WesMaps - Wesleyan University Catalog 2020-2021       Summer Session       Winter Session       Home       Archive       Search
CS92PROD
Art After 1945
ARHA 253
Fall 2020
Section: 01  
Crosslisting: AMST 249

This course examines artistic production in the United States between 1945 and 1980, with a primary focus on the United States. The historical conflicts of that tumultuous period presented new challenges for artists as they attempted, in their work, 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 historical avant-gardes (such as abstraction, the readymade, Dada, and surrealism) echoed in these years as attention shifted from the canvas and studio to greatly expanded contexts of reception and public experience. The boundaries of the art object transformed in turn as artists developed 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, institutional critique, and site-specificity.
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA ART
Course Format: Lecture / DiscussionGrading Mode: Student Option
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: None
Fulfills a Requirement for: (AMST)(ARHA-MN)(ARHA)(ARST)
Past Enrollment Probability: 50% - 74%

Last Updated on NOV-21-2024
Contact wesmaps@wesleyan.edu to submit comments or suggestions. Please include a url, course title, faculty name or other page reference in your email ? Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459