Art History

(1-99) Primarily for Undergraduate Students

AAAS/FA 74b Introduction to African Art
[ ca nw ss ]

Surveys the visual artistic traditions of Africa. Investigates the different forms of visual art in relation to their historical and socio-cultural context. Symbolism and complexity of Africa's visual art traditions are explored through analysis of myth, ritual, cosmology, and history. Usually offered every fourth year.

AAAS/FA 75b History of African American Art
[ ca deis-us ]

"Black art has always existed," stated artist Romare Bearden. "It just hasn't been looked for in the right places." This course examines how Black artists in the U.S. explore beauty, individuality, justice and other themes through personal, racial, and societal lenses. Usually offered every fourth year.

FA 23b Architectural Drawing and Digital Design I
[ ca dl ]

Intended to develop new skills in conceptualizing, designing, and communicating architectural ideas. Students will be exposed to conceptual strategies of form and space and site relationships within social and environmental factors. Students will study the basic techniques and concepts of architectural design and digital drawing, with two and three-dimensional representation skills. Usually offered every year.

FA 24a Architectural Drawing and Digital Design II
[ ca dl ]

Intended to develop new skills in conceptualizing, designing, and communicating architectural ideas. Students will be exposed to conceptual strategies of form and space and site relationships within social and environmental factors. Students will study the basic techniques and concepts of architectural design and digital drawing, with two and three-dimensional representation skills. Usually offered every year.

FA 30a History of Western Art I: From Antiquity to the Middle Ages
[ ca ]

Open to all students; first-year students and sophomores are encouraged to enroll.

Surveys the artistic and architectural traditions of the peoples of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East from prehistory to the end of the Middle Ages with an emphasis on their cultural context, meaning and stylistic characteristics. Usually offered every year.

FA 30b History of Western Art II: From the Renaissance to the Modern Age
[ ca ]

Open to all students; first-year students and sophomores are encouraged to enroll.

A study of the major styles in architecture, painting, and sculpture of the West from the Renaissance to the early twentieth century. Usually offered every year.

FA 33b Islamic Art and Architecture
[ ca djw nw ]

Through case studies of cities, sites, and monuments, the course presents an overview of the art and the architecture of the Islamic world beginning from the seventh century up to the present. Some of the themes include, but are not limited to, Islamic material culture, orientalist imaginations, systems of governance and the colonial present, search for the local identity, urban modernity and nationalism, and globalization. Usually offered every second year.

FA 34a History of Asian Art
[ ca nw ]

A selective survey of the art of the three major Asian areas: India, China, and Japan. Usually offered every second year.

FA 35a Latin American Art: From the Encounter to the Mexican Revolution
[ ca ]

Surveys Latin American art from precolonial times through the Mexican Muralist movement of the early 20th century. Students will examine how colonial conquest brutally reconfigured indigenous artistic traditions, exploring how artists developed distinctive visual languages under European imperial rule (1492-1821). The course then investigates art's role in independence movements and nation-building throughout Latin America, analyzing how artists responded to both local conditions and global influences. Special attention is given to art as a medium for cultural exchange, resistance, identity formation, and political expression across regions including Mexico, Peru, and Brazil. No prior knowledge of art history or Latin American studies required. Usually offered every year.

FA 42b The Age of Cathedrals
[ ca ]

Architecture, sculpture, and painting (including stained glass) in Western Europe from the twelfth to the fifteenth century, with particular attention to the great churches of medieval France. Usually offered every fourth year.

FA 45a Early Renaissance Art in Tuscany from the Age of Dante to the Medici
[ ca ]

Course to be taught at Brandeis program in Siena.

Examines the development of late Medieval and Renaissance Art and Architecture between 1200 and 1500, with an emphasis on the centers of Siena and Florence, and artists who worked in these cities. Usually offered every year.

FA 46b High and Late Renaissance in Italy
[ ca ]

Examines the major works of art produced in Italy in the sixteenth century. It focuses on the principal centers of Florence, Rome, and Venice. The foremost artists of the age, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Titian, receive in-depth coverage. The course also considers the social institutions, ecclesiastical, courtly and civic, that furnished the patronage opportunities and promoted the ideas that occasioned, even demanded, new artistic forms of grace and harmony, energy and torsion. Usually offered second year.

FA 47b Renaissance Art in Northern Europe
[ ca ]

A survey of the art of the Netherlands, Germany, and France in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Cultural developments such as the invention of printing, the Protestant Reformation, and the practices of alchemy and witchcraft will be considered through the work of major artists. Usually offered every third year.

FA 48a Age of Caravaggio and Bernini: Baroque Art and Architecture in Italy
[ ca ]

This course counts towards minors in Architectural Studies, Italian Studies, and Medieval and Renaissance Studies.

Immerse yourself in the spectacle of Papal Rome during the long seventeenth-century (1580-1730) when it was the artistic capital of Europe. We will study Caravaggio and Bernini in depth as the prevailing artistic forces, while considering the major contributions of the Carracci, Borromini, Poussin, Gentileschi, and Cortona. Apart from the patronage strategies of successive Popes and how they reshaped Rome with grand churches, palaces, and urban spaces, we will consider architectural and artistic production in such diverse centers as Venice, Naples, Bologna, and Turin. Usually offered every third year.

FA 49a Art and Revolution: Visual Culture in the Americas
[ ca djw ]

Explores how art and social transformation intersected in the Americas during the 20th and 21st centuries. Examines the dynamic relationship between visual culture and revolutionary movements, from the Mexican Revolution's muralist movement to contemporary social activism. Students analyze how artists, photographers, and filmmakers both documented and shaped pivotal moments of political change across Latin America, including the Cuban Revolution and responses to various dictatorships. The course emphasizes how artistic movements both emerged from and influenced political circumstances throughout the Americas. Usually offered every year.

FA 56a American Art
[ ca deis-us ]

A survey of American painting from the colonial period to the early twentieth-century. Usually offered every third year.

FA 59a Modern Art and Modern Culture
[ ca ]

A thematic study of modernism in twentieth-century painting and sculpture, emphasizing three trends: primitivism, spiritualism, and the redefinition of reality. Individual artists and art movements will be examined in the context of literature, politics, and aesthetic theory. Artists include Picasso, Matisse, Kandinsky, and Duchamp. Usually offered every second year.

FA 61a History of Photography
[ ca ]

The history of photography from its invention in 1839 to the present, with an emphasis on developments in America. Photography is studied as a documentary and an artistic medium. Topics include Alfred Stieglitz and the photo-secession, Depression-era documentary, Robert Frank and street photography, and postmodern photography. Usually offered every third year.

FA 62a Art since 1945
[ ca ]

Survey of developments in painting and sculpture since World War II. Consideration of major trends of the period, including abstract expressionism, pop art, minimalism, color field painting, and realism. Usually offered every second year.

FA 71b The Art of Japan
[ ca nw ]

A survey of Japanese art from antiquity to the modern period. Usually offered every second year.

FA 72b Introduction to Korean Art
[ ca nw ]

Surveys Korean and Korean American art, focusing on later historical periods from the Joseon dynasty to the present. We will examine art and social systems, material culture, and shifting artistic identities in the country’s transition to modernity. The latter part of the course will focus on modern and contemporary art of Korea as well as the works of Korean American artists. Usually offered every fourth year.

FA 73a Asian American Art
[ ca ]

Critically explores art practices made by and about people of Asian descent in the United States. Beginning in the nineteenth century and ending in the twenty-first century, this course traces specific artist, movement, and artwork case studies across the nineteenth and long twentieth century, including photography and visual cultures of exclusion, early twentieth century American modernism and abstraction, artmaking during and affected by the WWII era, postwar practices in new media and performance, and narratives of global contemporary art.

Far from attempting to create a comprehensive lineage of Asian American art, this course complicates unified histories or characteristics of Asian American art, and rather contextualizes specific case studies that bring forward questions around issues of race, identity, place (and its claims) in American visual culture as it pertains to works by Asian American artists. Artists and authors include ShiPu Wang, Marci Kwon, Isamu Noguchi, Chiura Obata, Miné Okubo, Rea Tajiri, Nam June Paik, Yoko Ono, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Bernice Bing, Yong Soon Min, and Tseng Kwong Chi among others. Usually offered every third year.

FA 75a Asian Diasporic and Islander Art of the Pacific World
[ ca ]

Examines Pacific Islander and Asian diasporic art from the precolonial era to the present. Geographically situated in Oceania and the broader Pacific, the course centers themes of eastern and western imperialism, sovereignty, and migration through visual analysis and interdisciplinary approaches. Special one-time offering, fall 2026.

FA 77b Twentieth-Century and Contemporary Latin American Art
[ ca djw nw ]

This course is a selective survey of the outstanding figures and movements that have made significant contributions to the history of Latin American art. Special focus will be on Mexican, Argentinean, Brazilian, Venezuelan and Cuban artists. Usually offered every second year.

FA 80a Modern Architecture
[ ca ]

Explores major architectural developments from the19th to the 21st century. While tracing major stylistic developments and new building types that have characterized "modernism" in architecture, the course also studies new forms of global dominance (via colonialism), expression of new sovereignties around the world (via the nationalist movements) and the creation of the new spaces of capitalism and consumption (the highway, the mall, the suburb, etc.) Usually offered every year.

FA 86b Museum Studies
[ ca dl wi ]

May not be taken for credit by students who took FA 85b in prior years.

An experiential learning seminar focused on the art object in the context of the museum; the history of museums (architecture, educational mission, curatorial presentation); museum ethics and provenance studies; new theories of museums and their expanded role in the community. Usually offered every second year.

FA 92b Internship and Analysis in Art History

Students may petition to receive credit for internships completed in museums, galleries and arts institutions. Student must get a faculty sponsor with whom they will agree in advance on the internship and requirements for receiving credit. Art history credit can also be earned by completing one of several internships offered at the Rose Art Museum for which students apply in the spring semester for the following academic year. At the Rose, focus may center in the areas of education, registrar, exhibition installation, or curatorial work. All student applications to the Rose, with preference given to upperclassmen, must be endorsed by a faculty recommendation. Usually offered every semester.

FA 95a Research Internship

Instructor permission required. Yields half-course credit.

Research under the supervision of a Brandeis Fine Arts faculty member. Usually offered every year.

FA 96a Senior Research in Art History

Prerequisite: A minimum GPA in fine arts courses of 3.00. Art history students consult with faculty the second semester of their junior year and petition to enroll at the beginning of their senior year.

Usually offered every year.

FA 96b Senior Research in Art History

Prerequisite: A minimum GPA in fine arts courses of 3.00. Art history students consult with faculty the second semester of their junior year and petition to enroll at the beginning of their senior year.

Usually offered every year.

FA 98a Independent Study

Prerequisites: Normally open only to fine arts majors in their junior and senior years. As the number of times FA 98a may be taken is limited by department regulations, the interested student should consult the appropriate undergraduate advising head and his or her major adviser.

Usually offered every year.

FA 98b Independent Study

Prerequisites: Normally open only to fine arts majors in their junior and senior years. As the number of times FA 98b may be taken is limited by department regulations, the interested student should consult the appropriate undergraduate advising head and his or her major adviser. Yields half-course credit.

Usually offered every year.

FA 99a Senior Research in Studio Art

Prerequisites: A GPA in fine arts courses of 3.00.

Usually offered every year.

FA 99b Senior Research in Studio Art

Prerequisites: A GPA in fine arts courses of 3.00. Interested studio students must take FA 99a in the fall semester of their senior year, in addition to FA 110a and 110b. At the beginning of the spring semester, students wishing to pursue honors will have their artwork reviewed by studio faculty. Based on this review, eligible students will be given permission to enroll in FA 99b for the spring semester.

Usually offered every year.

FA/NEJS 43a Middle Eastern Cities: Navigating the Transition from Empires to Nation-States and the Globalized Wo
[ ca djw hum ]

Offers an integrated exploration of Middle Eastern literature, urbanism, and architecture. It delves into the vibrant urban heritage of the Middle East, spanning from ancient metropolises like Cairo, Damascus, Istanbul, Jerusalem, and Baghdad. By engaging in a comprehensive examination of Middle Eastern cities, students will acquire profound insights into the region's multifaceted histories, including the impacts of colonialism, imperialism, nation-state formation, and the dynamics within our increasingly globalized world. Usually offered every second year.

(100-199) For Both Undergraduate and Graduate Students

FA 149a The Age of Rubens, Rembrandt and Vermeer
[ ca wi ]

Explores the major figures of seventeenth-century painting in the Netherlands and Flanders: Rubens, Van Dyck, Rembrandt, and Vermeer. During this time, the ideal of Renaissance painter/courtier gives way to the birth of the modern artist in an open market, revolutionizing the subjects, themes, and styles of painting. Usually offered every second year.

FA 155a Impressionism: Avant-Garde Rebellion in Context
[ ca ]

Focuses on major 19th century artists in France, from the innovation of Edouard Manet to the formation of the group called the Impressionists. Study of the series of independent exhibitions, mounted between 1874 - 1886, and organized by the unlikely allies Edgar Degas and Claude Monet, including women artists Morisot and Cassatt. Also analysis of the influence of Japanese art from abroad, and the new 'objective' style, shaped in part by the invention of photography, will be a focus. The next generation - Cézanne, Gauguin, Seurat, and Van Gogh - develop stylistic ideas out of Impressionism, and re-shape its aims. Usually offered every third year.

FA 156b Postimpressionism and Symbolism, 1880-1910
[ ca wi ]

Artists Vincent Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat and Cézanne, first identified with Post-Impressionism, are contextualized with Toulouse-Lautrec and others who defined the French art world before 1900. Symbolism has its roots in the art work of Redon, Van Gogh and above all Gauguin, here studied in context with poetry and art criticism of the times. The Expressionist move toward an abstract idiom in Norway, Germany and Austria will focus on Edvard Munch and Gustav Klimt. Decorative styles such as Art Nouveau and Jugendstil define the bridge to the 20th century. The course ends with early 20th century masters, Matisse and the Fauves, and finally German Expressionism. Usually offered every fourth year.

FA 164a The Re-Invention of Art
[ ca djw ]

By the 1960s, the United States was the art-world capital. Radical art, however, appeared everywhere. Examines US art of the 1960's-1970s in light of artistic production in, among other places, Germany, England, Italy, Brazil, Argentina, Senegal, and Japan. Usually offered every year.

FA 165a Contemporary Art
[ ca ]

After theories of power and representation and art movements of pop, minimalism, and conceptual art were established by the 1970s, artists began to create what we see in galleries today. This course addresses art at the turn of the millennium with attention to intersections of art and identity, politics, economy, and history. Usually offered every third year.

FA 166b Representing Globalism
[ ca djw nw ]

For several decades, artists have been investigating the character and consequences of life under global capitalism. Through examination of writings by artists, theorists, and historians in the context of art since the turn of the millennium, this course seeks to uncover stories of the global present and possible futures. Usually offered every third year.

FA 169a Ecology and Art
[ ca dl ]

Provides a theoretical foundation and art historical background for discussion of contemporary art that draws attention to the ecologies, primarily natural but also cultural, of which it and we are a part. Usually offered every third year.

FA 171b Buddhist Art
[ ca nw ]

Surveys Buddhist art and architecture in different parts of the world. Primarily, religious buildings, artworks, and monuments from South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia will be examined within their historical, cultural, and social contexts. Usually offered every fourth year.

FA 175b Asian Modernisms
[ ca ]

Examines the diverse trajectories of artistic modernisms across China, India, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong from the latter half of the 19th century to the 1980s. Spanning painting, architecture, print culture, clothing, and photography, we investigate how Asian communities engaged with global modernist currents while forging locally specific forms. Rather than viewing “modernism” as a singular, Western-derived movement, the course emphasizes plural modernisms shaped by complex exchanges: contact with European and American art, regional ideas, and innovations within longstanding traditions including ink painting and calligraphy. We will analyze how artistic practices responded to—and were shaped by—nationalism, imperialism, colonialism, democratization, and the shifting geopolitics of the modern era. Case studies range from Japanese surrealism and Indian Santiniketan experiments to modern architecture in Shanghai and the revival of literati aesthetics in Republican China and colonial Taiwan. Readings and visual analysis will guide students to critically evaluate the intersections of art, politics, and identity. Usually offered every third year.

FA 176a Fashion History of China
[ ca ]

Examines the evolution of garments, ornaments, accessories, shoes, and other bodily adornments in China through the lens of art history. Ancient murals, tomb figurines, and representations in painting will be the primary materials of investigation. Students learn about the importance of dress and fashion (and their visual representations) in shaping identities through the ages. Usually offered every third year.

FA 177b French Connection in Modern East Asian Art
[ ca djw ]

Examines the encounter of East Asian artists with France, Paris in particular, since the late nineteenth century. It deals with a range of artistic expressions, focusing on painting, but also covering fashion design, architecture, and conceptual art. Usually offered every second year.

FA 178b Seminar on Chinese Calligraphy and Practice
[ ca nw oc ]

Prerequisite: Some knowledge of reading Chinese or Japanese.

Introduces the major scripts and canonical works of Chinese calligraphy. Besides studying historical developments, students gain hands-on experience with producing their own works. The class combines theory and practice to advance understanding of the aesthetic, critical language, and the functions of this enduring art. Usually offered every second year.

FA 180a Contemporary Architecture
[ ca ]

Presents major innovations and stylistic developments in world architecture in the aftermath of World War II. Examining the larger social, political and cultural contexts within which architecture operates, the course will trace the diverse positions that characterize contemporary architecture across the globe. Special attention will be paid to the relationships between theories, debates, and the creative capacity of design and practice in architecture since the mid-twentieth century. Usually offered every fourth year.

FA 181a Housing and Social Justice
[ ca deis-us dl ss ]

Employs housing as a lens to interrogate space and society, state and market, power and change, in relation with urban inequality and social justice. It trains students to become participants in the global debates about housing. In doing so, it teaches students about dominant paradigms of urban development and welfare and situates such paradigms in the 20th century history of capitalism. It will explicitly adopt a comparative and transnational urban approach to housing and social justice, showing how a globalized perspective provides important insights into local shelter struggles and debates. Usually offered every second year.

FA 187a Approaches to Architecture and the City
[ ca ]

Trains students in developing the ability to conduct architectural and urban analysis of the built environment. Through a comparative case-study approach, based on selected readings, real spaces, and creative projects, students will better understand architectural and urban design in relation to social, cultural, human, and political aspects. Usually offered every year.

FA 191b Studies in Renaissance and Baroque Art
[ ca oc wi ]

Preference to Fine Arts majors and minors, Italian Studies minors, and Medieval and Renaissance minors only. Topics may vary from year to year; the course may be repeated for credit as topics change.

Usually offered every third year.

FA 192a Studies in Modern and Contemporary Art
[ ca oc ]

Topics may vary from year to year; the course may be repeated for credit.

Usually offered every third year.

FA 193a Studies in Modern and Contemporary Architecture
[ ca oc wi ]

Topics may vary from year to year; the course may be repeated for credit with permission of the instructor.

Usually offered every third year.

FA 194a Studies in Latin American Art
[ ca djw oc ]

Builds a theoretical foundation and art historical background for discussing art and theories coming from Latin America. The subject matter (specified in the topic that accompanies the title) in this seminar may vary depending on the instructor and year. Examples of topics include: Indigenous Art; Women Artists, Latinx Art, and Colonialism and Geopolitics.Usually offered every third year.

FA 197a Studies in Asian Art
[ ca nw oc ]

Topics may vary from year to year; the course may be repeated for credit with permission of the instructor. Usually offered every third year.

FA 199a Methods and Approaches in the History of Art
[ ca dl wi ]

Prerequisite: One course in Art History and instructor permission.

Explores various ways of analyzing works of art and provides an overview of the historical development of the discipline. Designed specifically for junior and senior art history majors. Usually offered every year.

Art History: Digital Literacy

FA 23b Architectural Drawing and Digital Design I
[ ca dl ]

Intended to develop new skills in conceptualizing, designing, and communicating architectural ideas. Students will be exposed to conceptual strategies of form and space and site relationships within social and environmental factors. Students will study the basic techniques and concepts of architectural design and digital drawing, with two and three-dimensional representation skills. Usually offered every year.

FA 24a Architectural Drawing and Digital Design II
[ ca dl ]

Intended to develop new skills in conceptualizing, designing, and communicating architectural ideas. Students will be exposed to conceptual strategies of form and space and site relationships within social and environmental factors. Students will study the basic techniques and concepts of architectural design and digital drawing, with two and three-dimensional representation skills. Usually offered every year.

FA 86b Museum Studies
[ ca dl wi ]

May not be taken for credit by students who took FA 85b in prior years.

An experiential learning seminar focused on the art object in the context of the museum; the history of museums (architecture, educational mission, curatorial presentation); museum ethics and provenance studies; new theories of museums and their expanded role in the community. Usually offered every second year.

FA 169a Ecology and Art
[ ca dl ]

Provides a theoretical foundation and art historical background for discussion of contemporary art that draws attention to the ecologies, primarily natural but also cultural, of which it and we are a part. Usually offered every third year.

FA 181a Housing and Social Justice
[ ca deis-us dl ss ]

Employs housing as a lens to interrogate space and society, state and market, power and change, in relation with urban inequality and social justice. It trains students to become participants in the global debates about housing. In doing so, it teaches students about dominant paradigms of urban development and welfare and situates such paradigms in the 20th century history of capitalism. It will explicitly adopt a comparative and transnational urban approach to housing and social justice, showing how a globalized perspective provides important insights into local shelter struggles and debates. Usually offered every second year.

FA 199a Methods and Approaches in the History of Art
[ ca dl wi ]

Prerequisite: One course in Art History and instructor permission.

Explores various ways of analyzing works of art and provides an overview of the historical development of the discipline. Designed specifically for junior and senior art history majors. Usually offered every year.

Art History: Oral Communication