Time Schedule:
Steven E Bunn
ART H 361
Seattle Campus
Sculpture, painting, and architecture from 1300 to 1600.
Class description
This class surveys the painting, sculpture, architecture, and graphic arts of the Italian Renaissance. Emphasis is given to the major artistic centers of Florence, Rome, and Venice, while other cities will often be highlighted. Themes include the status of the image in Renaissance art, the role of artistic invention, individual and collective creativity, the growing self-awareness of artists, the influence of political, historical, and social place, and the changing narratives and mythologies that have shaped our perception and understanding of the Renaissance.
Student learning goals
Become familiar with the main artists and the regional centers in which they thrived, and how artists and communities responded and to local and foreign visual innovations.
Recognize the stylistic variations between different eras of Renaissance art, personal styles of individual artists and their schools, and the trends occurring in different cities and regions.
Understand how art often reflects the goals of its makers and/or those who commission it.
Be able to read and interpret the language of Renaissance art, its symbols, narratives, and main subjects, and how and why they were used.
Become familiar with the power of images, and how they are used to express religious, political, and personal convictions, as well as the range of responses to the image.
Understand the role of artifice as a key feature of Renaissance art, and the different ways artists employ technical skill, workmanship, and the self-conscious act of creating to reinforce the meaning and function of art and its relationship to the viewer.
General method of instruction
Recommended preparation
Either Art History 202 or 203 would be helpful, but are not required.
Class assignments and grading
Grades will be based on completion of weekly on-line assignments, two exams, and a research paper with associated assignments.
