This course is an introduction to modern American and European art. Surveying the different kinds of experimental and avant-garde art produced over the past hundred years, it examines the reasons why artists rejected traditional artistic forms and developed new ways of making art in response to the changes taking place in the world around them. The course begins with the radical avant-gardes of the early twentieth century. Moving through the modernist, realist and Surrealist art of the mid-twentieth-century and the experimental work and alternative practices of the 1960s and 1970s to the turn to postmodernism in the later years of the twentieth century, it continues up to the present day. It includes a range of different forms of art, including photography, film and video, in addition to painting and sculpture. It has two main themes. How were visual representation and conceptions of the art work redefined in the modern period; and what do these artistic developments tell us about the changing political and social realities of the times?

Estimated Cost of Materials: $0-$50.

HISTART category for concentration distributions: D. Europe and the US, 4. Modern and Contemporary.

The course is taught by way of lectures and discussions in sections. You will need to buy two textbooks from the Yale University Press series 'Art of the Twentieth Century'. Further set readings that are not in these textbooks will be made available on electronic reserve. Art of the Avant-Gardes, edited by Steve Edwards and Paul Wood. Varieties of Modernism, edited by Pal Wood.