University Bulletin
Undergraduate Degree Programs
ART H 306
(GA;IL)
English Art (3) An introduction to the history of art in England by examining selected themes and issues.
ART H 306 English Art (3)
(GA;IL)
(BA) This course meets the Bachelor of Arts degree requirements.
Art History 306 provides an introduction to the art of England by examining selected themes and issues. The focus of the course may vary from semester to semester. Possible topics that may be explored in this course are Anglo-Saxon Metalwork; Hibemo-Saxon illuminated manuscripts; English Romanesque and Gothic architecture; Tudor portraits; artists from the continent (i.e. Hans Holbein the Younger, Anthony van Dyck); the English country house; English gardens and parks; Inigo Jones and Sir Christopher Wren; the satire of Hogarth; Gainsborough, Reynolds, West, and the Royal Academy; Sir John Soane and Neo-classicism; the rise of English landscape painting Constable and Turner; British Colonialism; the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood; the Industrial Revolution; William Morris and the Arts & Crafts Movement: Sir Edwin Lutyens; Modern art in England; and contemporary art and architecture. The course is designed to meet two principal goals. The first is to increase students' powers of visual analysis and help them build a critical vocabulary for discussing an art object's medium, composition, style, and iconography. The second is to foster an understanding of the deep implication of the visual arts in their social and cultural contexts. The course therefore involves significant material relating to political, economic and religious issues. It investigates problems in patronage, function, reception and censorship. It considers such intra- and cross-cultural issues as representations of gender. Requirements include essay exams and at least one paper. As a general education course in the arts, this course provides an introduction to English art to a student of any major. This course has no prerequisite, and presumes no prior exposure to fine art. Students majoring in Art History will learn both the common vocabulary of the field and the outlines of the field that form the foundation for future study.