ARTH 6695 - Studies in Global Modern Art

In association with Johnson Museum exhibition Fall 2020, Taking Shape: Abstraction from the Arab World, 1950s–1980s.

This seminar focuses on the art and visual culture of West Asia and North Africa from the nineteenth century to the present. We will examine methodologies informed by art history, media studies, area studies, and postcolonial theory. We will also study periods and genres. These include colonial era photography, painting, and architecture; nationalist “oriental” painting from the early twentieth century; the consolidation of modernism during the mid-twentieth century; and contemporary artistic practice in the era of globalization.