This course surveys European art and architecture of the eighteenth century. We will study period painting, sculpture, prints, and architecture in the context of the emergence of modern aesthetics and exhibition practices, modern conceptions of the role of the artist and of artistic training, and modern practices of official, state and propagandistic art. We will examine the role of art in the projects of Enlightenment, including social reform, science and industry. While the focus of the course will be European, with an emphasis on developments in Britain and France, we will also examine how colonial interactions shaped the production and reception of art. We will think about how discourses of class, education, morality, national identity, taste, gender and race were not merely reflected in, but constituted by the art of this period of radical change.
View complete course outline: ARTH226A2010 [.pdf]