Art History

ARH 505. Special Topics in African Art. 3 Hours.

Survey of the arts of Africa, ranging from Ancient Egypt through the contemporary period.

ARH 507. The Art of Rome. 3 Hours.

Covers Ancient Rome, but focuses on Medieval through early Baroque painting, sculpture, and architecture. Examines the city of Rome over time. Also considers the impact of the papacy on the city and its use of ancient Roman models.

ARH 519. Arts of Death in the Middle Ages. 3 Hours.

The visual culture of death and the afterlife from the Roman catacombs to cadaver tombs, 300-1500.

ARH 521. Graduate Research in Italian Renaissance Art. 3 Hours.

The visual arts of the Italian Renaissance (1300-1550) in their historic context.

ARH 522. The Invention of Painting in Renaissance Europe. 3 Hours.

The emergence of modern easel painting, 1300-1600.

ARH 523. Study Abroad: European Art. 3 Hours.

On-site study of art and architecture in Europe.

ARH 524. Graduate Research in Northern Renaissance Art. 3 Hours.

The visual arts of the Northern Renaissance (1300-1600) in their historic context.

ARH 530. Eighteenth-Century Art in Europe. 3 Hours.

Visual culture in eighteenth-century Britain and France including study of eighteenth-century holdings in the Birmingham Museum of Art.

ARH 531. Graduate Research in Seventeenth Century European Painting. 3 Hours.

Painting in Europe from Italian and Spanish Baroque through the Dutch Golden Age.

ARH 535. Arts of Power in Early Modern Europe. 3 Hours.

The visual arts in service of kings, popes, and the people, 1300-1700.

ARH 540. Graduate Research in Nineteenth Century Art I: Neoclassicism, Romanticism, and Realism. 3 Hours.

Painting, sculpture, and graphic arts in Europe, 1780-1850.

ARH 541. Graduate research in Nineteenth-Century Art II: Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. 3 Hours.

Painting, sculpture,and graphic arts in Europe,1860-1900.

ARH 550. Graduate Research in American Art and Material Culture. 3 Hours.

Painting, sculpture, and architecture in the U.S., with an emphasis on 19th century.

ARH 560. Graduate Research in Twentieth Century Art to 1945. 3 Hours.

Painting, sculpture, and architecture in Europe and the United States, 1900-1945.

ARH 561. Graduate Research in Modern Design. 3 Hours.

History of modern design. Will examine various design disciplines, design theory, well as the relationships between design, fine art, architecture and popular culture.

ARH 564. Graduate Research in Art Since 1945. 3 Hours.

Painting, sculpture, and architecture, primarily in the United States, 1945 to the present.

ARH 565. Aspects of Contemporary Art. 3 Hours.

Topics in contemporary art, ca. 1970 to the present. Course offerings will vary from year to year and will study a specific historical moment, medium, theme, or subject. Prerequisite: ARH 204 or permission of instructor.

ARH 567. Graduate Research in Modern Architecture. 3 Hours.

History of modern architecture, covering examples from the late 18th century to the present and emphasizing the United States.

ARH 568. Graduate Research in Race and Representation. 3 Hours.

History of 20th-century African American art in context of contemporary theories of identity and in relation to African art. Includes study of objects in the Birmingham Museum of Art.

ARH 570. Graduate Research in Arts of the Afterlife in East Asia to ca. 1300. 3 Hours.

What is the purpose of a tomb? How do its structure and décor convey ancient perceptions of death? Who are the occupants, and how did they envision their journey into the afterlife? This course is a survey of the funerary arts of China, Korea, and Japan. By investigating tombs, shrines, sarcophagi, wall paintings, and grave goods throughout East Asia, we will gain a deeper understanding of ancient religions, social structures, ethnic identities, and cross-cultural interactions. Lectures will be supplemented by several visits to the Museum's Asian collections.

ARH 571. Topics in Asian Cinema. 3 Hours.

This course offers students an introduction to a vital aspect of contemporary Asian culture, recognizing that film can be an important focus of contemporary cultural commentary and critique. The course presumes no prior knowledge of Asia or cinema and its artistic tradition. The goal of the course is to view and discuss, as a class, approximately ten films, emphasizing an understanding of their cultural background and an appreciation of their aesthetic merits as films and cultural settings in Asia. Attendance at weekly screenings is mandatory.

ARH 572. Graduate Research in Art in India to 1200. 3 Hours.

This course explores the environments of worship and devotion particular to India’s major indigenous religious traditions, from their earliest expressions in approximately the fifth century BCE through to the arrival of Islam in India, ca. 1200. We will examine aesthetic conventions, religious ideals, and urban cultures by focusing on the sculpture and architecture traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.

ARH 573. Graduate Research in Japanese Prints and Printmakers. 3 Hours.

History of Japanese wood-block prints and printmakers from the seventeenth through the twentieth centuries.

ARH 574. Graduate Research in Landscape and Image in East Asia. 3 Hours.

This course surveys the major traditions of landscape art in East Asia. We will explore the ways in which places and spaces are transformed into famous places and sacred sites and consider the critical role played by visual representation in this process. Major topics include the relationship between landscape and power,cultural memory, literature, mythology, seasonality, travel, and literati culture. We will examine the functions of landscape art in various cultural, geographical, and temporal contexts of East Asia. We will look at landscape painting in China from the Tang through the Ming dynasties and consider the complex processes of cultural dissemination and adaptation by looking at the reception of Chinese landscape painting tradition in Korea and Japan.

ARH 575. Graduate Research in Japanese Art. 3 Hours.

Art and culture of Neolithic era through Nineteenth century.

ARH 576. Advanced Study: Mughal Art and Architecture India, 1526-1707. 3 Hours.

This course will explore the production of art and architecture during the reigns of the Imperial Mughals, that is, first six Mughal emperors of India (1526-1707). Aside from its cultural splendor, political might, and booming economy, Mughal India is also important for the many ways in which it shaped South Asia's development in subsequent centuries. During this period, India’s Mughal rulers established their presence across the subcontinent through the building of residential palaces, tombs, pleasure gardens, and mosques. The Mughal emperors of India also established court-appointed schools of painting that contributed to the development of royal portraiture and the circulation of religious and secular texts. As many of the artistic expressions that we will be concerned with in this class were created to serve both political and devotional functions, we will also be studying socio-religious aspects of Islam and Hinduism within India. Special attention will be paid to articulations of space, patronage, and the relationships between art, the royal courts, and religion.

ARH 577. Graduate Research in Piety and Power: Art in India after 1200. 3 Hours.

This course looks at the arts of India after 1200, when Indian art and culture was increasingly influenced and altered by religious and secular powers from outside the subcontinent. We will examine Islamic art and architecture under the patronage of various Sultanate traditions, and finally the Mughals, who expressed their power and piety in monumental architecture and extensively illustrated books. We will also consider the influence of Europeans in South Asia, culminating with the colonial project of the British Raj. Ongoing negotiations between these newly-arriving groups and Indians older, indigenous traditions will be studied. Throughout the course we will dissect the categories of knowledge about South Asia and its art that were constructed primarily by the British, considering, for example, the usefulness of dividing India’s art history into categories of “Hindu,” “Islamic,” “European,” and etc.

ARH 578. Buddhist Arts of East Asia. 3 Hours.

Survey of art and architecture created for Buddhist religious purposes in China, Japan, and to a lesser extent Korea and Central Asia. The course will include a brief overview of Buddhist monuments in South Asia, study of the iconography of Buddhist images in graphic and sculptural media, and analysis of a variety of Buddhist styles in painting, sculpture, and architecture.

ARH 579. Study Abroad: Art and Culture of South Asia. 3 Hours.

This course allows students to become immersed in the art and culture of Asia through direct experience in the field. Focus will be primarily on South Asia but may vary with each course offering to include Nepal, Tibet, and Southeast Asia. Preliminary lectures in Birmingham and significant written assignments required.

ARH 580. Art Criticism and Theory. 3 Hours.

A topics course on subjects in art criticism and theory. The specific focus will vary by instructor and may emphasize either non-Western or Western theories, criticisms, and approaches.

ARH 581. Special Topics: Early Modern Art. 3 Hours.

Special topics in the arts of the Early Modern period in the Western Art tradition. Subject will vary with each offering.

ARH 582. Special Topics: Modern Art. 3 Hours.

A special topics course on subjects in the Modern period in the Western tradition, beginning in the later eighteenth century. Specific course topics will vary by semester.

ARH 583. Special Topics: Gender and the Visual Arts. 3 Hours.

Topic will vary, depending on instructor. This course will address ways in which gender has affected the history of artistic practice and patronage. It will consider such issues as the gendering of pictorial practice and space, strategies of representing gendered subjects, and the impact of women as patrons of art and architecture.

ARH 584. Special Topics: Contemporary Art. 3 Hours.

Special topics in the arts of the Contemporary period in the Western art tradition. Subject will vary with each offering.

ARH 585. Special Topics: Museum Studies. 3 Hours.

Museum operation; organization and preparation of exhibitions; cataloging objects in collection; experience with UAB Institute of Visual Art and Birmingham Museum of Art.

ARH 586. Special Topics: South Asian Art. 3 Hours.

Special topics in the arts of South Asia. Subject will vary with each offering.

ARH 587. Special Topics: Field Study. 3 Hours.

Trips to prominent museums and galleries in United States. Preliminary lectures in Birmingham and significant written assignments required.

ARH 588. Special Topics: East Asian Art. 3 Hours.

Special topics in the arts of East Asia. Subject will vary with each offering.

ARH 590. Art Theory: Special Topics. 3 Hours.

Topics in art theory will vary with each offering.

ARH 591. Capstone Internship: Experience and Presentation. 3 Hours.

This is a practical internship with a Cultural Heritage organization. The Internship Practicum is where a graduate student participates in practical and general training experiences in the workplace, under the direction of on an external field supervisor in conjunction with the university instructor. It is intended to give the student an opportunity to apply theory, expand knowledge, and gain experience in a cultural heritage or cognate organization (museum, gallery, library or archive, commercial or non-profit conservation or preservation facility, research facility, governmental or political agency, law firm, etc). The student will ordinarily be expected to spend between 10-15 hours per week on location for each three hours of credit.

ARH 592. Museum/Gallery Internship. 3 Hours.

Through active participation in the daily operations of a museum, gallery, or art space, students will acquire direct working knowledge of cooperating art institution. Students will be required to work at the institution a minimum of 10 supervised hours per week during the term. Permission of instructor required. May be repeated to a maximum of 6 semester hours.

ARH 593. Seminar: South Asian Art. 3 Hours.

Seminar in the arts of South Asia. Subject will vary with each offering.

ARH 594. Seminar: East Asian Art. 3 Hours.

Seminar in the arts of East Asia. Subject will vary with each offering.

ARH 595. Seminar: Early Modern Art. 3 Hours.

Seminar in Early Modern Art. Research seminar focused on topics in the visual arts of Europe and its colonies 1300-1750. Subject will vary with each offering.

ARH 596. Seminar: Modern Art. 3 Hours.

Seminar in Modern Art. Subject will vary with each offering.

ARH 597. Seminar: Contemporary Art. 3 Hours.

Seminar in Contemporary Art. Subjects will vary with each offering.

ARH 598. AEIVA Internship. 3 Hours.

The AEIVA Intern Team will participate in all phases of daily gallery operations, ranging from curatorial practices, exhibition design, video/photographic documentation and production, technical and analytical writing, graphic design, etc. This team will act as a support staff for the AEIVA curatorial/ administrative staff in a hands-on museum/gallery work environment. May be repeated to a maximum of 6 semester hours.

ARH 600. Methods and Approaches to the History of Art. 3 Hours.

This literature-intensive course covers the historiography of the field and a range of theoretical approaches. Should be taken in the first semester of enrollment in the M.A. program.

ARH 630. Seminar: Early Modern Art. 3 Hours.

Seminar in Early Modern Art.

ARH 640. Seminar: Modern Art. 3 Hours.

Seminar in Modern Art.

ARH 650. Issues in Cultural Heritage Policy and Practice. 3 Hours.

This seminar course considers a series of issues centered around the core question, “who owns the past?” Exploring constructs of cultural heritage/cultural property and the museum, we will examine ideas about art objects, especially “antiquities” of a sacred or religious nature, from multiple perspectives, including politics, public and international policy, law, economics and economic development, public custodianship, and heritage preservation.

ARH 652. Advanced Research Seminar. 3 Hours.

This advanced seminar focuses on the development and application of discipline-specific research skills. Students will broaden their knowledge of art historical methodologies and themes generally, as well as construct a research program specific to their field/area of study (Medieval, Early Modern, Modern/Contemporary, etc.).

ARH 660. Seminar: Contemporary Art. 3 Hours.

Seminar in Contemporary Art.

ARH 670. Seminar: South Asian Art. 3 Hours.

Seminar in South Asian Art.

ARH 680. Methods and Approaches to the History of Art. 3 Hours.

This literature-intensive course covers the historiography of the field and a range of theoretical approaches. Should be taken in the first semester of enrollment in the M.A. program.

ARH 698. Independent Studies. 1-6 Hour.

Independent Study Topics vary. Permission of instructor required.

ARH 699. Thesis Research. 1-6 Hour.

Thesis Research. Must be admitted to master level candidacy to take this course. At least 6 graduate credits needed for graduation.
Prerequisites: GAC M