Much of the visual culture of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was produced and circulated in a context of cross-cultural encounters and exchanges. This seminar explores a recent turn in art historical scholarship to consider visual and material culture of the period within the framework of globalization. How can globalization, a theory of the present, prompt us to reassess the past and rethink familiar art historical frameworks? Of central importance is the movement of people and things in an expanding global context. In conjunction with this, we will consider the migration of art objects, styles, and motifs across media and across oceans. In order to focus this global topic, most of the readings explore the conventions, strategies, and uses of visual representations in the context of the New World. Research papers, however, can take up any aspect of global cultural exchange in the time period.
View complete course outline: ARTH653A2010 [.pdf]