Surveying African-American Art
**Please note textbook requirement for this course** (info below) Also, there are mature themes and imagery in this course.
Description: Explore this essential American story as told by Black artists and their work! Starting with the colonial period and ending with modern/contemporary art, this course examines a range of visual artmaking, ranging from architecture to so-called “fine” art to “folk” and “decorative” art. Also, check out a 25-minute preview of the course recently recorded live. We consider Edmonia Lewis’s the complexities of her mesmerizing sculpture The Death of Cleopatra!
Course Units (subject to change): Art & Visual Culture of Slavery, Americans in Paris & Abroad (late 19th/early 20th c.), Harlem Renaissance & American Modernism, and Contemporary Art & Living Voices.
Course dates & times [NOTE: first & last date changed due to Austin weather]: 12:00-1:30 pm CT on Wednesday, 2/24; Tuesday, 3/2; Wednesday, 3/10; Wednesday, 3/17
Total: 4 classes, 6 class hours
Course requirements:
Purchasing the course textbook (any edition or format, including used or e-format): Sharon Patton, African-American Art, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1998. As of 1/21/21, the digital version, or "e-textbook", is available for purchase on Amazon.com for $20.99 and is currently the most affordable option. Used copies are also available online at Amazon here. (According to BookPeople in Austin, this book will not be available from their distributor until March 8. We’re currently exploring other avenues with them, but there appears to be a “run” on new textbooks everywhere, including Barnes & Noble and Amazon.)
Required reading: Patton, African-American Art, “Introduction”, 11-16.
Suggested reading from course textbook will be assigned weekly.
Reliable internet connection.
Ability to log onto Zoom in order to watch, listen to, and participate in live lecture sessions.
Strongly recommended: computer webcam and microphone to optimize class participation.