Description

This course surveys the artists and artistic movements associated with impressionism and Post-Impressionism in France. The course will begin with an examination of the arts just prior to the last quarter of the nineteenth century and will continue through the beginning of the twentieth century. Readings, lectures and assignments will engage students in a close study of French artists and France itself as the art-making capital of the West during this period. In this capacity, the course will investigate how social forces (politics, gender, race, religion, etc.) influenced the manner in which "modern" art was produced, viewed, and understood.