Discussion—3 hours; extensive writing. Close study of selected
recent developments in interpretive methodology used by art
historians and other analysts of visual culture and the place of
those developments within art history’s history and in the larger
field of social, cultural and historical analysis. May be
repeated one time for credit.
Discussion—3 hours; term paper. Restricted to graduate students
in art history. Development of the research, writing, and editing
skills necessary for producing publishable work. Focus on
reference tools used by art historians and the mechanics of
scholarship, from question framing and organization of ideas to
writing clear, effective prose.
Discussion–1.5 hours. Meeting concurrently with
200B. Forum for technological discussions, discussion of
writing/editing procedures, and peer review of writing in
progress.
Lecture—3 hours. Prerequisites: Graduate status in art history or
an allied field. Issues accompanying the evolution and function
of museums from cabinets of curiosities in sixteenth-century
Europe to modern art centers. Examination of divergent motives
behind collecting, exhibiting, and interpretation of objects.
Investigation of museums’ historical legacies and continuing
philosophical dilemmas.
Seminar—3 hours; term paper. Major topics in art historical
research, emphasizing special methods of investigation, and of
historical and critical analysis. May be repeated for credit.
Seminar—3 hours. Approved for graduate degree credit. Study of
private and public collections. Museum personalities. Appraisal
of works of art; ethics of appraisal. Auction and sales: methods
and catalogues. Registration. Technical problems of the museum.
Connoisseurship. Collateral reading. Visits to museums. Seminar
with assigned papers.
Seminar—3 hour(s). Approved for graduate degree credit.
History of exhibition methods in private and public collections.
Comparisons of different types of museums and their exhibition
problems. Lighting and techniques of display with emphasis on
actual design. Experimentation with unusual presentation
forms.
