Art History Courses

ARTH 957: Seminar in African Art – African contemporary art: in (hind)sight 2020
T 3:00 PM – 5:45 PM / Instructor: Magee

Examined through the lens of African artists (broadly defined), the course will explore the ways contemporary artists respond to the world around them. As such it will turn its attention to local and global markets, social change, political activism, and commercial career paths among other things. We will looking at artists who work in a variety of media and for a range of audience types, while the readings we engage with will draw from a wide variety of disciplines including geography, literature, anthropology, urban studies and economics. The first part of the semester will build a body of shared theoretical and historical understanding to ground the class in common knowledge before students begin work on individual projects that explore their own interests.

ARTH 971: Seminar in Renaissance Art – Objects and Materials in Renaissance Portraits
M 4:00 PM – 6:40 PM / Instructor: String

This seminar will be concerned with portraits in early modern Europe – portraits of different types of men, women, families, and other groups – and the objects with which those individuals chose to be represented. It will be our aim to identify and interpret the objects – books, swords, gloves, animals, and other miscellany – as well as the furs, silks, and velvets worn by sitters for these portraits.  Materials and their materiality, attributes and their communicative loadings will drive our investigations. We will use portraits in the North Carolina Museum of Art as our principal case studies, making sustained use of the NCMA’s extensive collection of Renaissance portraits.

ARTH 980: Seminar in Modern Art – Art, History, and Archaeology
R 4:45 PM – 7:25 PM / Instructor: Sherman

This research seminar will explore the complex and intricate relationship between archaeology, history, and visual culture in the modern West (with occasional excursions to other parts of the world). Topics will include the emergence of a modern archaeological method in the 19th century, and its resemblances and dissimilarities to historical methodologies; the role of visual representation in the ideological framing of archaeology; the collecting and display of discovered objects; the fascination of artists with ruins and with the processes of archaeology, from Hubert Robert to Giorgio de Chirico and beyond; and the role of photography in documenting digs and developing archaeological knowledge.  Although the course begins in the Renaissance and is primarily concerned with the period from 1750 to the mid-twentieth, for their research papers students will have the opportunity to delve into a topic related to their own research interests.

Academic Year 2019 – 20

• Fall 2019
• Spring 2020
• Summer 2020

Undergraduates

1. To request an independent study (ARTH 396), email the faculty member you wish to work with. To request credit for an internship by enrolling in an Art History Practicum (ARTH 293), email the Director of Undergraduate Studies for Art History well in advance of the start of your internship.
2. Submit an Online Learning Contract for approval via OLCM. OLCM student instructions are available here.
3. Once your learning contract has been fully approved, monitor your inbox for an enrollment confirmation email from the Student Services Specialist.

Graduates

1. To request an independent study, email the faculty member you wish to work with.
2. If the faculty member agrees to work with you, please have them email the Student Services Specialist so you can be enrolled.
3. Monitor your inbox for an enrollment confirmation email from the Student Services Specialist.

Current UNC Students

Students registered for courses in the same term may audit an Art History course without paying an additional fee. Unregistered students may audit a course for $20.

1. To audit Art History courses, email the course instructor and request permission to audit.
2. Once permission is obtained, please request an audit form.
3. Monitor your inbox for an email confirming that your form is ready to be picked up. Your email confirmation will contain further instructions.

Community Members

Community members wishing to audit an Art History course may do so for a $20 fee.

1. To audit Art History courses, email the course instructor and request permission to audit. Recitations (designated as REC on the course schedule) are designed to be taken in conjunction with their matching lecture course and are not available for audit unless otherwise noted by the lecture instructor.
2. If the instructor agrees to a course audit, please request an audit form. Due to a high volume of requests and limited faculty availability, audit forms can sometimes take a while to prepare. Your patience is appreciated while the Student Services Specialist works to arrange your course audit.
3. Once your form is ready, the Student Services Specialist will contact you with instructions on registration and payment.

Additional Information

Visit the Registrar’s website for information regarding general provisions, class participation, records, and fees.