Fall 2008

AMS 325 • American Painting to 1860

Course Description

This course examines the development of American painting from the late seventeenth century to the Civil War. We will devote the first half of the semester to sustained examination of the role of portraits in colonial British North America and the early United States. Thereafter we attend to the role of the arts in shaping a vision of national identity, cultural work performed imperfectly by history painting and, with great success, by landscape and genre paintings.

Grading Policy

Two papers/projects (20% each) Two shorter writing assignments (10%) Two examinations (20%)

Texts

Sylvan Barnet's A Short Guide to Writing About Art is a required book for this course, but you need not buy a textbook. Assigned reading will be available online or in a packet.

back