Introduction to the History of Art

What is art? Why does it matter? What does it mean to speak of its "history"? How and by whom is that history constructed? What does art have to do with power or desire? Is it a form of knowledge, or is it a way of world-making? This installation's related course (History of Art and Architecture 10) is organized in three blocks: Time, Self & Subjectivity, and The Future of the Past. Each block is comprised of three lectures taught by the three instructors, Professors Jeffrey Hamburger, Cécile Fromont, and Joseph Leo Koerner, each of whom teaches from the vantage point of a different cultural and historical perspective. The course introduces students to how art making has developed across different geographical regions and across history, from the ancient to the modern. Putting the object or artifact at the center of analysis, the course addresses fundamental problems as approached through the discipline of art history. The goal is to show students how to look at and think about works of art from a diversity of viewpoints. The University Teaching Gallery serves faculty and students affiliated with Harvard's Department of History of Art and Architecture. Semester-long installations are mounted here in conjunction with undergraduate and graduate courses, supporting instruction in the critical analysis of art and making unique selections from the museums' collections available to all visitors. This installation is made possible in part by funding from the Gurel Student Exhibition Fund. Modern and contemporary art programs at the Harvard Art Museums are made possible in part by generous support from the Emily Rauh Pulitzer and Joseph Pulitzer, Jr., Fund for Modern and Contemporary Art.