ARTH 546(S) What Is Genre Painting?
Genre painting is both a firmly established and a puzzling category in art history. In this course we will explore some of the key aesthetic and social questions it provokes: What precisely is it and why does it matter? What social and cultural forces shaped its development? How was it defined and understood in particular countries and at particular moments? What was its relationship with other modes and genres of painting, and with wider cultural phenomena such as theater and proverbs? The course will focus on the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in the Low Countries, France, and England, and will examine the work of Teniers, Steen, Chardin, Hogarth, and Greuze, among others.
The course will be assessed on the basis of oral presentation (normally focused on an individual painting or group of paintings) and one research paper per student. In addition, students will be expected to lead discussions of readings and to respond to the presentations of others in the class.
Enrollment limit: 12 (expected: 8-12). Preference will be given to graduate students and then to senior majors.
Hour: LEDBURY