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The seminar is an investigation of the two decades following the ascendancy of American art on the world art stage. The 1950s saw the triumph of modernism in the dominance of Abstract Expressionism, as well as the beginnings of post-modernist ideas in the work of Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and others. During the 1960s and continuing into the 1970s, widely divergent movements occurred simultaneously: Pop Art, Minimalism, Process Art, Conceptual Art, Performance Art, and Earth Art. This period also saw the emergence of powerful minority voices in American art, changing and conflicting ideas about the role of the artist in society, the use of art for political and social protest, and the increasing importance of photography as an art medium. These artistic events took place within the context of the conservative culture and politics of the Eisenhower era, the Cold War, and a burgeoning consumer culture in the 1950s; the period 1960-1975 was marked by the growth of the Civil Rights movement, the Vietnam War, anti-War protests, the emergence of numerous counter-cultural groups, and the Watergate scandal. Seminar participants will consider the major historical, cultural, and artistic events of the period and determine the theoretical ways in which they interconnect.
COURSE FORMAT: Seminar
Level: UGRD Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA ART Grading Mode: Graded
Prerequisites: NONE
Last Updated on MAR-21-2005
Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459