This course is designed to work in three ways. First, it is an opportunity to learn about London’s architecture and history by physically exploring the city’s historic and modern built environment. Second, this class is an introduction to sketching and keeping a travel notebook, a fulfilling skill that any liberal arts student should experience. Third, and perhaps most important, this course teaches students how to ‘read’ a building and a town or city. The ability to visually make sense of the built environment of this major capital should help in understanding the architecture of New York City and other towns and cities throughout the world. Our course is formed of a series of site visits through London’s extraordinary and diverse environment, considering significant architectural developments from many periods, while learning to record and describe what we see. We will study the architectural vocabulary of London and learn how to accurately and elegantly depict buildings and places in both word and image. Please note that it is very important that students attend the first class, which covers the introductory information, lecture and drawing session.
To provide the student with an awareness and appreciation of gardens and landscapes of Tuscany from early Roman precedents to the 21st century. The design of the Italian landscape and garden is studied as a means of cultural communication–an expression of a society’s values, philosophy and understanding of the environment. Emphasis is placed on historic precedent, sustainable design techniques utilized in Italian gardens and classic Renaissance design concepts. The format includes lectures, class presentations and field trips.
This course introduces to the many villas surrounding the city of Florence. It aims at illustrating their origins, their history from the Middle-Age to the twentieth century, as well as their economic and ideological factors in the relationship with the city of Florence. The course draws on many disciplines, such as architecture, history, economy, social history, history of art, and landscape art.
A broad survey, we will consider works of architecture, ceramics, metalwork, textiles and the arts of the book. Given the span of centuries embraced by the term ’Islamic art’ – from the 7th century up to the present day – and the expanse of geography – from Spain to China and beyond – this course cannot be a complete survey within the constraints of a single semester. Instead, this course will present a select group of materials within a chronological and dynastic framework, with an emphasis on specific case studies. These selections will highlight important internal developments as well as ’points of contact’ between cultural entities. This approach – at once global and local – speaks to the dynamic and fluid qualities of many of the arts produced in the regions under scrutiny.
Introduces students to the skills and concepts they will need in order to develop a meaningful engagement with the visual arts and art history as a global discipline. Rather than providing a chronological survey of great works, it covers examples and perspectives from a wide array of regions, periods, and societies. Topics include materials and techniques of production; formal analysis; subject matter and iconography; historical and cultural contexts; the social role and formation of artists; and the history of art history as a discipline. Pitched for students who have little or no background in the study of art and architecture, this course provides a rigorous introduction to the foundations of the discipline. It is required of all art history majors.
The principal aim of this course is to familiarize students with the history of British art from the Stuarts to the early Victorian era. Teaching will be conducted entirely on sites in London or its immediate vicinity. The course will begin with the elite patronage of the Stuart court and end with the development of public institutions of art from the mid-eighteenth century. The social significance of portraiture, the cult of antiquity, the art market and the rise of landscape will all be studied as themes. There will be a strong emphasis on the European sources of British visual culture and the emergence of a distinctive national tradition of painting from Hogarth through to Turner.
Art of the “age of the cathedrals”—including architecture, sculpture, stained glass, manuscript illumination, wall painting, luxury arts, and tapestry—from origins of the Gothic style in the 12th-century Ile-de-France through the early 15th century. Considers artistic developments in light of religious, historical, political, social, and cultural contexts of their creation. Topics include: Gothic patrons, artists, builders, and art-making; lay literacy and the patronage and reception of art; the cult of the Virgin and the arts; the Gothic image as bearer of religious, political, and social values and ideologies; arts of chivalry and courtly love; naturalism and developments in portraiture; the roles of art in devotional and mystical experience; Gothic art and late medieval notions of vision and the self.
An introductory survey of the history of South Asia from 2000 B.C.E. to 1200 C.E., with an emphasis on the Indian subcontinent. From the Indus Valley culture to the present day, artistic production has played a critical role in the transmission of religious beliefs and the development of cultural systems in and around South Asia. Diverse regions were linked by trade, politics, and cultural relationships, and interaction can be charted through the changing forms and functions of art. We consider the historical circumstances surrounding the production of South and Southeast Asian art, as well as the problems that art historians face when trying to interpret the surviving evidence. We look at art in a variety of media, including, but not limited to, architecture, urban form, sculpture, painting, and performance.
Begins with El Greco in Italy and Toledo, Velázquez, Zurbarán, Murillo, Ribera, and Valdés Leal before moving to the 18th century (the Tiepolo family, Meléndez). Defines Spain in the 16th and 17th century as a global power by considering colonial-era art in such New World centers as Mexico City and Lima. The focus then shifts to the art of Francisco de Goya and the projection of Spanish art into the modern era.
As in ARTH-UA 91, students examine artistic centers from two vast adjoining regions, in this case South and Southeast Asia, both of which include a wide variety of cultures. Includes monuments of Pakistan, India, Cambodia, and Indonesia. Although the two courses use the same approach and are designed to be complementary, either one may be taken without the other.
Art of Western civilization between Constantine and the Renaissance (300 to 1500 in northern Europe, 1400 in Italy). Topics: Christian beliefs underlying medieval art; acceptance and rejection of classical tradition and the roles of non-classical traditions in medieval art; stylistic transformations in medieval art in the context of medieval society; development of abbey and cathedral, monumental sculpture and painting, mosaics, stained glass, and fresco, as well as manuscript illumination, ivories, metalwork, and panel painting.
Traces the evolution of the painted altarpiece in relation to its liturgical, devotional, and cultic functions, with consideration of artistic personalities such as Duccio, Simone Martini, and the Lorenzetti. Studies great fresco cycles in churches and chapels from the point of view of artists (including Giotto and Taddeo Gaddi), patron(s), and program. Surveys key monuments of religious and civic architecture and their painted and sculpted decoration within the historical and political contexts of the emerging Italian city-states. Topics include: mendicant orders and the arts; Black Death and art; status of the artist; gender and social class in representation and patronage.
Formerly ARTH-UA 80. Identical to SCA-UA 787. Survey of art of West and Central Africa and the South Pacific. Although art from these areas is popularly thought of in terms of its impact on the West, the art is primarily studied in relation to its meaning and function in its own society, where art socializes and reinforces religious beliefs, reflects male and female roles, and validates leadership. Films and field trips to a museum and gallery supplement classroom lectures.
Major traditions in painting, sculpture, and architecture of the native peoples of North America, Mexico, Central America, and Andean South America. Material from pre-contact times through the 20th century. Deals with questions of theory and differences between indigenous and Western world views; the relationship of the arts to shamanism, priesthoods, guardian spirits, deities, and beliefs regarding fauna and flora; impact of European contact on indigenous arts and civilization.
This course is intended as an introduction to the arts of Islam during a period of dynamic cultural and political change in the Islamic world. Beginning with the Mongol invasions of the 13th century, the course traces the development of Islamic art and architecture through the eras of Timur, the ?gunpowder empires? (the Mughals, Ottomans, Safavids) and European colonialism, to the art of the nation-state in the 20th-century.
Achievements of the chief painters of the 15th century with special attention to the Tuscan tradition. A brief introduction to Giotto and his time provides background for the paintings of Masaccio and his artistic heirs (Fra Angelico, Filippo Lippi, Piero della Francesca). In the later 15th century, social and cultural changes generated by power shifts from Medici Florence to papal Rome also affected art patronage, creating new tensions and challenges for artists and fostering the emergence of new modes of visualization. Topics include the role of pictorial narrative, perspective, and mimesis; the major techniques of Renaissance painting; and the relationship of painting to the other visual arts.
Formerly ARTH-UA 91. Identical to EAST-UA 91. Offered periodically. 4 points. An introduction to the art and culture of the Far East. The materials are presented in a chronological and thematic approach corresponding to the major dynastic and cultural changes of China, Korea, and Japan. Teaches how to “read” works of art in order to interpret a culture or a historical period; it aims at a better understanding of the similarities and differences among the cultures of the Far East.
An overview of history and theory. Presents a series of lectures and case studies examining such issues as the birth of the museum, the role played by world’s fairs and biennials, the impact of collectors, the art market, and the gallery system. Visits to museums, galleries, and auction houses in New York.
Identical to MEDI-UA 1. Students who have taken ARTH-UA 3 or ARTH-UA 4 will not receive credit for this course. Introduction to the history of painting, sculpture, and architecture from ancient times to the dawn of the Renaissance, emphasizing the place of the visual arts in the history of civilization. Includes the study of significant works in New York museums, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Cloisters, and the Brooklyn Museum.
Christian architecture, sculpture, painting, mosaic, manuscript illumination, and luxury arts in the Greek East and Latin West from 200 C.E. through ca. 950 C.E. Considers visual and material culture of Christianity in light of the religious, historical, political, social, and cultural contexts. Style periods: Christian, early Byzantine, barbarian, insular, Merovingian, and Carolingian. Topics include: the commemoration of the dead; art and theology; emergence of the cult of saints; early medieval patrons; arts of pilgrimage and early monasticism; word and image in early medieval culture; and iconoclasm and debates about the role of images in early Christianity.
This course is conceived as a focused study of the works of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael Sanzio and Michelangelo Buonarroti, the men whose careers largely defined the concept of Western artistic genius. Particular consideration will also be given to their Italian and European contemporaries and followers in order to take advantage of the opportunity to the study these original works on site. High Renaissance art cannot be divorced from its times; thus, much attention will be given to contemporary history, especially Florentine politics and politics in Papal Rome. Special attention will also be given to the evolution of drawing practice in sixteenth-century Italy, an essential development for the changes that took place in the conception of works of art over the course of the century. Themes such as patronage, humanism, interpretations of antiquity, and Italian civic ideals will form a framework for understanding the works of art beyond style, iconography, technique and preservation. As the high Renaissance works are often still in their original physical settings, during field-studies to museums and churches in Florence students will have a unique opportunity to experience the works as their original viewers did and as their creators intended.
Beginning by considering how impressionism refined and redirected the artistic aims of 19th-century realism, follows the development of progressive art to the brink of cubism and pure abstraction in the first years of the 20th century. Following impressionism and post-impressionism, close attention is paid to symbolism, aestheticism, art nouveau, the Arts and Crafts movement, fauvism, and expressionism. The aesthetic aims of these movements are analyzed in tandem with the social and cultural conditions that generated them.
Formerly V43.0085. Offered every year. 4 points. Provides an outline of Islamic material in its early and classical periods, from 650 to 1200. The period saw the initial formation of an Arab empire stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean, a decline in centralized authority, and the rise to political prominence of various North African, Iranian, and Central Asian dynasties from the 10th century onward. These politicFormerly V43.0085. Offered every year. 4 points. Provides an outline of Islamic material in its early and classical periods, from 650 to 1200. The period saw the initial formation of an Arab empire stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean, a decline in centralized authority, and the rise to political prominence of various North African, Iranian, and Central Asian dynasties from the 10th century onward. These political developments are reflected in the increasingly heterogeneous nature of Islamic material culture over this time span.
In Flanders, Rubens overturned all previous concepts of painting and was the first to deserve the term “baroque.” Van Dyck, his pupil, took Rubens’s style to England. Dutch painters, including Hals, Rembrandt, and Vermeer, moved in a different direction, addressing every aspect of their country and society: the peasant, the quiet life of the well-ordered household, the sea and landscape, views of the cities, and church interiors.
Considers such subjects as currents on the eve of the First World War, new technology, and the impact of the war; architecture and politics between the wars; the rise of expressionist design; the international style and the concurrent adaptation of traditional styles; art deco design; mid-century glass curtain-wall architecture; brutalism; and reactions to modernism. Includes ideological and political considerations and works by Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, James Stirling, and Frank Gehry, among others.
Traces developments in the sculpture, painting, and architecture of ancient Egypt from pre-dynastic beginnings through the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms (3100-1080 B.C.). Special emphasis on Egyptian art in the context of history, religion, and cultural patterns. Includes study of Egyptian collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum.
Examines architecture, sculpture, painting, manuscript illumination, and treasury arts of the Latin West during ca. 950-1200 C.E., including Ottonian, Anglo-Saxon, Mozarabic, First Romanesque, and Romanesque art. Considers visual arts of Christianity in light of the historical, religious, political, social, and cultural contexts of their creation. Topics: the cult of saints and the arts; the art and architecture of pilgrimage and crusade; monasticism and the arts; Romanesque patrons, artists, and audiences; the Romanesque revival of monumental sculpture; Christian encounters with Islam and Judaism; secular themes in Romanesque art; word and image in Romanesque art; medieval attitudes toward the classical tradition.
History of art in the Western tradition from 20,000 B.C. to the 4th century A.D. From the emergence of human beings in the Paleolithic Age to the developments of civilization in the Near East, Egypt, and the Aegean; the flowering of the Classical Age in Greece; and the rise of the Roman Empire to the beginnings of Christian domination under the Emperor Constantine in the 4th century A.D. Study of the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum is essential.
Students who have taken ARTH-UA 5 or ARTH-UA 6 will not receive credit for this course. Offered every semester. 4 points. Introduction to the history of painting, sculpture, and architecture from the early Renaissance to the present day. Includes the study of significant works in New York museums, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Frick Collec-tion, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art.
Berlin is a unique modern Metropolis. Its alternating history with often drastic changes offers a comprehensive background to explore and investigate the nature of architecture in correlation to the various developmental processes of urban life and culture. Architecture is embedded in the urban fabric in which place and time serve as the main threads, constantly changing their multifaceted and layered relationships. This urban fabric provides the fertile soil for urban life and culture, which literally takes place in various scales between the public and the private realm, two further threads intertwined in the urban fabric. Experiencing the city through walking is essential for learning how to observe, see and read “Place, Building and Time” in Berlin. Tours will alternate with classroom discussions and workshops.
This course is an introduction to Renaissance Art by exploring in depth the historical, political and cultural evolution of Italy and Europe between the 14th and the 15th centuries. This overview will be not confined to works of art but will include social and patronage issues – i.e. the role of the guilds, the differences in private, civic and church patronage – that affected the style, form and content of the Italian rich artistic output, which reached a peak often nostalgically referred to by later generations as the “golden age”. Themes such as patronage, humanism, interpretations of antiquity, and Italian civic ideals form a framework for understanding the works of art beyond style, iconography, technique and preservation. The course analyzes the historical and social background of the beginning of the Renaissance during the 14th century and the impact of patronage on art. It then focuses on the early 15th century art in Italy and Europe and deals with the Medici Family’s age. Lastly it analyzes the ‘golden Age’ of the Renaissance, specifically focusing on Verrocchio, Botticelli, Perugino and Ghirlandaio. By the end of this course, students gain a thorough knowledge of the Italian and European Renaissance Age, developing practical perception and a confident grasp of the material, understanding the relationship between both historical and artistic events and valuing the importance of patronage. As the Renaissance works are often still in their original physical settings, during field-studies to museums and churches in Florence students will have a unique opportunity to experience the works as their original viewers did and as their creators intended.
The Renaissance, like classical antiquity and the Middle Ages, is a major era of Western civilization embracing a multitude of styles. It is, however, held together by basic concepts that distinguish it from other periods. Main developments of Renaissance art both in Italy and north of the Alps: the Early and High Renaissance; relation to the lingering Gothic tradition; and Mannerism. Emphasis is placed on the great masters of each phase. The survival of Renaissance traditions in Baroque and Rococo art is examined in art and architecture.
Art in the Western world from the late 18th century to the present. The Neoclassicism and Romanticism of David, Goya, Ingres, Turner, Delacroix; the Realism of Courbet; the Impressionists; parallel developments in architecture; and the new sculptural tradition of Rodin. From postimpressionism to Fauvism, Expressionism, Futurism, Cubism, geometric abstraction in sculpture and painting, and modernism in architecture in the 20th century. After World War I, Dadaism and Surrealism. Developments since 1945, such as Action painting, Pop art, Minimal art, and numerous strands of Postmodernism.
A site for IMA NY Students to find equivalent courses outside of IMA NY
For most students joining IMA in Fall 2022 and beyond, there is a new program structure that affects the categorization of courses on this site:
Any class in any IMA major elective category (ie "Art & Design") refers to the IMA program structure previous to those entering in Fall 2022. If you are in the class of 2026 (most entering Fall 2022 or later), any course in an IMA elective category are generic IMA electives in the new structure.