This course charts art history's evolution from the Renaissance to the present, with emphasis on the questions and analytic methods the discipline has generated over the past century. Close readings of art-historical texts that exemplify particular approaches will be checked against the interpretations they might yield of individual artists, works, genres, or styles. Topics include: art history's institutional and intellectual history; style-based periodization; changing relationships between art history, art theory, and art criticism; models for the interpretation of the visual arts, including iconography, semiotics, and anthropology; the social participation of art and artists; the challenges of identity politics to traditional art history; and the writing of art history as a self-conscious practice. Each student will be responsible for short papers and presentations on selected readings and works of art, and for a longer final paper.

Hour: HOLLY