Minor. [3] Sheri Shaneyfelt. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 3320: Early Renaissance Florence.
Major masters and works from Early Renaissance Florence during the Quattrocento, i.e., the Fifteenth Century, ca. 1400-1500. We will primarily consider works of painting and sculpture that are part of larger decorative programs, with the inclusion of architectural principles and monuments when appropriate to our topic of discussion. Key masters to be considered during the semester, time permitting, will include Giotto di Bondone, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Donatello, Filippo Brunelleschi, Leonbattista Alberti, Masaccio, Fra Angelico, Andrea del Verrocchio and the young Leonardo da Vinci, Sandro Botticelli, Domenico del Ghirlandaio and the young Michelangelo Buonarroti. In class lecture and discussion, there will be particular emphasis upon stylistic progression and connoisseurship, iconographic interpretation and meaning, the role of patronage and audience, original physical and cultural context, and the Italian Renaissance workshop tradition. This course will count toward the "Renaissance and Baroque" area requirement for the HART Major; HART Minor. [3] Sheri Shaneyfelt. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 2765: Art Since 1945.
Survey of art produced in America and Europe since 1945 with an emphasis upon theory and social and intellectual factors. This course will count toward the "Modern" area requirement for the HART Major; HART Minor. [3] Jack Crawford. (AXLE: US).

HART 2805: Introduction to Museum Studies.
Fundamentals of museum history; diversity, theory, current practices, and ethics related to collecting and collection management, interpretation, and display. Global perspectives with emphasis on Euro-American museums. Museums of Art, Anthropology, History, and Science. Includes site visits to local museums. This course will count as an Elective for the HART Major; HART Minor. [3] Susan Dine. (AXLE: P).

HART 2820: Architectural Heritage: Research and Documentation—Public History Engagement: Vanderbilt's Vaughn Home as Practice.
In this course, students will learn the processes of developing and planning public programming events based on best practices in museum visitor experience research. With those plans, as a class we will execute student-led public programming events at the Vaughn Home including a Community Hands-On Dig Day, Community Archeology Lab Visits, Curators’ Workshop, Memorial to Service Workers Unveiling Event, and sustainable programs of student-led docent tours of the Vaughn Home exhibition. This course will count as an Elective for the HART Major, HART Minor; and for the ARCH Major, ARCH Minor. [3] Victoria Hensley. (AXLE: US).

HART 3240W: Ancient Landscapes.
Greco-Roman attitudes toward nature. Exploitation and stewardship of resources. Country-house and garden design. Representations of mythological and sacred landscapes in painting and poetry. This course will count as an Advanced Seminar or toward the “Ancient” area requirement for the HART Major, and as an Advanced Seminar, course in Architectural History, or Elective for the ARCH Major; also counts toward HART and ARCH Minors. [3] Betsey Robinson. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 3810W: Exhibiting Historical Art.
In this seminar course, students learn research methods and principles of object organization and display. In the Fall 2023 semester iteration of this course, students will produce an exhibition and publication on modernist painter Russell Cheney (1881-1945), an American Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, and New England regionalist painter. Students must be available for a university-funded research trip to New England over fall break. This course will count as an Advanced Seminar or as a “Modern” course for the HART Major, or as an Elective for the HART Minor. [3] Kevin Murphy. (AXLE: HCA).

SPRING 2024 (tentative; please check back for updates)

HART 1121: History of Western Architecture I.
From prehistoric Europe and Western Asia to Renaissance Italy and the Ottoman Golden Age. Form and function; historical, social, spatial contexts; architects and patrons. Counts toward HART Major, Minor, and ARCH Major, Minor as a 1000-level course. [3] Betsey Robinson. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 1200: Arts of East Asia.
An exploration of the cultural traditions of East Asia--China, Japan, and Korea--from the 2nd millennium BCE to the 19th century CE through the visual arts. Architecture, painting, ceramics, and sculpture will be examined both as works collected and admired for their aesthetic qualities as well as examples of the culture in which they were produced. Considerations of style will be used to aid in answering questions regarding a work's commission, production, and social significance. Thus, the historical, religious, philosophical, and cultural background will form the framework of our study. Counts toward HART Major, Minor, and ARCH Major, Minor as a 1000-level course. [3] Tracy Miller. (AXLE: INT).

HART 1300: Monuments and Masterpieces.
The Athenian Parthenon, the Pantheon in Rome, Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel Ceiling, the Hall of Gold in Japan; and the U.S. Capitol are among the major Global monuments and masterpieces through which we will explore the ways in which objects of all kinds both contribute to the shaping of the human experience and provide evidence of political, social, religious, economic, and other transformations throughout history. The instructor, as well as many guest lecturers from the Dept. of History of Art and Architecture, will unravel the multiple meanings that these objects possess, in the process demonstrating how historians analyze works for their immediate qualities, but also use them to answer questions that go far beyond the things themselves. Although the course will not be a comprehensive survey, we will see how and why many cultures made and used works of art, and gain new insights on how material objects were the medium through which social and personal relationships were negotiated, and historical change was navigated. Counts toward HART Major, Minor, and ARCH Major, Minor as a 1000-level course. [3] Matthew Worsnick with HART department faculty as weekly guest lecturers, each in their field of specialty. (AXLE: INT).

HART 2130: The Arts of Japan.
Artistic production from the Neolithic through Meiji periods in relation to religious and cultural contexts. This course will count toward the “Global” area requirement for the HART Major, HART Minor; and ARCH Major, ARCH Minor. [3] Susan Dine. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 2151: Architecture and Gardens in Imperial China.
This course is an introduction to the rich and complex architectural tradition of China during its imperial period (221 BCE – 1911). We will be exploring changes in the society, imperial institution, and intellectual traditions of China through its built environment. Topics to be discussed include: theories behind building and fengshui, imperial city planning, the creation of imperial temples to control the forces of nature, the impact of Buddhism on ritual architecture, the monastic and temple complexes of religious Daoism and Confucianism, the development of landscape art and its manifestation in Imperial and private contexts, and the encoding of patriarchy in the vernacular architecture of both north and south China. The course is structured chronologically, but within each time period emphasis will be placed on the cultural context of the works discussed, be it practical, political, or spiritual. This course will count toward the “Global” area requirement for the HART Major, HART Minor; and toward the ARCH Major, ARCH Minor. [3] Tracy Miller. (AXLE: INT).

HART 2165: Modern and Contemporary Asian Art.
What are modernity and contemporaneity in Asian art? How did art develop in relation to Asia’s dynamic histories, marked by colonial rule, revolution, warfare, postcolonial nation-building, the Cold War, dictatorship, democratic struggles, and globalization? This course explores the development of Art in Asia from the 19th century to the present, including East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. The course looks at a wide variety of art forms, from traditional media of painting, sculpture, and architecture to recently emerged media such as installation, performance, photography, film, and video, and the social, political, and historical contexts in which these particular works were produced and circulated. Students will develop the vocabulary and visual reasoning necessary to analyze a wide variety of artworks and situate them within a historical and theoretical context. This course will count toward the “Global” area requirement or the “Modern” area requirement for the HART Major, HART Minor. [3] Boyoung Chang. (AXLE: INT).

HART 2810W: Museum Exhibition: Japanese Woodblock Prints.
Culture of museums and exhibition. Object handling, storage, and display. Ethics of exhibition including of objects from various cultures. Contextual presentation of art. Culminates in plan for online or physical exhibition. Focus for Spring 24 is on Japanese Woodblock Prints. This course will count toward the “Global” area requirement for the HART Major, HART Minor. [3] Susan Dine. (AXLE: P).

HART 3252: Cities of the Roman East.  
Provincial centers, sanctuaries, and monuments from Greece to Arabia. Major centers and case studies of public and private commissions. Architectural reflections of Romanization and resistance; local and imperial patronage; patrimony and memory; borderland architecture. This course will count toward the “Ancient” area requirement for the HART Major, HART Minor; and toward the ARCH Major, ARCH Minor. [3] Betsey Robinson. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 2285: Medieval Art.  
An introduction to the major and minor arts of later medieval Europe in the West from ca. 1000- ca. 1400 CE. Lectures will provide a chronological armature for the course, readings will suggest themes beyond the stylistic development of Romanesque and Gothic art, and primary sources will allow us a glimpse of the concerns of medieval people. The patronage of this period is overwhelmingly Christian, and our focus will be on Western Europe, but we will also consider the impact of the art of the Byzantine Church, and the art that emerged with the coming of Islam in the 7th century. This course will count toward the "Medieval" area requirement for the HART Major, HART Minor; ARCH Major, ARCH Minor. [3] Elizabeth Moodey. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 2362: Fifteenth-Century Northern European Art.
A survey of the major developments in the painting and sculpture of Northern Europe, including the Netherlands and France, from the mid- to late fourteenth through the fifteenth century. Our focus will be on Netherlandish Painting, and key artists to be considered, time permitting, include the Limbourg Brothers, Claus Sluter, Jan van Eyck, Robert Campin (the Master of Flémalle), Rogier van der Weyden, Dieric Bouts, Petrus Christus, Hugo van der Goes, Geertgen tot sint Jans, Hans Memling, Gerard David, and Hieronymus Bosch. Our analysis of the period will progress roughly chronologically, as we consider specific artists and regional schools. In class lecture and discussion, there will be particular emphasis upon stylistic progression, iconographic interpretation and meaning, the role of patronage and audience, original physical and cultural context, the workshop tradition, and scientific analysis. This course will count toward the “Renaissance and Baroque” area requirement for the HART Major; HART Minor. [3] Sheri Shaneyfelt. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 2662: Art and the Environment in the United States.
How are images used to convey environmental concerns, historically and today? In this course, we will discuss how art and the environment impacted each other in the United States from roughly 1800 to the present. While not a survey, we will thematically and chronologically chart movements including nature and the formation of US national identity and empire; the tradition of landscape painting; materials and ecology; the city and nature; land art/environment as medium; and photography and the visualization of disaster. We will study the ways in which art historians have interpreted these topics in recent scholarship, including eco-criticism and new materialism. Discussions will be situated with respect to concepts shaping the broader field of the environmental humanities, such as the Anthropocene (and its derivatives, like the Capitalocene, etc.), political ecology, traditional ecological knowledge/Indigenous approaches to the natural world, and multi-species ethnography. Guest speakers will share current interdisciplinary research in the field. Encounter with art objects and environmental settings will be prioritized, including visits to Nashville’s Parthenon museum collection, the Tennessee State Museum, and the Vanderbilt campus arboretum. This course will count toward the “Modern” area requirement for the HART Major; HART Minor, ARCH Major, ARCH Minor. [3] Lee Ann Custer. (AXLE: US).

HART 2720: Modern Architecture. 
An in-depth study of developments in the history of architecture from the early 19th century to the present. Works of architecture will be considered as objects of intellectual and physical labor that can be studied for information about the historical period of their production. In addition to buildings, we will take architecture to include theory, drawings, unbuilt architecture, city planning, and ways in which architectural ideas are used in non-architectural media. Formal analysis and a social historical approach will address questions such as: Why was this building constructed? Whose purpose did it serve? How was it received in its own time? How does a consideration of its style help to answer the previous questions? Emphasis will be placed on relationships between style and content, and in turn to general historical conditions. The course intends to demonstrate that architectural production, as other forms of human behavior, can yield meaningful information about the historical process. This course will count toward the “Modern” area requirement for the HART Major; HART Minor, ARCH Major, ARCH Minor. [3] Kevin Murphy. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 3735: History of Photography.
Uses and meanings of photography from its invention in ca. 1839 to the present. Ways of thinking about the medium and its status as a separate discipline in relation to the history of art. This course will count toward the “Modern” area requirement for the HART major, HART Minor. [3] Boyoung Chang. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 2808W: Contemporary Issues in Museums.
This course is a dive into contemporary controversies and challenges in museum work via three units. We will examine the shifting place of museums in societies today in light of their histories, practice, and the scholarly and public responses to them. We will look at a set of local Nashville institutions through a lens of the course content, which will address a series of core issues within each of the unit topics and some representative case studies in each. Discussion and writing will be core to working through the (often controversial) material in this class. Topics include: collecting and display, human remains in collections, restitution and repatriation, accessibility, colonial histories, DEI/EDI concerns and efforts, economics of cultural heritage, and more.The course will include guest speakers and visits to local museums. This course will count as an Elective for the HART Major, HART Minor. [3] Susan Dine. (AXLE: P).

HART 3364W: Art of the Court of Burgundy.  
The Valois dukes of Burgundy (1364-1477) ruled an increasing collection of lucrative territories beginning with one duchy in eastern France and expanding into the southern Netherlands. Along the way they developed a reputation for luxury and display that eclipsed the rest of Europe's courts, commissioning architecture, sculpture, precious metalwork, painting, tapestries, and manuscripts from artists such as Claus Sluter, Jan van Eyck, and Rogier van der Weyden. The visual arts are our primary focus, but we will also consider the religious, political, and social forces that shaped the arts at court. This course will count as an Advanced Seminar or toward the “Medieval” area requirement for the HART Major; HART Minor. [3] Elizabeth Moodey. (AXLE: HCA).

HART 3765W: Monuments and Memorials, 1900-present.
This course will critically examine monuments and memorials in the 20th and 21st centuries, approaching them through the substantial body of scholarship on them in multiple disciplines. We will consider memorialization practices globally, with a focus on their pervasive presence in Europe, North America, and post-colonial settings. Among topics are memorialization of the civil rights movement and the Holocaust, the U.S. Civil War, the Boer and Balkan Wars, World Wars I and II, and the Vietnam War. Thematic foci include counter-monuments, history and memory, and preservation. This course will count as an Advanced Seminar or toward the “Modern” area requirement for the HART Major, and as an Advanced Seminar, course in Architectural History, or Elective for the ARCH Major; also counts toward HART and ARCH Minors. [3] Matthew Worsnick. (AXLE: HCA).

5/12/2023