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)