History of Art & Architecture Spring 2025 Courses
NOTE: All History of Art & Architecture courses use the prefix ARTHI
* = Museum Studies
^ = Architecture and Environment
~ = Game Studies
\ = Architecture & Urban History
(updated 2/12/2025)
Lower Division Courses
5A Introduction to Architecture & Environment * ^ \ - Chattopadhyay
6H Survey: Arts of the Ancient Americas * ^ \ - Boswell
6M Survey: Eccentric Images * ^ - Meadow
Upper Division Courses
119G Critical Approaches to Visual Culture - Barnd
130G Art and Architecture of the North Coast of Peru - Boswell
134CA Chinese Painting 1 - Sturman [crosslisted with CHIN]
136Y Modern Architecture in Southern California, c. 1890s to the Present ^ \ - Welter
141A Museum Practices and Techniques * - Ritter
141D Birth of the Modern Museum * - Paul
186H Seminar in Seventeenth Century Southern European Art - Paul
186Q Seminar in Islamic Art and Architecture ^ \ - Khoury
186T Seminar in Photographic History * - McLemore
Graduate Courses
200A Proseminar: Introduction to Art-Historical Methods - Ogbechie
255G Studies in the History and Theory of Museums - Meadow
265 Topics in Architectural History & Urbanism: The Art of Sovereignty - Chattopadhyay
5A Introduction to Architecture & Environment Chattopadhyay
Architecture is the primeval act through which human beings carve out for themselves a place in nature. Initially a means of survival, place-making has developed throughout history into technically advanced and artistically sophisticated architectural designs that intertwine ever closer the man-made world with the natural one. This course introduces basic architectural construction methods, design strategies, and subject specific terminology, discusses various interpretative concepts, and poses questions after universal fundamentals of the multi-faceted and multi-sensory relationships between man, architecture, and nature.
6H Survey: Arts of the Ancient Americas Boswell
This course is an introductory survey to the arts and architecture of the ancient Americas which focuses on the materials and technologies that were sacred and powerful to peoples of the ancient Americas. Covering nearly 5,000 years of history and two continents the course follows the routes of early metalworking technologies and the exchange routes of precious materials between the Central Andes of South America (modern nation-state of Peru) and Chumash territory.
6M Survey: Eccentric Images Meadow
This course examines the history of art through some of its strangest images, including spatial illusions, chance images, hidden faces and monsters, reversible images, caricatures and others. Primarily focused on the early modern period (1400-1750), we also consider similar experiments from other cultures.
119G Critical Approaches to Visual Culture Barnd
Critical ways of approaching and understanding a wide range of visual materials and images (paintings, ads, videos, etc.). Analytic approaches to culture and representation are used as a means of developing descriptive and interpretive skills.
130G Art and Architecture of the North Coast of Peru Boswell
The rise and fall of ancient societies of the north coast of Peru such as the Moche, Sicán, and Chimú as well as their cultural antecedents as understood through the material record including architecture, ceramics, textiles, etc.
134CA Chinese Painting 1 Sturman
Chinese painting and theory, from beginnings through the fourteenth century. Introduction to major developments and masters in their cultural context with a focus on meaning and agency.
136Y Modern Architecture in Southern California, c. 1890s to the Present Welter
Critically analyzes the changing definitions of modern architecture in Southern California from the 1890s to the present, focusing on the work of architects like Greene and Greene, R.M. Schindler, and R. Neutra, as well as the Case Study Houses.
141A Museum Practices and Techniques Ritter
Discussion of various aspects of museum work: management principles, the cataloging and care of art objects, exhibitions and acquisitions, administrative procedures, museum architecture. Specialist lectures and visits of museums and their facilities.
141D Birth of the Modern Museum Paul
Course examines the emergence and development of museums of art in eighteenth-century Europe, tracing their origins to the private collections from which they evolved and studying the practices, such as tourism, that stimulated their growth.
186H Seminar in Seventeenth Century Southern European Art Paul
This seminar will examine the work of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, one of the most provocative artists of the seventeenth century. Setting Caravaggio’s achievement in historical context, we will also study the work of his close contemporaries as well as his broader influence on European art.
186Q Seminar in Islamic Art and Architecture Khoury
Advanced studies in Islamic art and architecture. Topics will vary. This course requires weekly readings and discussion, and the writing of a research seminar paper.
186T Seminar in Photographic History McLemore
Advanced studies in photographic history. Topics will vary. This course requires weekly readings and discussion, and the writing of a research seminar paper.
200A Proseminar: Introduction to Art-Historical Methods Ogbechie
Introduction to art-historical methods, with emphasis on the historical development of current practices, critical theory, debates within the field, and cross-disciplinary dialogues.
255G Studies in the History and Theory of Museums Meadow
Special research in museum history and theory.
265 Topics in Architectural History & Urbanism: The Art of Sovereignty Chattopadhyay
Utilizing the connotations of art as aesthetics, design, skill and cunning, this seminar will explore the spatial relations embedded in sovereignty—how it is imagined, constituted through material practices, and expressed through art, architecture, and infrastructure planning. We will read five recently published books in-depth to develop a habit of critical reading and to generate our own questions about the premises of sovereignty, self-determination, and placemaking. The books are: Christine Fowler, Slavery and the Invention of Dutch Art (Duke University Press, 2025); Tiya Miles, All That She Carried (Random House, 2021); J.T. Roane, Dark Agoras: Insurgent Black Social Life and the Politics of Place (NYU Press, 2023); Tasha Rijke-Epstein, Children of the Soil: The Power of Urban Form in Madagascar (Duke University Press, 2023), and Maan Barua, Plantation Worlds (Duke University Press, 2024). Students will work on their own research related to the seminar theme.
2024-2025 History of Art & Architecture Course Overview
* = Museum Studies
^ = Architecture and Environment
~ = Game Studies
\ = Architecture & Urban History
Red = Grad Seminars
Purple = Undergrad Seminars
Black = Undergrad Upper Division
Green = Undergrad Lower Division
| Schedule is subject to change - last updated 2/12/2025 | |||
| INSTRUCTOR | FALL 2024 | WINTER 2025 | SPRING 2025 |
| BADAMO | Sabbatical | 297 Getty Graduate Consortium Seminar | Sabbatical |
| BARND | Non-Teaching | 186L: Seminar in Art of the Americas | 119G: Critical Approaches to Visual Culture |
| BOSWELL | 130D Art and Archaeology of the Ancient Andes ^ | Non-Teaching | 6H Survey: Arts of the Ancient Americas * ^ \ |
| 187A Approaches to Objects * | 130G Art and Architecture of the North Coast of Peru | ||
| CHATTOPADHYAY | Non-Teaching | 136B Twentieth-Century Architecture ^ \ | 5A Introduction to Architecture & Environment * ^ \ |
| 136E Food Space ^ \ | 265 Seminar: Topics in Architectural History & Urbanism: The Art of Sovereignty | ||
| GARNIER | Sabbatical | Sabbatical | Sabbatical |
| KHOURY | 6K Survey: Islamic Art and Architecture * ^ \ | 132I Art of Empire | 186Q: Seminar in Islamic Art and Architecture ^ \ |
| 132J Modern Art of the Arab World | 275B Topics in Islamic Art & Architecture | ||
| LUMBRERAS | 109B Decentering Renaissance Art | Non-Teaching | Non-Teaching |
| 186P Seminar in Latin American Art | |||
| MEADOW | Sabbatical | Sabbatical | 6M Survey: Eccentric Images * ^ |
| 255G Studies in the History and Theory of Museums | |||
| MOSER | W 6R Rome the Game * ^ ~ \ | 186B Seminar in Ancient Greek & Roman Art/Architecture ^ | Non-Teaching |
| OGBECHIE | 127A African Art I | 6E Survey: Arts of Africa, Oceania, and Native North America * ^ | 200A Proseminar |
| 127B African Art II | |||
| PAUL | 113B Seventeenth Century Art in Italy I \ | 5B Introduction to Museum Studies * ^ | 141D Birth of the Modern Museum * |
| 186H Seminar in Seventeenth Century Southern European Art | |||
| RITTER | Non-Teaching | Non-Teaching | 141A Museum Practices and Techniques * |
| SORKIN | Non-Teaching | 263 Seminar: Topics in Contemporary Art | Non-Teaching |
| STURMAN | 282A Seminar: Topics on East Asian Art | Non-Teaching | 134CA Chinese Paintings 1 |
| WELTER | 136O Sustainable Architecture: History and Aesthetics ^ \ | 141G Architecture of Museums and Galleries from c. 1800 to the Present * ^ \ | 136Y: Modern Architecture in Southern California, c. 1890s to the Present ^ \ |
| 186SV Seminar in Modern Architecture ^ \ | |||
| WHITE | 6L Playful Spaces: A Cultural History of Games * ^ ~ | 6J Survey: Contemporary Architecture * ^ ~ | Non-Teaching |
| 136W Intro to 2D/3D Visualizations in Architecture \ | |||
| WITTMAN | 6F Survey: Architecture and Planning * ^ ~ | 142A Architecture and Planning in Seventeenth-Century Europe ^ \ | Non-Teaching |
| 265 Seminar: Topics in Architectural History & Urbanism | 142C Paris and Rome in the Nineteenth Century \ | ||
| MCLEMORE | 148C Art in California * | 186T: Seminar in Photographic History | |
| HUANG | 6DS Survey: History of Art in China | ||
Summer 2024 History of Art & Architecture Courses
* = Museum Studies
^ = Architecture and Environment
~ = Game Studies
\ = Architecture & Urban History
Black = Undergrad Upper Division
Green = Undergrad Lower Division
Crashing a History of Art & Architecture Course
Add codes will not be distributed prior to completing the following procedure:
The Department of History of Art & Architecture recognizes the difficulties that students face in adding courses and recommends the following when trying to add a closed or full course:
- Please do NOT email the instructor to see if there is a waiting list. Instead, sign up on the waiting list on GOLD
- Make sure to fill out your name, major/minor, and class year (e.g., third year, fourth year)
- Please note that the enrollment availability listed on GOLD might not accurately reflect the latest enrollment for the course
- Reminder: students cannot add themselves to a waitlist unless one of the following occurs: the student has enrolled in 12 units, or all lectures and sections of the course are full or closed
- Attend and participate in all lecture and section (if applicable) meetings and assignments for the first week, both synchronous and asynchronous
- If you are unable to attend a class and/or section meeting due to religious observance, illness, or other unavoidable conflict, do contact the instructor via email
- If you haven't been admitted to the course prior to the first class, also try joining the Canvas course site, if a page exists, as another way to follow the first week of class
- NOTE: Even if you are able to join the Canvas site, this does not mean you are officially enrolled in the course. You must be registered on GOLD to receive credit for the course
- Continue attending lectures and discussion sections until you receive admission
- Priority of enrollment and distribution of add codes are at the discretion of the instructor. Generally speaking, priority is given to those who participate in lectures and discussion sections - please note crashing protocol may vary by instructor