| Lit Art: Literary styles of describing, interpreting, and explaining works of art. |
Art History, Theory, and Criticism |
3025 (001) |
Spring 2025 |
|
Description
This undergraduate seminar is for all types of writers (critics, creative writers, and scholars) who want to analyze the dimensions of literary and scholarly forms of description, interpretation, and explanation. Poetry, short stories, personal essays, passages from novels, and art-history articles will form the ground for weekly encounters with works of art in the Art Institute of Chicago, as we compare what we read to what we encounter in person.
Each class meeting has a tripartite structure, as we compare a literary engagement with a work of art, evaluate a scholarly argument about the same piece or its creator, and personally engage the same or similar work in the Art Institute of Chicago. We will respond to the works of art currently on display, and, as warranted, pair the appropriate scholarship with creative works by writers such as Ada Limón, Victoria Chang, Hilton Als, Diane Seuss, Mark Doty, Hanif Abdurraqib, Wayne Koestenbaum, Vivek Shraya, Cris Kraus, Ben Lerner, Teju Cole, Eileen Myles, Gwendolyn Brooks, Paisley Rekdal, Zadie Smith, Jeffrey Yang, and John Ashbery, among others.
Students will write concise analyses of every reading assignment plus a weekly follow-up reflection as preparation for a final hybrid research paper that situates their personal moment of encounter with a work of art in the Art Institute of Chicago within art-historical scholarship. The goal is for students to probe their personal experiences with art for wider cultural implications.
|
Class Number
1096
Credits
3
|
| Gen Sem:Lit Art:Literary styles of describing |
Writing |
4001 (004) |
Spring 2025 |
|
Description
This undergraduate seminar is for all types of writers (critics, creative writers, and scholars) who want to analyze the dimensions of literary and scholarly forms of description, interpretation, and explanation. Poetry, short stories, personal essays, passages from novels, and art-history articles will form the ground for weekly encounters with works of art in the Art Institute of Chicago, as we compare what we read to what we encounter in person. Each class meeting has a tripartite structure, as we compare a literary engagement with a work of art, evaluate a scholarly argument about the same piece or its creator, and personally engage the same or similar work in the Art Institute of Chicago. We will respond to the works of art currently on display, and, as warranted, pair the appropriate scholarship with creative works by writers such as Ada Limón, Victoria Chang, Hilton Als, Diane Seuss, Mark Doty, Hanif Abdurraqib, Wayne Koestenbaum, Vivek Shraya, Cris Kraus, Ben Lerner, Teju Cole, Eileen Myles, Gwendolyn Brooks, Paisley Rekdal, Zadie Smith, Jeffrey Yang, and John Ashbery, among others. Students will write concise analyses of every reading assignment plus a weekly follow-up reflection as preparation for a final hybrid research paper that situates their personal moment of encounter with a work of art in the Art Institute of Chicago within art-historical scholarship. The goal is for students to probe their personal experiences with art for wider cultural implications.
|
Class Number
2249
Credits
3
|
| AIC Collections Seminar |
Art History, Theory, and Criticism |
4873 (001) |
Winter 2025 |
|
Description
Incorporating daily visits to the Art Institute of Chicago, this seminar will examine the history of European and American art from the 1870s to the twentieth century through the focused engagement with objects in the museum collections. Class time will be divided between classroom lectures, discussions of daily reading assignments, and museum visits. In all of these, students will be expected to take an active participatory role. Course topics will be determined in relation to the collections on view, but recurring questions will focus on materiality and display.
|
Class Number
1011
Credits
3
|
| Senior Thesis I |
Art History, Theory, and Criticism |
4899 (001) |
Fall 2025 |
|
Description
Senior Thesis I is designed to guide senior BA in Art History (BAAH) students through the first half of their yearlong capstone project: a senior thesis. This course will equip students with the skills to develop an advanced art historical research project. Students will evaluate possible topics and methodologies via research questions. They will then draft, revise and submit a project proposal, outline, annotated bibliography, and research plan, and turn in 10 or more pages of the thesis as the final assignment. The course will also hone their abilities as interlocutors of the work of their fellow students, as students will regularly present to the rest of the class on their progress while participating in group reviews of their colleagues. There will also be individual mentoring sessions with the professor at junctures throughout the term that will orient students toward more individualized research and writing in the Spring term and second half of Senior Thesis.
Prerequisites: Art History Survey requirement; ARTHI 2900, 'Sophomore Seminar: Writing Art History'; student must be enrolled in the BAAH or BFAAH program.
|
Class Number
1064
Credits
3
|
| ARTHI: Senior Thesis II |
Art History, Theory, and Criticism |
4900 (001) |
Spring 2025 |
|
Description
This class is the second component of a two-semester class that equips senior students earning a BAAH or a BFA with Art History Thesis with the skills to develop an advanced art historical research project, in this case: the senior thesis. It provides writers working on independent research projects with structure, guidance, constructive criticism, and a supportive peer community for discussion of their work in progress. Writers meet regularly with the instructor and their classmates to develop their ideas, address problems, and steer their projects to completion. The course combines individual mentoring of students as they engage in the sustained research and writing of a capstone project, with exposing students to a range of art historical professions and coaching students to prepare for careers in art history. The focus of this development from students to professionals, is both on the ethics of professional conduct in the field of art history as well as the content of various art historical careers. To this end, students will research, prepare, and submit one career-related written proposal, such as graduate school application, residency application, conference presentation proposal, publication submission or other.
|
Class Number
1075
Credits
3
|
| Lit Art: Literary styles of describing, interpreting, and explaining works of art. |
Art History, Theory, and Criticism |
5025 (001) |
Fall 2025 |
|
Description
This museum-based seminar welcomes writers of all kinds ¿ creative writers, critics, and scholars. We explore literary forms such as poetry, short stories, personal essays, plays, and songs, along with their connections to visual art at the Art Institute of Chicago. Each week, we analyze literary pieces inspired by a work of art and then visit the museum to discuss that art in person. We will examine how the readings enhance or challenge the artwork and debate the impact of the words and images. Additionally, we will hold weekly writing workshops to provide feedback on each other¿s work, focusing on prompt-based assignments that directly engage with the art in the collection while developing both visual acuity and writing craft skills.
|
Class Number
1929
Credits
3
|
| Sem: Lit Art |
Writing |
5500 (004) |
Fall 2025 |
|
Description
This graduate seminar is for all types of writers (creative writers, critics, and scholars) who want to analyze the dimensions of literary, paraliterary, and scholarly forms of description, interpretation, and explanation, and their interdisciplinary intersections and boundaries. Poetry, short stories, personal essays, passages from novels, and art-history articles will form the ground for weekly encounters with works of art in the Art Institute of Chicago, as we compare what we read to what we encounter in person.
Each class meeting has a tripartite structure, as we compare a literary or paraliterary engagement with a work of art, evaluate a scholarly argument about the same piece or its creator, and personally engage the same or similar work in the Art Institute of Chicago. We will respond to the works of art currently on display, and, as warranted, pair the appropriate scholarship with creative works by writers such as Ada Limón, Victoria Chang, Hilton Als, Ben Lerner, Diane Seuss, Mark Doty, Hanif Abdurraqib, Wayne Koestenbaum, Vivek Shraya, Cris Kraus, Teju Cole, Eileen Myles, Gwendolyn Brooks, Paisley Rekdal, Rachel Cohen, Jeffrey Yang, and John Ashbery, among others.
Students will write concise analyses of every reading assignment plus a weekly follow-up reflection as preparation for a final hybrid research paper that situates their personal moment of encounter with a work of art in the Art Institute of Chicago within art-historical scholarship. The goal is for students to probe their personal experiences with art for wider cultural implications.
|
Class Number
2126
Credits
3
|
