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CS92PROD
Art After 1945
ARHA 253
Spring 2018
Section: 01  
Crosslisting: AMST 249

This course examines artistic production in the United States between 1945 and 1980. Artists in this period attempted to respond to the "caesura of civilization" brought about by the Holocaust and World War II, to contend with the consolidation of postwar consumer capitalism and mass culture, and to situate their work in relation to the far-reaching social upheavals of the 1960s and `70s. Practices linked to the early twentieth century avant-garde (such as abstraction, the readymade, Dada, and surrealism) echoed in these years, reconfiguring themselves in relation to emergent discourses around information technology, feminism, post-humanism, and cultural studies, to name just a few important intellectual loci. The boundaries of the art object and its contexts of reception transformed radically in these years as artists developed new forms and new models of spectatorship to confront a world that had placed enormous pressure on traditional concepts of humanist subjectivity. Topics include New York School painting, pop art, minimalism, process art, conceptual art, performance, and site-specificity. A broader creative ecosystem inclusive of mass culture, design, dance, music, experimental architecture, and photography will additionally be considered.
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA ART
Course Format: Lecture / DiscussionGrading Mode: Graded
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: None
Fulfills a Requirement for: (AMST)(ARHA-MN)(ARHA)(ARST)
Past Enrollment Probability: 50% - 74%

Last Updated on NOV-21-2024
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