Art and Art History

Outdoor Studio consists of working excursions to outdoor sites in and around San Antonio. Students in Outdoor Studio create works of art on site and gather information to create or complete work in studio. Traditional landscape media, contemporary strategies, and new technologies are explored. Course includes readings and lectures addressing pertinent environmental questions to enhance understanding of the Texas landscape and to investigate the complex issues surrounding the landscape of today. (Offered every Spring.)

A seminar in contemporary visual art exploring art theory, practice, and history. The thematic structure will blend historical and contemporary art criticism, exhibitions, and studio practice. The fundamental theories of art making throughout the twentieth century will be explored through the study of drawing, painting, architecture, photography, film, ceramics and sculpture. Prerequisite: ARTH 1407 or 1408.

This course builds on foundational photographic processes. With an emphasis on aesthetic and conceptual uses of the camera, students explore processes of analog and digital overlap. Additionally, this course explores historically established uses of the photographic medium and their relation in contemporary contexts. (Offered every semester.) Prerequisites: ART 2450 or 2452.

Experience Screen Printing through a hands-on studio class, including hand-drawn and photomechanically applied stencils, color separations, paper/substrate choices and discussions of issues in contemporary printmaking. 4 studio hours and 8 hours outside preparation per week required. May be repeated up to 3 times. (Offered every year.)

Presenting the book-as-object, this course is an exploration of bookbinding through studio practice supported by investigation of the history of the book and evolution of binding styles. With an emphasis on technical skills, we will work with a variety of binding styles and materials to understand how structure and content play off of each other, and explore the definition of what constitutes a book. 4 studio hours and at least 8 hours of outside preparation per week are required. May be repeated up to 3 times.

This course is designed for students who have already taken a course in printmaking and wish to experience a particular printmaking technique in greater depth. The course may be taken more than once, as long as course content changes. Credit may vary from 1 to 3 semester hours. Course may be repeated for a maximum of 9 credit hours. Prerequisite: ART 2460, 2462, 2464, or consent of instructor.

From time to time special topics courses in sculpture will be offered. The course may be taken more than one, as long as the course content changes. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor.

Sculpture: Advanced Clay Projects is focused on porcelain clay and porcelain clay slip. It will develop the student's conceptual and technical interests associated with portfolio development. A series of guided assignments based on hand building, mold making, and casting techniques, are sequenced to explore contemporary issues in art. Research assignments will build on concepts of visual literacy and terminology. May be repeated up to 3 times. Prerequisites: ART 2470 or 2471

Independent study in selected areas in preparation for Honors Thesis. Prerequisite: Admission to Honors Program.

Gallery Practicum is a hands-on course offering instruction and experience in all aspects of the organization and installation of art exhibitions. Students will learn professional gallery management practices by researching exhibition content, arranging loans of artwork, and creating checklists, didactic labels and brochures. Through organizing and installing exhibitions in the university gallery, they will gain valuable experience in the selection, proper handling, placement, hanging and lighting of works of art in exhibitions. Prerequisite: At least one course in Studio Art or Art History.

Individual research and scholarly investigation under faculty supervision leading to the preparation of an Honors Thesis. To be taken only by Senior Honors students in both semesters of their senior year.

The course is a continuation of ARTH 1407, though it may be taken independently. Art History II is a selective survey of painting, sculpture, and architecture from the late Gothic period to the rise of Modernism. Beginning in the 14th century, the course surveys works of art and architecture created in a variety of contexts, spanning the periods of Renaissance and Baroque Europe, the Enlightenment and Industrial Revolutions, Neoclassicism and Romanticism, and the artistic movements of the 19th century. ARTH 1408 concludes with Modern art and architecture in Europe, Mexico, and America. Following a roughly chronological order, the course considers the social, sacred, historical, and political functions of art, techniques of production, artistic styles, iconography, and patronage. (Offered every semester.)

This course examines the rich and diverse art of the Americas since the arrival of Europeans in the sixteenth century. It considers the architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, and planning of this region with the aim of understanding the distinctive elements of Latin American art as well as its commonalities with the art of Europe and the United States. The course will consider works in relations to the dramatic social and political changes of the last five centuries and the ways in which the study of the art of Latin America complicates established art historical narratives. (Offered every year.)

This course examines the art and architecture of the Middle Ages in Europe, from the earliest Christian imagery of the fourth century to late Gothic court art, produced around 1400. The geographical range extends from the northern fringes of the British Isles to the borders of the Byzantine world, and a wide selection of buildings and objects will be considered in relation to their social, political and historical contexts, with a particular focus on the development of the Christian tradition. (also listed as GRST 1314) Common Curriculum: This course will only count towards Greco-Roman, Jewish, and Christian Traditions through the Early Modern Period.

An examination of architecture, painting, sculpture, and other arts in South America and the Caribbean since the sixteenth century. (Offered every year.)

This course provides an introduction to the visuals arts at the Burgundian court, from its inception in the late 14th century under Philip the Bold to the regency of Margaret of Austria in the early 16th century. During this era, the area now known as northern France, Belgium, and the Netherlands was governed by the dukes and duchesses of Burgundy and their Habsburg successors. Under their rule, it became the dominant force in northern Europe and the court's dazzling splendor set the standard for princely magnificence throughout the Renaissance. The political, social, and religious concerns of the Burgundians will be explored through the paintings, sculptures, textiles, metalwork, and manuscripts they commissioned from Sluter, Van Eyck, Van der Weyden, and their contemporaries. (Offered every other year.)

This course is a survey of the art of the ancient peoples of Mesoamerica. It will examine the art of a variety of major groups, including the Olmec, the Maya, the Toltec, the Zapotec, the Mixtec, and the Aztec, as well as other indigenous peoples of Western Mexico and the Gulf Coast. (Same as ANTH 3335.)(Offered every other year.)

A study of the arts of Mexico from Conquest to Independence (1521-1821), with special attention to architecture and to architectural painting and sculpture. The study also includes the Spanish sources of this art (the Late Gothic, Plateresque, Renaissance, Baroque, and Neo-Classical stylistic periods) and the persistence of indigenous forms, images, and sensibilities. The course includes original material at hand: the San Antonio Missions and works in the San Antonio Museum of Art. (Offered occasionally.) Prerequisite: Completion of one course in Art History, or sophomore standing, or consent of instructor.

This course introduces students to the major twentieth century artists, works, movements, and art theories in Europe and the United States, circa 1900 to 1970. While concretely investigating a diversity of art practices, the course also considers the central relationship during this period between art and critical theories of modernism and postmodernism. (Offered occasionally.) Prerequisite: Completion of one course in Art History, or sophomore standing, or consent of instructor.

This course covers architecture and urban development from the 1960s through the present. Emphasis on the artistic, ideological, theoretical, and political factors that shape contemporary built environments, with primary focus on the United States, Western Europe, and Japan. (Offered occasionally.) Prerequisite: Completion of one course in Art History, or sophomore standing, or consent of instructor.

Independent study in selected areas. 1 to 3 semester hours; may be repeated for a total of no more than 6 hours. Prerequisites: 6 advanced hours in Art History and consent of instructor.

Course content will vary depending on the instructor but may include some of the following: women as artists and architects, images of women in art and society, feminist methodology, or women as patrons of art. Course may be repeated with different topics for a maximum of six semester hours. (Offered occasionally.) Prerequisite: Completion of one course in Art History, or sophomore standing, or consent of instructor.

This course will provide an experiential overview of the artistic, educational, and commercial functions of the modern art museum in a colloquium setting. Students will have the opportunity to work in the classroom and on-site with museum professionals in San Antonio and the region. Prerequisite: Completion of one course in Art History, or sophomore standing, or consent of instructor.

This course examines artistic patronage at the papal, imperial, royal, and ducal courts of northern and central Europe in the fourteenth century. Often collectively labeled as "International Gothic," the sumptuous artworks commissioned by the courts range from paintings and sculpture to textiles, manuscripts, and goldsmiths' work. The course addresses various issues relating to these objects, including: taste, luxury, and display; the changing role of female patrons; technical innovation and expertise; and the hierarchies and interrelations of different media. One key theme is the emergence of individual artists' identities and so particular consideration is given to ambitious patrons' relationships with their most talented artists, including Simone Martini, Jean Pucelle, and the De Limbourg brothers (Offered every other year.) Prerequisite: Completion of one course in Art History, or sophomore standing, or consent of instructor.

This course is a selective introduction to the art of Italy in the early renaissance, the period of the late thirteenth to the late fifteenth centuries. The course will pay particular attention to the cultural identity of Florence as well as Siena, Rome, and Venice. We will be studying the visual arts in relation to politics, religion, literature, and philosophy of the period as a distinctive cultural accomplishment. We will trace the careers of major artistic figures, such as Giotto, Masaccio, Brunelleschi, Donatello, and Botticelli not as isolated examples of genius but within the religious, social, economics, political, and historical contexts in which they functioned. The association of art and power dominates this period, and we will consider the interrelationship of structures of patronage within the church, the formulation of civic identity, gender, the imagery of political rule among leading families, particularly the Medici, and the changing status of the artist. (Offered every other year.) Prerequisite: Completion of one course in Art History, or sophomore standing, or consent of instructor.

The course investigates the life, work and reputation of Jan van Eyck and his place within the history of Western art. Incorporating the latest research on the artist and a range of methodological approaches, the course explores the intended audience, function and meaning of van Eyck's paintings, together with those of his workshop, his followers and his imitators in the Burgundian Netherlands. Particular attention will be paid to the historical, social and religions contexts of his artworks, and the later history of their reception. (Offered every other year). Prerequisite: Completion of one course in Art History, or sophomore standing, or consent of instructor.

Caravaggio's bold naturalistic style and innovative approach to religious narrative transformed painting with immediate impact on art across Europe. Artemisia Gentileschi is celebrated as the creator of powerful images of heroic women and female nudes. Violence was a significant factor in the lives of both Caravaggio and Artemisia. Both artists attracted fame, criticism, and controversy in their lifetimes and we will consider both the historical sources and paintings in detail. Caravaggio and Artemisia also played leading roles in the rise of queer studies and feminist art history in the 1970s and 1980s. The course will also consider the continuing fascination with these two legendary artists in popular culture and analyze the exhibitions, films, novels, and creative responses to these two painters right up to the present day. (Offered every other year.) Prerequisite: Completion of one course in Art History, or sophomore standing, or consent of instructor.

An examination of the architecture and urban development of Western Europe and the United States from the late eighteenth century to the 1890s, with special attention to the theoretical, social, and political contexts in which major works were created. (Offered occasionally.) Prerequisite: Completion of one course in Art History, or sophomore standing, or consent of instructor.

This course offers an in-depth analysis of Abstract Expressionism in the United States, circa 1940-1960 by examining the most significant critics and artists associated with "New York School" painting at mid-century (among them, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Helen Frankenthaler). The class investigates the complex origins of the movement out of the intersection of various spheres: from politics to social history, philosophy to biography, intellectual history to mass culture. (Offered every other year.) Prerequisite: Completion of one course in Art History, or sophomore standing, or consent of instructor.

This course considers the public art of Mexico and the United States, and the rich cross-border exchanges between and among Mexican and U.S. artists in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The course will examine the work of several artists in depth, explore the intimate relationship between public art and social and political reform, and analyze the changing place of public art in popular and art historical discourses. Special attention will be given to Mexican Muralism and its influences. (Offered every other year). Prerequisite: Completion of one course in Art History, or sophomore standing, or consent of instructor.

From time to time courses will be offered that will provide an in-depth study of selected artists or problems. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor. May be repeated for a maximum of six credits.

Individual research and scholarly investigation under faculty supervision leading to the preparation of an Honors Thesis. To be taken only by Senior Honors students in both semesters.

This seminar, required of majors in their senior year (and recommended for minors), will give historical and methodological perspectives on the discipline of Art History. The leading approaches used in the field will be studied, using art historical writings from the Renaissance to the present. The course is generally offered each Spring semester. (Offered every Spring.) Prerequisite: Completion of one course in Art History, or sophomore standing, or consent of instructor.