This dynamic program focuses on the history of modern and postmodern art from the 19th and 20th centuries, with an emphasis on major works found in the collection of the renowned Art Institute of Chicago. Painting, sculpture, photography, and other media, placed within a larger socio-political context, will reveal how aesthetic expression proves a compelling barometer of the modern human experience.
From the advent of European democracy and the parallel birth of the avant-garde artist, whose singular vision boldly shattered prevailing styles and norms, to the radical rise of abstract painting and the even more provocative introduction of everyday objects into works of art, this course will unfold modernism’s defiant embrace of the new. This course will engage the major issues of twentieth-century aesthetic practice, from Freud’s description of the unconscious and the play of dreams as fertile source material for the artist, to the explosive rise of pop art and the dizzying information age that has profoundly shaped contemporary practice. To closely study modern and postmodern art is to learn how to look at the world, to take notice of form, color, and image, and to respond to the richness of visual and material culture that is all around us.
This program will not only provide a canonical repertoire of great works of historic art, as well as the context for understanding them, but through the unfolding of such a narrative, these lectures will allow new ways of observing one’s own contemporary world and reimagining its value.
Learning Outcomes
- Cultural and Political Influences: Ability to understand the cultural and political contexts of specific art movements. Understanding gender biases and the absence of women artists in the modern period. Understanding racial biases and the issue of primitivism in the modern period.
- Vocabulary of Art: Ability to articulate concepts of style in terms of describing form, color, line, light, materiality, and space. Ability to describe different techniques of painting, collage, photography etc.
- Identification and Understanding of the Icons of Art History: Ability to identify key artists and works in their respective time periods, movements and styles. Ability to understand the chronological succession of art movements and why. Understanding the basic biographies of the major figures in the modern and postmodern era.
Overview
- Session 1: Rebellion in the 19th Century: Avant-Garde to Realism
- Session 2: Form and Color in Painting: Impressionism and Post-Impressionism
- Session 3: The 20th Century Explodes: Fauvism to German Expressionism
- Session 4: Utopia and Progress: Abstraction to Futurism
- Session 1: Pranksters, Tricksters, Revolutionaries
- Session 2: Surrealist Dreams
- Session 3: The Last Gasp Of Modernism
- Session 4: The Romantic Sublime/ American Style
- Session 1: Pop And Its Legacy
- Session 2: Minimalism And The Phenomenology Of Being
- Session 3: Critiquing The Institutions Of Art
- Session 4: The Cacophony Of Postmodernism In The Information Age
Featured Coursework
- Series of quizzes
- Blog posts
- Final Project: Gallery Curation link submission
Requirements
There are no required materials for this program.
- A verified Specialist Certificate that prove you completed the Program and mastered the subject.*
- A verified course Certificate for each individual course you complete in the program.*
- 3.0 transferable academic college credit(s) (additional fees apply)
* Each certificate earned is endorsed by Kadenze and the offering institution(s).
Price: $300 USD *
Add college credit at checkout or later for just $900
Specialist Certificate
Credit Eligible
Why join a Program?
Becoming a specialist in a subject requires a highly tuned learning experience connecting multiple related courses. Programs unlock exclusive content that helps you develop a deep understanding of your subject. From your first course to your final summative assessment, our thoughtfully curated curriculum enables you to demonstrate your newly acquired skills.