This course surveys art of America from the colonial era through the post-war 20th century. The student will consider broad stylistic tendencies in various regions and periods and examine specific artists and works of art in historical and social contexts, with emphasis on the congruent evolution of contemporary American multi-cultural identity. Overarching issues that have interested major scholars of American art and its purview include the landscape (wilderness, Manifest Destiny, rural settlement, and urban development); the family and gender roles; the founding rhetoric of freedom and antebellum slavery; and notions of artistic modernism through the 20th century. Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: Understand the historical (geographic, political) formation of the present United States of America; Be familiar with renowned influential American artists from the 18th through the 20th century; Be conversant in common stylistic designations used in Western art of the 17th through 20th centuries; Recognize subjects and forms in American art through history that mark its distinction; Be able to engage specific images, objects, and structures from different critical perspectives to consider their functions and meanings. (Art History 210)

Students will learn about the Impressionist painters' use of color and how it connected to early-19th-century scientific theories about color. They will explore combinations of primary and secondary colors, experiment creating secondary colors, and create a landscape using complementary colors.

In this course, we will study important movements and some influential artists in Western art history. It begins with the Proto-Renaissance in Italy in the 13th century and continues through to the late 20th century, providing a framework for considering how and why certain artistic movements emerged in certain places at certain times. Upon successful completion of this course, student will be able to: identify the major styles of works of art in the West from the Italian proto-Renaissance through contemporary art; explain how political, social, and religious ideas inform art styles and images; explain prevalent artistic and architectural techniques developed through the period covered; eiscuss formal aspects of works of art in terminology basic to the field; recognize important artworks and describe them in terms of their form, content, and general history of their creation. (Art HIstory 111)