Contemporary art denotes a specific period of art starting in the 1960s that is characterized by a break from the modernist artistic canon and a desire to move away from the dominant Western cultural model, looking for inspiration in everyday and popular culture. This course focuses on Western art and culture, yet also explores a selection of contemporary art around the globe. The student will examine a variety of specific aesthetic and social issues and look at the different strategies contemporary artists proposed and used in their work. Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: identify significant works of contemporary art and visual culture; describe the difference between modernist and contemporary works of art; explain the geographical shift of artistic centers from Europe (Paris) to the United States (New York), and then in the 21st century to a global spreading (Asia and Africa); define and discuss the development of contemporary art as a series of different cultural, social, and political inquiries over the past 50 years; identify and discuss multiple and vital relationships between contemporary art and such broader social and cultural issues as ideology, gender, race, or ethnicity; describe and explain a relationship between different contemporary art strategies, such as performance or installation, and their immediate social and cultural context; discuss how important contemporary artworks relate to their social and historical contexts; define contemporary art as a continuing, international artistic project; identify and define the importance of contemporary art and contemporary visual culture in today's increasingly globalized world. (Art History 408)

This course provides an introductory survey of the Western classical tradition, exploring music as a phenomenon of both sound and culture. The focus of this course is the development of aural skills that lead to an understanding and appreciation of music; making use of live performances and streaming audio available on the Internet, the student will listen to and explore some of the most important and influential repertoires and genres of music that emerged in the last four centuries. Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: Identify aesthetic qualities and compositional processes by studying and listening to significant works of music in both live performances and recorded media; Explain the historical and/or cultural contexts of musical works studied in this course; Demonstrate an aural ability by identifying specific forms, genres, musical techniques, and historical styles of Western classical music; Describe subjective reactions to musical examples and analyze specific expressive qualities that evoke responses; Write about music analytically and effectively, using vocabulary, language and a style appropriate to the discipline and expressing ideas clearly. (Music 101)

" Alienation, overcrowding, sensory overload, homelessness, criminality, violence, loneliness, sprawl, blight. How have the realities of city living influenced literature's formal and thematic techniques? How useful is it to think of literature as its own kind of "map" of urban space? Are cities too grand, heterogeneous, and shifting to be captured by writers? In this seminar we will seek answers to these questions in key city literature, and in theoretical works that endeavor to understand the culture of cities."

Examines significant episodes in the history of modern art from the end of the enlightenment to the early twentieth-century in relation to emerging visual technologies (lithography, photography, the poster, photomontage), urban audiences, and consumer culture. Major artistic movements (Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, Cubism, Futurism, Surrealism) are discussed along with theoretical writings about the relationship between avant-garde artistic practices and mass culture. No previous knowledge of art history is required. This class provides an introduction to modern art and theories of modernism and postmodernism. It focuses on the way artists use the tension between fine art and mass culture to mobilize a critique of both. We will examine objects of visual art including painting, sculpture, architecture, photography, and video. These objects will be viewed in their interaction with advertising, caricature, comics, graffiti, television, fashion, folk art, and so-called "primitive" art.

This teaching packet is designed to help teachers, primarily in the upper grades, talk with their students about art produced since 1950 and some of the issues it raises. The focus is on selected works from the collection of the National Gallery of Art.This site provides a printable overview of mid to late twentieth-century art in the National Gallery's collections. Topics include abstract expressionism, pop art, minimalism, conceptualism, performance art, process art, neoexpressionist, and postmodernism.Includes teaching activities and classroom discussion ideas.