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How does gender analysis further our understanding of late nineteenth-century French painting? In weekly readings and discussions, we will both evaluate the existing methodologies of gender analysis and identify promising new lines of inquiry. We will examine different types of female figures represented, including the mother, the prostitute, the COURTISANE, the FEMME FATALE, and the PARISIENNE, and their relationship to modernism. We will compare and contrast these female characters to male harbingers of modernity such as the FLÂNEUR and the rag picker. Our readings of these types will be nuanced, and directed to specific paintings. For example, the notion of FEMME FATALE may apply to the work of Aubrey Beardsly or Gustav Klimt, but these in no way help us get at the peculiarity of Edouard Vuillard's domestic representations. Other topics include the role of women artists, nineteenth-century notions of feminine and masculine spheres and identity, and the breakdown of these toward the end of the century. Readings will be drawn from the fields of art history, history, literature, and gender studies.
COURSE FORMAT: Seminar
Level: UGRD Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA ART Grading Mode: Graded
Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.
Last Updated on MAR-19-2004
Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459